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

• Published in: Clean technologies and environmental policy Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 573 - 581
• Main Authors: Aitken, Matthew L., Loughlin, Daniel H., Dodder, Rebecca S., Yelverton, William H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air pollution; Biomass; Biomass energy production; By products; Carbon capture and storage; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Clean technology; Coal; Costs; Crude oil prices; Decarburizing; Earth and Environmental Science; Electric power plants; Electricity generation; Emissions; Energy; Enhanced oil recovery; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental policy; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Industrial and Production Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Linear programming; Market penetration; Market shares; Markets; Original Paper; Policies; Pollutants; R&D; Research & development; Sensitivity analysis; Sustainable Development; Synthesis gas; Technology adoption; Carbon capture and sequestration; Fischer–Tropsch liquid fuels; Coal; Gasification; Biomass; MARKet ALlocation (MARKAL) energy system model; Electricity generation
• ISSN: 1618-954X; 1618-9558
• DOI: 10.1007/s10098-015-1020-z

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 CO 2 stream as an inherent byproduct of the process, most of the resulting GHG emissions can be eliminated by simply compressing the CO 2 for pipeline transport. Subsequent storage of the CO 2 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 CO 2 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 CO 2 to successfully compete in a carbon-constrained energy system.