Comparative well-to-wheel life cycle assessment of OME3–5 synfuel production via the power-to-liquid pathway

Oxymethylene Dimethyl Ethers (OMEs) are promising diesel fuel alternatives and interesting solvents for various industrial applications. In this report, a well-to-wheel life cycle assessment of short OME oligomers as produced via a Power-to-Liquid (PtL) pathway has been conducted. Variations in electricity and carbon dioxide supply as well as the hardware demand for the PtL plant components (e.g. PEM water electrolysis, carbon capturing, and 36 kta OME plant capacity) have been considered. Conventional diesel fuel is used as the comparative benchmark. In scenarios with a high share of renewable electricity well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emission for OME3–5 fuel is advantageous compared to fossil diesel. For the best case, well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 86%, corresponding to 29 g(CO2eq) km−1 (OME3–5-fuel) compared to 209 g(CO2eq) km−1 (diesel fuel). However, these results are highly sensitive to the applied method with regard to system multifunctionality. A sensitivity analysis indicates that input electricity at ∼50 g(CO2eq) kWhel−1 enables well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions of