Economic and life-cycle assessment of OME3–5 as transport fuel: a comparison of production pathways

Abstract

Reducing the contribution of the transport sector to climate change calls for a transition towards renewable fuels. Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OME_n) constitute a promising alternative to fossil-based diesel. This article presents a comparative analysis of 17 OME_3–5 production pathways, benchmarked against fossil-based diesel under environmental and economic criteria following a life-cycle approach. OME_3–5 fuels that are reliant on biomass as feedstock, or use H₂ produced from wind- or nuclear-powered electrolysis and CO₂ from direct air capture, have the potential to reduce global warming impacts by up to 20%. Nevertheless, such fuels are also found to shift environmental burdens to other impact categories under human health and ecosystems quality due to procurement of raw materials (H₂, CO₂ and biomass), and their predicted total monetized cost is 1.5–3.6 times that of fossil-based diesel. These results highlight the need for embracing impacts beyond climate change in the environmental assessment of alternative fuels and including negative externalities in their economic assessment.