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Economic evaluation of biomass-based energy systems with CO2 capture and sequestration in kraft pulp mills - The influence of the price of CO2 emission quota
Abstract
The efficient use of CO2-neutral biofuels offers a potential to reduce CO2 emissions by reducing fossil fuel consumption. By combining biofuel conversion with carbon dioxide capture and sequestration (CCS), energy utilisation with a negative CO2 balance can be achieved. The present paper studies the feasibility of combining CCS with different systems for co-production of biomass-based transportation fuels, power, and heat. The systems studied include both conventional and emerging technologies for recovery of chemicals and energy from black liquor, a residual of the kraft pulping process. A new method is introduced for economic evaluation of investments in energy facilities. The method considers economic credits for both energy products and CO2 reductions, thus including the potential economic benefits of emissions trading on a future market for trading of CO2 emissions quota. The paper estimates the prices of CO2 emissions quota that justify the extra investments required for more advanced systems with CCS. The potential of the alternative systems to reduce CO2 emissions in Sweden is assessed. CCS in biomass-based energy systems is identified as a CO2 reduction option of particular interest for regions with low emissions from the power sector.
... Opportunities for CO 2 reductions in the pulp and paper industry is the topic of some recent publications [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. A considerable potential to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and electricity in north American mills has been identified through benchmarking the energy consumption of American pulp and paper mills against (1) Scandinavian mills and (2) theoretical model mills based on the most efficient existing technologies [4,5]. ...
... Among predicted technology improvements assessed by Koleff [6], gasification of spent pulping liquors in Kraft pulp mills for combined heat and power production (CHP) with combined cycles (CC) ranks as the alternative with the highest potential impact on CO 2 reductions. Studies by Isaksson [7], and Möllersten and Yan [8] show that there are several alternative technologies based on gasification of black liquor that display considerable CO 2 reduction potentials, e.g. combining CHP with production of methanol or hydrogen. ...
... Increasing electricity production reduces fuel consumption for marginal electricity production in the external power system, and thereby also the associated CO 2 emissions. Large specific CO 2 reductions through increased power production can be achieved if the additional fuel demand in mills is covered with biofuels or waste heat [7][8][9]20]. If the marginal electricity production in the external power system originates from fossil-based condensing power, increasing fossil-based CHP using CC or gas turbine simple cycles can lead to CO 2 reductions through improving the overall efficiency of the fuel energy utilisation [4,11]. ...
... 2 Direct air capture (DAC) was proposed from the late 1990s. 3 The potential for including negative emissions as part of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) was first suggested over 20 years ago, 4 but there has been little practical, legislative, or regulatory progress to date. ...
Niall is a professor in energy systems engineering at Imperial College London. He is a Chartered Engineer, and a fellow of both the IChemE and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research is focused on understanding the transition to a low-carbon economy. Niall has more than a decade’s experience as a consultant to the public and private sectors. He has worked with a range of private sector energy companies and is currently seconded to BEIS, where he is working as an expert policy advisor on CCUS and GGR.
David is a professor of technology policy at Cambridge Judge Business School. David has advised government, industry, and non-governmental organizations on energy and environmental policy, with a particular emphasis on the politics of climate change and the social acceptability of low-carbon or net-negative mitigation options for achieving net-zero targets, including carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, and other energy and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) options.
Stuart is the current director of SCCS and professor of CCS at the University of Edinburgh. Stuart has over 35 years research experience in energy and environment with a focus on oil and gas extraction, radioactive waste disposal, carbon capture and storage, and biochar in soils. Stuart provides advice to both UK and Scottish governments. He was elected FRSE in 2002, awarded the Geological Society William Smith Medal in 2011, and in 2012 was appointed OBE for services to climate change technologies.
... A variety of practical NETs initiatives have emerged in different locations. Originally introduced as a concept in the early 2000s ( Möllersten and Yan, 2001;Obersteiner et al., 2001), BECCS in bioethanol production now operates in the US at large scales (see chapter 3. In October 2016, the world's first negative emissions geothermal power plant started operation in Hellisheidi, Iceland. ...
... Whereas the combination of CSS and biomass reduces the atmospheric CO2 by taking it temporarily locked in plants and then storing it permanently in geological formation, it is known as negative emission technology [8,16,83]. BECCS technology is considered an appropriate way to respond to the problems caused by global warming in the current century [42,62]. According to some studies, the BECCS has the potential of capturing an acceptable rate of atmospheric CO2 that if combined with other mitigation options, could help to reduce CO2 concentration to pre-industrial level [51,72], while contributing to global economic growth [91]. ...
Negative Emission Technologies (NETs) are generally considered as vital methods for achieving climate goals. To limit the rise in the global average temperature below 2 °C, a large number of countries that participated in the Paris agreement was virtually unanimous about the effective collaboration among members for the reduction of CO 2 emissions throughout this century. NETs on the ground that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provide an active option to achieve this goal.
In this contribution, we compare limiting factors, cost, and capacity of three different NETs, including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), absorption and adsorption. Although there are several advantages for capturing CO 2 , still some constraints regarding the high operational cost of NETs and industrial condition of these technologies as a method of climate change mitigation is not clear. Thereby no single process can be considered as a comprehensive solution. Indeed, any developed technologies, in turn, have a contribution to the reduction of CO 2 concentration. Extensive research needs to be done to assess and decrease NETs costs and limitations.
... Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been analyzed extensively in the context of mitigating carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from fossil fuel-based processes. More recently, there has been growing interest in applying CCS to biogenic CO 2 emissions, i.e., so-called BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), although it had already started to be discussed as a concept in the late 1990s (Williams, 1998;Möllersten and Yan, 2001;Keith and Rhodes, 2002;Möllersten et al., 2003). BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage can serve to offset residual emissions in hard-to-abate sectors (e.g., agriculture, shipping, heavy road transport) and to contribute to net-negative emissions on a global level (Obersteiner et al., 2001). ...
Negative CO2-emissions are prevalent in most global emissions pathways that meet the Paris temperature targets and are a critical component for reaching net-zero emissions in Year 2050. However, economic incentives supporting commercialization and deployment of BECCS are missing. This Policy and Practice Review discusses five different models for creating incentives and financing for BECCS, using Sweden as an example: 1) governmental guarantees for purchasing BECCS outcomes; 2) quota obligation imposition on selected sectors to acquire BECCS outcomes; 3) allowing BECCS credits to compensate for hard-to-abate emissions within the EU ETS; 4) private entities for voluntary compensation; and 5) other states acting as buyers of BECCS outcomes to meet their mitigation targets under the Paris Agreement.
We conclude that successful implementation of BECCS is likely to require a combination of several of the Policy Models, implemented in a sequential manner. The governmental guarantee model (Model 1) is likely to be required in the shorter term, so as to establish BECCS. Policy Models 2 and 3 may become more influential over time once BECCS has been established and accepted. Model 3 links BECCS to a large carbon-pricing regime with opportunities for cost-effectiveness and expanded financing. We conclude that Policy Models 4 and 5 are associated with high levels of uncertainty regarding the timing and volume of negative emissions that can be expected- Thus, they are unlikely to trigger BECCS implementation in the short term, although may have roles in the longer term.
Based on this study, we recommend that policymakers carefully consider a policy sequencing approach that is predictable and sustainable over time, for which further analyses are required. It is not obvious how such sequencing can be arranged, as the capacities to implement the different Policy Models are vested in different organizations (national governments, EU, private firms). Furthermore, it will be important to ensure that BECCS and the associated biomass resource are not overexploited. A well-designed policy package should guarantee that BECCS is neither used to postpone the reduction of fossil fuel-based emissions nor overused in the short term as a niche business for “greenwashing” while not addressing fossil fuel emissions.
... Some articles utilize the GET model to assess the evolution of transport and energy sectors (Azar et al. 2003). There are also the former techno-economic analyses dedicated to BECCS, for paper and ethanol utilizations (Möllersten and Yan 2001;Möllersten et al. 2003). More recently, some articles deal with the possible synergies between BECCS and shale gas (Hailey et al. 2016;Liu et al. 2011). ...
Negative emission technologies (NETs) are a set of technologies that could retrieve greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. NETs could dramatically contribute to maintaining the temperature increase to within the limit of 2 °C or even 1.5 °C. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is one of the most studied NETs. BECCS captures carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions coming from a bioenergy plant—e.g., electricity, biofuels, and hydrogen—and stores those emissions in a geologic reservoir, typically a saline aquifer. The purpose of this article is to investigate whether a research community exists on BECCS, and whether it is aligned with research priorities. To do so, a bibliometric analysis is conducted based on author collaborations on BECCS in academic journals between 2001 and 2017. The co-authorship network shows that BECCS research is largely based on the integrated assessment model (IAM) research community. These models analyze how power and transportation systems evolve under a climate constraint in the long run, e.g., until 2100. Such a focus has advantages and drawbacks. On the one hand, it helps to build a common vision of the technology and possible roadmaps. On the other hand, I highlight that the implementation features of BECCS in the near future are insufficiently assessed, e.g., techno-economic analyses, business models, local-scale assessments, and comparison with other NETs. These issues are marginal in the network, whereas long-term analyses are at its core. Future research programmes should better include them to avoid a considerable disappointment about the real potential of BECCS.
... The BECCS concept was proposed at the beginning of the present century as a response to the evidences on climate change [11,12]. Some studies identified in BECCS the potential to remove CO 2 from the atmosphere at a scale that, together with other mitigation options, could help deliver pre-industrial CO 2 concentrations [13,14] while allowing for global economic growth [15]. ...
In order to limit the increase in the global average temperature to 2 °C or below, the Paris Agreement proposed the reduction of CO2 emissions throughout this century. Bioenergy with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS) technologies represent an interesting option in order to allow this goal to be metgoal, because they are able to achieve negative CO2 emissions. Chemical looping (CL) is recognized as one of the most innovative CO2 capture technologies owing to its low energy penalty. CL processes permit the utilization of renewable fuels in a nitrogen-free atmosphere, given that the required oxygen is supplied by solid oxygen carriers. The present work presents an overview of the status of development of the use of biofuels in chemical looping technologies, including chemical looping combustion (CLC) and chemical looping with oxygen uncoupling (CLOU) for the production of heat/electricity, as well as chemical looping reforming (CLR), chemical looping gasification (CLG) and chemical looping coupled with water splitting (CLWS) for syngas/H2 generation. The main milestones in the development of such processes are shown, and the future trends and opportunities for CL technology with biofuels are discussed.
... Even with very efficient CO 2 removal in fossil fuel-based systems, parasitic energy consumption caused by additional process steps needed for BECS makes it impossible to achieve CO 2 -neutral energy utilization with such systems. Möllersten and Yan (2001) have shown on the other hand, considering a whole process chain of fuel upgrading, CO 2 removal, compression, transportation, and injection at the final storage site, that BECS in biofuelbased energy systems enables energy utilization with a clear negative CO 2 balance. Hence, such energy systems would lead to net reductions of CO 2 emissions. ...
Interim Reports on work of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis receive only limited review. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the
Climate effects due to emission of fossil carbon dioxide have become a major threat to us all over the last 50 years. Reduction of emissions is needed, and the UN agreement between 195 nations in December 2015 is an important step towards reducing the CO2 in the atmosphere, and in time maybe even a reduction of the levels on a 100 year scale. To reduce the emissions action must be taken to reduce the use of fossil fuels and replace them with renewable sources like biomass, solar, wind and hydro power. The impact on biodiversity is another issue. Right now, a strong reduction in the number of known species is occurring, which can be seen as a new mass extinction globaly. Emissions to soil, water and air is another problem we need to address and solve.
Reducing the energy penalty for CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) is a challenge. Most of previous studies for CCS have been focused on power generation system. When CCS is included in the polygeneration system, a new methodology that jointly considering CCS and liquid fuel production should be introduced. In this paper, we proposed a new approach integrating CCS into a coal-based polygeneration system for power generation and methanol production: the syngas produced from the coal gasifier, without adjusting the composition (CO/H2 ratio) by shift reaction, is used to synthesis methanol directly. Moreover, the partial-recycle scheme, in which a part of unreacted gas is recycled back to the synthesis reactor, is adopted in the synthesis unit. Another part of unreacted gas is treated to remove CO2 , and then is used as clean fuel for the power generation subsystem. Compared to the conventional CCS approaches adopted by the power generation systems, the new approach is mainly characterized by two features: firstly, the combination of the removal of the composition adjustment process and a partial-recycle scheme can not only reduces the energy consumption for methanol production, but also obtains a high concentration of COX (CO and CO2 ) in the unreacted gas; secondly, the CO2 is captured from the unreacted gas, instead of from syngas generated by the gasifier. Due to increment of COX concentration, the new approach can reduce the energy consumption for CO2 capture compared to conventional pre-combustion CO2 capture. In the conventional coal based IGCC systems, the thermal efficiency is around 34-36% for a case with CO2 capture and around 44% for a case without CO2 capture. However, with the innovative approach integrating CCS, the polygeneration system in this paper can achieve the equivalent thermal efficiency as high as 47% when 72% of CO2 is recovered, which provides a significant improvement for CO2 capture. It’s clearly that the new approach can increase the thermal efficiency, instead of incurring an energy penalty for CO2 capture. The results achieved in this study have provided a new methodology integrating CO2 capture into the polygeneration system, which reveals the different characteristics compared to power-generation system that has been overlooked by the previous studies.
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