A technological outlook of biokerosene production

The aviation industry accounts for nearly 3% of the global CO2 emissions due to its fossil energy use as transportation fuel. One of the most promising strategies to mitigate carbon emissions in this industry is by the large-scale transition to jet fuel from renewable resources. This study provides an updated overview of the large-scale commercialization of biokerosene. The main production routes are discussed and techno-economic and socio-environmental facets are highlighted. The results depict that the technical feasibility of biokerosene has been positively proven with the hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids process being the most propitious in the near future. Economically, no production process can compete with conventional jet fuel prices yet. However, policy aids the current biokerosene industry by investing in research in order to reduce production costs. The potential of biomass feedstock for efficient production is still underdeveloped and subjects to limitations with respect to the sustainability of biokerosene. The main challenge is to provide sufficient biomass feedstock in the future while attenuating greenhouse gas emissions of the full life cycle of biokerosene production. These factors render the main challenge for the large-scale commercialization of biokerosene in the future.