title: Life cycle water footprint of hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel production from lignocellulosic biomass.
abstract: The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuel requires water. This study is focused on the production of hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel (HDRD) from lignocellulosic biomass. Although there has been considerable focus on the assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there is limited work on the assessment of the life cycle water footprint of HDRD production. This paper presents a life cycle water consumption study on lignocellulosic biomass to HDRD via pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) processes. The results of this study show that whole tree (i.e., tree chips) biomass has water requirements of 497.79 L/MJ HDRD and 376.16 L/MJ HDRD for production through fast pyrolysis and the HTL process, respectively. Forest residues (i.e., chips from branches and tops generated during logging operations) have water requirements of 338.58 L/MJ HDRD and 255.85 L/MJ HDRD for production through fast pyrolysis and the HTL process, respectively. Agricultural residues (i.e., straw from wheat, oats, and barley), which are more water efficient, have water requirements of 83.7 L/MJ HDRD and 59.1 L/MJ HDRD through fast pyrolysis and the HTL process, respectively. Differences in water use between feedstocks and conversion processes indicate that the choices of biomass feedstock and conversion pathway water efficiency are crucial factors affecting water use efficiency of HDRD production.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 116 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 116 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 116 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada. Electronic address: Amit.Kumar@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D006865:Hydrogenation; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D058438:Water Cycle
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D014867:Water
keywords: Bio-oil; Fast pyrolysis; Hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel; Hydrothermal liquefaction; Lignocellulosic biomass; Water consumption