A bottom-up study of biomass and electricity use in a fossil free Swedish industry

Abstract

While previous research has focused on single industrial sectors or specific technologies, this study aims to explore the impacts of various industrial technology options on the use of biomass and electricity in a future fossil free Swedish industry. By building a small optimisation model, that decomposes each industrial sector into site categories by type and technology to capture critical synergies among industrial processes. The results show important synergies between electrification, biomass and CCS/U (sequestration of CO2 is required to reach net-zero emissions). Reaching an absolute minimum of biomass use within the industry has a very high cost of electricity due to the extensive use of power-to-gas technologies, and minimising electricity has a high cost of biomass due to extensive use of CHP technologies. Meanwhile, integrated bio-refinery processes are the preferable option when minimising the net input of energy. There is, thus, no singular best technology, instead the system adapts to the given circumstances showing the importance of a detailed bottom-up modelling approach and that the decarbonisation of the industry should not be treated as a site-specific problem, but rather as a system-wide problem to allow for optimal utilisation of process synergies.