Bioenergy With Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is a way to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.¹ It is considered by some to be a negative emissions technology and a necessary climate change solution. Advocates commend its potential for decarbonizing certain emissions-heavy industries and enabling negative emissions.² This is important because we need to massively curtail our CO2 emissions and reduce the carbon already in the atmosphere.³

However, there is just one commercial-scale BECCS facility in operation.⁴ The deployment of BECCS has been slow and, generally speaking, only a few projects operate worldwide.⁵ Why then do the majority of climate scientists include this technology in models showing how we can stay well below 2°C of global warming?⁶

What is BECCS?

Bioenergy

BECCS is a carbon reduction technology that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere.⁷ It works by first growing biomass, which is essentially any organic material.⁸ The main biomass for heat and power is wood. However, municipal wastes, agricultural residues, algae, palm, and other vegetable oils can also be used.⁹ 

The advantages of wood are that it is energy-dense and easier to collect, process and store than other products. Wood pellets are often preferred as they make transportation more convenient. On the other hand, wood takes much longer to grow.¹⁰

Carbon capture and storage to reach negative emissions

The next step is to burn the biomass to convert it into heat, electricity, liquid, or gas fuels.¹¹ Whichever biomass source is used, combustion will inevitably produce some carbon emissions. This is where the next phase of this technology comes in.

Carbon capture and storage (CCUS) technologies capture CO2. As a result, they prevent it from escaping into the Earth’s atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Instead, the CO2 is compressed for transportation. Then, it can be stored in geological formations or embedded in long-lasting products.¹²

Since the biomass used pulls in carbon from the atmosphere as it grows, BECCS can theoretically be a negative emissions technology. In other words, it can reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2. However, for this to work, the CO2 captured and stored must exceed the emissions caused by the process.¹³

How does it differ from other carbon capture technologies?

There are two other carbon capture technologies besides BECCS, CCUS, and direct air capture (DAC). Firstly, CCUS differs from BECCS because it captures CO2 from power plants and industrial facilities which burn fossil fuels.¹⁴ Since CCUS uses fossil fuels instead of biomass for combustion, there is no opportunity for CO2 to be absorbed by the fuel as it grows. This reduces its carbon negative potential. 

Secondly, it also differs from direct air capture. Unlike both CCUS and BECCS, DAC captures carbon directly from the air. It typically involves pulling air across a filter. The filter may be a liquid solvent or a solid sorbent.¹⁵

Either way, it uses chemicals, such as potassium hydroxide solution, to react with and absorb the CO2. The remaining air returns to the environment.¹⁶ The solvent or sorbent is then heated to release the CO2. This makes it ready for transportation. It also regenerates the hydroxide for reuse.¹⁷ However, it is energy-intensive to separate the CO2. 

Is BECCS carbon neutral?

It is widely assumed to be carbon neutral. This stems from a belief that the emissions released from harvesting the biomass for consumption will be replaced by the trees or plants that grow back. Of course, this depends on regrowing trees and crops post-harvest. Also, it depends on capturing the majority of the emissions caused by combustion.¹⁸ 

However, this simplistic conception fails to consider various factors that affect the balance between carbon in biomass and the atmosphere. For instance, clearing the land to grow trees or crops can cause CO2 emissions. Harvesting crops can cause significant carbon loss from the soil. Processing and transporting the biomass can be energy-intensive and, therefore, emissions-heavy. We must consider the carbon neutrality of BECCS with these factors in mind to fully understand the true climate change mitigation potential of this approach.¹⁹ 

Using trees as biomass

Additionally, it is important to compare the supposed carbon neutrality of BECCS with scenarios in which the biomass is not burned for energy. Regrowing biomass, such as trees, can take a long time to absorb equivalent quantities of carbon.²⁰ Older and larger trees absorb more CO2 than young seedlings. Trees accumulate carbon over time.²¹ But, they release this carbon when they are cut down, burned or left to rot.²²

Moreover, harvesting trees for their biomass prevents them from absorbing and storing further and increasingly large amounts of carbon. It also releases the carbon they have already sequestered. Planting new trees will not necessarily counterbalance this. Using wood to fuel BECCS may cause more emissions than leaving the trees to grow and sequester more carbon. It may be cheaper and better for the environment to stop deforestation and promote natural restoration.²³ 

Can BECCS help decarbonize cement production?

A key advantage of this technology is that it produces energy without using fossil fuels. It could replace hard-to-decarbonize sectors and help decrease the CO2 in the atmosphere.²⁴ For example, cement production is responsible for about eight per cent of global CO2 emissions. The chemical and thermal combustion processes which produce cement largely account for this pollution. But cement is also the most widely used construction material in the world.²⁵ Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage could provide an alternative to burning fossil fuels in the cement production process.

Fossil fuels and cement producers

Globally, cement producers have pledged to reduce their emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2030. That is a one gigatonne drop in emissions. Biomass currently supplies just six percent of the thermal energy for cement production.²⁶ Yet, it is possible to run cement plants on 90 percent non-fossil fuels.²⁷ Applying BECCS to the industry could help solve the problem. It would significantly reduce their emissions compared to the current practice of burning fossil fuels.

Norcem cement plant

Norway’s full-chain CCS plans to integrate BECCS into both a waste-to-energy and a cement plant.²⁸ Each plant intends to capture 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The gas will be transported by ship to a subsea reservoir in the North Sea for subterranean injection.²⁹ 

At present, Norcem is the only planned BECCS facility on a cement plant.³⁰ The project is not due to commence operations until 2023 or 2024.³¹ This highlights a key problem with BECCS: the lack of facilities currently in operation. 

BECCS facilities in operation

By 2019, just five BECCS facilities were in operation. Only one is a large-scale facility. Collectively they capture 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.³² The slow deployment of BECCS is typical of carbon capture projects in general. 

For example, worldwide, there are just 21 CCUS facilities in operation. They can capture and store about 40 million tonnes of CO2 each year. The International Energy Agency (IEA), IPCC, and other groups estimate that CCUS must mitigate 1.5 gigatonnes per annum by 2030. This is necessary to maintain a 1.5°C increase in climate trajectory. Achieving this target requires an increase in facility capacity by a factor of 35 from today. With only 20 additional projects under development, achieving this seems highly unlikely.³³

Moreover, 80 percent of the carbon captured by CCUS facilities is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).³⁴ EOR involves injecting CO2 into oil and gas reservoirs to obtain hard-to-reach hydrocarbons. Much of the CO2 stays underground. But, it also produces more fossil fuels.³⁵ The benefits of capturing and storing CO2 are nullified by using the product to obtain further carbon-heavy products.

Can BECCS help prevent global warming?

Advantages of BECCS

Like other CCUS technologies, BECCS has great potential to help prevent global warming. Using biomass as a fuel instead of coal, oil or natural gas reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Growing crops for combustion can also remove CO2 from the atmosphere as plants absorb it when they grow. Furthermore, capturing CO2 to prevent it from entering the atmosphere is a useful way of reducing the effects of climate change. 

Disadvantages of this technology

However, there are many disadvantages to BECCS, which make it less feasible as a counter to climate change. Deploying it at scale would require half the land currently taken up by global cropland for growing biomass.³⁶ Converting huge swathes of arable land to bioenergy crops could release carbon stored in soils or existing biomass. Likewise, it could also raise food prices, displace communities and threaten people’s livelihoods.³⁷

Is this the solution to climate change?

Most importantly, BECCS is simply not ready for mass deployment. There is just eight percent of the global carbon budget remaining. We are set to use it up in the next decade.³⁸ In short, there is no time for wishful thinking or theoretical solutions. A huge reduction in fossil fuel usage combined with increased protection and enhancement of our nature-based climate solutions is the only way to prevent climate change.

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