Page 313 - Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

Key issue, challenges, and status quo of models for biofuel supply chain design 279

2.3 Biofuel distribution and end use
Biofuel distribution and end use is a critical step for biofuel to reach the mar-
ket and replace their fossil counterparts. In BSC design, this is the stage that
involves distribution network and significantly affected by regional fuel
demands (Yue et al., 2014).
Depending on the type of biofuels, infrastructures, and regional policies,
biofuels are distributed to end-use customers through different infrastructures.
For example, in the United States, B20 is the common biodiesel blending,
B100 and other higher or lower blends are not common due to the lack of
regulatory incentives and price (Alleman et al., 2016). Most of biodiesel
can be distributed from biorefineries to fuel terminals and wholesalers by
truck, train, or barge, while B5 is sometimes shipped by pipeline (Alleman
et al., 2016; U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.-a). From an end-use perspec-
tive, not all fueling stations are able to fuel biodiesel (U.S. Department of
Energy, n.d.-b). To promote the adoption of biofuel, it is expected to develop
and blend biofuels in a way with minimum changes to vehicle stocks and dis-
tribution infrastructures. Table10.1 presents an overview of different biofuels’

Table 10.1 Compatibility of biofuels to existing infrastructure (Eisentraut et al., 2011;
EBTP, n.d.)
Biofuel Blending compatibility features
Sugar-based ethanol E10-E15 (E25 in Brazil) in conventional gasoline
Starch-based ethanol vehicles; E85–E100 in flex-fuel vehicles or ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol vehicles
Conventional Up to B20 in conventional diesel engines
biodiesel
Hydrotreated Fully compatible
vegetable oil
Fischer-Tropsch
diesel
Sugar-based diesel/jet
fuel
Algae oil based Fully compatible after hydrotreating
biodiesel/jet fuel
Biogas Fully compatible with natural gas vehicles and fueling
Bio synthetic gas infrastructure after upgrading
Bio-butanol Use in gasoline vehicles in blends up to 85%
Dimethylether Compatible with LPG infrastructure
Methanol 10%–20% blends in gasoline; blend up to 85% in flex-
fuel vehicles