Blend for all or pure for few? Well-to-wheel life cycle assessment of blending electricity-based OME_3–5 with fossil diesel

Abstract

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.

Suitable commercial catalysts for the synthesis of oxymethylene dimethyl ethers

“…After a small increase in the initial phase of about 1-3 h, the concentration of MEFO stayed approximately constant for the rest of the synthesis without significant differences between the concentration at the termination time and after 24 h for all catalysts. This disagrees with the assumption of the irreversibility of the Tishchenko reaction as described by eqn (12) but indicates that the reversible esterification (eqn ( 13)) is prominent, which requires the presence of FOAC. Therefore, FOAC was likely to be part of the side products but could not be quantified with the applied analysis methods.…”

“…Due to the production of OME based on sustainably produced methanol, the carbon footprint of OME can be significantly reduced by up to 93% in comparison to diesel fuel. 9–12…”

Economic and Environmental Performance of an Integrated CO2 Refinery

“…CCU could help reduce carbon emissions while creating economic value from CO 2 . − Moreover, replacing fossil carbon feedstocks could circumvent impacts related to their extraction, transportation, storage, and use . Several CCU routes have been put forward based on thermo- and electro-catalytic processes, mainly focusing on C1-related products (e.g., carbon monoxide, methane, methanol, and formate), − and, to a lesser extent, on C2–C3 chemicals (e.g., ethylene, ethanol, and propanol). , Alternative substitutes or blending agents for fuels (e.g., dimethyl ether [DME] and oxymethylene dimethyl ethers [OME]) also attract significant attention for CCU applications. However, the activation of CO 2 requires a high amount of energy either directly or indirectly, e.g., the direct use of energy or a co-reactant with a high energy content (e.g., electrolytic hydrogen [eH 2 ] via hydrogenation, or methane via dry reforming), and specific infrastructure.…”

“…Furthermore, monocyclic aromatics could also be produced from MeOH via the already mature methanol-to-aromatics (MTA) process . Methanol as an intermediate could also enable producing products to substitute or blend fossil fuels, via (i) two stages of dehydration to gasoline (methanol-to-gasoline, MTG), (ii) dehydration to DME, and (iii) several pathways to OMEs . These schemes lie within the methanol economy concept introduced by Nobel Prize winner Olah .…”

“… 24 Methanol as an intermediate could also enable producing products to substitute or blend fossil fuels, via (i) two stages of dehydration to gasoline (methanol-to-gasoline, MTG), 25 (ii) dehydration to DME, 26 and (iii) several pathways to OMEs. 16 These schemes lie within the methanol economy concept introduced by Nobel Prize winner Olah. 27 The latter transformations of methanol can arguably be perceived as the most important and mature link between the C1-CCU (e.g., MeOH) and petrochemicals or fuels until other pathways reach a similar maturity level, e.g., direct and selective conversion of CO 2 .…”