Development of Novel Integrated Systems to Produce Drop-In Jet Biofuel from Multi-Biomass in Qatar

Qatar is one of the largest producers and exporters of fossil-based fuels including natural gas. However, the country strives to diversify its sources of energy by incorporating renewables to mitigate its carbon footprint and expand its fossil reserves lifetime for the coming generations. In this context, Qatar has a unique pattern of transportation fuel consumption, whereby, jet fuel accounted for more than 55% during the year 2019. Therefore, developing technologies to produce Jet Biofuel (JBF) is becoming more essential. However, obtaining a cost competitive and sustainable JBF remains a challenge. Various feedstocks have been tested for this purpose, but the vast majority did not comply with sustainability and feasibility expectations. As such, this study introduces a new energy crop to the State of Qatar named “Jatropha curcas” considering its great advantage of thriving in extreme climates and non-arable lands, with minimal water and energy requirements. In addition, this study intensively investigates a wide spectrum of potential JBF production pathways. A novel stand-alone Jatropha biorefinery has been developed using Aspen Plus, which showed promising results. Whereby, an 88% increment in JBF yield and 50% reduction in land footprint are achieved by utilising the whole Jatropha fruit as compared to existing models. In addition, an expanded hybrid biorefinery has been developed, which accommodates all types of biomass in Qatar including Jatropha, to mainly produce JBF. The model integrates key conventional technologies including hydroprocessing, gasification, Fischer-Tropsch, HTL and reforming, with intensive integration of heat and materials and an on-site generation of required utilities. The proposed state-of-the-art biorefinery generates a competitive and a high-quality drop-in JBF at 0.43 $/kg which is 22% lower than the market price of conventional Jet-A. Furthermore, a 41% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to Jet-A is attained. The system generates 87 million gallons of JBF a year, which substitute 16% of local needs, while it can power one third of Qatar’s aircrafts fleet. As an added value, Jatropha is planned to be cultivated for multiple purposes by forming a greenbelt (GB) around the most populated areas and agricultural lands of Qatar. A multi-dimensional approach for the delineation of Jatropha-GB is proposed using geographic information systems (ArcGIS) and COMSOL Multiphysics. The delineated greenbelt is expected to protect 87% of Qatar farms against further deterioration, capture around 0.33 M tonnes of CO₂ annually per each kilometre-depth, and provide a healthier air to 95% of Qatar’s population. The proposed project is believed to contribute to the Qatar National Vision 2030 in various aspects, while it may provide solutions for multiple issues, including significant mitigation of carbon footprint, diversion from landfilling, preservation of Qatar’s soil against wind erosion, enriching its biodiversity and enhancing its air quality.