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October 18, 2019, Capabilities

Technoeconomic Analysis (TEA)

Capability Title Techno-economic analysis (TEA)
Laboratories Idaho National Laboratory (INL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Capability experts Andrew Bartling (NREL), Damon Hartley (INL), Sue Jones (PNNL)
Description Techno-economic analysis (TEA) quantifies the impacts that R&D breakthroughs and discoveries have on the economic viability of a process and provides a benchmark for the near- to long-term feasibility of a proposed process. By sensitivity analyses, major cost drivers can be identified which serve as a point of focus for future research and the impacts of research targets can be measured and understood, making TEA an insightful and highly collaborative research tool. Incorporation and integration of feedstock supply chain to the evaluation.
Limitations
  • Understand which baseline or incumbent technology to compare new technologies
  • Lack of data – can be estimated using surrogate information
  • Uncertainties in process design and overall costs – evaluate impacts with sensitivity analysis
Unique aspects Useful to estimate the technical and economic viability of a process.
Availability The analysis team is available for consultation with industry and academic partners.
Citations/references

Dunn, Jennifer B; Biddy, Mary; Jones, Susanne; Cai, Hao; Benavides, Pahola Thathiana; Markham, Jennifer; Tao, Ling; Tan, Eric; Kinchin, Christopher; Davis, Ryan; Environmental, economic, and scalability considerations and trends of selected fuel economy-enhancing biomass-derived blendstocks. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 6(1),561-569, 2017.

Cai, Hao; Markham, Jennifer; Jones, Susanne; Benavides, Pahola Thathiana; Dunn, Jennifer B; Biddy, Mary; Tao, Ling; Lamers, Patrick; Phillips, Steven; Techno-economic analysis and life-cycle analysis of two light-duty bioblendstocks: isobutanol and aromatic-rich hydrocarbons. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 6(7), 8790-8800, 2018.

Ryan E. Davis, Nicholas J. Grundl, Ling Tao, Mary J. Biddy, Eric C. Tan, Gregg T. Beckham, David Humbird, David Thompson, and Mohammad S. Roni. “Process Design and Economics for the Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Hydrocarbon Fuels and Coproducts: 2018 Biochemical Design Case Update; Biochemical Deconstruction and Conversion of Biomass to Fuels and Products via Integrated Biorefinery Pathways.” No. NREL/TP-5100-71949. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States), 2018.