Environmental and economic characteristics of electrofuel production pathways

Abstract

Electrofuels are liquid fuels derived from CO₂ and electricity, which have the potential to store intermittent renewable power and reduce transportation's climate impact. In this work, I assess the economic and environmental characteristics of four technology pathways for electrofuel production, using the methods of life cycle analysis and techno- economic assessment. In addition, the analysis includes a number of scenarios in which the technologies are powered directly from dedicated renewable electricity generation. The results indicate that the hybrid power- and biomass-to-liquids (PBtL) pathway may represent a promising option for electrofuel production in terms of lifecycle emissions reductions and minimum selling price. I further characterize the PBtL pathway by combining spatially-resolved data on biomass cultivation, electricity generation, and cost-optimized solar-hydrogen production in the United States (US). I find that the resulting fuel would have a minimum selling price between $2.10 and $3.81 per liter and lifecycle emissions of 15-27 [subscript g]CO₂[subscript e]/MJ depending on the production location.