Cost and Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Implications of Integrating Biogas Upgrading and Carbon Capture Technologies in Cellulosic Biorefineries
Abstract
We discuss gaseous streams in biorefineries that have been undervalued and underutilized. In cellulosic biorefineries, coproduced biogas is assumed to be combusted alongside lignin to generate process heat and electricity. Biogas can instead be upgraded to compressed biomethane and used as a transportation fuel. Capturing CO2-rich streams generated in biorefineries can also contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation goals. We explore the economic and life-cycle GHG impacts of biogas upgrading and CO2 capture and storage (CCS) at ionic liquid-based cellulosic ethanol biorefineries using biomass sorghum. Without policy incentives, biorefineries with biogas upgrading systems can achieve a comparable minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) and reduced GHG footprint ($1.38/liter gasoline equivalent (LGE) and 12.9 gCO2e/MJ) relative to facilities that combust biogas onsite ($1.34/LGE and 24.3 gCO2e/MJ). Incorporating renewable identification number (RIN) values advantages facilities that upgrade biogas relative to other options (MESP of $0.72/LGE). Incorporating CCS increases the MESP but dramatically decreases the GHG footprint (-21.3 gCO2e/MJ for partial, -110.7 gCO2e/MJ for full CCS). The addition of CCS also decreases the cost of carbon mitigation to as low as $52-$78/t CO2, depending on the assumed fuel selling price, and is the lowest-cost option if both RIN and California's Low Carbon Fuel Standardmore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1841711
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; 1739676
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Science and Technology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 54; Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-936X
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 09 BIOMASS FUELS; biogas upgrading; carbon capture and storage (CCS); cellulosic biorefinery; renewable fuel policy; technoeconomic analysis; life-cycle assessment
Citation Formats
Yang, Minliang, Baral, Nawa Raj, Anastasopoulou, Aikaterini, Breunig, Hanna M., and Scown, Corinne D. Cost and Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Implications of Integrating Biogas Upgrading and Carbon Capture Technologies in Cellulosic Biorefineries. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c02816.
Yang, Minliang, Baral, Nawa Raj, Anastasopoulou, Aikaterini, Breunig, Hanna M., & Scown, Corinne D. Cost and Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Implications of Integrating Biogas Upgrading and Carbon Capture Technologies in Cellulosic Biorefineries. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02816
Yang, Minliang, Baral, Nawa Raj, Anastasopoulou, Aikaterini, Breunig, Hanna M., and Scown, Corinne D. Thu .
"Cost and Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Implications of Integrating Biogas Upgrading and Carbon Capture Technologies in Cellulosic Biorefineries". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02816. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1841711.
@article{osti_1841711,
title = {Cost and Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Implications of Integrating Biogas Upgrading and Carbon Capture Technologies in Cellulosic Biorefineries},
author = {Yang, Minliang and Baral, Nawa Raj and Anastasopoulou, Aikaterini and Breunig, Hanna M. and Scown, Corinne D.},
abstractNote = {We discuss gaseous streams in biorefineries that have been undervalued and underutilized. In cellulosic biorefineries, coproduced biogas is assumed to be combusted alongside lignin to generate process heat and electricity. Biogas can instead be upgraded to compressed biomethane and used as a transportation fuel. Capturing CO2-rich streams generated in biorefineries can also contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation goals. We explore the economic and life-cycle GHG impacts of biogas upgrading and CO2 capture and storage (CCS) at ionic liquid-based cellulosic ethanol biorefineries using biomass sorghum. Without policy incentives, biorefineries with biogas upgrading systems can achieve a comparable minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) and reduced GHG footprint ($1.38/liter gasoline equivalent (LGE) and 12.9 gCO2e/MJ) relative to facilities that combust biogas onsite ($1.34/LGE and 24.3 gCO2e/MJ). Incorporating renewable identification number (RIN) values advantages facilities that upgrade biogas relative to other options (MESP of $0.72/LGE). Incorporating CCS increases the MESP but dramatically decreases the GHG footprint (-21.3 gCO2e/MJ for partial, -110.7 gCO2e/MJ for full CCS). The addition of CCS also decreases the cost of carbon mitigation to as low as $52-$78/t CO2, depending on the assumed fuel selling price, and is the lowest-cost option if both RIN and California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits are incorporated.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.est.0c02816},
journal = {Environmental Science and Technology},
number = 20,
volume = 54,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Thu Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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