The economics of current and future biofuels

Abstract

This work presents detailed comparative analysis on the production economics of both current and future biofuels, including ethanol, biodiesel, and butanol. Our objectives include demonstrating the impact of key parameters on the overall process economics (e.g., plant capacity, raw material pricing, and yield) and comparing how nextgeneration technologies and fuels will differ from today's technologies. The commercialized processes and corresponding economics presented here include corn-based ethanol, sugarcane-based ethanol, and soy-based biodiesel. While actual full-scale economic data are available for these processes, they have also been modeled using detailed process simulation. For future biofuel technologies, detailed technoeconomic data exist for cellulosic ethanol from both biochemical and thermochemical conversion. In addition, similar techno-economic models have been created for n-butanol production based on publicly available literature data. Key technical and economic challenges facing all of these biofuels are discussed.

Qualitative Delphi approach of advanced algae biofuels

“…Revisiting algae biofuels 3.1 Algae technical specificities Several studies have been conducted on the technical feasibility of growing algae for biofuel production in the laboratory (Williams and Laurens, 2010;Demirbas and Demirbas, 2010;Tao and Aden, 2009;Chisti, 2007;Brennan and Owende, 2010;Hirano et al, 1997;Ono and Cuello, 2006;Pulz, 2001;Pulz and Gross, 2004;Sheehan et al, 1998;Spolaore et al, 2006;Terry and Raymond, 1985;Ugwu et al, 2008;Delrue et al, 2012;Wijffels and Barbosa, 2010), which have proved absence of the major drawbacks associated with current biofuels. However, several hurdles still need to be overcome in order to scale up the production, while the costs of producing this emerging biofuels are still high compared with other biofuel sources.…”

Surveying techno-economic indicators of microalgae biofuel technologies

“…A set of articles can be found in the literature evidencing the technical feasibility of growing algae for biofuel production [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], in which the majority of them demonstrate the absence of the major drawbacks associated with current 1st generation biofuels. For example, the most common drawback pointed out of 1st generation biofuels as being the affect on food prices due to massive arable land use.…”

Use of DArT molecular markers for QTL analysis of drought-stress responses in soybean. I. Phenotypic evaluation of traits

“…It's more recent industrial application includes production of biodiesel (Hill et al, 2006;Tao and Aden, 2009;Pradhan et al, 2011;Yusuf et al, 2011). According to data from the American Soybean Association, the United States is the world's largest producer of soybeans, producing 33% of world soybean production in 2011. The United States is also the second largest exporter of soybeans, exporting 37% of world soybean exports in 2011.…”