Life cycle assessment of residual lignocellulosic biomass-based jet fuel with activated carbon and lignosulfonate as co-products

BACKGROUND: Bio-jet fuels are emerging as a valuable alternative to petroleum-based fuels for their potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel dependence. In this study, residual woody biomass from slash piles in the U.S. Pacific Northwest is used as a feedstock to produce iso-paraffinic kerosene, through the production of sugar and subsequent patented proprietary fermentation and upgrading. To enhance the economic viability and reduce the environmental impacts of iso-paraffinic kerosene, two co-products, activated carbon and lignosulfonate, are simultaneously produced within the same bio-refinery. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed for the residual woody biomass-based bio-jet fuel and compared against the cradle-to-grave LCA of petroleum-based jet fuel. This paper also discusses the differences in the environmental impacts of the residual biomass-based bio-jet fuel using two different approaches, mass allocation and system expansion, to partition the impacts between the bio-fuel and the co-products, which are produced in the bio-refinery. RESULTS: The environmental assessment of biomass-based bio-jet fuel reveals an improvement along most critical environmental criteria, as compared to its petroleum-based counterpart. However, the results present significant differences in the environmental impact of biomass-based bio-jet fuel, based on the partitioning method adopted. The mass allocation approach shows a greater improvement along most of the environmental criteria, as compared to the system expansion approach. However, independent of the partitioning approach, the results of this study reveal that more than the EISA mandated 60% reduction in the global warming potential could be achieved by substituting petroleum-based jet fuel with residual woody biomass-based jet fuel. Converting residual woody biomass from slash piles into bio-jet fuel presents the additional benefit of avoiding the impacts of slash pile burning in the forest, which results in a net negative impact on ‘Carcinogenics’ and ‘Respiratory effects’, and substantial reduction in the ‘Smog’ and ‘Ecotoxicity’ impacts. The production of woody biomass-based bio-jet fuel, however, did not show any significant improvement in the ‘Acidification’ and ‘Eutrophication’ impact categories. CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that residual woody biomass recovered from slash piles represents a more sustainable alternative to petroleum for the production of jet fuel with a lower impact on global warming and local pollution. Future research should focus on the optimization of chemical processes of the bio-refinery to reduce the impacts on the ‘Acidification’ and ‘Eutrophication’ impact categories.