Economic Performance of Small-Scale Fast Pyrolysis Process of Coproducing Liquid Smoke Food Flavoring and Biofuels

Biomass fast pyrolysis is a thermochemical conversion process to produce biofuels. However, the aqueous portion of pyrolysis liquid is usually considered a low-value product. This aqueous liquid can be used as an all-natural food flavoring referred to as liquid smoke in the food industry. This study proposed a small-scale fast pyrolysis process to coproduce liquid smoke, bio-oil, and biochar. The pyrolysis process was designed and simulated based on experimental results. Two production scenarios achieved with a fixed plant or a mobile plant were evaluated in the aspects of economics and environmental impacts. The economical estimation revealed that the fixed plant scenario performed better because of a lower production cost. The sensitivity analysis of the net present value indicated that the liquid smoke price and sale scale were strong impactors. Both scenarios showed a good economic performance in comparison with the biofuel production because of the value-added product, liquid smoke. The environmental impact analysis revealed that a fast pyrolysis was more environmental friendly in comparison with the conventional smoldering process. Full paper available at https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08530