(187e) Economic Analysis Linking Fuel Property to Potential Value of Diesel-Boiling-Range Bio-Blendstocks to Petroleum Refiners

Research and development of diesel-boiling-range bio-blendstocks has gained increasing interest as they exhibit beneficial fuel properties and simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the medium- and heavy-duty transportation sector. Recently, several bio-blendstocks have been identified with superior properties as diesel blendstocks in sooting potential, cetane number and cold weather operability, as well as reasonable potential production costs and scalability. Competitive bio-blendstocks should have either lower price or superior properties or both relative to petroleum-derived diesel blendstocks. Additionally, the potential economic values of bio-blendstocks is expected to vary with refinery configuration. In this work, we developed full-refinery linear programming (LP) models based on open-source data to identify the key fuel properties of diesel-boiling-range bio-blendstocks that can bring value to petroleum refiners and to assess the potential economic impact of blending them into the diesel pool of different petroleum refinery configurations. Eight bio-blendstocks in the diesel boiling-range and three representative refinery configurations were investigated. This presentation describes the overall modeling approach, data collection, non-linear property blending models, fuel properties as key economic drivers, and the potential economic value of bio-blendstock fuel properties to refiners. This analysis determined sulfur content and cetane number are the primary fuel properties with the potential to provide value to refiners. Note that, these refinery models will later-on be coupled with life cycle assessment to identify the potential environmental benefits and tradeoffs to refiners.