Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) - Unlocking negative emissions

Public summary

Greenhouse gas removal (GGR) approaches are considered essential in projections to meet the climate mitigation ambition of the Paris Agreement. Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) are included extensively in mitigation scenarios, however, there are concerns about the feasibility of these approaches, particularly at the scales implied. BECCS is the installation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology onto a bioenergy facility where the captured biogenic CO2 is transported for secure and “permanent” geological storage.

BECCS can be delivered through a variety of supply chains, using a choice of feedstocks (including waste and residues as well as energy crops) which are used across alternative energy conversion facilities (e.g. electricity generation, hydrogen production, biofuel production) from which CO2 emissions are captured and stored in (offshore) geological formations (saline aquifers, disused hydrocarbon fields). BECCS should therefore be considered as a family of technologies capable of delivering different levels of CDR; understanding the implications and challenges associated with BECCS deployment requires context specific, place-based research specific to the location and configuration of the supply chains. Research at the University of Manchester is investigating the social, economic, policy and technical factors of BECCS deployment. This has included:

- spatial modelling of BECCS supply chains using the Carbon Navigation System (CNS), developed by academics at the University of Manchester. This is a new methodology to model specific carbon-efficient bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) supply chains at high spatial resolution. The CNS model can search and route for a precise amount of biomass to a chosen location, route captured CO2 to its most suitable geological storage site and route its energy output to its end-user, automatically switching between truck, rail, shipping and pipeline transportation to minimize CO2 emissions and calculate carbon optimal routings. The CNS model provides a useful heuristic tool that has the potential to aid the carbon-efficient deployment of BECCS in the UK planning providing information on siting and performance for specific BECCS projects.

- Social licence to operate (SLO): an SLO reflects the level of support for technologies or projects and depends on the responses of a variety of actors including industry, government bodies, and local communities; the strength of an SLO can vary over time as experience and events impact perceptions and may be different at different scales (local, regional, national). Drawing on extensive experience of societal and stakeholder assessments of carbon capture and storage (CCS), Manchester research has been developing approaches to support and understand SLO for industrial decarbonisation, including BECCS, in the UK

- Integrated Assessment of BECCS supply chains: successful deployment of new technologies such as BECCS requires understanding the implications and challenges across a broad spectrum of issues. Looking in detail at different BECCS supply chains in a particular location (for example NW England) research has unpacked some of the logistical, policy and community implications of co-locating multiple BECCS facilities.

Impact date	2010
Category of impact	Environmental, Policy, Attitudes and behaviours, Awareness and understanding
Impact level	Undefined