Can carbon capture and storage on small sources be profitable? An application to the ethanol sector
Résumé
CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) on small sources, especially on biomass sources, has gained little interest compared to larger fossil-fuel ones. However, the application of CCS to biomass facilities (BCCS) can lead to low or even negative emissions. In this paper, we study the option of adding CCS on a bioethanol plant in order to capture the CO2 released during the fermentation process. The objective is to study the influence of key factors that affect bioethanol-CCS profitability: production volumes, storage site injectivity and climate policy stringency. The tools used here are: the mitigation cost and the discount cash flow method. We showed that capturing on the fermentation step of the biofuel process is a profitable option under a 450 ppm target and under a 550 ppm target if the injectivity is higher than 100 000tCO2/yr. Moreover, the profitability doubles under the most stringent policy. The injectivity is an influent factor as it can allow economies of scale on the storage stage when larger volumes are treated. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.