The development of the production cost of oxymethylene ethers as diesel additives from biomass

摘要

Oxymethylene ethers (OMEs) are important diesel additives because of their ability to reduce soot loading, particulate matter (PM) emissions, and NOx emissions. Some research has been undertaken on the feasibility of producing OMEs from biomass but there is no techno-economic assessment of OME production from biomass. In this study, we estimate the unit cost to produce OMEn (n = 1-8) from three different biomass types common to western Canada: whole-tree woodchips, forest residues, and wheat straw. The techno-economic model uses the OME production simulation results for 500 MT day(-1) of dry biomass. The simulation results show that 97.70, 98.86, and 99.80 MT day(-1) of OME1-8 can be produced from whole-tree woodchips, forest residues, and wheat straw, respectively. The costs of producing OME per liter over 20 years of production are $1.93 +/- 0.15/L, $1.68 +/- 0.14/L, and $1.66 +/- 0.13/L, respectively, at a 95% confidence level for whole-tree woodchips, forest residues, and wheat straw biomass. The sensitivity analysis results show that the internal rate of return, OME yield, capital cost, and biomass delivery cost significantly influence OME unit price. The production price versus capacity profile reveals that the optimum minimum price can be obtained at a plant capacity of 4000 MT day(-1) of biomass; beyond this, the increase in capacity does not result in any appreciable decrease in production price. (c) 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.