Life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis of a biomass-based biorefinery

In this research, a biorefinery plant is proposed to generate biofuel through fast pyrolysis and gasification. The proposed biorefinery comprises hydrotreating, hydrocracking, and steam reforming sections. The whole plant, each section, and each designed component are analyzed and evaluated based on an exergy-based approach, i.e., exergy, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental analyses. The exergy cost and exergoenvironmental impact of each section and each component are calculated and compared to monitor the economic effect and environmental impact and also to prioritize the section and the component which are not obtained as acceptable values in the analyses. It is revealed that the hydrocracking unit is the most efficient sector in comparison with others with the exergy efficiency of 89.75%. The exergoeconomic analysis illustrates that the used compressor in the hydrotreating unit and pumps in hydrocracking and steam reforming units have the most exergy cost in comparison with other components in the whole process. Similarly, exergoenvironmental assessment declares that employed reactors of the biorefinery plant have the most destructive effect on the environment.