Economic and full environmental assessment of electrofuels via electrolysis and co-electrolysis considering externalities
File(s)210105. Final manuscript_clean.pdf (2.25 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Freire Ordonez, Diego
Shah, Nilay
Guillen-Gosalbez, Gonzalo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Electrofuels from CO2 and H2O have recently emerged as a promising alternative to reduce the carbon footprint of fossil fuels, yet their full economic and environmental performance remains unclear. Here, the production of renewable petrol from electrolysis and co-electrolysis-based processes is critically assessed, combining a palette of tools encompassing process simulation, costing evaluation, life-cycle assessment, and uncertainty analysis. Our results show that electrofuels are currently very expensive (10.4-fold higher cost compared to petrol), even when considering externalities (indirect cost of environmental impacts). Electrofuels could become cheaper than the fossil analogue, yet this would require relying on low-cost renewable electricity, which may find alternative uses. From an environmental perspective, we found that despite reducing the carbon footprint of the fossil counterpart, electrofuels could exacerbate impacts on human health due to burden-shifting. Overall, our work highlights the need to embrace impacts beyond climate change to ensure a comprehensive assessment of alternative fuels, and to monetise them to underpin a fair comparison with the fossil analogue.
Date Issued
2021-03-15
Date Acceptance
2021-01-11
Citation
Applied Energy, 2021, 286, pp.1-21
ISSN
0306-2619
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
21
Journal / Book Title
Applied Energy
Volume
286
Copyright Statement
Copyright © Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261921000519
Subjects
Electrofuels
Electrolysis and co-electrolysis
Energy & Fuels
Engineering
Engineering, Chemical
Life-cycle assessment
Monetisation of environmental impacts
Science & Technology
Techno-economic assessment
Technology
Uncertainty analysis
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
116488
Date Publish Online
2021-01-24