Catalytic hydrothermolysis (CH) is a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) pathway that has been recently approved for use in aircraft fuel production. In alignment with broader sustainable aviation goals, SAF production through CH requires a quantitative assessment of carbon intensity (CI) impacts. In this study, a current-day life-cycle analysis (LCA) was performed on SAF produced via CH to determine the CI. Various oily feedstocks were considered, including vegetable oils (soybean, carinata, camelina and canola) and low-burden oils and greases (corn oil, yellow grease and brown grease). Life-cycle inventory data were collected on all processes within the CH LCA boundary: feedstock cultivation and/or collection, preprocessing, hydrothermal cleanup and CH, biocrude refining, fuel transportation and end use through combustion. Baseline results show that the CH-produced SAF can be generated with CI reductions ranging from 48 to 82% compared with conventional jet fuel. Modest improvements to CI can be achieved through incremental changes to the brown grease CH process, such as relaxing the dewatering specification and implementing renewable natural gas and electricity, which could decrease the CI from 22.9 to 7.9 g CO₂e/MJ. Total CH fuel production potential was also assessed on the basis of current or near-future feedstock availability and CI. The total biofuel production potential of CH (SAF and renewable fuel co-products) in the US sums to approximately 3487 million gallons per year, with 97% of these volumes having a CI below 50% of that for petroleum jet fuel. The study shows that from an LCA perspective, CH offers a viable SAF pathway that is comparable with existing SAF pathways like hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids.

中文翻译：

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通过催化水热解可持续航空燃料生产的生命周期分析

催化水热解 (CH) 是一种可持续航空燃料 (SAF) 途径，最近已被批准用于飞机燃料生产。为了与更广泛的可持续航空目标保持一致，通过 CH 生产 SAF 需要对碳强度 (CI) 影响进行定量评估。在本研究中，对通过 CH 生产的 SAF 进行了当前的生命周期分析 (LCA)，以确定 CI。考虑了各种油性原料，包括植物油（大豆油、马苋油、亚麻荠油和菜籽油）以及低负荷油和油脂（玉米油、黄色油脂和棕色油脂）。收集了 CH LCA 范围内所有流程的生命周期清单数据：原料种植和/或收集、预处理、水热净化和 CH、生物原油精炼、燃料运输和通过燃烧的最终使用。基线结果表明，与传统喷气燃料相比，CH 生产的 SAF 的 CI 降低了 48% 至 82%。通过对棕色油脂 CH 工艺进行渐进式改变，可以对 CI 进行适度改进，例如放宽脱水规格并采用可再生天然气和电力，这可以将 CI 从 22.9 g CO ₂ e/MJ 降低至 7.9 g CO 2 e/MJ。还根据当前或近期原料可用性和 CI 评估了 CH 燃料总生产潜力。美国 CH（SAF 和可再生燃料副产品）的生物燃料总生产潜力总计约为每年 34.87 亿加仑，其中 97% 的 CI 低于石油喷气燃料的 CI 50%。研究表明，从 LCA 的角度来看，CH 提供了一条可行的 SAF 途径，与现有的 SAF 途径（如加氢加工酯和脂肪酸）相当。