Global warming potential of bio-jet fuel produced by biomass aqueous-phase conversion

High greenhouse emissions from the production of conventional jet fuel plague the aviation industry. Corn stalk as a renewable source for bio-jet fuel production via aqueous-phase conversion can offer a sustainable solution. Based on life cycle assessment method, this study evaluated the greenhouse effects of lignocellulosic biomass aqueous-phase conversion to bio-jet fuel with the different pathways using SimaPro software. The global warming potentials of aqueous-phase conversion routes were compared with that of jet fuel produced from pe-troleum, and biomass through gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The results showed that the green-house emissions of the different aqueous-phase conversion routes, including lignin gasification to hydrogen, lignin two-step to cycloalkanes, and lignin one-step to arenes, were from 2672.1 to 3382.1 kg CO2 e/t bio-jet fuel. The integration of lignin one-step conversion to bio-jet fuel with self-supplied hydrogen had the smallest greenhouse emissions, which decreased to 1914.6 kg CO2 e/t bio-jet fuel at the suitable parameters. Compared to petroleum-based jet fuel, the greenhouse emissions of the aqueous-phase conversion routes were reduced by 19.5 %-54.4 %. Moreover, the steam for heat supply and steam for electricity generation in the greenhouse emissions of biomass gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis caused 1953.4 and 1185.9 kg CO2 e/t bio-jet fuel, respectively, relatively lower than that of aqueous-phase conversion. The sensitivity analyses showed that lowering carbon emissions of hydrogen and electricity production, and decreasing chemical consumption (such as sulfuric acid) could further reduce the greenhouse effect. Therefore, biomass aqueous-phase conversion to bio-jet fuel is a feasible routine to mitigate the greenhouse effect, which justifies enterprise spending for envi-ronmental benefits.(c) 2023 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.