The study illustrates the fuel production process from waste material
New research has explained how fuel can be produced from renewable sources such as waste wood and straw. The results of the study were published in Frontiers in Energy Research in collaboration with researchers from Munich’s Straubing Biotechnology and Sustainable Development Campus (TUM) and Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT).
According to the latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, significant reductions in CO2 emissions are needed to limit the consequences of climate change. Renewable electricity would be one way to reduce CO2 emissions from transport.
The study developed a new process for ethanol production. It is a well-established fuel that reduces CO2 emissions in the transport sector and can be a building block in reducing CO2 emissions in the long run.
Ethanol is generally produced by fermenting sugars from starchy raw materials such as corn or lignocellulosic biomass such as wood or straw.
Thus, forestry logging materials are used in conjunction with hydrogen. Hydrogen is produced by separating water into hydrogen and oxygen by means of electricity, i.e. water electrolysis. In the future, this will allow the use of extra electricity to produce ethanol.
“The whole process consists mainly of technically mature sub-processes. However, the composition of the process steps and the final step – the hydrogenation of acetic acid to produce ethanol – are new,” he said. Daniel Kluhpostgraduate student at Professorship of Renewable Energy Systems on the TUM Straubing campus.
Researchers have also assessed financial viability. “The prices we calculate are based on raw material and energy assumptions. We do not use current market prices. Our price for the components of the chemical system is based on 2020,” Kluh said.
In modeling, the lowest price of ethanol was 0.65 euros per liter, biomass costs 20 euros per megawatt hour, electricity costs 45 euros per megawatt hour, and production volume was about 42 kilotons of ethanol per year.
“With the current lignocellulosic ethanol production options, the costs are therefore competitive. The price of ethanol is very sensitive to the cost of electricity and varies between 0.56 and 0.74 euros / liter,” says the assistant professor. Kristian Melin About LUT in Finland.
One reason for the high profitability is that the yield of ethanol is much higher compared to the traditional fermentation-based bioethanol process made of straw or wood. This process produces 1,350 to 1,410 liters of ethanol compared to only 200 to 300 liters of ethanol in a traditional process per tonne of dry biomass.
The study also focuses on the varying geographical location of production facilities, which would allow some degree of independence from suppliers. “Countries with high potential for waste wood and green electricity, such as Finland or even Canada, can act as a producer of acetic acid, which is hydrogenated to ethanol in the final stage of the process,” said Prof. Tuomas Koiranen From LUT.
“In the future, countries like Germany will hopefully have a green electricity mix and will be able to carry out the hydrogenation of acetic acid to ethanol at the domestic level. However, Germany has no waste wood potential for large-scale biomass gasification, which is needed for acetic acid synthesis,” added prof. Matthias GadererProfessor of Renewable Energy Systems at TUM.
By using green electricity to increase the efficiency of electrolysis, this process can produce a low-carbon fuel with a potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent compared to fossil fuels such as gasoline. Ethanol is well established as a fuel.
It can be used both as E-10 petrol with 10% ethanol in the fuel mixture for ordinary cars, as it already is, or as ED95, which is 95% ethanol, as a substitute for diesel for heavy cars. transportation of goods.
Through their process simulations, researchers have demonstrated the competitiveness of the process. “In order to commercialize this product, the technological maturity must be further improved. The next steps may require catalyst development, reactor design, and the construction and operation of a pilot system,” said prof. Gaderer.
Source: ANI