Economic and environmental evaluation of coal-and-biomass-to-liquids-and-electricity plants equipped with carbon capture and storage

Autor: Matthew L. Aitken, Daniel H. Loughlin, William H. Yelverton, Rebecca Dodder
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy. 18:573-581
ISSN: 1618-9558
1618-954X
DOI: 10.1007/s10098-015-1020-z
Popis: Among various clean energy technologies, one innovative option for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and criteria pollutants involves pairing carbon capture and storage (CCS) with the production of synthetic fuels and electricity from a combination of coal and sustainably sourced biomass. With a relatively pure CO2 stream as an inherent byproduct of the process, most of the resulting GHG emissions can be eliminated by simply compressing the CO2 for pipeline transport. Subsequent storage of the CO2 output in underground reservoirs can result in very low—perhaps even near-zero—net GHG emissions, depending on the fraction of biomass as input and its CO2 signature. To examine the potential market penetration and environmental impact of coal-and-biomass-to-liquids-and-electricity (CBtLE), a system-wide sensitivity analysis was performed using the MARKet ALlocation energy model. CBtLE was found to be most competitive in scenarios with a combination of high oil prices, low CCS costs, and, unexpectedly, non-stringent carbon policies. In the scheme considered here (30 % biomass input on an energy basis and 85 % carbon capture), CBtLE fails to achieve significant market share in deep decarbonization scenarios, regardless of oil prices and CCS costs. Such facilities would likely require higher fractions of biomass feedstock and captured CO2 to successfully compete in a carbon-constrained energy system.
Databáze: OpenAIRE