At what level of GHG emission cost are gasification-based biofuel production systems profitable?

Gasification-based biofuel production systems have a large potential to contribute to climate change mitigation in the transport sector. The commercial feasibility of renewable energy technol­ogies is affected by fossil fuel prices, the price of biomass and policy instruments, for example a CO_2e cost.

Kristina Holmgren, IVL, has lead the project Gasification-based biofuels – Greenhouse gas emissions and profitability analysis with general and sector-specific policy instruments aimed to analyze and quantify the level of a sector specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cost (CO_2e cost) in transport required for making gasification-based biofuel pro­duction systems profitable under different future energy market scenarios.

The results show that this level is not higher than the current level of CO₂ tax in Swedish transport sector. The results also show that the systems where the biomass is used for electricity production and in battery electric vehicles, BEV, have higher profitability than the gasification-based systems. However, the electricity-based systems have a stronger dependency on heat sinks and a high price for delivered heat.

The main outcome and full presentation of results from the project is documented in a publication in Energy. Results are also summarized in an f3 report. Additional funding for the project has been provided by Göteborg Energi foundation for research and development.