Techno-economics of long and short term technology pathways for renewable transportation fuel production

About the project

Sweden has the ambition to have a fossil-free vehicle fleet by 2030. From a short-term perspective, biofuels are needed that can be used in existing vehicles and infrastructure (identical to gasoline or diesel; drop-in fuels). The Swedish Energy Agency has in particular highlighted lignin based biofuels as a strategically prioritized area. From a longer time perspective focus is on high-blend or pure biofuels, due to energy and resource availability reasons. Examples are cellulose-based ethanol, or methane, methanol and DME produced via biomass gasification.

In this project, short and long-term technology tracks for integrated biofuel production are evaluated regarding techno-economic performance and technology readiness level. The analysis is made based on existing knowledge and on targets for production costs under given scenarios, from which acceptable investment costs and yields will be calculated. The results can be used to guide future R&D efforts.

The project has delivered two scientific publications and a detailed report, including analysis from all project scenarios. A concluding report in Swedish has also been produced.