Techno-economic Analysis of Biomass-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal Process

[Geoengineering News]

https://chemrxiv.org/doi/abs/10.26434/chemrxiv.15006279/v1

Authors: Aratrika Ghose, Matthew M. Mettler, Timothy A. Barckholtz, Xiaozhou Zhang, Paul J. Dauenhauer, and Prodromos Daoutidis 

20 July 2026

https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.15006279/v1

Abstract

Abstract. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes are a suite of approaches for removing and storing atmospheric CO2. In this work, a techno-economic analysis was performed for a CDR process utilizing low temperature pyrolysis of biomass to sequester carbon as solid char. A simplified product mixture was modeled to predict biomass pyrolysis yields at different temperatures based on their C-H-O composition; this was incorporated into a process simulation in Aspen Plus V14.0 to generate mass and energy balances. The equipment costs were calculated using Aspen Capital Cost Estimator V14.0 for a 2000 dry MT biomass per day facility processing woody feedstock containing 30 wt% moisture. A levelized cost using the assumptions outlined in the paper was calculated in the range of $108 to $321 per sequestered ton of CO2; sensitivity analysis indicated that the levelized cost remained competitive with other CDR technologies for a broad range of variability in both process and economic parameters. A facility throughput study was conducted to demonstrate that these technologies can be implemented both as modular and single large facilities.

Source: ChemRxiv