Carbon dioxide direct air capture for effective climate change mitigation based on renewable electricity: a new type of energy system sector coupling

• Published in: Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 43 - 65
• Main Authors: Breyer, Christian, Fasihi, Mahdi, Aghahosseini, Arman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.01.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 2018; Atmospheric Sciences; Biospheric Storage; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide removal; Climate change; Climate Change Management and Policy; Climate change mitigation; Cost analysis; cost effectiveness; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Electricity; Electricity pricing; Energy industry; Energy policy; Energy resources; Energy sources; Energy transition; Environmental Management; Global climate; Global temperatures; Gothenburg May 22-24; Heat; Heat exchangers; Heat pumps; including: BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage; Low cost; Low temperature; Maghreb; Mitigation; Modelling; Modelling and Incentives and Policy; Nets; Original Article; Other Negative Emission Technologies; Paris Agreement; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaics; Removal; Renewable energy; Renewable resources; Resource management; Scaling; Solar cells; Solar energy; Sorbents; Spatial discrimination; Spatial resolution; Temperature; Topical Collection on 1st International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Wind power; Maghreb; Maghreb; Negative emission technology; CO; direct air capture; Energy transition; 100% renewable energy
• DOI: 10.1007/s11027-019-9847-y
• ISSN: 1381-2386

Pathways for achieving the 1.5–2 °C global temperature moderation target imply a massive scaling of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) removal technologies, in particular in the 2040s and onwards. CO 2 direct air capture (DAC) is among the most promising negative emission technologies (NETs). The energy demands for low-temperature solid-sorbent DAC are mainly heat at around 100 °C and electricity, which lead to sustainably operated DAC systems based on low-cost renewable electricity and heat pumps for the heat supply. This analysis is carried out for the case of the Maghreb region, which enjoys abundantly available low-cost renewable energy resources. The energy transition results for the Maghreb region lead to a solar photovoltaic (PV)-dominated energy supply with some wind energy contribution. DAC systems will need the same energy supply structure. The research investigates the levelised cost of CO 2 DAC (LCOD) in high spatial resolution and is based on full hourly modelling for the Maghreb region. The key results are LCOD of about 55 €/t CO2 in 2050 with a further cost reduction potential of up to 50%. The area demand is considered and concluded to be negligible. Major conclusions for CO 2 removal as a new energy sector are drawn. Key options for a global climate change mitigation strategy are first an energy transition towards renewable energy and second NETs for achieving the targets of the Paris Agreement.