Can carbon capture and storage on small sources be profitable? An application to the ethanol sector.

Abstract: 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 100 000 tCO₂/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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]