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This paper describes a novel integrated biorefinery based on fast pyrolysis and subsequent bio-oil upgrading to produce three product portfolios: hydrocarbon biofuels (gasoline and diesel), bio-based products (bioasphalt, calcium acetate, and dextrose), and hydrocarbon chemicals (aromatics, olefins, and fuel oil). Based on the economic assumptions and historical market prices of the products, we calculate internal rates of return ( IRRs) of the biorefinery (2000 dry metric tons per day) over 30 years to evaluate its performance. Given the historical low, average, and high prices of the products, a total of 27 scenarios are explored and the maximum IRR for each scenario is determined. Results indicate that upgrading bio-oil to bio-based products yields the maximum IRR of 67.9% if bio-based products can be marketed at a historical high price level (between $257 and $1491 per metric ton) and an IRR of 42.5% at an average price level (between $240 and $950 per metric ton). Under some market conditions, the biorefinery should produce hydrocarbon chemicals or biofuels to increase the IRR. We also estimate the IRR probability distribution using Monte Carlo simulation by -incorporating distributions of product prices and bio-oil fractions allocated for three product portfolios. Average IRRs of −3.9% for biofuels, 42.7% for bio-based products, and 17.3% for hydrocarbon chemicals are observed with standard deviations of 24.4%, 24.1%, and 6.5%, respectively. The integrated -biorefinery exhibits an IRR distribution of 16.2% ± 16.4% suggesting that the integrated biorefinery could balance the economic disadvantages and benefits from individual product portfolio to achieve profitable IRRs. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This techno-economic study examines fast pyrolysis of corn stover to bio-oil with subsequent upgrading of the bio-oil to naphtha and diesel range fuels. Two 2000 dry tonne per day scenarios are developed: the first scenario separates a fraction of the bio-oil to generate hydrogen on-site for fuel upgrading, while the second scenario relies on merchant hydrogen. The modeling effort resulted in liquid fuel production rates of 134 and 220 million liters per year for the hydrogen production and purchase scenarios, respectively. Capital costs for these plants are $287 and $200 million. Fuel product value estimates are $3.09 and $2.11 per gallon of gasoline equivalent ($0.82 and $0.56 per liter). While calculated costs of this biofuel are competitive with other kinds of alternative fuels, further research is required to better determine the effect of feedstock properties and process conditions on the ultimate yield of liquid fuel from bio-oil. Pioneer plant analysis estimates capital costs to be $911 and $585 million for construction of a first-of-a-kind fast pyrolysis and upgrading biorefinery with product values of $6.55 and $3.41 per gge ($1.73 and $0.90 per liter). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This analysis compares capital and operating cost for six near-term biomass-to-liquid fuels technology scenarios representing three conversion platforms: pyrolysis, gasification, and biochemical. These analyses employed similar assumptions to allow comparisons among the results. Most prominently, the feedstock is assumed to be corn stover and plant capacity was 2000tonne/day for each plant. There are large differences in the total capital investments required among the three platforms. The stand-alone biomass-to-liquid fuel plants are expected to produce fuels with a product value in the range of $2.00–5.50per gallon ($0.53–1.45per liter) gasoline equivalent, with pyrolysis the lowest and biochemical the highest. These relatively high product values are driven primarily by an assumed feedstock cost of $75per dry ton and the cost of capital for the plants. Pioneer plant analysis, which takes into account increased capital costs and decreased plant performance associated with first-of-a-kind plants, increases estimated product values to $2.00–12.00per gallon ($0.53–3.17per liter) gasoline equivalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]