Bioenergy and full carbon dioxide sinking in sugarcane-biorefinery with post-combustion capture and storage: Techno-economic feasibility

Sugarcane plantations promote impressive drainage of atmospheric carbon dioxide reaching 781 t/h for a 1000 t/h sugarcane-biorefinery. For first-generation bioethanol sugarcane-biorefineries, only 10% of sugarcane carbon dioxide equivalent leaves as hydrous-ethanol, while 90% return to atmosphere through bagasse-fired power cogeneration in steam-Rankine cycles. Thus, a sugarcane-biorefinery exports two bioenergy flows – electricity and hydrous-ethanol – and its impressive Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage potential is wasted. Capture of fermentation carbon dioxide merely means 5% of Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage efficiency. This work assesses a new sugarcane-biorefinery concept dramatically raising the Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage efficiency. With fermentation carbon dioxide already captured, it is advocated to implement 90% post-combustion capture of flue-gas carbon dioxide. Then, captured carbon dioxide is compressed and traded as Enhanced Oil Recovery agent transported to deep-water offshore oil fields via high-pressure pipelines counting on topographic gravitational effects to lower compression power. Aggregating pipeline/compression investment to the biorefinery, it is shown that such new Plantation-Biorefinery-Post-Combustion-Pipeline-Oil-Recovery enterprise is technically feasible for 5.22 MtCO2/y of Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage capacity and is economically feasible under certain conditions: (i) idle pipeline capacity rental to fossil carbon emitters at 10–20 USD/tCO2; (ii) recovered oil revenues traded at 1–2 bbl/tCO2 and 50–80 USD/bbl; (iii) carbon-taxation at 40–80 USD/tCO2; and (iv) carbon Cap-and-Trade at 30–70 USD/tCO2. Under such conditions the Plantation-Biorefinery-Post-Combustion-Pipeline-Oil-Recovery can attain 7 MMMUSD net value and 6 years payback-time.