A Plan for Biomass Power Generation With Negative Carbon Emissions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Parker

Abstract Worldwide energy consumption is accelerating at an unprecedented rate while humanity comes to understand the effects of climate change. Renewable resources such as wind and solar supply more energy every year, but the overwhelming majority of energy consumed is still from fossil fuels. The transition to zero carbon emission sources is important, but carbon negative energy could also become necessary in ensuring a sustainable global environment and economy. The most technically and commercially viable carbon negative solution is biomass-fueled power generation with carbon capture and sequestration. A conceptual design based on a biomass-fired circulating fluidized-bed boiler and developed using the Thermoflex software package (Thermoflow, Inc.) is presented that can be evaluated and pursued by the research, engineering, and business communities. Recommendations are proposed for siting and fuel supply in the Southeastern U.S., with an evaluation of some of the impacts from wood harvesting, processing, and transportation to the lifecycle carbon emissions. An economic analysis of this carbon negative concept indicates that certain policy proposals in the U.S. could make biomass power generation with carbon capture and sequestration an economically feasible resource. Results show that an owner and/or the public could realize a net benefit of up to $332/MWh above and beyond marginal energy or capacity values under aggressive carbon pricing.

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Jackson ◽  
Eivind Brodal

It is likely that the future availability of energy from fossil fuels, such as natural gas, will be influenced by how efficiently the associated CO2 emissions can be mitigated using carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). In turn, understanding how CCS affects the efficient recovery of energy from fossil fuel reserves in different parts of the world requires data on how the performance of each part of a particular CCS scheme is affected by both technology specific parameters and location specific parameters, such as ambient temperature. This paper presents a study into how the energy consumption of an important element of all CCS schemes, the CO2 compression process, varies with compressor design, CO2 pipeline pressure, and cooling temperature. Post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxyfuel capture scenarios are each considered. A range of optimization algorithms are used to ensure a consistent approach to optimization. The results show that energy consumption is minimized by compressor designs with multiple impellers per stage and carefully optimized stage pressure ratios. The results also form a performance map illustrating the energy consumption for CO2 compression processes that can be used in further study work and, in particular, CCS system models developed to study performance variation with ambient temperature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 408-412
Author(s):  
Josef Paffenholz

To limit the warming of the planet to no more than a 2°C increase, models show that net-zero release of anthropomorphic CO2 must be achieved by the middle of the century. For the foreseeable future, the majority of the world's energy will still be provided by fossil fuels, so other methods, besides expanding the contribution of renewable energy, are needed in order to achieve this goal. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is one such method, without which the cost to achieve the 2°C target would more than double. To achieve this climate goal, CCS efforts must increase by approximately 100-fold from current levels within the next 20 years. Geophysical simulations on suitable geologic models will provide an important tool to streamline and accelerate the vast expansion of geophysical site characterization and long-term monitoring tasks required for industrial-scale CCS to succeed.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jui-Yuan Lee ◽  
Han-Fu Lin

Fossil fuels have been heavily exploited since the Industrial Revolution. The resulting carbon emissions are widely regarded as being the main cause of global warming and climate change. Key mitigation technologies for reducing carbon emissions include carbon capture and storage (CCS) and renewables. According to recent analysis of the International Energy Agency, renewables and CCS will contribute more than 50% of the cumulative emissions reductions by 2050. This paper presents a new mathematical programming model for multi-footprint energy sector planning with CCS and renewables deployment. The model is generic and considers a variety of carbon capture (CC) options for the retrofit of individual thermal power generation units. For comprehensive planning, the Integrated Environmental Control Model is employed in this work to assess the performance and costs of different types of power generation units before and after CC retrofits. A case study of Taiwan’s energy sector is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed model for complex decision-making and cost trade-offs in the deployment of CC technologies and additional low-carbon energy sources. Different scenarios are analysed, and the results are compared to identify the optimal strategy for the energy mix to satisfy the electricity demand and the various planning constraints.


Author(s):  
Matthew Langholtz ◽  
Ingrid Busch ◽  
Abishek Kasturi ◽  
Michael Hilliard ◽  
Joanna McFarlane ◽  
...  

Bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (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 efficiencies 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), two generation technologies (pulverized combustion and integrated gasification combined cycle), and three cost accounting scenarios (gross cost, net cost after electricity revenues, and net cost after electricity revenues with avoided emissions from conventional power generation). Results show cost Mg-1 CO2 as a function of CO2 sequestered (simulating capture 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 222 million Mg yr-1 of biomass, up to 196 million Mg CO2 can be sequestered at scenario-average costs ranging from $60 to $158 Mg 1 CO2; under a long-term scenario using 823 million Mg yr-1 of biomass, up to 727 million Mg CO2 yr 1 can be sequestered at scenario-average costs ranging from $32 to $242 Mg-1 CO2. These costs are largely influenced by cost accounting scenario, and the CO2 sequestration potential may be reduced if future competing demand reduces resource availability. Results suggest there are multiple feedstock-logistics-generation pathways toward CO2 drawdown that could be incrementally trialed and monitored for environmental sustainability effects. Interactive visualization of results is available at [final link to be determined].


Author(s):  
Farshid Zabihian ◽  
Darrel C. Gartin ◽  
Alan S. Fung

In this paper, research will be discussed on how to scientifically, systematically, and economically reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the state of West Virginia, USA. While fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas remain the top resources within this particular state, there are new technologies, different approaches and modifications to current power generation cycles, and different fuels that can be presented to gain further reduction of these harmful emissions. To achieve this objective, eight different scenarios were introduced. In the first scenario, existing power stations’ fuel was switched to natural gas. Existing power plants were replaced by natural gas combined cycle (NGCC), integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), hybrid SOFC, and SOFC-IGCC hybrid power stations in scenarios number 2 to 6, respectively. The last two scenarios involved carbon capture systems. It has been found that the CO2 emissions can be significantly reduced by introducing changes and alternatives to the current cycles and methods that are in place today.


World on Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
Mark Rowlands

Available fossil energy sources are dubiously compatible with the goal of arresting climate change. Carbon capture and sequestration technologies currently do not work on an industrial scale, and even if they could be made to work, they will reduce the energy returned on energy invested (EROI) of fossil fuels to below acceptable levels. The EROI of nuclear fission is disputed, but most peer-reviewed work places it in the 5–14 range, making it of questionable utility. Nuclear fusion, if it works, will not be available in time. Some renewable sources—notably, various biofuels—have unacceptably low EROIs. The remaining forms of renewable energy—solar, wind, hydropower, and wave power—sport EROIs that are, at best, on the cusp of viability. There is reasonable hope for improvement in these technologies because they are, at present, immature. In the meantime, it would be ideal if we could find a way to give them an edge.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2199
Author(s):  
Taimur Al Shidhani ◽  
Anastasia Ioannou ◽  
Gioia Falcone

The increase in global electricity demand, along with its impact on climate change, call for integrating sustainability aspects in the power system expansion planning. Sustainable power generation planning needs to fulfill different, often contradictory, objectives. This paper proposes a multi-objective optimisation model integrating four objective functions, including minimisation of total discounted costs, carbon emissions, land use, and social opposition. Other factors addressed in the model include renewable energy share, jobs created, mortality rates, and energy diversity, among others. Single-objective linear optimisations are initially performed to investigate the impact of each objective function on the resulting power generation mix. Minimising land use and discounted total costs favoured fossil fuels technologies, as opposed to minimising carbon emissions, which resulted in increased renewable energy shares. Minimising social opposition also favoured renewable energy shares, except for hydropower and onshore wind technologies. Accordingly, to investigate the trade-offs among the objective functions, Pareto front candidates for each pair of objective functions were generated, indicating a strong correlation between the minimisation of carbon emissions and the social opposition. Limited trade-offs were also observed between the minimisation of costs and land use. Integrating the objective functions in the multi-objective model resulted in various non-dominated solutions. This tool aims to enable decision-makers identify the trade-offs when optimising the power system under different objectives and determine the most suitable electricity generation mix.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 4143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Najmus S. Sifat ◽  
Yousef Haseli

With rapid growth in global demand for energy, the emission of CO2 is increasing due to the use of fossil fuels in power plants. Effective strategies are required to decrease the industrial emissions to meet the climate change target set at 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21). Carbon capture and storage have been recognized as the most useful methods to reduce the CO2 emissions while using fossil fuels in power generation. This work reviews different methods and updates of the current technologies to capture and separate CO2 generated in a thermal power plant. Carbon capture is classified in two broad categories depending on the requirement of separation of CO2 from the gases. The novel methods of oxy combustion and chemical looping combustion carbon capture have been compared with the traditional post combustion and precombustion carbon capture methods. The current state of technology and limitation of each of the processes including commonly used separation techniques for CO2 from the gas mixture are discussed in this review. Further research and investigations are suggested based on the technological maturity, economic viability, and lack of proper knowledge of the combustion system for further improvement of the capture system.


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