IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v285y2021ics0306261920317669.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The case for estimating carbon return on investment (CROI) for CCUS platforms

Author

Listed:
  • Singh, Udayan
  • Colosi, Lisa M.

Abstract

Development of CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) platforms has been deemed crucial for achievement of the Paris Agreement goals. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool for assessing the efficacy of these technologies in achieving true net-carbon reduction. Critical review of previously published LCA-based evaluations of CCUS technologies reveals that there is an urgent need for more transparent accounting of carbon removal efficiency. Updated methods should incorporate better focus on the CO2 uptake as the primary objective and better differentiate apportionment between “avoided emissions” and true net sequestration. We posit that widespread, uniform application of a standardized ratio metric, carbon return on investment (CROI), will improve the usefulness of LCA to articulate true CO2 sequestration by candidate CCUS platforms. We present two case studies to illustrate the value of this metric for diverse CCS and CCU applications. We also provide several recommendations to make future CROI results as unambiguous as possible and boost their usefulness. These recommendations pertain to conventional LCA concepts, including: choice of functional unit (or declared unit) and system boundaries, application of system expansion, and proper mathematical formulation of the proposed metric. Future work should aim at carrying forward our work on proposed minimum CROI and incorporating the time-value of CO2 fluxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Singh, Udayan & Colosi, Lisa M., 2021. "The case for estimating carbon return on investment (CROI) for CCUS platforms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:285:y:2021:i:c:s0306261920317669
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116394
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261920317669
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116394?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles A. S. Hall & Stephen Balogh & David J.R. Murphy, 2009. "What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Emily Grubert & Jennifer Stokes-Draut, 2020. "Mitigation Life Cycle Assessment: Best Practices from LCA of Energy and Water Infrastructure That Incurs Impacts to Mitigate Harm," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Wieland Hoppe & Nils Thonemann & Stefan Bringezu, 2018. "Life Cycle Assessment of Carbon Dioxide–Based Production of Methane and Methanol and Derived Polymers," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(2), pages 327-340, April.
    4. Perčić, Maja & Vladimir, Nikola & Fan, Ailong, 2020. "Life-cycle cost assessment of alternative marine fuels to reduce the carbon footprint in short-sea shipping: A case study of Croatia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    5. Alice Larkin & Jaise Kuriakose & Maria Sharmina & Kevin Anderson, 2018. "What if negative emission technologies fail at scale? Implications of the Paris Agreement for big emitting nations," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 690-714, July.
    6. Paul E. Brockway & Anne Owen & Lina I. Brand-Correa & Lukas Hardt, 2019. "Estimation of global final-stage energy-return-on-investment for fossil fuels with comparison to renewable energy sources," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(7), pages 612-621, July.
    7. Hall, Charles A.S. & Lambert, Jessica G. & Balogh, Stephen B., 2014. "EROI of different fuels and the implications for society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 141-152.
    8. Zhang, Yongli & Colosi, Lisa M., 2013. "Practical ambiguities during calculation of energy ratios and their impacts on life cycle assessment calculations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 630-633.
    9. Pour, Nasim & Webley, Paul A. & Cook, Peter J., 2018. "Opportunities for application of BECCS in the Australian power sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 615-635.
    10. Peter Viebahn & Alexander Scholz & Ole Zelt, 2019. "The Potential Role of Direct Air Capture in the German Energy Research Program—Results of a Multi-Dimensional Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-27, September.
    11. Lambert, Jessica G. & Hall, Charles A.S. & Balogh, Stephen & Gupta, Ajay & Arnold, Michelle, 2014. "Energy, EROI and quality of life," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 153-167.
    12. Li, Lanyu & Yao, Zhiyi & You, Siming & Wang, Chi-Hwa & Chong, Clive & Wang, Xiaonan, 2019. "Optimal design of negative emission hybrid renewable energy systems with biochar production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C), pages 233-249.
    13. Adam R. Brandt & Michael Dale, 2011. "A General Mathematical Framework for Calculating Systems-Scale Efficiency of Energy Extraction and Conversion: Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and Other Energy Return Ratios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(8), pages 1-35, August.
    14. Viebahn, Peter & Daniel, Vallentin & Samuel, Höller, 2012. "Integrated assessment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the German power sector and comparison with the deployment of renewable energies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 238-248.
    15. Wu, Ziyang & Wang, Can & Wolfram, Paul & Zhang, Yaxin & Sun, Xin & Hertwich, Edgar, 2019. "Assessing electric vehicle policy with region-specific carbon footprints," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    16. David D. Hsu & Patrick O’Donoughue & Vasilis Fthenakis & Garvin A. Heath & Hyung Chul Kim & Pamala Sawyer & Jun‐Ki Choi & Damon E. Turney, 2012. "Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Electricity Generation," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(s1), pages 122-135, April.
    17. Ravikumar, Dwarakanath & Keoleian, Gregory & Miller, Shelie, 2020. "The environmental opportunity cost of using renewable energy for carbon capture and utilization for methanol production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    18. Bello, Sara & Galán-Martín, Ángel & Feijoo, Gumersindo & Moreira, Maria Teresa & Guillén-Gosálbez, Gonzalo, 2020. "BECCS based on bioethanol from wood residues: Potential towards a carbon-negative transport and side-effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Lei & Hu, Yanwei & Yang, Kai & Yan, Xinqing & Yu, Shuai & Yu, Jianliang & Chen, Shaoyun, 2023. "Fracture process characteristic study during fracture propagation of a CO2 transport network distribution pipeline," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    2. Chen, Siyuan & Liu, Jiangfeng & Zhang, Qi & Teng, Fei & McLellan, Benjamin C., 2022. "A critical review on deployment planning and risk analysis of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) toward carbon neutrality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Tuğçe Demirdelen & İnayet Özge Aksu & Kübra Yilmaz & Duygu Durdu Koç & Miray Arikan & Arif Şener, 2023. "Investigation of the Carbon Footprint of the Textile Industry: PES- and PP-Based Products with Monte Carlo Uncertainty Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Kajetan Sadowski, 2022. "Comparison of the Carbon Payback Period (CPP) of Different Variants of Insulation Materials and Existing External Walls in Selected European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-30, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Victor Court & Fizaine Floriane, 2023. "EROI Minimum et Croissance Economique," Working Papers hal-04087776, HAL.
    2. Jonathan Dumas & Antoine Dubois & Paolo Thiran & Pierre Jacques & Francesco Contino & Bertrand Cornélusse & Gauthier Limpens, 2022. "The Energy Return on Investment of Whole-Energy Systems: Application to Belgium," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 1-34, December.
    3. Victor Court, 2019. "An Estimation of Different Minimum Exergy Return Ratios Required for Society," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 1-13, September.
    4. Florian Fizaine & Victor Court, 2016. "The energy-economic growth relationship: a new insight from the EROI perspective," Working Papers 1601, Chaire Economie du climat.
    5. Charles Guay-Boutet, 2023. "Estimating the Disaggregated Standard EROI of Canadian Oil Sands Extracted via Open-pit Mining, 1997–2016," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.
    6. Lina I. Brand-Correa & Paul E. Brockway & Claire L. Copeland & Timothy J. Foxon & Anne Owen & Peter G. Taylor, 2017. "Developing an Input-Output Based Method to Estimate a National-Level Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Elise Dupont & Marc Germain & Hervé Jeanmart, 2021. "Estimate of the Societal Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, March.
    8. Marco Vittorio Ecclesia & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Tiago Domingos, 2022. "A Comprehensive Societal Energy Return on Investment Study of Portugal Reveals a Low but Stable Value," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Hongshuo Yan & Lianyong Feng & Jianliang Wang & Yuanying Chi & Yue Ma, 2021. "A Comprehensive Net Energy Analysis and Outlook of Energy System in China," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Jackson, Andrew & Jackson, Tim, 2021. "Modelling energy transition risk: The impact of declining energy return on investment (EROI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    11. Carlos de Castro & Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, 2020. "Standard, Point of Use, and Extended Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) from Comprehensive Material Requirements of Present Global Wind, Solar, and Hydro Power Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-43, June.
    12. Charles A. S. Hall, 2022. "The 50th Anniversary of The Limits to Growth : Does It Have Relevance for Today’s Energy Issues?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-13, July.
    13. Walmsley, Timothy G. & Walmsley, Michael R.W. & Varbanov, Petar S. & Klemeš, Jiří J., 2018. "Energy Ratio analysis and accounting for renewable and non-renewable electricity generation: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 328-345.
    14. Adrien Fabre, 2018. "Evolution of EROIs of Electricity Until 2050: Estimation Using the Input-Output Model THEMIS," Policy Papers 2018.09, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    15. Raugei, Marco & Leccisi, Enrica, 2016. "A comprehensive assessment of the energy performance of the full range of electricity generation technologies deployed in the United Kingdom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 46-59.
    16. Joseph S. Pechsiri & Fredrik Gröndahl, 2022. "Assessing energy return on investment for harvest of wild Nodularia spumigena during blooms in the Baltic Sea," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(6), pages 1979-1991, December.
    17. Jiří Jaromír Klemeš & Petar Sabev Varbanov & Paweł Ocłoń & Hon Huin Chin, 2019. "Towards Efficient and Clean Process Integration: Utilisation of Renewable Resources and Energy-Saving Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-32, October.
    18. Dupont, Elise & Koppelaar, Rembrandt & Jeanmart, Hervé, 2018. "Global available wind energy with physical and energy return on investment constraints," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 322-338.
    19. Jean-François Fagnart & Marc Germain & Benjamin Peeters, 2020. "Can the Energy Transition Be Smooth? A General Equilibrium Approach to the EROEI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, February.
    20. David J. Murphy & Marco Raugei & Michael Carbajales-Dale & Brenda Rubio Estrada, 2022. "Energy Return on Investment of Major Energy Carriers: Review and Harmonization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CO2 storage; CO2 utilization; LCA; CCUS; Carbon accounting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:285:y:2021:i:c:s0306261920317669. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.