| dc.description.abstract | The global shipping industry is responsible for 2-3% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. The International Maritime Organization has set a target to reduce shipping emissions by 50% in 2050 compared to 2008 levels. Biofuels have the potential to reduce the emissions of the shipping sector. A potentially affordable and scalable biofuel for the shipping sector is hydroprocessed Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil (FPBO), produced from lignocellulosic biomass. To produce transportation fuels from lignocellulosic biomass two processing steps are needed. The first step is fast pyrolysis, which is in the early commercial stage. The second step is hydroprocessing, which is still in the development stage. The Dutch company Biomass Technology Group (BTG) has developed a multi-stage catalytic hydroprocessor to convert FPBO into marine fuel. The aim of this thesis is to assess the techno-economic potential of an FPBO to marine fuel via multi-stage hydroprocessing. Also, a first estimation of the emission factor of the fuel will be made. BTG has provided a design for a demo and commercial plant. This design formed the basis for the development of a chemical process simulation in Aspen Plus. The simulation led to four outcomes: mass balance,
energy balance, equipment costs and output product characterisation. These outcomes where combined with the Standardized Cost Estimation of New Technologies methodology, to calculate the production costs of both plants, the average emission factors and test whether the output products characteristics meet the marine fuel requirements. The marine fraction, which is the main output product of the process, complies with the technical requirements of marine fuel. The total lifetime costs of the demo plant are slightly above the 22Me. The MFSP for the commercial plant was 29,50 e/GJ, which is affected most by the PICULA catalyst lifetime and FPBO costs. The average emission factor of the products of the demo and commercial plant is 22,01 kg CO2/GJ and
23,28 kg CO2/GJ, respectively. To conclude, the multi-stage hydroprocessing of FPBO shows potential from the technical, economic and
emission factor perspective. The results of this thesis can contribute to the decarbonisation of the shipping
sector. | |
