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Abstract: Oxymethylene ethers (OMEs) are important diesel additives because of their ability to reduce soot loading, particulate matter (PM) emissions, and NOx emissions. Some research has been undertaken on the feasibility of producing OMEs from biomass but there is no techno‐economic assessment of OME production from biomass. In this study, we estimate the unit cost to produce OMEn (n = 1–8) from three different biomass types common to western Canada: whole‐tree woodchips, forest residues, and wheat straw. The techno‐economic model uses the OME production simulation results for 500 MT day−1 of dry biomass. The simulation results show that 97.70, 98.86, and 99.80 MT day−1 of OME1–8 can be produced from whole‐tree woodchips, forest residues, and wheat straw, respectively. The costs of producing OME per liter over 20 years of production are $1.93 ±0.15/L, $1.68 ±0.14/L, and $1.66 ±0.13/L, respectively, at a 95% confidence level for whole‐tree woodchips, forest residues, and wheat straw biomass. The sensitivity analysis results show that the internal rate of return, OME yield, capital cost, and biomass delivery cost significantly influence OME unit price. The production price versus capacity profile reveals that the optimum minimum price can be obtained at a plant capacity of 4000 MT day−1 of biomass; beyond this, the increase in capacity does not result in any appreciable decrease in production price. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pipeline hydro-transport is an alternative to truck delivery of agricultural residue (lignocellulosic) biomass. Pipeline hydro-transport benefits from economies of scale, reduces total delivery costs, and enables bio-based energy facilities to achieve higher capacities. In this study, the empirical correlation based on experimentally developed data for pipeline transport of agricultural residue-water mixtures (slurry) was used to develop a data-intensive techno-economic model to estimate the cost of pipeline hydro-transport of wheat straw and corn stover to a bioethanol refinery. The total cost of pipeline hydro-transport was found to be lowest at 8.8% dry matter slurry solid mass content and 2.5 m s−1 slurry velocity. At this biomass slurry solid mass content and velocity, the pipeline hydro-transport of biomass was found to be economically more viable than truck delivery at capacities of 0.45 M dry t yr−1 or more for a one-way pipeline and 1.4 M dry t yr−1 or more for a two-way pipeline (with the return of the carrier liquid). The ability to economically hydro-transport agricultural residue biomass in pipes offers the opportunity to develop large-scale bioethanol plants. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]