Location-dependent biofuel process design from an integrated techno-economic and environmental perspective – A Central European case study

Second generation biofuels from biomass residues constitute an essential alternative for their fossil counterparts to decrease transport’s climate impact. The Biomass-to-Liquid (BtL) process via biomass gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is a technologically advanced route. We developed a framework to identify regionally favourable BtL process designs under environmental and economic constraints based on detailed process simulation. The process design choices include three configurations, four steam cycle options and two biomass feedstock types (bark or straw). The approach is applied to 82 NUTS2 regions across six Central European countries, accounting for spatial differences in, e.g., biomass availability, transport distance, and electricity price/emissions. Steam cycle mode and biomass type were identified as the most important variables for environmental impacts, whereas maximum plant size and configuration are crucial for cost. Two out of twelve process designs are suitable for balancing low climate change (CC) impact and cost, with the preferred choice depending on country-specific grid electricity and biomass type. By shifting from the economically preferred process design to the CC preferred design, the CC impact can be reduced by 5.0–83.5 % with cost increases of 1.0–17.5 %, depending on the region. The aforementioned adaptation generally coincides well with minimising burdens in other impact categories. Moreover, with a projected increase of renewables in the EU’s energy system by 2050, the preferred process design remains the same. Incorporating life cycle assessment alongside technical and economic objectives in the process design phase is therefore a long-term preferable approach for achieving climate neutrality by 2050.