Environmental assessment of biomass gasification combined heat and power plants with absorptive and adsorptive carbon capture units

Gabriel David Oreggioni, Bhawna Singh, Francesco Cherubini, Geoffrey Guest, Carine Lausselet, Mauro Luberti, Hyungwoong Ahn, Anders Stromann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Negative emissions through carbon capture processes integrated
with bioenergy plants are frequently seen as an important option to
stabilise climate at low temperature levels for reaching the two degree
target in a cost effective way. Climate neutrality of biogenic CO2
emissions is commonly assumed while assessing credits for these systems
however this simplification may cause an overestimation of climate
benefits for long rotation period woody biomass fuelled plants (time gap
between emitted and sequestrated CO2). Carbon capture processes and
associated increase of material and energy demand can lead to
environmental trade-offs due to higher values for other mid-point impacts
while reducing climate change potential.
In this work, a comparative life cycle assessment study is undertaken.
Three configurations have been analysed: i) a combined heat and power
(CHP) gasification plant (BGP); ii) BGP with pre-combustion adsorptive
carbon capture unit (ADS); and iii) BGP with post combustion absorptive
carbon capture unit (ABS).
For both configurations in which CCS processes are incorporated, negative
values for the CCP (climate change potential) are reported. A decrease of
144.7 % is observed for ADS and a reduction of 200.6% is estimated for
ABS, when employing specially modelled characterisation factors that take
into account the temporal asymmetry between CO2 emission and removal
fluxes. Higher life cycle values in comparison with BGP are obtained for
other selected stressors (CO2, NOx, PM , NH3 and H2S) and environmental
mid point impacts (FDP, TAP,PMFP and HTP). The adsorptive case exhibits a
rise between 20-30% for these indicators meanwhile an increase between 5-
90% has been observed for the CHP plant with post combustion MEA.
Specific stressors and environmental impacts per unit of captured CO2
have also been estimated and lower values are observed for the adsorptive
carbon capture unit.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)162-172
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Volume57
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2017

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