EPSRC-SFI:Tailored Production and Utilisation of Sustainable Low Cost Lignocellulosic Advanced Biofuel Blends as Diesel and Petrol Substitutes:SusLABB

The project will develop methodologies for a novel, fully tailored, biofuel blend production process which optimises the blends and their production design parameters on the basis of a range of targets: performance in engines, real world emissions on blending with gasoline and diesel, overall sustainability, practical suitability for automotive use, and biofuel production costs. The aim is to develop a process design which is able to use a variety of low grade biomass feedstocks, thus contributing to the requirements of the next phase of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) for increased use of advanced biofuels. The transport sector contributes ~14% to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, principally from petroleum derived liquid fuels. Transport therefore presents a key challenge in developing low carbon economies. Due to energy density challenges in developing alternative drive trains, or propulsion systems for heavy goods, shipping and aviation sectors, societal reliance on liquid fuels is likely to continue beyond the near term. It is therefore crucial to produce liquid fuels with lower lifetime GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels. This is mandated by the EU through the RED requiring member states to source >10% of transport energy from renewables by 2020, rising to 32% by 2030. The revised RED II requires all road transport fuels sold in the EU to include a minimum 3.5 % of "advanced biofuels" - liquid fuels derived from non-fossil feed stocks not in direct competition with food for land use; essentially stipulating the use of lignocellulose and wastes. Advanced biofuels face challenges to be cost competitive with fossil fuels, and even 1st generation biofuels, due to the inferior nature of lignocellulosic feed stocks. Methodologies with fewer processing steps offer greater potential for cost effective production are thus emphasised in this work which will develop optimal processes for the production of biofuel blends compatible with either diesel or gasoline. The use of biofuel blends may present advantages over single component biofuels such as ethanol, as multi-component mixtures can extend blend walls and therefore potentially promote the use of larger biofuel fractions on blending with petroleum fuels, leading to the potential for greater GHG reductions. The project will develop a process for the production of biofuel blends based on alkylevulinate, ester and alcohol components via several different starting alcohol routes. In Phase I, experimental studies will parameterise the performance of various acid hydrolysis configurations on different sugar and carbohydrate sources (e.g. model compounds, miscanthus, cellulose, algae, household wastes), using methanol, ethanol, butanol, and different acid types. The influence of temperature, pressure, and reaction time, on yields, energy requirements, process difficulty and product compatibility with existing infrastructure will be studied. In parallel, important chemical and physical properties of the biofuel blends will be determined, as well as sustainability factors, providing boundaries on feasible fractions of the different components in the blended fuel. In Phase II detailed engine emissions and performance characteristics of the fuels on blending with diesel/gasoline will be investigated, using experimental and model simulation tools. Real world emissions factors will be established for the fuel blends based on instrumented engines and on-road vehicles. These emissions factors as well as all techno-economic factors will feed into a final lifecycle techno-economic-sustainability (TES) assessment to determine optimal blends. Both GHG and emissions of relevance to air quality will be included. This TES will be coupled to an optimisation procedure to determine process conditions suitable for the production of optimal blends. The overall output of the project will be a process design suitable for producing an optimum techno-economic & sustainable advanced biofuel.

The wider impacts of the project will be achieved through both key industrial and academic partnerships as well as membership of the project team on national and international advisory panels related to the future sustainability of transport fuels. Important industrial advisers to the project include personnel from Shell Global solutions and Total who will provide invaluable support in terms of advising on fuel components that would be suitable/unsuitable from an industry perspective, as well as providing expertise on methods for predicting the octane sensitivity of fuel blends. These collaborations will therefore facilitate a direct route for project outcomes to be communicated with two of the world's largest liquid fuel providers who are seeking strategies to lower their carbon footprint. In addition, the collaboration will ensure that the project is developing processes and fuel blends of direct relevance to industry.
Other academic/industrial knowledge transfer will be established via networks that have developed through the existing projects of the project investigators. These include with i) UADY in Mexico, in the area of techno-economic-sustainability assessments, ii) a large number of international partners within GCRF projects related to creating sustainable fuels/chemicals and renewable micro-grid strategies from non-food biomass sources such as mixed wastes, iii) the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) funded projects on industrial fuel switching where UoLeeds has involvement in the glass manufacture sector's low carbon plans. All of these existing project collaborations will facilitate pathways to impact through joint publications, strategic project reports and project workshop meetings.
The Trinity College Dublin PI, Dooley, has been active in assembling and leading relevant stakeholders in the Irish energy system toward transitioning the transportation sector to low carbon energy. The stakeholders include the Irish BioEnergy Association IrBEA, University College Cork, Irving Oil, Ethanol Europe Renewables Ltd, Toyota Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and several consultancies. It is expected that many of the local and logistical factors identified by this taskforce for the current plans to introduce 10% ethanol into gasoline blends in Ireland, will be at least equally applicable to the introduction of advanced biofuels, such as those we intend to produce in this project. This momentum and stakeholder group will be mobilised to examine the aspects in need of redress, toward the commercialisation/utilisation of fuels produced in our project.
Dooley is also a delegate to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy Task 39: Commercialization of Conventional and Advanced Biofuels. He has also assumed cross task communication responsibilities with the IEA Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs) in Clean & Efficient Combustion (CEC) and Advanced Motor Fuels (AMF). Task 39 meets twice per year, with the next meeting being in Sweden around the ~Advanced Biofuels conference organised by the Swedish Bioenergy Association in Stockholm Sweden. The CEC and AMF IEA TCP will hold a joint workshop in Switzerland in November 2019, where Dooley will represent TASK 39. These IEA interactions will be invaluable in feeding the latest forming technical and market opinion to the project, and in disseminating the progress and results of the project directly to influential international stakeholders.