Uncertainty in the global energy market and negative environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels has led to renewed interest in alternative fuels. The scalability of new technologies and production pathways are critically being evaluated through economic feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments. This work investigated the conversion of agricultural wast, delactosed whey permeate (delac), with yeast fermentation for the generation of biofuel via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The feasibility of the process was demonstrated at laboratory scale with data leveraged to validate systems models used to perform industrial-scale economic and environmental impact analyses. Results showed a minimum fuel selling point of $4.56 per gasoline gallon equivalent (CGE), a net energy ratio (NER), defined as energy required to process biofuel divided by energy in the biofuel produced, of 0.81 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 30.03 g CO2-eq MJ-1. High Production costs can be attributed to operational temperatures of HTL while the high lipid yields of the yeast counter these heating demands, resulting in a favorable NER. The operating conditions of both fermentation and HTL contributed to the majority of GHG emissions. Further discussion focuses on optimization of the process, on the metrics of TEA and LCA and the evaluation of the process, on the metrics of TEA and LCA, and the evaluation of the process through a sensitivity analysis that highlights areas for directed research to improve commercial feasibility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-5383 |
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| Creators | Summers, Hailey M. |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu). |
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