System-level integration of bioconversion and catalytic reforming pathways for sustainable production of biodiesel, hydrogen, and ammonia from lignocellulosic biomass

초록

As global energy systems transition toward low-carbon pathways, ammonia is gaining attention as a carbon-free energy carrier and a practical vector for large-scale hydrogen storage and transport. However, most biorefinery studies still focus on isolated conversion routes and rarely quantify system-level benefits enabled by co-product valorization. In this work, we propose a system-level integrated biorefinery that co-produces biodiesel, hydrogen, and ammonia by coupling three conversion pathways: biodiesel production with glycerol steam reforming, biogas tri-reforming, and biomass gasification combined with chemical looping, followed by Haber-Bosch synthesis. These results were integrated into techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment, with environmental impacts evaluated under avoided burden and alternative allocation approaches. Pinch-based heat integration, biogas-composition sensitivity analysis, and random sampling-based uncertainty analysis were further applied to evaluate utility reduction potentials, NH3 production variability, and probability distributions of levelized product costs under simultaneous parameter variation. The fully integrated process produced 18,153 kg/h ammonia and 6787 kg/h biodiesel from 3000 MT/day corn stover. Despite requiring higher capital investment (US$723MM),theintegratedprocessachievedthelowestlevelizedcostofammonia(1.22US$/kg), outperforming stand-alone tri-reforming (2.01 US$/kg)andgasification-chemicallooping(1.28US$/kg). The climate change impact ranged from 1.41 to 3.58 kg CO2-eq. depending on allocation assumptions, highlighting the importance of co-product treatment. Moreover, pinch-based heat integration reduced external heating and cooling demands by 69.3% and 66.2%, leading to a 15.8% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an 18.2% improvement in minimum selling price. Overall, material-energy integration enhances the techno-economic and environmental performance of next-generation biorefineries. © 2026

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