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Climate effects of electricity production fuelled by coal, forest slash and municipal solid waste with and without carbon capture

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  • Sathre, Roger
  • Gustavsson, Leif
  • Truong, Nguyen Le

Abstract

We analyse the climate implications of producing electricity in large-scale conversion plants using coal, forest slash and municipal solid waste with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS). We calculate the primary energy, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emission profiles, and the cumulative radiative forcing (CRF) of different systems that produce the same amount of electricity. We find that using slash or waste for electricity production instead of coal somewhat increases the instantaneous CO2 emission from the power plant, but avoids significant subsequent emissions from decaying slash in forests or waste in landfills. For slash used instead of coal, we find robust near- and long-term reductions in total emissions and CRF. Climate effects of using waste instead of coal are more ambiguous: CRF is reduced when CCS is used, but without CCS there is little or no climate benefits of using waste directly for energy, assuming that landfill gas is recovered and used for electricity production. The application of CCS requires more fuel, but strongly reduces the CO2 emissions. The use of slash or waste together with CCS results in negative net emissions and CRF, i.e. global cooling.

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  • Sathre, Roger & Gustavsson, Leif & Truong, Nguyen Le, 2017. "Climate effects of electricity production fuelled by coal, forest slash and municipal solid waste with and without carbon capture," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 711-723.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:122:y:2017:i:c:p:711-723
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.01.076
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    6. Rolfe, A. & Huang, Y. & Haaf, M. & Rezvani, S. & MclIveen-Wright, D. & Hewitt, N.J., 2018. "Integration of the calcium carbonate looping process into an existing pulverized coal-fired power plant for CO2 capture: Techno-economic and environmental evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 169-179.
    7. Javed, Syed Bilal & Uppal, Ali Arshad & Bhatti, Aamer Iqbal & Samar, Raza, 2019. "Prediction and parametric analysis of cavity growth for the underground coal gasification project Thar," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1277-1290.
    8. Truong, Nguyen Le & Dodoo, Ambrose & Gustavsson, Leif, 2018. "Effects of energy efficiency measures in district-heated buildings on energy supply," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1114-1127.
    9. Dodoo, Ambrose & Gustavsson, Leif & Le Truong, Nguyen, 2018. "Primary energy benefits of cost-effective energy renovation of a district heated multi-family building under different energy supply systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 69-90.
    10. Lidia Lombardi & Marco J. Castaldi, 2024. "Energy Recovery from Residual Municipal Solid Waste: State of the Art and Perspectives within the Challenge to Climate Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-18, January.

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