Poly(oxymethylene) dimethyl ethers (OME) show promising fuel properties enabling drop-in into the existing infrastructure, especially as an alternative or additive to diesel fuel leading to a significant reduction in local...

Three-step procedure for early-stage evaluation of CO2 utilization technologies based on TRLs.

The use of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for a broad range of products can help mitigate the effects of climate change through long‐term removal of carbon or as part of a circular carbon economy. Research on capture and conversion technologies has intensified in recent years, and the interest in deploying these technologies is growing fast. However, sound understanding of the environmental and economic impacts of these technologies is required to drive fast deployment and avoid unintended consequences. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) and techno‐economic assessments (TEAs) are useful tools to quantify environmental and economic metrics; however, these tools can be very flexible in how they are applied, with the potential to produce significantly different results depending on how the boundaries and assumptions are defined. Built on ISO standards for generic LCAs, several guidance documents have emerged recently from the Global CO2 Initiative, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that further define assessment specifications for carbon capture and utilization. Overall agreement in the approaches is noted with differences largely based on the intended use cases. However, further guidance is needed for assessments of early‐stage technologies, reporting details, and reporting for policymakers and nontechnical decision‐makers.

Using life cycle assessment, we explore the conditions under which a fleet-wide blending of OME3–5 with fossil diesel can reduce environmental impacts in terms of CO2, NOx, and soot emissions.