From Fossil to Biomass: A Comparative Sustainability Assessment of Ethylene Glycol Production

This study conducts an industrial-scale comparison of ethylene glycol (EG) production from petroleum, coal, and biomass feedstocks by integrating process simulation, techno-economic analysis (TEA), energy consumption evaluation, and life cycle assessment (LCA). The techno-economic results show that the conventional coal-based route (CTEG) offers the greatest economic advantage, with a minimum selling price (MSP) of $393 per ton of EG. In terms of energy use, the CTEG route consumes 6.19 GJ of utilities per ton of EG, substantially lower than that of the petroleum-based route (OTEG) (29.77 GJ) and biomass-based route BTEG (32.89 GJ), demonstrating strong energy-saving potential after heat integration. However, cradle-to-gate LCA reveals that CTEG has the highest global warming potential (GWP100), emitting 3.79 kg CO2-eq/kg EG, compared to 1.23 kg for OTEG and 0.37 kg for BTEG. Regarding abiotic depletion potential, the BTEG route uses only 14.87 kg Sb-eq/kg EG, significantly lower than CTEG (66.09 kg) and OTEG (39.47 kg), indicating superior conservation of nonrenewable resources. Sensitivity analysis shows that BTEG is less affected by raw material price fluctuations (6.03%) than CTEG (10.88%) and OTEG (9.22%). Overall, while CTEG is more cost- and energy-efficient, the BTEG route offers considerable environmental advantages and greater resilience to market volatility, reinforcing its promise as a sustainable alternative, especially under carbon pricing or other environmental policy frameworks.