Review of International Delivery of Negative Emission Technologies (NETs)

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Jan 18, 2022, 9:01:56 PM1/18/22
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Review of International Delivery of Negative Emission Technologies (NETs)

 Richard Simon, Yörükcan Erbay, Cameron Henderson, Richard Taylor

This report looks at international case studies of relevant NETs projects covering direct air capture and a wide range of configurations of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and explored applicability of the examples for deployment in Scotland.

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Feb 19, 2022, 11:41:23 AM2/19/22
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Here is a pdf version available below:

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/5132/cxc-review-of-international-delivery-of-negative-emission-technologies-february-2022.pdf

  Executive Summary

1.1 Aims 

Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) are technologies which remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, resulting directly or indirectly in net negative emissions. The Scottish Government is currently considering two main forms of engineered NETs: 

 direct air capture with carbon capture and storage (DACCS); and 
 bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), which can take many forms and configurations. 

Whilst other options for NETs may develop in the future these technologies are considered as having greatest potential for deployment in Scotland by the mid-2030s. The Scottish Parliament has legislated ambitious climate targets to reach net zero by 2045 and achieve a 75% emissions reduction by 2030. In 2020, the Scottish Government published an update to its Climate Change Plan, which identified NETs as a key component to meeting its emissions targets. The plan includes an envelope for NETS which would see these technologies scale up to deliver 5.7 MtCO2e/year of negative emissions by 2032. In 2022, the Scottish Government will commence a feasibility study to explore NETs and ways to incentivise early NETs development to reach the 2032 envelope. This report looks at international case studies relevant to NETs projects covering DACCS and a wide range of BECCS configurations seen in current projects, and explored their applicability to deployment in Scotland.   

  1.2 Findings 

The case studies in this review, while being diverse in background, scope, maturity, and targets, have shown to have a few consistent high-level similarities. These similarities lead to the following conclusions: 
1) Implementing a commercial business model through the sale of CO2 credits, licensing of the technology, or the creation and sale of co-products, makes scalability easier and reduces risk. 
2) Availability and contribution of public funding can enable projects to start with lower private investment. This is particularly the case for projects with a higher capital costs. 
3) Successful projects are often located near long-term storage locations, minimising cost of transport and storage. 
4) Schemes which capture higher purity CO2 streams are likely to be more economically viable, with lower associated costs (particularly operating costs). 
5) Many BECCS projects require secure, local and sustainable feedstock supplies which meet the plant capacities, quality and biogenic content requirements. 
6) Higher carbon prices, carbon taxes or tax credits in some countries have created markets where NETs are more commercially viable. 

After evaluating the applicability for Scotland of each case study, a tentative indication of potential of different NETs emerged. In terms of raw delivery of negative emissions and early deployment we found that: 
 DACCS and BECCS Energy from Waste (EfW) show the most immediate promise. 
 Medium-sized early opportunities for negative emissions exist in BECCS Power, Industry, and Biomethane. 
 Finally, the smallest immediate opportunity, based on the available evidence in this horizon scan, initially appears to be in BECCS Biofuels and Hydrogen due to lower retrofit opportunities and relatively lower current CO2 emissions from their targeted industrial/production processes in the country. 

1.3 Recommendations 

Our analysis has highlighted specific areas to explore further: 
1) Explicitly quantify the short/medium-term NETs potential in Scotland - Update previous work by Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS), which is Scotland’s point of coordination for CCS research and development. Given the critical nature of this sector, this should be reassessed and extended to ensure calculated potentials are based on robust and recent data (e.g. future waste availability/composition). A focus on the short-medium term would help to ensure targeted and actionable outputs for Scottish Government. 
2) Brief evaluation of Scottish NETs costs - Update costs from international projects with consideration of the local context. For example, Scottish electricity and CO2 T&S costs, and CO2 transport options for larger NETs plants including indicative costs. 
3) Evaluation of plant specific techno-economics - Estimate specific costs and technical NETs conversion feasibilities of potential large NETs opportunities. This may allow for prioritisation of short-term efforts.
4)Assess build-out rates and supply chain limitations - Understand the realistic timeframes for deploying NETs in the short and medium terms. 
5) Create a priority list of high-potential options – Pursue project options based on the economic, technical and practical limitations identified, moving beyond the initial general categorisation of opportunities provided here. 
6) Explore long-term NETs potential of Scotland, focusing on the 2045 target - Bring in a long-term perspective, breaking out of short term build out rates and envisioning wider technological transitions, such as BECCS hydrogen or biofuels. 
7) Identify key policy enablers and actions for the Scottish Government - Identify the levers available to the Scottish Government as a devolved administration, and emerging UK-wide Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) support mechanisms.   
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