Techno-economic assessment of alternative fuels in second-generation carbon capture and storage processes

• Published in: Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 149 - 164
• Main Authors: Haaf, Martin, Ohlemüller, Peter, Ströhle, Jochen, Epple, Bernd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 2018; Alternative energy sources; Alternative fuels; Atmosphere; Atmospheric Sciences; bioenergy; Biomass; Biospheric Storage; Calcium; Carbon capture and storage; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide concentration; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon dioxide removal; Carbon monoxide; Carbon sequestration; Carbon sources; Climate change; Climate Change Management and Policy; coal; Combustion; Cost analysis; Earth; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth atmosphere; Earth Sciences; Economic analysis; Economic conditions; Economics; energy; Energy consumption; Energy resources; Energy storage; Environmental Management; Feasibility studies; Fluidized bed combustion; Frameworks; Fuels; global change; Gothenburg May 22-24; greenhouse gas emissions; heat; including: BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage; International organizations; Mass balance; Modelling and Incentives and Policy; Organic chemistry; Original Article; Other Negative Emission Technologies; Paris Agreement; Reduction; Removal; Renewable energy; Renewable energy sources; Renewable resources; Resource management; Topical Collection on 1st International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Waste utilization; Economics; CCS; BECCS; CLC; CaL; Alternative fuels
• ISSN: 1381-2386; 1573-1596
• DOI: 10.1007/s11027-019-09850-z

Several technical methods are currently discussed to meet the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 21st Conference of the Parties, Paris, France (Paris Agreement) in terms of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere. In addition to efficiency improvements, reduction of energy consumption, and the utilization of renewable energy sources, the application of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies seems to be unavoidable. Whereas all these measures aim on the reduction of CO 2 that is being newly released, there is the approach to remove CO 2 from the atmosphere that has already been emitted. This can be achieved by the utilization of bioenergy in CCS processes. Within this paper, the utilization of alternative fuels in two second-generation CCS processes is assessed. In this regard, chemical looping combustion (CLC) and calcium looping (CaL) are two promising technologies. Both processes have proven their feasibility already in semi-industrial scale. The assessment includes three different types of fuel namely coal, biomass, and solid recovered fuel (SRF). The analysis is twofold: first, a heat and mass balance calculation reveals the specific CO 2 emissions of each power system; second, a cost analysis points out the feasibility from an economic point of view. The highest CO 2 removal can be achieved by a biomass-fired CLC unit (− 696 g CO2 /kWh e ). Furthermore, it was found that the co-combustion of SRF even at moderate co-firing rates allows for noteworthy improved economics of the CCS system. Therefore, the utilization of waste-derived fuels in the context of CCS processes should be put more into focus in future research activities.