Life-Cycle and Techno-Economic Assessment of Early-Stage Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies—A Discussion of Current Challenges and Best Practices

Abstract

The mitigation of climate change requires research, development, and deployment of new technologies that are not only economically viable but also environmentally benign. Systematic and continuous technology assessment from early technology maturity onwards allows assessment practitioners to identify economic and environmental characteristics. With this information, decision-makers can focus time and resources on the most promising technologies. A broad toolset for technology assessment exists—stretching from the well-established life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to more loosely defined techno-economic analysis (TEA) methods and the increasingly popular principles of technology maturity assessment such as the concept of technology readiness levels (TRL). However, current technology assessment practice faces various challenges at early stages, resulting in a potential mismatch of study results and stakeholders' needs and an escalation of assessment effort. In this practice review, we outline current challenges in the interplay of LCA, TEA, and TRL and present best practices for assessing early-stage climate change mitigation technologies in the field of carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The findings help practitioners systematically identify the TRL of a technology and adapt technology assessment methodologies accordingly. We highlight the methodological challenges for practitioners when adapting the goal and scope, identifying benchmark technologies, creating a comprehensive inventory, comparing early stage to commercial stage, ensuring clarity of recommendations for decision-making under high uncertainty, and streamlining conventional LCA and TEA assessment approaches and provide actionable recommendations. Overall, this work contributes to identifying promising technologies faster and more systematically, accelerating the development of new technologies for climate change mitigation and beyond.

Global biomethane and carbon dioxide removal potential through anaerobic digestion of waste biomass

“…The technical analysis contains an evaluation of the technical feasibility and capacity of the technology in the supply chain. Data for the technical readiness level was collected from previous literature [114][115][116][117][118] (table S1). The economic analysis of biomethane in different regions covers the costs of multiple processes in the biogas production, including the costs of feedstock, anaerobic digestion technology, and biogas upgrading (table S2).…”

“…We assessed the techno-economic potential of biomethane from waste biomass. Anerobic digestion and biogas upgrading technologies have reached full commercial maturity [114][115][116], while carbon dioxide capture, transport, and permanent storage span the full range of technological readiness, with high readiness in conventional onshore CO 2 injection and CO 2 storage in saline formations and through enhanced oil recovery [117,118] (table S1). The global average biomethane production cost is $66 MWh −1 ($ represents US dollar) [19].…”

Remanufacturing Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules–A Holistic Case Study

“…This mostly concerns stability issues, resulting in low lifetimes, and inhomogeneous deposition, which limit the power conversion efficiency (PCE) on larger substrates . While current large research efforts are dedicated to overcome these issues, methods for perovskite recycling or remanufacturing should likewise be considered and evaluated before eventual commercial production, as such assessments can potentially guide the development of technologies in the direction of high recyclability and low environmental impact. , …”

“…As commercial PSM production currently does not exist, its environmental impacts cannot yet be accurately measured or compared to incumbent PV technologies such as silicon or cadmium telluride (CdTe). In order to approximate such a comparison, the production process of an early-stage technology (in this case, PSMs) is often forecasted to represent a commercial stage …”

Stoichiometry-Based Estimation of Climate Impacts of Emerging Chemical Processes: Method Benchmarking and Recommendations

“…During early research, in particular, data for a process’s mass and energy flows is scarce as detailed simulations or measurements from real plants are unavailable. , Moreover, even many commonly produced chemicals are not yet included in LCI databases, thus limiting data availability in the background system. Due to this consistent lack of data, practitioners are usually forced to rely on estimations to close data gaps.…”