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Techno-Economic Analysis of Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis for Production of Biofuels

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Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave

Part of the book series: Biofuels and Biorefineries ((BIOBIO,volume 3))

Abstract

Microwave-assisted pyrolysis is one of the promising attempts to produce bio-fuel with a key advantage of fast internal heating by microwave irradiation. A microwave pyrolysis reactor could overcome heat transfer rate limitation which is suitable for the pyrolysis of large fragments of biomass materials. A study was carried out on the techno-economic analysis of a transportable small scale microwave assisted ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis facility converting Douglas fir pellets to aromatic hydrocarbons enriched bio-oil , syngas and biochar . The assessment showed that microwave assisted ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis of plants is profitable. The equipment costs have the largest contribution to the total capital investment, whereas the feedstock and chemicals costs have the largest contribution to the total annual production cost. Sensitivity analysis results indicate a strong impact from bio-oil yield and selling price. This implies that slight improvement in the bio-oil yield and bio-oil quality could increase the Return of Investment (ROI) significantly whereas lower yield and quality result in a rapid decrease of ROI.

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Acknowledgement

This study was supported by the Joint Center for Aerospace and Technology Innovation (JCATI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Richland, WA, 99354-1671, USA

    Lu Wang & Hanwu Lei

  2. Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 55108, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Roger Ruan

Authors
  1. Lu Wang
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  2. Hanwu Lei
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  3. Roger Ruan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hanwu Lei .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Ga Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Zhen Fang

  2. Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Richard L. Smith, Jr.

  3. Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Xinhua Qi

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Wang, L., Lei, H., Ruan, R. (2015). Techno-Economic Analysis of Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis for Production of Biofuels. In: Fang, Z., Smith, Jr., R., Qi, X. (eds) Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave. Biofuels and Biorefineries, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9612-5_12

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