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Publish date: August 8, 2011
Written by: Eivind Hoff
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The study only looks into the two largest types of potential bio-CCS applications: Combining CCS with biomass combustion for heat and electricity, and biomass conversion to fuels.
‘The combination actually removes CO2 from the atmosphere,’ says Joris Koornneef from Ecofys in a press release. ‘The biomass extracts CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and the CCS takes out the CO2 released in the energy conversion process’.
Power plants and biofuels in the future could thus achieve a negative greenhouse gas balance, in other words become ‘carbon negative’. There are also other sectors where bio-CCS could play a role, e.g. in ammonia production.
In addition to the technical potential and the ‘realisable’ potential (taking account of energy demand scenarios), the ‘Ecofys report also makes an assessment of the economically feasible bio-CCS potential in power and transport: This could exceed 3 billion tonnes/year in negative CO2 emissions by 2050, but is highly sensitive to the CO2 emission price. The cheapest bio-CCS application in the short term will be in bio-ethanol production, but the carbon negative potential is greater when the biomass is allocated to power plants.
‘The report shows that the sustainable supply of biomass, rather than CO2 storage potential, will be the main limiting factor to bio-CCS. It reminds us of how crucial it is to develop new sources of biomass that can be scaled up massively,’ says Eivind Hoff from Bellona Europa. The Bellona Foundation is one of the partners in the Sahara Forest Project, which aims to develop biomass production in desert areas, using salt water.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.