scholarly journals Decarbonising Industry via BECCS: Promising Sectors, Challenges, and Techno-economic Limits of Negative Emissions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Tanzer ◽  
K. Blok ◽  
A. Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Current Source ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Biomass Supply ◽  
Negative Emissions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Near Term

Abstract Purpose of Review This paper reviews recent literature on the combined use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) in the industries of steel, cement, paper, ethanol, and chemicals, focusing on estimates of potential costs and the possibility of achieving “negative emissions”. Recent Findings Bioethanol is seen as a potential near-term source of negative emissions, with CO2 transport as the main cost limitation. The paper industry is a current source of biogenic CO2, but complex CO2 capture configurations raise costs and limit BECCS potential. Remuneration for stored biogenic CO2 is needed to incentivise BECCS in these sectors. BECCS could also be used for carbon–neutral production of steel, cement, and chemicals, but these will likely require substantial incentives to become cost-competitive. While negative emissions may be possible from all industries considered, the overall CO2 balance is highly sensitive to biomass supply chains. Furthermore, the resource intensity of biomass cultivation and energy production for CO2 capture risks burden-shifting to other environmental impacts. Summary Research on BECCS-in-industry is limited but growing, and estimates of costs and environmental impacts vary widely. While negative emissions are possible, transparent presentation of assumptions, system boundaries, and results is needed to increase comparability. In particular, the mixing of avoided emissions and physical storage of atmospheric CO2 creates confusion of whether physical negative emissions occur. More attention is needed to the geographic context of BECCS-in-industry outside of Europe, the USA, and Brazil, taking into account local biomass supply chains and CO2 storage siting, and minimise burden-shifting.

scholarly journals Large-Scale Implementation of Bioenergy With Carbon Capture and Storage in the Swedish Pulp and Paper Industry Involving Biomass Supply at the Regional Level

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Karlsson ◽  
Anders Eriksson ◽  
Fredrik Normann ◽  
Filip Johnsson
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Pulp And Paper Industry ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Capture Process ◽  
Logging Residues ◽  
Biomass Supply ◽  
Heat Demand ◽  
Negative Emissions

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been identified as a possible major contributor to efforts to reach ambitious climate targets through the provision of negative emissions–offsetting residual fossil emissions in “hard-to-abate” sectors and accomplishing net-negative emissions. The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of biomass in Sweden, with many large point sources of biogenic CO2 emissions that could be captured. This work investigates the biomass supply required for large-scale implementation of BECCS in the pulp and paper industry. Logging residues are considered as a fuel to supply the additional energy demand imposed by the capture plant, and the potential of these residues is evaluated in a case study that includes four pulp and paper mills located in regions of Sweden with different conditions for biomass supply. Two of the mills are located in southern Sweden, where there is strong competition for logging residues from the heating sector, and two of the mills are located in northern Sweden, where the competition is weaker. We show that implementing carbon capture at the four pulp and paper mills using regional logging residues to supply the additional heat demand required by the capture process (the reboiler heat demand) has the potential to capture around 4.6 Mt CO2/year. The results also show that the fuel share of the capture cost, i.e., the cost to supply the reboiler heat demand with regional logging residues, is 22–30 €/tCO2 captured, where the lower value corresponds to regions with weaker competition for logging residues (in this study, northern Sweden). In regions that have competition for logging residues, the possibility to increase the regional supply of logging residues to fuel the capture process while maintaining mill production output is limited, which in turn limits the possibilities to generate negative emissions via BECCS. In contrast, in regions with a low level of competition and strong availability of logging residues, there is an additional potential for logging residues to cover the additional heat demand required for CCS implementation.

scholarly journals The need for a Net Zero Principles Framework to support public policy at local, regional and national levels

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 627-634
Author(s):  
Karen Turner ◽  
Antonios Katris ◽  
Julia Race
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Local Areas ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
Near Term ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Do So

Many nations have committed to midcentury net zero carbon emissions targets in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. These require systemic transition in how people live and do business in different local areas and regions within nations. Indeed, in recognition of the climate challenge, many regional and city authorities have set their own net zero targets. What is missing is a grounded principles framework to support what will inevitably be a range of broader public policy actions, which must in turn consider pathways that are not only technically, but economically, socially and politically feasible. Here, we attempt to stimulate discussion on this issue. We do so by making an initial proposition around a set of generic questions that should challenge any decarbonisation action, using the example of carbon capture and storage to illustrate the importance and complexity of ensuring feasibility of actions in a political economy arena. We argue that this gives rise to five fundamental ‘Net Zero Principles’ around understanding of who really pays and gains, identifying pathways that deliver growing and equitable prosperity, some of which can deliver near-term economic returns, while avoiding outcomes that simply involve ‘off-shoring’ of emissions, jobs and gross domestic product.

scholarly journals Environmental Performance Analysis of Cement Production with CO2 Capture and Storage Technology in a Life-Cycle Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing An ◽  
Richard S. Middleton ◽  
Yingnan Li
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Combined Heat And Power ◽  
Cement Industry ◽  
Cement Production ◽  
Storage Technology ◽  
And Storage

Cement manufacturing is one of the most energy and CO2 intensive industries. With the growth of cement production, CO2 emissions are increasing rapidly too. Carbon capture and storage is the most feasible new technology option to reduce CO2 emissions in the cement industry. More research on environmental impacts is required to provide the theoretical basis for the implementation of carbon capture and storage in cement production. In this paper, GaBi software and scenario analysis were employed to quantitatively analyze and compare the environmental impacts of cement production with and without carbon capture and storage technology, from the perspective of a life-cycle assessment; aiming to promote sustainable development of the cement industry. Results of two carbon capture and storage scenarios show decreases in the impacts of global warming potential and some environmental impacts. However, other scenarios show a significant increase in other environmental impacts. In particular, post-combustion carbon capture technology can bring a more pronounced increase in toxicity potential. Therefore, effective measures must be taken into account to reduce the impact of toxicity when carbon capture and storage is employed in cement production. CO2 transport and storage account for only a small proportion of environmental impacts. For post-combustion carbon capture, most of the environmental impacts come from the unit of combined heat and power and carbon capture, with the background production of MonoEthanolAmine contributing significantly. In combined heat and power plants, natural gas is more advantageous than a 10% coal-saving, and thermal efficiency is a key parameter affecting the environmental impacts. Future research should focus on exploring cleaner and effective absorbents or seeking the alternative fuel in combined heat and power plants for post-combustion carbon capture. If the power industry is the first to deploy carbon capture and storage, oxy-combustion carbon capture is an excellent choice for the cement industry.

Assessment of the environmental impacts of ocean acidification (OA) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) leaks using the amphipod Hyale youngi

Ecotoxicology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Goulding ◽  
M. R. De Orte ◽  
D. Szalaj ◽  
M. D. Basallote ◽  
T. A. DelValls ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
And Storage

scholarly journals The role of negative emissions in meeting China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Fuhrman ◽  
Andres F Clarens ◽  
Haewon McJeon ◽  
Pralit Patel ◽  
Yang Ou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Change Analysis ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Negative Emissions ◽  
Air Capture

Abstract China’s pledge to reach carbon neutrality before 2060 is an ambitious goal and could provide the world with much-needed leadership on how to limit warming to +1.5°C warming above preindustrial levels by the end of the century. But the pathways that would achieve net zero by 2060 are still unclear, including the role of negative emissions technologies. We use the Global Change Analysis Model to simulate how negative emissions technologies, in general, and direct air capture (DAC) in particular, could contribute to China’s meeting this target. Our results show that negative emissions could play a large role, offsetting on the order of 3 GtCO2 per year from difficult-to-mitigate sectors, such as freight transportation and heavy industry. This includes up to a 1.6 GtCO2 per year contribution from DAC, constituting up to 60% of total projected negative emissions in China. But DAC, like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and afforestation, has not yet been demonstrated anywhere approaching the scales required to meaningfully contribute to climate mitigation. Deploying NETs at these scales will have widespread impacts on financial systems and natural resources, such as water, land and energy in China.

scholarly journals The Economic Accessibility of CO2 Sequestration through Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in the US

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Langholtz ◽  
Ingrid Busch ◽  
Abishek Kasturi ◽  
Michael R. Hilliard ◽  
Joanna McFarlane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Co2 Sequestration ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Sequestration Potential ◽  
The Us ◽  
Near Term ◽  
And Storage

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is one strategy to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. To assess the potential scale and cost of CO2 sequestration from BECCS in the US, this analysis models carbon sequestration net of supply chain emissions and costs of biomass production, delivery, power generation, and CO2 capture and sequestration in saline formations. The analysis includes two biomass supply scenarios (near-term and long-term), two biomass logistics scenarios (conventional and pelletized), and two generation technologies (pulverized combustion and integrated gasification combined cycle). Results show marginal cost per tonne CO2 (accounting for costs of electricity and CO2 emissions of reference power generation scenarios) as a function of CO2 sequestered (simulating capture of up to 90% of total CO2 sequestration potential) and associated spatial distribution of resources and generation locations for the array of scenario options. Under a near-term scenario using up to 206 million tonnes per year of biomass, up to 181 million tonnes CO2 can be sequestered annually at scenario-average costs ranging from $62 to $137 per tonne CO2; under a long-term scenario using up to 740 million tonnes per year of biomass, up to 737 million tonnes CO2 can be sequestered annually at scenario-average costs ranging from $42 to $92 per tonne CO2. These estimates of CO2 sequestration potential may be reduced if future competing demand reduces resource availability or may be increased if displaced emissions from conventional power sources are included. Results suggest there are large-scale opportunities to implement BECCS at moderate cost in the US, particularly in the Midwest, Plains States, and Texas.

scholarly journals Energy and Environmental Aspects of Using Eucalyptus from Brazil for Energy and Transportation Services in Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otavio Cavalett ◽  
Sigurd Norem Slettmo ◽  
Francesco Cherubini
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Transportation Services ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
Bioenergy Systems

The international market of woody biomass for bioenergy is expected to have a major role in future global scenarios aligning with a 2 or 1.5 °C target. However, the quantification of the environmental impacts of energy and transportation services from novel technologies and biomass production systems are yet to be extensively studied on a case-specific basis. We use a life cycle assessment approach to quantify environmental impacts of four bioenergy systems based on eucalyptus plantations established in abandoned pastureland in Brazil. The alternative bioenergy systems deliver energy and transportation services in Europe (cradle-to-gate analysis), including modern technologies for production of heat, electricity (with and without carbon capture and storage), and advanced liquid biofuels. We find that all bioenergy systems can achieve sizeable climate benefits, but in some cases at increased pressure in other impact categories. The most impacting activities are biomass transport stages, followed by eucalyptus stand establishment, and pellet production. An estimate of the potential large-scale bioenergy deployment of eucalyptus established in marginal areas in Brazil shows that up to 7 EJ of heat, 2.5 EJ of electricity, or 5 EJ of transportation biofuels per year can be delivered. This corresponds to a climate mitigation potential between 0.9% and 2.4% (0.29 and 0.83 GtCO2 per year) of the global anthropogenic emissions in 2015, and between 5.7% and 16% of European emissions, depending on the specific bioenergy system considered. A sensitivity analysis indicated that the best environmental performance is achieved with on-site biomass storage, transportation of wood chips with trucks, pellets as energy carrier, and larger ship sizes. Our quantitative environmental analysis contributes to increased understanding of the potential benefits and tradeoffs of large-scale supply of biomass resources, and additional research can further improve resolution and integrate environmental impact indicators within a broader sustainability perspective, as indicated by the recently established sustainable development goals.

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