Assessing the potential of carbon dioxide valorisation in Europe with focus on biogenic CO2

Abstract

This study investigates the theoretical potential and limitations of carbon dioxide sources for technical valorisation approaches. On the one hand the emission of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, must be rigorously reduced in order to achieve the European and global climate objectives. On the other hand, CO2 is becoming increasingly valuable as a resource for industries and new disrupting technologies on CO2 utilization. Therefore, the potential of CO2 obtained from different biogenic and fossil sources in Europe is discussed for a comparative evaluation. These sources are classified according to their emitting processes and industry sectors, respectively. The resulting valorisation potentials are then calculated from statistical data for CO2 generating processes in Europe, complemented and verified by relevant papers and reports. This study demonstrates the European potential of capturing and utilizing biogenic and fossil CO2. In Europe, 69.7 Mt/a CO2 are estimated to be produced by biogas upgrading, biogas combustion, as well as bioethanol and other fermentation processes. Additionally, 437 Mt/a CO2 are produced by solid biomass combustion. This accounts for a theoretical potential of up to 506.7 Mt/a biogenic CO2 currently available, which is nearly seven times the amount of the current European industrial CO2 demand. The utilization potentials from these theoretical amounts are limited by attainable capture rates, reaching from 10 % to 90 % primarily depending on the dilution of the emitting source.