Techno-economic analysis of renewable aviation fuel production: From farming to refinery processes

This study considered the techno-economic evaluations for the economic feasibility of jatropha derived hydro-processed renewable jet (HRJ) fuel, starting from the farming processes to the refinery (fruit-to-fuel) processes, based on the situations in Taiwan. The farming processes included plantation, growing and harvesting. The fruit-to-fuel processes included fruit dehulling, shell combustion, oil extraction, pyrolysis of press cake, oil refinery and product separation. In addition, the calculated minimum jet fuel selling price (MJSP) was compared to the cases from two different countries (Thailand and Cambodia) and to the scenario without cultivation. The MJSP of the Taiwan case, $6.25/L jet fuel, was higher than the cases of Thailand and Cambodia as well as the without-cultivation scenario. Moreover, according to the annual aviation fuel consumption from one of the aviation companies in Taiwan, the MJSPs of various blending fractions were calculated and compared with the cases of Thailand and Cambodia. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.