Market Potential for CO₂ Removal and Sequestration from Renewable Natural Gas Production in California

Abstract

Bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) is critical for stringent climate change mitigation but is commercially and technologically immature and resource intensive. State and federal fuel and climate policies can drive first markets for BECCS in California. We develop a spatially explicit optimization model to assess niche markets for renewable natural gas (RNG) production with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) from waste biomass in California. Existing biomass residues produce biogas and RNG and enable low-cost CCS through the upgrading process and CO2 truck transport. Under current state and federal policy incentives, RNG-CCS can avoid 12.4 mmtCO2e/year (3% of California’s 2018 CO2 emissions), of which 2.9 mmtCO2/year are captured and sequestered. It simultaneously produces 93 PJ RNG/year (4% of California’s 2018 natural gas demand) with a profit maximizing objective, resulting in profits of $11/GJ. Distributed RNG production with CCS can potentially catalyze markets and technologies for CO2 capture, transport, and storage in California.

Harvested winter rye energy cover crop: multiple benefits for North Central US

“…Generating biogas from energy CCs in the five-state region could yield roughly 7.5 million Mg CO 2 yr −1 (2.0 million Mg of C; table 2), which could be used in the food and beverage industry (e.g. meat processing, food preservation, beverage carbonation) or stored in underground geologic reservoirs (Sandalow et al 2021, Farghali et al 2022, Herbstritt et al 2022, Wong et al 2022. Pipelines are proposed across the North Central US to transport CO 2 captured from ethanol and other industrial facilities to locations where it can be geologically sequestered (Eller 2021).…”

“…While conventional unharvested CCs provide numerous ecosystem services, harvesting the biomass has additional benefits (Blanco-Canqui et al 2020). These benefits include reduced nitrogen (N) loss in leaching and subsurface-drained corn-soybean systems (Heggenstaller et al 2008, Launay et al 2022, potential for terrestrial carbon (C) storage (Ramcharan and Richard 2017, Valli et al 2017, Laboubee 2018, Dale et al 2020, fossil fuel substitution (Herbstritt et al 2022), and low-cost C capture and sequestration during biogas production (Wong et al 2022). Potential revenue from energy CCs could also incentivize CC adoption (Plastina 2020, Herbstritt et al 2022.…”

Policy Analysis of CO2 Capture and Sequestration with Anaerobic Digestion for Transportation Fuel Production

“…This fact demonstrates the importance of considering a fully integrated LCA-TEA because this level of detail is missed from studies examining CCS in isolation 40 or using oversimplified regressions predicting cost and performance. 1,13 For the Biogas to EV (CCS) design, CCS includes a 3-stage membrane separation unit, a CO 2 liquefaction unit, and tube trucks for transporting liquefied CO 2 . For the Biogas to CNG (CCS) design, a 3-stage membrane separation train is already included, so CCS includes only liquefaction and trucks.…”

“…Anaerobic digestion (AD) of food and dairy waste with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) can generate carbon-negative heat, electricity, and fuels while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions from waste decomposition . The state of California’s ambitious climate and waste management policies support new markets for these processes. − The state’s low-carbon fuels standard (LCFS) drives the production of low-carbon and carbon-negative fuels, including those that deploy CCS. , Furthermore, existing federal policies such as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which operates through the generation of tradeable RIN credits, and policies in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 augment valorization of AD-CCS processes through investment tax credits (ITCs) and an expanded 45Q tax credit for carbon sequestration.…”

“…Only a few existing techno-economic analyses of AD facilities include biogas upgrading and sequestration of the captured CO 2 . , Only one study considered CO 2 sequestration with AD in CA, but electricity generation for EVs was not examined, and an energy balance was not performed. Moreover, generalized cost correlations and constant performance were assumed for CCS without considering power requirements . For other process components, power needs were assumed to be met by purchasing grid power.…”