Life cycle assessment of carbon capture

Date:
November 9, 2021
Source:
Technical University of Denmark
Summary:
Life cycle assessment of carbon capture at incineration plants
shows that despite some drawbacks, the net result is a clear
advantage for the climate.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, carbon capture is
mentioned as a possible technology. CO2 can, for example, be captured
from large industrial companies and from incineration plants.


========================================================================== However, like all other technologies, carbon capture leaves its own
imprint on the outside world. DTU Environment has therefore conducted a
life cycle analysis, which has systematically assessed the impact from a possible carbon capture plant installed at the Amager Bakke incineration
plant in Copenhagen.

Not just from the pilot plant currently installed by DTU, but from a
plant that would cover the entire Amager Bakke facility. The assessment
has made it possible to examine the advantages and disadvantages of the
carbon capture plant from the point of view of the climate impact.

Amager Bakke incineration plant burns, among other things, household waste
that has not been sorted for recycling. The energy generated is used to
produce electricity and heat. During incineration, CO2 is released from
the waste, which includes food waste and textiles.

Energy production changing The focus of the life cycle assessment has
been to investigate the impact of the carbon capture plant on the energy generated by the incineration plant as well as other environmental
impacts. The analysis looked at a number of waste composition scenarios.

"Carbon capture reduces CO2 emissions from the incineration
plant. However, electricity production is reduced by approx. 50 per
cent. For some incineration plants, this would have a considerable impact
on their overall CO2 accounts, but at Amager Bakke, the steam from the
carbon capture in fact increases the heat output utilized in the district heating system by 20 per cent. The overall net energy efficiency is thus
not affected, but there is a shift from less electricity to more heat," explains Assistant Professor Valentina Bisinella, DTU Environment,
who carried out the analysis.

Transport and storage may result in emissions The other drawbacks for
the climate highlighted by the analysis are primarily associated with
the transport and storage of the captured CO2 in the subsoil.

These activities may cause unintentional emissions of the greenhouse
gas into the atmosphere, while sea transport also causes CO2 emissions.

"Even when factoring in the CO2 emissions that may occur both during
transport and storage in the subsoil, carbon capture clearly results in
net climate benefits," says Valentina Bisinella.

In the past, Valentina Bisinella has conducted life cycle analyses
of incineration plants across Europe, leading to the same overall
conclusions.

Those analyses also included the recycling of the captured CO2, which
currently only takes place at three incineration plants in the world, two
in the Netherlands and one in Japan. Use of the captured CO2 to produce,
for example, chemicals and fuels such as methanol and DME would naturally increase the overall climate gain further, provided there is access to
green electricity.

Such use may also be an option for Amager Bakke in the future.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Technical_University_of_Denmark. Original written by Anne Kirsten
Frederiksen. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. V. Bisinella, J. Nedenskov, Christian Riber, Tore Hulgaard,
Thomas H.

Christensen. Environmental assessment of amending the Amager
Bakke incineration plant in Copenhagen with carbon capture
and storage. Waste Management & Research: The Journal for
a Sustainable Circular Economy, 2021; 0734242X2110481 DOI:
10.1177/0734242X211048125 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211109120312.htm

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