# Incorporating New Technologies in EEIO Models
## 3 Case Study: Advanced Biofuels in USEEIO  
### Description  
This methodology arises out of a desire to model the potential impacts of new technologies on broad scales using EEIO models. New technologies to create bio-based products that substitute for fossil-based products have been developed and been frequently assessed, and data on production requirements and direct environmental releases have been compiled for the assessment of these new technologies. For this case study, second generation biofuels were selected, specifically naphtha, jet fuel and diesel fuel. For the effects of the case study, these three products are combined and referred to as a single biofuel, following [PERSON] and colleagues [20]. This biofuel will partially substitute its analogous products in the current economy, a combination of naphtha, jet fuel and diesel fuel being produced by the petroleum refineries industry. This industry corresponds to BEA code 324110 in the 2012 US input-output tables [21]. Note that the current economy (2012 IO tables) already contains some biofuel products in the sector under BEA code 325190. These biofuels correspond to first generation biofuels, which is not the same as the new commodity being added here. Since the petroleum refineries industry produces more than these three products, a %\({}_{g}\) that corresponds to the share of these three products in the sector is used in the substitution. This means that when substituting a percentage of the petroleum refineries sector as a whole, the substitution percentage will correspond to %\({}_{g}\) -%, where % is the percentage that we intend to substitute of naphtha, jet fuel and diesel fuel with a bio-based new-commodity. The physical units chosen for the substitution are Gallons of Gasoline Equivalent (GGE). The similar product will then be the commodity of the petroleum refineries sector, and the similar industry under BEA classification is _Petroleum Refineries_. Regarding the new industries, all the technologies chosen start from lignocellulosic biomass, specifically woody biomass, to syngas via gasification, which then produce the biofuel with three different technologies. The first technology is Gas Fermentation, which uses biological agents to transform syngas to ethanol and then to fuel via carbon coupling to isobutene, oligomerization and hydrogenation. In the second technology, syngas is transformed to mixed short chain alcohols and transformed to long chain alcohols via the Guerbet Reaction (alcohol condensation) and to fuels via dehydration, oligomerization and hydrogenation. The third technology uses the Fisher-Tropsch process to produce fuels from syngas. Therefore, 1 new commodity (biofuel) and three new industries (referred to simply as Gas Fermentation, Guerbet Reaction and Fischer-Tropsch) are added. These technologies were chosen based on recent research interest and data availability [20]. Life cycle assessment results reported for this type of process by [20] and by [22] differ between studies due to differences in LCA assumptions. Accordingly, rather than compare and adjudicate between studies, we present our results for comparison of technologies and scenarios within the EEIO calculational framework. In the scenario assessed, % = 20. Since %\({}_{g}\) = 18.4, the percentage used for the substitution is 18.4% - 20% = 3.68%. The case study is applied using the USEEIO v2 model [23] and performed using _useeior_[24]. An R script is constructed to implement this methodology based on useeior USEEIOv2.0_nodisagg. This model is equivalent to the USEEIOv2.0.1 model but without the disaggregation of the 562000 _Waste and Remediation_ sector. The base IO level is the _detailed model_ (commodity level), with IO tables from BEA-2012, on a national level, using producers' prices. The aim of the case study is to explore the environmental impacts in the US economy from introducing a woody-based biofuel sector capable of partially substituting current transportation fuels.