Expanding the horizon of bio-naphtha beyond gasoline blend: property characterization and conversion opportunity...

Bio-naphtha, a common by-product of biorefineries, is expected to experience substantial growth in supply due to increasing demands for renewable diesel and synthetic aviation fuel (SAF). However, demand for bio-naphtha itself as a gasoline blendstock is limited because of the electrification of light-duty vehicles. Although various bio‑naphtha upgrading routes have been explored, a systematic techno-economic and life-cycle comparison across different bio‑naphtha types and upgrading pathways remains missing. This work integrated detailed processing modeling, techno-economic and life-cycle analyses to investigate three primary bio-naphtha valorization opportunities using commercially mature technologies, including olefins production via steam cracking, SAF production via steam cracking and oligomerization, and aromatics production via catalytic reforming. Results show that feedstock composition strongly influences cracking and reforming performance, with paraffin-rich bio‑naphtha favoring olefins production and naphthene-rich streams favoring aromatics. Although bio‑naphtha cost dominates overall economics, these pathways can achieve substantial life cycle CO₂e reductions relative to petroleum benchmarks, and scenarios with carbon incentives show potential economic competitiveness. Overall, the analysis results indicate that steam cracking and catalytic reforming can efficiently convert bio‑naphtha into SAF, olefins, and aromatics, providing practical pathways to enhance the value of biorefinery co‑products.