Negative Emission Energy Production Technologies: A Techno‐Economic and Life Cycle Analyses Review

Abstract

Negative emission technologies (NETs) are of growing importance for society to meet the atmospheric carbon levels required to maintain global temperatures under sustainable limits. A wide range of NETs have been proposed, but there are limited NET assessments that integrate life cycle analysis (LCA) and techno‐economic analysis (TEA). This Review gathers NET TEA/LCA findings and compares their costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Eight different NET‐producing transportation fuels and power‐generation technologies are considered: anaerobic digestion (lignocellulosic), fermentation, torrefaction, combustion, fast pyrolysis, gasification, and hydrothermal liquefaction. Most of these technologies sequester carbon either as carbon dioxide or as biochar. Some are carbon negative by virtue of avoided or displaced emissions. Overall, results indicate that NET energy production costs range between $20 and $80 GJ−1 and have emissions from −400 to 100 kg CO2,eq GJ−1. These results suggest that there are potential tradeoffs to consider when developing NETs. These results also show that future TEA/LCA studies of NETs are needed to decrease their uncertainty and improve their technology readiness level.

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

“…However, the authors concluded that a large scale deployment of these CDR technologies does not remove sufficient CO 2 to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Moreover, Li and Wright 31 presented a CDR technology review of the technoeconomic and life-cycle performance of biomass production pathways used for the production of transportation fuels and power generation technologies. Besides, Goglio et al 23 presented a review of the current challenges in LCAs related to Greenhouse Gas Removal Technologies (GGRTs), and gave useful recommendations for future LCAs.…”

Biofuels for Maritime Transportation: A Spatial, Techno-Economic, and Logistic Analysis in Brazil, Europe, South Africa, and the USA

“…In all regions, the highest biofuel production volumes were observed for HDPO. Notwithstanding, HDPO has not achieved commercial stage and is less mature than other biofuel technologies (Figure 21) [88][89][90][91][92][93]. Thus, investing in technologies that are closer to the commercialization stage in the near-to mid-term, may accelerate the uptake of maritime biofuels, despite their lower yields.…”

Geochemical Negative Emissions Technologies: Part I. Review

“…The importance of the system boundary, allocation/system expansion, data availability and accuracy, parameter uncertainty, permanence of CO 2 removal, and the need for common guidelines in LCAs for NETs has been also highlighted (McQueen et al, 2021b). In this regard, the integration of LCA with techno-economic analysis (TEA) can decrease NETs uncertainty and improve technology readiness levels (TRL) (Li and Wright, 2020).…”