Potential of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage
Published: 03:10 PM,Oct 20,2024 | EDITED : 07:10 PM,Oct 20,2024
With the global climate challenges we face, we are always looking for better ways to reduce our carbon footprint in our world. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), referring to a set of technologies designed to capture our CO2 emissions, has been a key step in our journey to net zero.
With over 30 large-scale facilities operating worldwide, we have the largest CCS facility in the form of the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL) in Canada with a capacity of at 14.6 million metric tonnes per year (Mtpa), and 1pointfive’s CCS efforts that include a focus on Direct Air Capture (DAC) projects such as the Stratos DAC facility in Texas, expected to be the world’s largest DAC plant with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of CO2 annually upon its completion in 2025.
Newer to the game, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) provides even more potential in accelerating this journey. Utilising organic biomass to generate bioenergy (such as heat, electricity or biofuels), and then capturing the CO2 emitted, just as is done in CSS, and storing it underground, preventing its release into the atmosphere. Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is a step up from our CSS efforts, enabling not just the prevention of future emissions but actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere by using biomass (plant materials) to generate its energy and, since plants absorb CO2 during growth, this already makes BECCS a carbon negative project.
While standard CSS relies on fossil fuels, BECCS leverages renewable biomass, making it a more long term sustainable solution.
This process can be scaled across different sectors and industries, for example, Drax power station (UK) is an example of BECCS at work, traditionally a coal-fired plant, converting some of its units to using biomass instead; burning wooden pellets from sustainably sourced forests to generate electricity. Similarly, the Stockholm Exergi in Sweden captures CO2 emissions using its forests to generate bioenergy as part of its broader plans to achieve carbon negativity by 2045.
The main difference between the two? BECCS offers the benefit of renewable energy generation and carbon removal, while CCS mainly reduces emissions from non-renewable sources.
No good thing comes without its challenges, and the key challenge of implementing BECCS is that bioenergy needs to be utilized in a sustainable manner for it to efficiently serve towards a low carbon energy future.
The large-scale implementation of BECCS requires a lot of land to grow bioenergy crops, which poses some challenges including competing with food production sources, deforestation, and increased use of water. This implies mindfully avoiding deforestation and competing with food production.
Some ideal crops for BECCS are those which have characteristics of high yield alongside reduced impact on the natural ecosystem and food production. Examples include perennial grasses such as the fast-growing miscanthus, or the high yielding (and soil improving) switchgrass.
Additionally, there are short rotation woody crops, ranging from fast growing willow and high yield poplar trees to the rapidly growing eucalyptus suitable for warmer climates.
Oil crops such as drought tolerant Jatropha or carbon sequestering Pongamia also provide good options as bioenergy crops. Agricultural and forestry residues such as corn stover and wheat straw are also good options. Algae is emerging as another potential source of bioenergy with their flexibility of growing on water and also their carbon sequestering features.
Although there are not yet any large-scale operational BECCS projects in the Gulf, as we continue to develop an urban ecosystem that supports our decarbonisation targets, it is inevitable that BECCS will have a role to play in future energy projects as infrastructure and expertise continue to evolve for CCS and bioenergy systems, particularly in industries such as hydrogen production and waste-to-energy and more.
With over 30 large-scale facilities operating worldwide, we have the largest CCS facility in the form of the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL) in Canada with a capacity of at 14.6 million metric tonnes per year (Mtpa), and 1pointfive’s CCS efforts that include a focus on Direct Air Capture (DAC) projects such as the Stratos DAC facility in Texas, expected to be the world’s largest DAC plant with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of CO2 annually upon its completion in 2025.
Newer to the game, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) provides even more potential in accelerating this journey. Utilising organic biomass to generate bioenergy (such as heat, electricity or biofuels), and then capturing the CO2 emitted, just as is done in CSS, and storing it underground, preventing its release into the atmosphere. Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is a step up from our CSS efforts, enabling not just the prevention of future emissions but actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere by using biomass (plant materials) to generate its energy and, since plants absorb CO2 during growth, this already makes BECCS a carbon negative project.
While standard CSS relies on fossil fuels, BECCS leverages renewable biomass, making it a more long term sustainable solution.
This process can be scaled across different sectors and industries, for example, Drax power station (UK) is an example of BECCS at work, traditionally a coal-fired plant, converting some of its units to using biomass instead; burning wooden pellets from sustainably sourced forests to generate electricity. Similarly, the Stockholm Exergi in Sweden captures CO2 emissions using its forests to generate bioenergy as part of its broader plans to achieve carbon negativity by 2045.
The main difference between the two? BECCS offers the benefit of renewable energy generation and carbon removal, while CCS mainly reduces emissions from non-renewable sources.
No good thing comes without its challenges, and the key challenge of implementing BECCS is that bioenergy needs to be utilized in a sustainable manner for it to efficiently serve towards a low carbon energy future.
The large-scale implementation of BECCS requires a lot of land to grow bioenergy crops, which poses some challenges including competing with food production sources, deforestation, and increased use of water. This implies mindfully avoiding deforestation and competing with food production.
Some ideal crops for BECCS are those which have characteristics of high yield alongside reduced impact on the natural ecosystem and food production. Examples include perennial grasses such as the fast-growing miscanthus, or the high yielding (and soil improving) switchgrass.
Additionally, there are short rotation woody crops, ranging from fast growing willow and high yield poplar trees to the rapidly growing eucalyptus suitable for warmer climates.
Oil crops such as drought tolerant Jatropha or carbon sequestering Pongamia also provide good options as bioenergy crops. Agricultural and forestry residues such as corn stover and wheat straw are also good options. Algae is emerging as another potential source of bioenergy with their flexibility of growing on water and also their carbon sequestering features.
Although there are not yet any large-scale operational BECCS projects in the Gulf, as we continue to develop an urban ecosystem that supports our decarbonisation targets, it is inevitable that BECCS will have a role to play in future energy projects as infrastructure and expertise continue to evolve for CCS and bioenergy systems, particularly in industries such as hydrogen production and waste-to-energy and more.