Researchers Analyze the Economics of Alcohol-to-Jet fuel Production of Several Feedstock

Alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) is one of the technical biofuel technologies. It produces jet fuel from sugary, starchy, and lignocellulosic biomass, such as sugarcane, corn grain, and switchgrass, thru fermentation of sugars to ethanol or other alcohols. Guolin Yao of Purdue University, together with colleagues from several academic institutions, assessed the ATJ biofuel production pathway for these three biomass feedstocks in terms of costs and profitability.

The team considered uncertainties in utility input requirements, fuel and by-product outputs, as well as price uncertainties for all major inputs, products, and co-products. All their analyses were done from the perspective of a private firm.

Analysis showed sugarcane is the lowest cost feedstock over the entire range of uncertainty with the least risks, followed by corn grain and switchgrass. The variation of revenues from by-products in corn grain pathway significantly affected its profitability.

Technical uncertainty is critical in determining the economic performance of the ATJ fuel pathway and needs to be considered in future economic analyses. The variation of revenues from by-products also plays a significant role in profitability.