Sustainable Production and Consumption 33 (2022) 146–157

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Sustainable Production and Consumption

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spc

Research article

Energy, economic and environmental (3E) analysis for the renewable jet fuel
production process
Hsin-Wei Hsu a, Emmanuel Binyet b, Yu-Hsuan Chang c, Wei-Cheng Wang c,⁎
a
Department of Industrial and System Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City 40704, Taiwan
b
Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
c
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Blending conventional petroleum jet fuel with renewable fuel obtained from hydro-processing of cooking oil
Received 3 May 2022 wastes can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the aviation sector. Renewable jet fuel (RJF) remains for
Received in revised form 27 June 2022 the most part more expensive than conventional jet fuel and the life-cycle emissions reduction depends on the
Accepted 28 June 2022
feedstock. For promoting mass production of used cooking oil (UCO) based jet fuel, a 3E (energy/exergy, environ-
Available online 2 July 2022
mental and economic) analysis of a simulated processing plant is carried out. Hydrogen is the main component in
Editor: Dr. José María Ponce-Ortega the two-step process: hydro-processing and hydro-cracking/isomerization. Hydrogen production and exergy de-
struction in the process significantly influence the life-cycle emissions of the RJF. The low exergy efficiency of the
process units where significant heat transfer occurs generates an increase in the price of the products. Results
Keywords: show a life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions reduction from 41 % to 81 % when combusting the hydro-processed
Hydro-processed renewable jet jet fuel instead of conventional jet fuel. The minimum fuel selling price could be very close to conventional jet
Used cooking oil fuel (about 18 % more expensive) if an effective cooking oil wastes collection system is in place. Moreover,
Biofuels when implementing a carbon tax above $37/tCO2 the price becomes equal to conventional jet fuel. UCO is the
Techno-economic analysis
most sustainable feedstock as there is no competition with the food market and the environmental benefits jus-
Exergy
tify government spending for promoting mass production.
Aviation emissions reduction
© 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction alcohol to jet (ATJ) (Carter et al., 2011; Elgowainy et al., 2012). HEFA is
the most common method used for producing alternative jet fuel
Global warming is becoming an overwhelming issue that strongly (Stratton, 2010). In general, the HEFA process involves fatty acid con-
relates to the increasing amount of global carbon emissions. The global version into straight-chain alkanes by hydro-treatment process. The
aviation community has set a target of reducing the net aviation carbon HEFA process utilizes various raw materials from biomass, animal fats
emissions by 50 % of the 2005 level by 2025 (Air Transport Action Group and waste oils which allows to produce a sustainable fuel totally inde-
(ATAG), n.d.). This will be done by improving the fleet fuel efficiency by pendent from the petrochemical industry (Rathore et al., 2016). Such
up to 1.5 % per annum and by promoting alternative fuel use. Indeed, RJF is also found to have an equally high heating value compared to tra-
with the current technology, carbon emissions in the aviation sector ditional fuels (Seber et al., 2014). Chen and Wang (2019) have thor-
can only be abated by switching to biofuel blends. Alternative fuels re- oughly described the hydro-processing of waste cooking oil (WCO) to
main for the most part more expensive than petroleum-based fuels obtain straight-chain alkanes. They detailed the influence of the key pa-
which is why it is important to keep striving to bring the production rameters on the alkane composition of the product; parameters such as
costs down while keeping a sustainable and ethical approach. reaction temperature, catalysts, hydrogen feed pressures, volumetric
RJF made from sustainable raw materials (Gutiérrez-Antonio et al., flow rate, hydrogen-to-oil ratio, time of conversion.
2017; Zhang et al., 2016) can achieve a significant reduction in carbon To promote the development of alternative fuel production, techni-
emissions compared to conventional fuel. RJF can be produced using cal feasibility and thermodynamic parameters involved in the produc-
the following techniques: Fischer-Tropsch (FT), hydrothermal liquefac- tion process are the main consideration. Exergy analysis is utilized to
tion (HTL), pyrolysis, hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) and determine the availability of energy in the system. A comprehensive
study can be performed to evaluate the performance and improve the
⁎ Corresponding author. efficiency of an industrial process by reducing the exergy destruction
E-mail address: wilsonwang@mail.ncku.edu.tw (W.-C. Wang). within the working system (Saidur et al., 2007). Chang et al. (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.06.026
2352-5509/© 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H.-W. Hsu, E. Binyet, Y.-H. Chang et al. Sustainable Production and Consumption 33 (2022) 146–157

introducing additive materials such as potassium hydroxide and sulfuric

Nomenclature
acid into the process catalyst could significantly reduce energy losses. In
addition, Modarresi et al. (2012) performed a pinch and exergy analysis
ATJ Alcohol to jet
considering the production of bioethanol and biomethane combined
CGS Co-generation system
with a complex heat exchanger and steam turbine system for co-
x Component mole fraction
generating part of the heat and power demand of the system. Their re-
o Dead state
sults showed that the combined bioethanol production process has the
DCO Decarbonylation
highest exergy efficiency. 3E analysis consists in involving the energetic,
DCO2 Decarboxylation
economic and environmental aspects into a whole study. Carneiro and
η Energy efficiency
Gomes (2019) performed a 4E analysis involving energy, exergy and a
H Enthalpy (kJ)
new environmental-economic approach for hybrid waste-to-energy
S Entropy (kJ/°C)
plants combining natural gas and municipal wastes combustion. Each
j Exit state
kg of waste can produce 7 MJ of energy according to their system
FT Fischer-Tropsch
whereas only 2.5 MJ/kg is generated with traditional waste-to-energy
gen Generation
plants. The report predicted a thermal efficiency of 36 %, an ecologic ef-
GWP Global warming potential
ficiency of 89 % (where 100 % denotes zero pollution) and a levelized
GHG Greenhouse gas
cost of electricity production in the range of $64–89/MWh; which is at-
HDO Hydrodeoxygenation
tractive compared to traditional waste-to-energy facilities. In the case of
HEFA Hydro-processed esters and fatty acids
fired heaters in petroleum refineries, Shekarchian et al. (2013) analyzed
β Ratio for calculating chemical exergy
the benefits of including heat recovery and air preheating using a 4E ap-
0 Reference value
proach (energy, exergy, environmental and economic). The thermal and
RED Renewable Energy Directive
exergy efficiencies were increased and the fuel consumption decreased;
RJF Renewable jet fuel
however, the costs of adding a preheater unit to an existing fire heater
V Specific volume
are not justified. Additionally, Ifaei et al. (2019) studied the perfor-
SNG Synthetic natural gas
mance of fossil fuel-burning integrated energy conversion systems by
TEA Techno-economic analysis
analyzing energy, exergy, economy, environment, and hazardous risk
th Thermodynamic
(4ER) aspects for the power and cooling co-generation system (CGS)
UCO Used cooking oil
and multi-generation system (MGS). Their results showed that the
WCO Waste cooking oil
MGS performs better in all aspects. A 4E analysis has been proposed
W Work transfer rate (kW)
by Sanaye and Shirazi (2013), aiming to reduce peak electric demand
HRD Hydro-processed renewable diesel
in air-conditioning applications by incorporating an ice thermal energy
HRJ Hydro-processed renewable jet fuel
storage. Compared to a conventional air-conditioning system, the elec-
HTL Hydrothermal liquefaction
tricity demand was 10.9 % lower and the costs of the new proposed sys-
i Inlet state
tem would be paid back through 3.39 years of electricity consumption
U Internal energy
savings. Furthermore, significantly less CO2 is emitted into the
irrev Irreversible
atmosphere.
LHV Lower heating value
Apostolakou et al. (2009) carried out a techno-economic analysis of
LPG Liquefied petroleum gas
a production process of biodiesel resulting from the transesterification
ṁ Mass flow rate (kg/h)
of vegetable oil or animal fats using alcohols and a catalyst. De Jong
MFSP Minimum jet fuel selling price
et al. (2015) performed a techno-economic analysis (TEA) for RJF pro-
MGS Power generation system
duction and showed the minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) of six con-
NRTL Non-random two-liquid model
version pathways. The HEFA pathway yields the lowest minimum fuel
P Pressure
selling price at €29.3/GJ or €1289/ton. They also highlighted that the
ĖX Rate of exergy (kW)
co-production strategies reduced the MFSP by 4–8 %. Wang (2019)
T Temperature (°C)
used a techno-economic analysis and process simulation to compare
Ė Rate of energy (kW)
the different oil or fat feedstocks for production of HRJ in Taiwan. The
MFSP for the different feedstocks was given; greases lead to cheaper re-
newable fuel prices however more investment in the processing plant is
used a simulation to conduct an exergy and pinch analysis of a plant needed than with an oil feedstock. According to the work of
producing hydro-processed jet fuel from UCO. The plant was set to pro- Domenichini et al. (2010) and Martinez-Hernandez et al. (2013),
cess 135.28 tons of feedstock per hour; which yields a sufficient amount where pinch analysis is combined with economic evaluation: improving
of RJF for the leading local airline company when the product is blended the thermal efficiency reduces the energy use and the costs.
at a 20 % rate with petroleum jet fuel. Indeed, China Airlines reported a Reimer and Zheng (2017) performed an economic analysis of the
yearly fuel consumption exceeding 2 million tons (https://calec.china- bio-aviation energy supply chain and showed feasibility when imple-
airlines.com/csr/en/environment/green.html, 2022). Chang et al. found menting energy policies. They proposed strategies involving a 17 % sub-
that there is high exergy destruction in the heat exchangers and the dis- sidy on alternative fuel, 20 % tax on petro-fuel or 9 % alternative fuel
tillation units. Thus, they suggested that a portion of the exergy in the subsidy and 9 % tax on conventional fuel. From the energetic and eco-
steam of the exhaust gas could be recovered using a turbine and sug- nomic analyses, aiming to reach greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation tar-
gested that a dividing-wall distillation column could also significantly gets, some studies added an environmental analysis to determine the
reduce the exergy destruction. Wasted heat and by-products could feasibility of RJF mass production. Wang et al. (2011) proposed a life
also be used for district heating. The costs of exergy destruction were es- cycle assessment combined with economic, environmental and ener-
timated to $4984/h. Talens et al. (2007) used an exergy flow analysis to getic performance of Jatropha curcas L. (JCL) biodiesel in China. Seed
perform a comparison of the production process of 1 ton of biodiesel de- yield, farm energy input and use of the by-products are the critical fac-
rived from UCO and from rapeseed crops. They reported that the ex- tors. The results showed that the production of biodiesel is not econom-
tended exergy for biodiesel from UCO is around 1.5 times as much as ically feasible with the current technical situation but still has a positive
from rapeseed crops. Moreover, improving the feedstock quality and performance in terms of CO2 emissions and energy. De Jong et al. (2017)

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H.-W. Hsu, E. Binyet, Y.-H. Chang et al. Sustainable Production and Consumption 33 (2022) 146–157

compared the well-to-wake GHG emission performance of few RJF con- comprehensive assessment, a research gap still remains in RJF produc-
version pathways, without considering emissions resulting from the tion. This study considers large plant-scale production with a feedstock
land-use change. Lignocellulosic crops derived RJF yield low well-to- recycled from local resources without considering international ship-
wake GHG emissions indifferently of the co-product allocation method; ment. The energetic and exergetic aspects were combined to form a
savings in GHG emissions for the different pathways range from 54 % to 3E: energy-exergy, environmental and economical comprehensive
104 %. Klein et al. (2018) carried out economic and environmental anal- study. The notion of exergetic efficiency is more meaningful than ener-
yses on RJF from Brazilian sugarcane bio-refineries for three ASTM inter- getic efficiency as it provides useful information on the system's ineffi-
national approved RJF production technologies (HEFA, F-T, and ATJ). ciencies, energy degradation and thermodynamic losses. Indeed,
Results indicated that at least a 70 % carbon reduction was achieved exergy is usually not conserved but consumed or destroyed. Exergy is
compared with petroleum jet fuels. Baral et al. (2019) performed a used in the results instead of energy as it describes the value of the
TEA with life-cycle GHG mitigation costs for five routes to produce RJF fuel for producing work. The research framework is showed in Fig. 1.
blendstocks from lignocellulosic biomass. They showed that the By simulating a plant producing biofuel from recycled cooking oil; the
lignin-derived coproducts should be sold at least $1.9/kg in order to objectives of this study are threefold: pinpointing the energy losses in
reach the target selling price of $0.66/l of Jet A. Moreover, because of the process for further optimization, estimating the life cycle emission
the higher energy density of the blendstocks, commercial airlines savings of renewable fuel compared to conventional fuel and finding
might be willing to pay an extra 4–14 cents/l for RJF. an adequate carbon tax to reach similar minimum fuel selling prices.
UCO is the most sustainable feedstock to produce RJF. Indeed, there Biofuels are crucial for carbon abatement in the transport sector, yet be-
is no land-use change induced by the production of the feedstock and cause of their higher cost; their adoption depends on incentives such as
there is no competition with the food market. The annual production carbon pricing. The literature counts too few studies depicting in a holis-
of UCO in Taiwan ranges from 6 to 8 million tons (Chen and Wang, tic fashion the exergetic, environmental and economic aspects of biofuel
2019) which makes a serious case for mass production of alternative production from UCO; although related studies can be found for differ-
jet fuel. The only concern is the price compared to conventional petro- ent feedstocks. Precisely, the present work tends to fill this gap.
jet fuel (which is below $0.5/l). Compared to other alternative fuels,
conversion from UCO is the cheapest pathway but it still yields mini- 2. Methods
mum prices of around $1/l (Pavlenko et al., 2019). Hsu et al. (2021) con-
ducted an economic analysis on simulated plants of different capacities 2.1. Process simulation
and deduced that in Taiwan a plant processing 300 tons of UCO per day
with a three-step conversion process could yield a minimum fuel selling The simulation was conducted using the software ASPEN Plus® V10
price of $0.31/l after selling the by-products (glycerol and free fatty (AspenTech, n.d.); the general schematic diagram of the process is dem-
acids). However, their results lie on the assumption that an effective onstrated in Fig. 3. As mentioned by Hsu et al. (2021), the conversion
and inexpensive UCO recovery system is implemented. Collection of from UCO to jet fuel can be done using a one-step (hydroconversion),
UCO is indeed a challenging enterprise which relies on a circular econ- two-step (hydroprocessing + isomerization) or three-step (hydrolysis
omy. Partnership with the food industry and incentives promoting + hydroprocessing + isomerization) conversion process. The one-
recycling are needed. The government should offer rewards or use a car- step conversion process is more straightforward and the mass yield of
bon tax to incentivize the airlines to opt for RJF blends as it represents a HRJ is maximized, therefore it is more advantageous than the two-
significant raise in the operating costs. step process. The three-step process is more economically sound
Being aware of environmental sustainability, some business plan- owing to the high yield of byproducts (Hsu et al., 2021). In spite of
ners are taking steps to adopt eco-friendly methods of production. How- this, the two-step process is broadly used in the industry with leading
ever, most companies and energy departments wonder whether these companies such as: Neste Oil and Honeywell-UOP (ecofining process)
changes are worth doing and this is precisely why multifaceted analyses making millions of liters of RJF each year. Hsu et al. argue that the
are important. The combination of 3E analyses is a novel and two-step process is preferred due to a more stable and diverse

Fig. 1. Research framework of 3E analyses.

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H.-W. Hsu, E. Binyet, Y.-H. Chang et al. Sustainable Production and Consumption 33 (2022) 146–157

distribution of the products. Since the two-step process is the most the refinery process difficult because it contains complex triglycerides.
common for commercial production, the biorefinery model presented Therefore, a pre-treatment unit is set prior to the reactor in order to pu-
in this work is based on it although other processes could lead to better rify the oil fluid. The pre-treatment step is mostly filtration and heating
economic performance. Because the present study was carried out where food matter and water are removed from the oil. Impurities can
solely using a simulation, therefore the accuracy can become a concern. be collected and sent to undergo anaerobic digestion for biogas genera-
Actually, when the suitable thermodynamic model is chosen in ASPEN tion; the resulting biogas could be used in the process for heating pur-
Plus, the results often come in close agreement with the measurements. poses. After pre-treatment, UCO is pre-heated to 80 °C and pumped
For instance, Basso et al. (2013) carried out an experimental study as into the reactor using a centrifugal pump with an efficiency estimated
well as a simulation using the NRTL model to study the liquid-liquid at around 70 %. The pressure and temperature in the reactor are of
equilibrium of glycerol, ethanol and ethyl biodiesel related to biodiesel 5.5 MPa and 643.15 K where UCO reacts with hydrogen through the
production from macauba pulp oil. The results from the NRTL model NiMo-γAl2O3 catalyst. Hydrogen is brought to a pressure of 6.21 MPa
showed outstanding agreement with the experimental data with only by a centrifugal compressor (hydrogen supercharger) with an
0.44 % deviation. Moreover, Puig-Gamero et al. (2021) used ASPEN isentropic efficiency assumed to be around 75 % and then fed to the
Plus to carry out a simulation of biomass gasification in a bubbling fluid- reactor. The simulation solves an approximate motion equation
ized bed reactor and compared the simulation results with their mea- instead of the isentropic compressor equations. To simulate the
surements in the reactor; the hydrogen yield in the simulation was reactors, the Rstoic and Ryield models were chosen because the
only overpredicted by 4.4 %. In the present case study, the simulation re- stoichiometry and yield were known while reaction kinetics were
lies mostly on the non-random two-liquid model (NRTL). Indeed, it is unknown. Thus the material and heat balance are determined using
considered to be the best vapor-liquid equilibrium model; referring to the chemical reaction equations. Chen and Wang (2019) reported the
the work from Chu et al. (2017) and Tzanetis et al. (2017), which H2-to-oil ratio to be of 750 or 950. Consequently, for the
pointed out that the NRTL model describes more accurately the vapor hydroprocessing and hydrocracking of 300 tons of UCO per day, a hy-
liquid equilibrium (gas-liquid balance) of the non-ideal system. The drogen mass flow rate up to 420 kg/h is necessary. As schematized in
thermodynamic calculation is based on the activity coefficient property Fig. 2, the triglycerides are hydrogenated to saturate the double bonds
method. The Redlich-Kwong equations are used to solve the gas phase; (hydrogenation of unsaturated glycerides). This means that more hy-
the simulation parameters are listed in Table 2. drogen is needed when the unsaturated fatty acid content is higher.
The feedstock chosen for this study consists in UCO which is col- Then the glycerol backbone is separated from the triglycerides to obtain
lected from edible oil wastes, being mostly vegetable oil blended with 1 mol of propane and 3 mol of free fatty acids for each mole of triglycer-
small amounts of animal fat and greases. Because of the repeated frying ides (hydrogenolysis). In the next step, oxygen is removed from the free
of food, even more free fatty acids are formed. Consequently, it is as- fatty acids in the form of CO (decarbonylation DCO), CO2
sumed that the feedstock free fatty acid profile contains mostly C16 (decarboxylation DCO2) and H2O (hydrodeoxygenation HDO) to yield
and C18. Among them there are around 8.8 % palmitic acid (C16:0), straight-chain alkanes, water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide
around 4.2 % stearic acid (C18:0), about 45.2 % oleic acid (C18:1) and (Ameen et al., 2019) with a conversion efficiency of around 99.6 % (ac-
about 39.7 % linoleic acid (C18:2) (Wang, 2019; Bautista et al., 2009). cording to Chang et al., 2021).
The free fatty acids profile relates to the quality of the feedstock as it di- The liquid product is cooled down and brought to atmospheric pres-
rectly affects the products yield distribution (propane, jet fuel, diesel, sure before going through a gas-liquid separator. The gas is vented out
naphta and residues). Because jet fuel is made of alkanes of 8 to 16 car- and the liquid phase is heated again and goes through a second centrif-
bon atoms per molecule, free fatty acids having slightly higher molecule ugal pump (same characteristics as the first pump). It is then fed to the
lengths are ideal feedstock. The free fatty acids undergo decarboxyl- next hydrocracking/isomerization reactor containing a NiAg-SAPO-11
ation, decarbonylation and hydrodeoxygenation in the first reactor to catalyst, through which the component chains are broken and more iso-
form straight-chain alkanes which are then sent to the second reactor mers are produced. The pressure and temperature in the reactor are of
to undergo hydrocracking and isomerization. The oil mixture makes 5.52 MPa and 728.32 K. Next, the product is cooled through a condenser

Fig. 2. Two-step process reactions.

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H.-W. Hsu, E. Binyet, Y.-H. Chang et al. Sustainable Production and Consumption 33 (2022) 146–157

Fig. 3. Process flow diagram for RJF production.

also acting as a separator where the gas phase exhausts through the gas 2.2. Energy/exergy and economics (thermoeconomic analysis)
pipe at the top of the condenser and the liquid phase is sent to undergo
distillation. The gas phase is a mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, car- Thermoeconomic (exergoeconomic) analysis is a combination of a
bon monoxide and an amount of flammable gas (LPG or propane) ac- thermodynamic analysis with an economic analysis in order to strike a
counting for around 18 % of the final products. Some of the liquid compromise between thermodynamic performance and cost minimiza-
phase is water and is sent to the water treatment unit to be purified tion. The concept of economic cost is applied to exergy in order to ac-
and then fed to the condenser as a coolant. The water treatment consists count for system efficiency and energy dissipation. The aim of such
in filtering and cleaning the water with sodium hypochlorite and chlo- analysis is to minimize production costs by considering both capital
rine powder in order to remove contaminants. The two distillation col- costs and exergy costs.
umns in sequence separate the hydrocarbons into three different liquid Thermodynamic parameters such as mass flow, heat flow, power
products classified based on the lengths of their carbon chains as fol- generation, thermal efficiency, heat transfer rate and fuel consumption
lows: C5-C7 for the light oil, C8-C15 for the jet fuel, and C16-C18 for are considered. The exergy analysis is used to determine the amount
the diesel. The first column separates the diesel range hydrocarbons of available energy to do work and the amount of useless energy result-
out of the product and the second column separates the jet fuel and ligh- ing from irreversibilities occurring in the system. Exergy is only con-
ter range hydrocarbons. The distillation curves are described by served for reversible processes and always destroyed when there is a
Rademaker et al. (1975). The process is schematized in Fig. 3 with a temperature change. Carneiro and Gomes (2019) divided into internal
list of the components in Table 1; it has been thoroughly detailed in ear- and external components the factors influencing the exergy losses.
lier publications (Chen and Wang, 2019; Hsu et al., 2021; Lin et al., The friction energy and heat transfer were defined as internal factors
2020). and the external factor represent the heat transfer from the system to
the surroundings. According to the second law of Thermodynamics,
the amount of exergy in a substance depends on the entropy relative
to the surroundings. The total exergy input is the sum of the total exergy
of the species entering EXi and the exergy associated to heat transfer:
Table 1
Process components according to Chang et al. (2021). Z  
To
EX in ¼ EX i þ 1 dQ ð1Þ
Equipment Specifications T
Feedstock heater Heater model, 643.15 K, 0.10 MPa.
Hydrogen Compr model, 6.21 MPa, isentropic using ASME method (75 %
compressor isentropic efficiency)
The dead state temperature is assumed for simplicity to be at To = 25
Pump-1 Pump model, 6.06 MPa, centrifugal pump (70 % efficiency) °C. One has to bear in mind that the accuracy of the exergy destruction
Hydro-processing RStoic model, 643.15 K, 5.50 MPa, H2/oil ratio of 800 values calculated hereafter depends on the applicability of this
reactor assumption. The total exergy output is the sum of the irreversible
Product cooler-1 Heater model, temperature 333.15 K, 0.38 MPa,
work Wirrev and the total exergy EXj of the species exiting the subsystem.
counter-current.
Heater-2 Heater model, 723.15 K, 0.10 MPa.
Pump-2 Pump model, 5.58 MPa, centrifugal pump (70 % efficiency) EX out ¼ EX j þ W irrev ð2Þ
Hydro-cracking RYield model, 728.32 K, 5.52 MPa, H2/alkane ratio of 1000
reactor
Cooler-2 Heater model, 313.15 K, 5.52 MPa, counter-current. :
Cooler-3 Heater model, 298.15 K with discharge pressure from The total rate of exergy entering the system E X in is balanced by the
: :
5.52 MPa to 0.10 MPa, counter-current. total rate of exergy output E X out , the rate of exergy destruction E X des ,
Distillation-1 RadFrac model, reflux ratio 0.1, bottom rate 9523 (kg/h), total :
stage 25 and feed stream in 12th stage. the rate of exergy done by the work transfer W and the exergy rate of
:
Distillation-2 RadFrac model, reflux ratio 0.1, bottom rate 79,685 (kg/h), heat loss E X heat . Hence, the exergy balance equations are expressed as
total stage 20 and feed stream in 15th stage.
follows:

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H.-W. Hsu, E. Binyet, Y.-H. Chang et al. Sustainable Production and Consumption 33 (2022) 146–157

: : : : : Table 3
E X in  E X out þ E X heat þ W  E X des ¼ 0 ð3Þ Chemical exergy rates (MW) from feedstock to product.

Product Exergy rate Cost flow rate Exergy cost Cost

The internal irreversibilities are represented by the exergy destruc- (MW) ($/h) rate ($/GJ) ($/l)
tion (EXdes), correlated to the increase in entropy. The equipment Input
effectiveness can be expressed in terms of the second law of efficiency UCO (12.5 tons/h) 142.04 7808.33 15.27 0.50
(non-conservation of entropy); which relates the actual output to its Hydrogen (0.42 0.69 851.76 341.91 0.17
hypothetical performance under reversible conditions. Exergy tons/h)

efficiencies are more meaningful because they relate to the maximum Output
amount of work which can be produced. There is an alternative HRJ 81.15 5697.33 19.50 0.59
expression for the exergetic efficiency, involving exergy destruction HRD 12.33 993.11 22.37 0.87
Light oil 7.33 1708.119 64.74 2.32
according to Bandyopadhyay et al. (2019):
LPG 30.16 1680.35 15.47 0.41
Emissions 9.5

E_ out þ W _ net EX des

η¼  100% ¼ 1 − ð4Þ
_Ein E_ in

In correspondence with the exergy balance (Eq. (3)); a cost balance there is work involved and also for the cooling units. If the potential
equation can be written for the system as: exergy and kinetic exergy are neglected, the total exergy is the sum of
the physical exergy (EXphys) and the chemical exergy (EXchem):
ΣC_ in − ΣC_ out − C_ w þ C_ q þ Z_ ¼ 0 ð5Þ
EX tot ¼ EX phys þ EX chem ð8Þ

where C_ in and C_ out are the cost flow per unit exergy for the input and
The physical exergy is the amount of work that could be obtained by
output components ($/GJ). C_ w and C_ q represent the costs related to work taking the substance from the specific state to the dead state by consec-
:
and heat consumption in the system and Z is referred to the sum of cap- utive reversible processes. It can be expressed as:
ital costs, operating and maintenance costs. In the case of a two-step
EX phys ¼ ðH  H o Þ  T o ðS  So Þ ð9Þ
plant processing 300 tons of feedstock per day over 30 years; the oper-
ating and equipment costs can be estimated (in million USD) as 77.23
where H and Ho represent the enthalpy of the specific state and the dead
and 4.27 respectively (Hsu et al., 2021).
state. To = 25 °C and Po=1 atm are the dead state temperature and
According to Tsatsaronis (1993), the average costs of fuel necessary
pressure; S and So represent the entropy of the specific and dead
to produce the process energy is CF and the cost of the product is CP
states. The values can be obtained from thermodynamic tables for a
(exergy cost rate). These are expressed as:
given substance. The chemical exergy (EXchem) represents the
maximum amount of work that can be extracted from the thermal
C_ F C_ P energy liberated during the oxidation of the fuel and it is calculated
CF ≡ ; CP ≡ ð6Þ
E_ F E_ P based on the change in standard free-energy of formation for the spe-
cific chemical reaction. For hydrocarbon fuels, as stated by Szargut
where the fuel and product cost rates are C_ F and C_ P ($/h). The exergy et al. (1988), the specific chemical exergy can be approximated by the
rate (GJ/h) related to the input and output components are represented correlation factor β in Table S1 and the lower heating value of the fuel
(LHV in MJ/kg) in Table S3. Thus, the chemical exergy of the substance
by E_ F and E_ P . The exergy destruction during the process significantly af-
in the feedstock oil is approximated as:
fects the thermoeconomic performance because the cost must be sup-
plied by the fuel. Hence, for each component of the process, the cost of EX chem ¼ β ∗ LHV ð10Þ
exergy destruction can be estimated as:

C_ D ¼ c F E_ D ð7Þ 2.3. Energy/exergy vs environment

The ecological efficiency ε is a performance indicator accounting for

where E_ D and cF represent the exergy destruction rate and the fuel cost the emission of air pollutants in the system. This method was proposed
per unit exergy. This relies on the assumption of a fixed product exergy by Cardu and Baica (1999) for calculating the energy eco-efficiency of
rate and also that the unit cost of fuel remains independent of the thermal power plants. The initial purpose was to quantify the air pollu-
exergy destruction. The local cost of natural gas ($8.89/GJ) (CPC tion of coal thermal power plant flue gases. The energy-ecological indi-
Corporation and Taiwan, 2020) defines the equipment unit exergy cator encompasses ecological impact and efficiency in generating
cost. Therefore, the fuel cost per unit exergy of the fuel (15 $/GJ) is electricity and heat. According to Wang et al. (2011), the ε value must
added to the unit exergy cost of the equipment for the units where be between 0 and 100 %: where zero means maximum environmental
pollution, and 100 % means no environmental pollution. The ecological
efficiency is calculated as:

Table 2 0:5
Aspen settings according to Chang et al. (2021). ε ¼ ½0:204  η  ln ð135  PI Þ=ðη þ PIÞ ð11Þ

Property method, Base method, reference method NRTL-RK

Steam class CONVEN

where η is the 1st law thermal efficiency of the system and PI (kg/MJ) is
Component Conventional and solid the pollution indicator. The exponent 0.5 and coefficient 0.204 were
Component databank APV72 used by Cârdu and Baica (1999) based on fuel efficiency and calorific
Process type Common value; ε is proportional to the system's efficiency and inversely propor-
Binary Interaction parameter RKTKIJ-1, MLQKIJ-1…
tional to the pollution indicator.

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Table 4
Physical exergy in each process unit.
: :
Equipment Mass flow rate (tons/h) E (MW) E (MW) Work (MW) Qheat (MW) ηexergy (%) Exdestruction (MW) Cost of exergy destruction ($/h)
in out

Feedstock heater 12.5 2.37 1.08 −2.39 45.57 1.29 41.28

Hydrogen compressor 0.42 2.89 1.79 1.76 62.08 1.09 97.01
Feedstock pump 12.5 1.14 1.26 0.05 99.26 0.01 0.89
Hydro-processing reactor 12.84 2.64 1.79 −1.45 67.89 0.85 27.2
Cooler-1 12.84 6.71 1.91 4.93 28.49 4.79 426.31
heater-2 11.30 4.93 1.72 −3.65 35.08 3.18 283.02
Pump-2 11.30 1.83 1.81 0.10 99.25 0.01 0.89
Hydro-cracking reactor 11.38 2.59 2.20 84.78 0.39 12.48
Cooler-2 11.38 6.55 2.29 4.36 35.03 4.26 379.14
Distillation-1 10.58 10.56 7.96 3.91 75.31 2.61 83.52
Distillation-2 9.74 9.58 6.17 2.02 64.47 3.54 113.28

SimaPro 9 with Ecoinvent 3.5 databank is utilized for calculating the

PI ¼ EmCO2 =LHV ð12Þ emission data for hydrogen and catalyst consumption.
where EmCO 2 represents the carbon dioxide emissions per kg of fuel
2.4. Energy/exergy vs environment vs economics
burnt (kg CO2/kg).
The environmental analysis plays a critical role in this study; the
Sustainability is about using economic growth for building a fairer
GHG mitigation is calculated from feedstock to product use. The system
society while preserving the ecosystems and the natural resources. Sus-
boundary of the analysis is shown in Fig. 4. The GHG emission from sta-
tainable development takes into consideration societal, environmental
tionary combustion is estimated as follows:
and economic aspects. To narrow down to the alternative fuel industry,
EmGHG ¼ Fuel comsuption  Emission factorGHG ð13Þ sustainability occurs when the renewable fuel offers significant emis-
sion reductions compared to fossil fuels at a competitive price so the
where EmGHG is the emission of a certain GHG for a type of fuel (kg technology can be globally adopted. Therefore, the exergy, environment
GHG); the fuel consumption is the amount of fuel combusted (TJ). The and economic related aspects must merge for producing an efficient,
Emission factorGHG (kg gas/TJ) is representative of the emissions from ecofriendly, cheap fuel. For instance, the European Union defined the
each GHG gas (CO2, CH4 and N2O) for a type of fuel and can be Renewable Energy Directive (RED) specifying that biofuels should
obtained from the IPCC guidelines (Eggleston et al., 2006). The total bring GHG emissions savings compared to fossil fuels to at least 35 %
emissions can be expressed as follows: in order to be considered sustainable. Unfortunately, alternative renew-
able fuels are more expensive than petroleum-based fuels and this is
ΣEmGHG ¼ ΣðCO2 þ 25CH 4 þ 298N 2 OÞEmissions ð14Þ precisely where the carbon tax can even the playing field. It is assumed
that setting a carbon pricing is the most efficient political incentive for
Accordingly, the global warming potential (GWP) of carbon dioxide emission reduction. However, according to the IPCC, the carbon tax
is defined here as 1, 25 for CH4 and 298 for N2O (IPCC, n.d.). The GWP is alone is insufficient to keep global warming below 2 °C and should be
the relative ability of a gas to absorb heat compared to carbon dioxide part of a broader portfolio of policies. Economically speaking, a carbon
thus giving an index to quantify the climate effects of different gases. tax is the most straightforward route. Sadly, the current level of carbon
After having estimated the total carbon dioxide emissions of the system pricing is still insufficient in terms of coverage and price to trigger the
using the emission factor; the CO2 penalty enters into play to combine changes needed around the world to achieve carbon neutrality. Actu-
the environmental and economic aspects. From the work of ally, only 22 % of the global GHG emissions are subject to carbon pricing
Shekarchian et al. (2013), the emission penalty can be evaluated as: and half of those are under a tax lower than 10$USD/ton of CO2e
EP CO2 ¼ ΣEC  EF CO2  PC CO2 e ð15Þ (O'Mahony, 2020). To meet the Paris agreement global emissions
targets, the minimum carbon tax should globally lie between 50$USD
where EPCO 2 is the annual total emission penalty (US$/year); EC is the to 100$USD/ton CO2e by 2030 (O'Mahony, 2020).
overall energy consumption (GJ/year) of the equipment for the system In order to create a synergy between emission reductions, carbon
and EFCO 2 is the emission factor (kg/GJ) according to the IPCC database penalties and minimum fuel selling price, the minimum price corre-
 
(Eggleston et al., 2006). PCCO 2e is the penalty for carbon dioxide sponding to a given carbon tax PC CO2 e USDkg
can be calculated as:
emissions (US$/kg), which was set as 0.09 (US$/kg) by Sanaye and
Shirazi (2013). Materials and energy input represent the major part of    
USD kg
the emissions occurring during the process as shown in Fig. 4. MFSPðPCCO e Þ ¼ PC CO2 e  EmGHG þ MFSP ð0Þ ð16Þ
2 l l
Emissions related to the electricity consumption for heating, cooling
and pressurization are calculated in the Aspen Plus process simulation
knowing the CO2 factor of the electricity consumption. In addition, the where MFSP(0) is the minimum fuel  selling
 price of the given fuel in the
absence of a carbon tax and EmGHG kgl represent the CO2 equivalent
emissions per liter of the given fuel.
Table 5
Ecological efficiency of the process units. 3. Results and discussion
Equipment η% ecological efficiency
3.1. Energy/exergy vs economics (thermoeconomic analysis)
Feedstock heater 45.57 63.06 %
Hydro-processing reactor 67.89 70.41 %
Heater-2 35.08 58.05 % The purpose of the exergy analysis is to determine the portion of en-
Hydro-cracking reactor 84.78 74.24 % ergy available to be converted into work; this includes chemical exergy
Distillation-1 75.31 72.23 % and physical exergy. As shown in Table 3, the chemical exergy rate for
Distillation-2 64.47 69.49 %
UCO at the input is of about 142 MW. At the end of the process, the

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Table 6
Carbon emissions along the HRJ supply chain.

Items Value Carbon emissions factor Carbon emissions (tons CO2 e/TJ)

Transportation
Diesel trucking (km) 150 0.65 (kg CO2/tkm) 4.469
Pre-treatment
Pre-heating (kW) 582.48 0.69 (kg CO2/MJ) 1.473
Hydro-conversion
Hydro-processing (kW) 7422.20 0.69 (kg CO2/MJ) 18.771
Hydro-cracking/isomerization (kW) 9230.40 0.69 (kg CO2/MJ) 23.344
Distillation
Distillation column: reboiler and cooler (kW) 11,341.60. 0.69 (kg CO2/MJ) 28.683
Input materials
Hydrogen (kg/h) 420 6.97 (kg CO2/kg) 10.733
Catalyst (kg/year) 25,000 Appendix S2 0.081
Total 87.554
End use
HRJ (kg/h) 7753.60 0.0715 (kg CO2/MJ) 72.109
HRD (kg/h) 948.00 0.0741 (kg CO2/MJ) 11.457
LPG (kg/h) 2090.34 0.0561 (kg CO2/MJ) 20.591
Light oil (kg/h) 545.91 0.0733 (kg CO2/MJ) 6.623
Petro-jet kerosene 71.5 (IPCC 2006)
Total 110.809

sum of all output exergy rate is about 140.5 MW. This shows that the million to 1 billion USD for a plant processing 1000 tons of feedstock
exergy of the input substance is almost preserved; although the exergy per day while in the present work it was only estimated at 77 million
within the emissions can hardly be recovered. Consequently, the con- USD for 300 tons per day. In Europe however, the price of waste cooking
version efficiency from UCO to fuel products is of around 92 %. The dis- oil in 2020 was traded as high as 870 USD/ton. As a matter of facts, be-
tribution of the chemical exergy rate of the products is shown in Fig. 5. fore biofuel production became significant, restaurant owners and in-
Obviously, HRJ accounts for the major part followed by a significant frac- dustrials had to pay for the collection and disposal of oil wastes. With
tion of LPG. Table 4 displays the physical exergy flow: the lowest exergy the growth of the biofuel market, UCO has become a much valuable
efficiency occurs in heaters and condensers as they have the highest commodity.
exergy destructions; followed by the distillation units consisting in a To summarize, significant exergy destruction occurs in the heat ex-
boiling tower and a condensation tower. The exergy efficiency of the changers and because the exergy destruction is to be compensated by
heat exchanger (heater and cooler) is less than 40 % and the exergy de- more fuel consumption: therefore, heat integration or heat recovery
struction is about 3–4 MW precisely because heat conversion results in and improved design are important for lowering the costs. The mini-
exergy destruction. The exergy efficiency of both pumps reaches 99 % mum fuel selling price of the RJF is here estimated as 0.59$/l.
considering the pump's energy consumption loss. Table 3 shows the re-
sults of the thermoeconomic analysis: the minimum fuel selling price of 3.2. Energy/exergy vs environment
RJF is thus 0.59$/l. This result lies on several assumptions in terms of
capital and operating costs and in terms of the unit cost of exergy. It is After having established the mass-energy balance through the
important to mention that there is a tradeoff between equipment exergy analysis, the carbon emissions in the process can be estimated
costs and exergy efficiency as optimized units would be more expensive knowing the mass flow rate and heating value. Table 6 summarizes all
and at the same time lead to less exergy destruction. Those results are the carbon emissions involved in the entire HRJ supply chain. The sys-
promising as the price estimation is close to the minimum fuel selling tem boundary shown in Fig. 4 encompasses five distinct units for envi-
price of petroleum-based fuel. However, it is important to mention ronmental inventory: transportation, pre-treatment, hydro-conversion,
that the minimum fuel selling price concluded in the present study is distillation and end-use. Taking into consideration the distance between
lower than in most of the literature. For instance, Pavlenko et al. the processing plant and local vendors which would range from 50 to
(2019) concluded in minimum fuel selling prices close to 1 USD/l. This 200 km; the emissions of transportation were estimated for a trucking
is firstly because the capital costs they reported were between 248 distance of 150 km. Pre-treatment consists in filtering out impurities

Fig. 4. Process flow diagram, system boundary.

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Fig. 5. Distribution of chemical exergy rates from feedstock to product.

Fig. 6. Carbon dioxide emissions of each process unit in the HRJ supply chain.

and pre-heating the UCO which consumes relatively low energy and
therefore the related total carbon emissions are low. The hydro- main emission sources are the diesel fuel for agriculture machinery,
conversion and distillation units consumed 16.65 and 11.34 MW of nitrogen fertilizers, oil mill and refinery. As mentioned by Khanali
power to yield the final products, which represents emissions of 42.11 et al. (2021) optimization of fossil fuel and chemical fertilizer use is
and 28.68 tons of carbon dioxide for every TJ of HRJ. The hydrogen is critical in order to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture.
the principal material consumed in both reaction processes; according For instance, Saber et al. (2020) included in their impact study for rice
to the Ecoinvent 3.5 databank, every kg of hydrogen supplied in the re- cultivation the heavy metals leaking into the soil owing to fertilizer
action is correlated with 6.97 kg of carbon dioxide emitted during its and pesticide use. According to Alcock et al. (n.d.), for each kg of
production. Timmerberg et al. (2020) reported life cycle GHG emissions packaged sunflower oil, the total amount of GHG emissions ranges
of 6.1 kg CO2/kg of hydrogen produced. Thus, the emission factor chosen from 1.08 to 4.19 kg CO2e (25 to 105 CO2e/MJ); this when omitting
in the present work is more conservative. In the meantime, this land-use change. The lower emission range results from cold pressing,
represents a total in carbon emissions of 10.73 tons necessary for each reduced need for irrigation, limited use of fertilizer and fuel. They men-
TJ obtained when combusting the HRJ. On the other hand, if hydrogen tioned that 62 % of the emissions occur during the cultivation.
is extracted via electrolysis from solar or wind power, the carbon foot- Engelmann et al. (n.d.) analyzed the life cycle of rapeseed oil production
print could be then significantly reduced. Indeed, green hydrogen pro- and concluded a range from 28.0 to 46.3 g CO2 e/MJ where emissions are
duction is key for decarbonization of the transport sector. In addition, highly dependent on site and production conditions. As a result, the
the carbon footprint of the local electricity mix also influences the pro- carbon footprint of the cooking oil before being processed can be
cess emissions and so countries with greener electricity could achieve gCO2 e
assumed to be about EmðoilÞprocess ¼ 37 MJ . The carbon emissions of
even more GHG savings from HRJ use. The catalyst used in this process
is mainly composed of molecular sieves, specific metals and acids. The UCO when incinerated as general waste would produce 128.69 tons of
related carbon emissions are calculated taking into account the fraction carbon dioxide for every TJ of heat generated: EmðUCOÞincineration ¼ 129
of each compound and the results are detailed in Table S2. The results in gCO2 e
MJ . It is generally admitted that the amount of carbon emitted during
Table 3 show that the distillation unit and the hydro-conversion units
combustion of the oil is equal to the amount sequestered by the crop to
are responsible for most of the process emissions due to the significant
make the oil; which makes it a renewable resource. Therefore, there is a
exergy destruction occurring. In terms of ecological efficiency, Table 5
carbon credit equal to the difference between the emissions resulting
shows that the units were there is predominantly heat exchange per-
from incineration and oil manufacturing. For this reason, when the oil
form the poorest. This means that heat recovery in the distillation
is recycled and reused instead of simply being burnt as waste, the actual
units and reactor, heat integration, better design of the heat exchangers
life cycle emissions of the resulting HRJ can be seen as the sum of the
could all increase the ecological efficiency and reduce the process costs
process emissions and the fuel use minus the hypothetical incineration
by reducing the exergy destruction.
emissions:
In summary, the total process emissions are estimated to reach 87.55
tons CO2 e/TJ which is very high compared to the well-to-pump emis- EmðHRJÞ ¼ EmðHRJÞuse þ EmðHRJÞprocess þ EmðoilÞprocess  EmðUCOÞincineration ð17Þ
sions of petroleum jet fuel (around 14 tons CO2 e/TJ (Rademaker et al.,
1975)). The hydro-conversion and other units with prominent heat ex-
The GHG emissions from the process and fuel use are determined
change are mainly responsible for the high emissions. Supply chain
from Table 6. The emission reduction when comparing to conventional
emissions could be significantly lowered if green hydrogen is used and
fuel is calculated according to:
also if the exergy destruction is reduced through implementation of
heat integration or heat recovery.
EmðpetroÞ  EmðHRJ Þ
EmðsavingsÞ ¼ ð18Þ
EmðpetroÞ
3.3. Environment vs economics
Petroleum jet fuel life cycle emissions Em(petro) are about 87 g CO2 e/
Fig. 6 shows the carbon emissions of all processes, of the by-products
MJ (De Jong et al., 2017). If one neglects the oil manufacturing emissions
and HRJ when burnt. The by-products represent 38.70 tons CO2 e/TJ of
Em(oil) process → 0 and considers UCO as a readily available resource then
carbon dioxide emissions and the HRJ which is the main product ac-
counts for 72.11 tons CO2 e/TJ. The LPG (propane) can be used in the the life cycle emissions are EmðHRJ Þ ¼ 0:58 kgCO
l
2e
and the GHG savings
process as combustible for the heating source and for this reason: its compared to fossil fuel are Em(savings) = 81%. If one considers the
emissions (20.59 tons CO2 e/TJ) can be subtracted to the overall manufacturing of vegetable oil in the carbon footprint of UCO then the
process emissions. The only real concern is the life cycle carbon life cycle emissions are EmðHRJÞ ¼ 1:76 kgCO
l
2e
and the GHG savings com-
emissions (well-to-wake emissions) and the costs owing to the pared to fossil jet fuel are Em(savings) = 41%. The latter approach is
process. When considering cooking oil (vegetable oil) production, the mostly used for biodiesel sustainability assessments where the crops

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are used for fuel and not for food. In conclusion, according to the RED, veg- by applying a carbon tax on both the RJF and the petroleum jet fuel
etable oil might barely be a sustainable feedstock while UCO is an out- based on their respective emissions, the minimum fuel selling prices be-
standingly sustainable one. De Jong et al. (2017) reported that using RJF come equal at carbon prices of $75/tCO2 and $37/tCO2 when
from UCO instead of petroleum jet fuel on a life cycle basis (well-to- considering the life cycle emissions with and without cooking oil
wake) could save around 68 % of CO2 emissions. The present results can manufacturing. Besides, a tax amount of 75$/ton of carbon dioxide
be averaged to Em(savings) = 61% in a more conservative fashion. emissions is in line with the literature (O'Mahony, 2020). In
To summarize, hydroprocessing of cooking oil wastes is very emission conclusion, an adequate carbon tax can give the incentive to invest in
intensive when compared to conventional crude oil refining; although RJF production.
using green hydrogen and a greener electricity mix could significantly In summary, UCO is the most sustainable feedstock to produce RJF
lower the emissions. Also, LPG which is a by-product, can be used to because it provides significant emission reductions at a competitive
fuel the heaters and thus saving a bit less than a quarter of the process cost. Indeed, according to the present results, when a carbon tax
emissions. Moreover, food particles filtered out in the pre-treatment above $37/tCO2 is implemented on all fuels, the price per liter of
step could be collected and digested to produce biogas which in turn renewable fuel matches that of petroleum-based fuel.
could also be used to fuel the heaters. Most importantly, because vegeta-
ble oil wastes are recycled instead of being burnt in a waste treatment 4. Conclusion
plant: there is a carbon credit equal to the emissions that would release
the combustion of the used vegetable oil. The carbon footprint of the To lower the carbon footprint of the aviation sector, conventional jet
cooking oil itself can also be taken into account to provide a more conser- fuel can be blended with biofuel produced from different feedstock. Not
vative approach. Finally, HRJ can lead to at least 41 % GHG savings. all the biofuels offer significant life cycle emissions reductions and it is
very challenging to offer fuel prices close to conventional petroleum
3.4. Energy/exergy vs environment vs economics jet fuel. Moreover, crops-based feedstocks bring societal and ethical
considerations. Sustainability can only be achieved when respect of
Waste cooking oil is transformed into RJF undergoing a two-step the environment coincides with economic feasibility and societal
conversion process (hydroprocessing and hydrocracking) as detailed acceptance. The present work describes a combined thermoeconomic
by Hsu et al. (2021). Supposing that there is an efficient waste cooking analysis and an environmental analysis on a plant producing
oil recycling system supplying for a plant processing 300 tons of feed- hydroprocessed jet fuel from UCO. The plant processes 300 tons of
stock per day; the equipment costs (facility life of 30 years) and operat- UCO per day which could continuously supply the main local airline
ing costs would be approximately 77 million USD and 4.3 million USD company at a blend rate of more than 3 %. The investment cost neces-
per year respectively. Consequently, the minimum fuel selling price sary for building such a plant was estimated at 77 million USD. Dozens
would be of approximately $0.59/l of HRJ while conventional petroleum of similar plants could be operated across Taiwan to increase the blend-
jet fuel prices are around 0.5$/l. Substituting conventional jet fuel with ing rate significantly. Waste cooking oil is the most sustainable feed-
the UCO RJF saves 41 % to 81 % of CO2 emissions. HRJ based on recycled stock available as it does not compete with the food market and has
cooking oil is not only the most sustainable fuel available; it is also one low life cycle carbon emissions. When considering the UCO as an avail-
of the cheapest alternative jet fuels. Conventional jet fuel can be blended able resource, the emission reductions compared to fossil fuel is of
with alternative jet fuel at any ratio from 80:20 to 50:50 without requir- around 80 %. However, straight conversion of vegetable oil into fuel
ing engine modifications. According to the data reported by China (crops to fuel) is difficult to justify as the emission reduction compared
Airlines (https://calec.china-airlines.com/csr/en/environment/green. to fossil fuel is then only around 40 %. The exergy analysis shows that
html, 2022), which is the leading airline company in Taiwan, its yearly the conversion process is emission intensive because of the significant
consumption of jet fuel goes beyond 2 million tons. While consequently, amount of exergy destruction occurring in the heat exchanging units.
one plant processing 300 tons of UCO per day can only provide a contin- The monetary costs and emission costs of the exergy destruction are sig-
uous blending rate of around 3 %. Nevertheless, dozens of similar plants nificant and fully justify optimization studies or cogeneration scenarios.
could be built across Taiwan since ideally 6 to 8 million tons of UCO Indeed, the heaters, coolers and distillation units have a tremendous
could be locally available yearly (Chen and Wang, 2019). In this case, a cost of exergy destruction and the distillation columns account for the
continuous blending rate with petroleum jet fuel of 50 % is possible. biggest share of the process emissions. There is room for improvement
The extra cost from blending HRJ should be financed by the government in terms of heat recovery or integration. Because the conversion process
as a subvention in the form of a carbon tax/reward. As shown in Fig. 7, relies on hydrogen, it is important to keep the carbon footprint of the
hydrogen production to a minimum. Hydrogen produced from electrol-
ysis using surplus wind and solar power would be ideal. The results
show that when an effective and inexpensive oil recovery system is in
place, the minimum renewable fuel selling price of around 0.6 USD/l is
close to that of petroleum jet fuel which is around 0.5 USD/l. Moreover,
when applying an adequate carbon tax, the prices become equal thus
creating the incentive for RJF use. While the technology is ready, global
carbon taxes amount above 50 USD/ton can trigger the changes and in-
vestments needed to meet the global warming mitigation objectives.
The last obstacle remaining is the implementation of an inexpensive
and effective low carbon cooking oil wastes collection system that can
continuously supply enough feedstock. Indeed, only a well-established
circular economy where wastes hold value as a feedstock can ensure
continuous and smooth operation of UCO derived RJF manufacturing
plants. Transition to a circular economy is a key milestone to achieve cli-
mate neutrality and carbon pricing policies can motivate that transition.
The present work concluded that a blending rate of 50 % of the fuel con-
sumed by the leading local airline company can be achieved with locally
produced UCO derived RJF. The resulting incurring fuel costs increase of
Fig. 7. Minimum fuel selling price evolution with the applied carbon tax. about 9 % (50:50 petro-jet and RJF mixture) at the expense of the airline

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Declaration of competing interest https://calec.china-airlines.com/csr/en/environment/green.html accessed june 2022.
Ifaei, P., Safder, U., Yoo, C., 2019. Multi-scale smart management of integrated energy sys-
tems, part 1: energy, economic, environmental, exergy, risk (4ER) and water-exergy
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial nexus analyses. Energy Convers. Manag. 197, 111851.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ- 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 2, Energy,
Chapter 3: Mobile Combustion.
ence the work reported in this paper.
IPCC, “Global warming potential (GWP),” in “Greenhouse gases, aerosols and their radia-
tive forcing,” IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Available: https://www.ghgprotocol.
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202016%29_1.pdf.
K. Engelmann D. Dressler L. Strimitzer K. Thuneke E. Remmele “Life cycle assessment of
This project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technol- rapeseed oil as self-sufficient agricultural biofuel - results of case studies from Ba-
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Khanali, Majid, Akram, Asadollah, Behzadi, Javad, Mostashari-Rad, Fatemeh, Saber, Zahra,
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Appendix A. Supplementary data
energy use and environmental emissions for walnut production using imperialist
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