Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage
What is BECCS?
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS, involves capturing and permanently storing CO2 from processes where biomass is converted into fuels or directly burned to generate energy. Because plants absorb CO2 as they grow, this is a way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
What is the role of BECCS in clean energy transitions?
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage is the only carbon dioxide removal technique that can also provide energy. Because bioenergy can provide high-temperature heat and fuels that work in existing engines, BECCS plays an important role in decarbonising sectors such as heavy industry, aviation and trucking in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario.
Where do we need to go?
While encouraging, plans for BECCS deployment remain insufficient across all sectors to get on track with the Net Zero Scenario. Development of the necessary infrastructure to transport and store the captured CO2 also lags behind what is needed in this scenario, despite growing support in recent years.
Tracking Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage
(BECCS) involves any energy pathway where CO2 is captured from a biogenic source and permanently stored. Only around 2 Mt of biogenic CO2 is currently captured per year, mainly in bioethanol applications.
Based on projects currently in the early and advanced stages of deployment, capture on biogenic sources could reach around 60 Mt CO2/yr by 2030, which falls far short of the approximately 185 Mt CO2/yr captured from biogenic sources by 2030 in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario. Targeted support for carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and BECCS in particular, will be required to translate recent momentum into operational capacity.
The United States launches a first-of-its-kind purchasing programme for CDR, while funding support and certification efforts emerge in Europe
The United States launches a first-of-its-kind purchasing programme for CDR, while funding support and certification efforts emerge in Europe
Countries and regions making notable progress to advance BECCS include:
- Denmark, where two combined heat and power plants with the capacity to remove more than 0.4 Mt CO2 per year by 2026 were awarded a contract by the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) in May 2023 as part of the carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) subsidy scheme, and started construction. In April 2024, the DEA also awarded contracts to three BECCS projects as part of a DKK 2.6 billion (EUR 350 million) subsidy scheme targeted at negative emissions (the Negative Emissions CCS [NECCS] fund).
- In Europe, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement in February 2024 on the Carbon Removals Certification Framework.
- In the United States, where a new capture facility was commissioned at the Blue Flint bioethanol plant in North Dakota, the federal government launched a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pilot purchasing programme, where the federal government will enter into offtake agreements with CDR providers, including BECCS.
- In the United Kingdom, the government published its response in March 2023 to a public consultation on the development of a BECCS business model in the power sector.
Despite increasing awareness around the importance of BECCS for reaching net zero, deployment remains low
Despite increasing awareness around the importance of BECCS for reaching net zero, deployment remains low
BECCS and direct air capture (DAC) with CO2 storage are technology-based solutions for CDR, required to meet net zero ambitions. BECCS is the only CDR technique that can also provide energy. Biogenic sources used for BECCS can be process emissions resulting from biofuel and biohydrogen production, or combustion emissions from heat and power generation in power plants, waste-to-energy plants and industrial applications fired or co-fired by biomass (cement, pulp and paper) or using biochar as a reducing agent (steel). As an alternative to storage, the captured CO2 can also be utilised as a feedstock for a range of products. While some carbon capture and utilisation routes can bring important climate benefits, CO2 removal can only be achieved through permanent storage.
Around 2 Mt CO2 per year are currently captured from biogenic sources, with less than 1 Mt CO2 stored in dedicated storage. Around 90% is captured in bioethanol facilities, one of the lowest-cost BECCS applications due to the high concentration of CO2 in the process gas stream. The largest operating BECCS project to date is the Illinois Industrial CCS Project, which has been capturing CO2for permanent storage in a deep geological formation since 2018. The Red Trail Energy and Blue Flint bioethanol plants, the second and third in the United States targeting dedicated storage, came online in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Other small-scale bioethanol facilities are capturing CO2 in Europe and the United States, but these either sell the CO2 to greenhouses for yield boosting or use it for enhanced oil recovery.
While bioethanol is currently the leading BECCS application, more projects in power and industry are expected to come online
Around 70 additional bioethanol facilities are planned to come online before 2030 (including 57 as part of the Midwest Carbon Express project in the United States), totalling just under 20 Mt of biogenic CO2 capture capacity.
Project announcements in the past three years suggest that the BECCS project pipeline is diversifying, with proportionally more capture projects being announced in heat and power, hydrogen and cement:
- Around 30 Mt of biogenic CO2 could be captured from heat and power plants by 2030, with over 80% from dedicated biopower plants, and the remainder from waste-to-energy plants. In Denmark, construction started on two combined heat and power plants after these were awarded a contract by the Danish Energy Agency in 2023 as part of its CCUS subsidy scheme
- In industry, seven cement plants have announced plans to integrate biomass feedstock in the clinker production process and retrofit CCUS. Most cement plants planning to use biomass and carbon capture and storage aim to be at best carbon neutral, rather than carbon negative, due to either partial capture rates or partial biomass substitution for fossil fuels. These include the Brevik Norcem plant in Norway currently under construction, the Go4ECOPlanet project in Poland, the Edmonton cement plant in Canada, the Padeswood cement plant in the United Kingdom, and the GeZero carbon capture project in Germany, all at advanced stages of development.
- Three projects are also targeting CCUS retrofits at pulp and paper mills, including one feasibility announced in 2023 at the Hokuetsu pulp plant, as part of the East Niigata area CCS hub.
- There are plans for five hydrogen facilities to run partly or fully on biomass with CCUS, with two additional facilities announced in 2023 in the United States.
While encouraging, plans for BECCS deployment remain insufficient across all sectors to get on track with the NZE Scenario. By 2030, in that scenario around 45 Mt/yr is removed in the power sector, 120 Mt/yr in the fuel transformation sector and around 25 Mt/yr in industry, mainly cement, with nearly 190 Mt captured in total – around three times higher than the ~60 Mt in the project pipeline.
Targeted support will also be required to ensure all projects in planning reach commissioning. Close to 15% of total planned BECCS capacity hinges on the Drax power plant in the UK securing governmental support, after their shortlisted 8 Mt CO2 per year project was not selected in the government cluster sequencing Track-1 project list. The company nonetheless continues to lead BECCS developments, with two new facilities in the United States with a cumulative capture capacity of 6 Mt CO2 per year by 2030 announced in May 2023, and more projects under evaluation.
Lead times for BECCS projects depend heavily on the application and destination of the CO2
Lead times for BECCS projects depend heavily on the application and destination of the CO2
Project experience in bioethanol and biopower plants equipped with CCUS suggests that project lead times on the capture side can range from 1.5 to 6.5 years, averaging 3.5 years. However, lead times depend strongly on the application and destination of the CO2. The first two plants involving storage that are in operation today – both bioethanol plants in the United States – took around seven years to complete (including the construction of transport and storage infrastructure). In contrast, projects involving the use of captured CO2 were completed in less than four years.
Bioethanol plants tend to involve shorter lead times than bio-based power applications. Lead times can be as short as one to two years for bioethanol plants, as they only require the installation of CO2 drying and compression units, which are less capital-intensive than full capture units. Given that current facilities are first- or second-of-a-kind, lead times will most likely shorten as deployment increases. In the United States, the lead time for retrofitting the second bioethanol facility with CCS was one year shorter than for the first, while that for the third was 2.5 years shorter.
As the deployment of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure is currently an important bottleneck, the deployment of large CCUS hubs can help accelerate lead times for BECCS facilities in the longer term. Given the long lead times involved in the deployment of large CO2 management infrastructure, investment decisions are needed in the next couple of years to get on track with deployment in 2030 envisaged in the NZE Scenario.
Some BECCS routes are commercial, but the most critical are still at the demonstration or pilot stage
Some BECCS routes are commercial, but the most critical are still at the demonstration or pilot stage
CO2 capture from first-generation bioethanol production is the most mature BECCS route, with operations dating back to the late 2000s. CO2 capture at biomass combustion plants has been at the commercial demonstration stage since October 2020 with the commissioning of a capture unit at Mikawa power station in Japan, but large-scale gasification of biomass for synthetic gas applications is still at the large prototype stage.
In industry, biomass co-firing is already commercial in pulp and paper mills, cement plants, and steel blast furnaces. However, CO2 capture from kilns and blast furnace off-gas is still at the prototype or demonstration stage, though the world’s first commercial CO2 capture unit on a cement kiln is under construction, for commissioning in 2025.
Technology readiness level of selected BECCS pathways
OpenInnovation in capture and biomass conversion technologies can make BECCS more effective
Chemical absorption is the state-of-the-art capture method, but other capture technologies with a lower energy requirement are at various stages of development. UK power company Drax has been piloting a solid-adsorption capture pilot using metal organic frameworks in its North Yorkshire incubation hub since March 2022. Work to demonstrate large-scale biomass gasification for synthesis gas applications is also under way, seeking to reduce capital costs and increase feedstock flexibility. Projects include one on woody biomass for biomethane production in Sweden, and one on waste in the United Kingdom.
Targeted subsidy programmes and certification frameworks are supporting BECCS
Targeted subsidy programmes and certification frameworks are supporting BECCS
Policy approaches to CDR solutions require a high degree of transparency to demonstrate clear climate benefits and ensure trust from stakeholders. Internationally recognised frameworks are needed to support the integration of CDR, including BECCS, into existing regulations.
In Europe, the the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement in February 2024 on the Carbon Removals Certification Framework, an EU-wide voluntary framework for certifying carbon removals. The regulation establishes EU quality criteria and outlines monitoring and reporting processes in order to facilitate investment in carbon removal technologies, including BECCS.
The United States launched a USD 35 million carbon dioxide removal (CDR) purchase pilot prize in September 2023, a public procurement mechanism that will provide cash awards in the form of offtake agreements from the federal government to companies across different removal pathways, including BECCS.
In Denmark, the NECCS Fund provides up to DKK 2.6 billion (EUR 350 million) in subsidies to support negative emissions from CO2 capture of biogenic sources and subsequent geological storage, with the aim of achieving negative emissions of an additional 0.5 Mt per year from 2025 onwards. The Danish Energy Agency opened a tender for the NECCS Fund in 2023, and awarded three contracts to BECCS projects in April 2024.
In the United Kingdom, the government published its response in March 2023 to a public consultation on the development of a BECCS business model in the power sector. The response confirmed the government’s intention to develop an overarching contractual framework and dual contract for difference payment mechanism for large-scale power BECCS.
Investment in BECCS is growing across applications
Investment in BECCS is growing across applications
Funding is targeting the RD&D of various BECCS applications, as well as specific commercial projects:
- In the European Union, the Horizon Europe funding programme for research and innovation aims to open a tender in September 2024 for BECCS and DAC projects. The deadline to submit proposals is set for January 2025.
- In Denmark, the first tender of the CCUS subsidy scheme released in May 2023 awarded funds to a 0.4 Mt per year BECCS project that is planning to capture CO2 at two biomass-fired power stations for dedicated storage.
- In the United States, in February 2024 around USD 100 million was announced for CDR pilot projects, including BECCS.
We would like to thank the following external reviewer:
We would like to thank the following external reviewer:
Jasmin Kemper, IEA Greenhouse gas R&D programme (IEAGHG), Reviewer
Recommendations
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While investment in low-cost BECCS applications, such as bioethanol, is gaining momentum, the current policy landscape is insufficient to address barriers to higher-cost applications, such as in power and industry. Governments can support cost reductions in these higher-cost applications through a range of policy instruments to de-risk investment: tax credits, grants, contracts-for-difference, loans and loan guarantees, and RD&D funding.
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Steps in the BECCS value chain (biomass supply, feedstock preprocessing, bioenergy facilities, and CO2 storage sites) are rarely co-located, which means additional and distinct infrastructure to connect these steps is required.
Successful deployment of BECCS at scale would require the co-ordinated development of each component of the supply chain. Governments and the private sector have an important role in this regard. Opportunities that maximise the removal and mitigation potential of BECCS while limiting its economic, environmental and social costs can be identified through the mapping and matching of sustainable biomass supply, existing bioenergy facilities, industrial clusters and potential CO2 storage sites.
Focusing on biomass facilities within industrial clusters can help leverage economies of scale and aggregation. For example, in the United States, the Midwest Carbon Express project plans to connect 57 bioethanol plants with a pipeline network across 5 states.
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Companies will need to limit the impacts of producing, transporting and pretreating sustainable biomass. Key considerations when retrofitting larger coal plants to accept biomass, or building new biomass facilities, include:
- life cycle CO2 emissions and energy use of biomass supply and BECCS plant operation
- land use change
- effects on the natural carbon cycle and biodiversity
- fuel-food and fibre production balance
The composition of the biomass feedstock is also an important consideration and can affect the performance of the retrofitted plants, so ensuring the quality of the biomass feedstock is essential. Gasification can accept a wider range of feedstock quality, which means nearby agricultural residues and wastes can be used.
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Carbon markets have the potential to complement existing policy tools and support accelerated CDR deployment. In recent years, voluntary carbon markets have provided significant support for CDR projects. Voluntary carbon credits offer large geographical and sectoral flexibility where they are implemented.
Only a handful of domestic compliance markets have regulations that allow for the use of carbon removal activities as a compliance option. Where applicable, governments should assess the role of CDR approaches in domestic compliance markets.
Regardless of whether BECCS projects seek to access voluntary or compliance markets, one clear priority should be the development of internationally agreed methodologies and accounting frameworks for CDR approaches. Key areas of focus include:
- Accounting and verification of the feedstock biogenic carbon content in waste-to-energy and co-firing applications.
- The permanence of CO2 storage and reversal risk.
- CDR credit allocation across multi-stakeholder, cross-boundary BECCS value chains.
Lead authors
Mathilde Fajardy
Carl Greenfield