Abatement Potential Research Articles

Emission performance of type-1 pulverized coal flames operating under oxy-fired conditions

This work addresses the emission performance (CO, NOx, SO2) on pulverized coal flames generated by a staged feed-gas burner operating with pre-dried lignite under oxy-fired conditions. While previous studies provided information on the impacts of recycle ratios and O2 fraction, this works focuses on the impacts of swirl strength and feed gas distribution on the combustion process. The overall O2 fraction upstream of the burner operating under oxy-fired condition was defined with basis on a similar adiabatic flame temperature as air-firing. Images obtained with visualization techniques show evidence of a stratified flame structure resembling a diffusion type-1 flame. Measurements of CO concentration and particle burnout at the furnace exit indicated that carbon in ash is not an obstacle for the use of staged feed-gas burner in oxy-firing. Experimental results do show a great potential for NO abatement through an appropriate burner setting. In particular, a combination of high swirl strength and high secondary/tertiary flow ratio results in significant NO reduction. Evaluation of SO2 levels show that oxy-fuel combustion does not affect the release of sulfur from the pre-dried lignite under the conditions evaluated in this work, indicating that SO2 emissions are exclusively dependent on the sulfur content of the coal.

Shifts in the Recent Distribution of Energy Intake among U.S. Children Aged 2–18 Years Reflect Potential Abatement of Earlier Declining Trends

Shifts in the Recent Distribution of Energy Intake among U.S. Children Aged 2–18 Years Reflect Potential Abatement of Earlier Declining Trends

Cost and potential of carbon abatement from the UK perennial energy crop market

AbstractBiomass produced from perennial energy crops is expected to contribute to UK renewable energy targets, reducing the carbon intensity of energy production. The UK government has had incentive policies in place targeting both farmers and power plant investors to develop this market, but growth has been slower than anticipated. Market expansion requires the interaction of farmers growing these crops, with the construction of biomass power plants or other facilities to consume them. This study uses an agent‐based model to investigate behaviour of the UK energy crop market and examines the cost of emission abatement that the market might provide. The model is run for various policy scenarios attempting to answer the following questions: Do existing policies for perennial energy crops provide a cost‐effective mechanism in stimulating the market to achieve emissions abatement? What are the relative benefits of providing incentives to farmers or energy producers? What are the trade‐offs between increased or decreased subsidy levels and the rate and level of market uptake, and hence carbon abatement? The results suggest that maintaining the energy crop scheme, which provides farmers' establishment grants, can increase both the emissions abatement potential and cost‐effectiveness. A minimum carbon equivalent abatement cost is seen at intermediate subsidy levels for energy generation. This suggests that there is an optimum level that cost‐effectively stimulates the market to achieve emissions reduction.

Ranking cost effective energy conservation measures for heating in Hellenic residential buildings

Residential buildings comprise the biggest segment of the European building stock and they are responsible for the majority of the building's sector energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This paper documents the potential benefits and sets the priorities of individual energy conservation measures (ECMs) to reduce heating energy consumption in Hellenic residential buildings, including space heating and domestic hot water production. The analysis is facilitated by using the available Hellenic typology for residential buildings that consists of 24 typical buildings, derived after a classification in three construction periods, two building sizes and four climate zones. The focus is mainly on the implementation of ECMs that have low first-cost investment and short payback period. In order to prioritize ECMs that would be most attractive to building owners, two ranking criteria are used, namely primary heating energy savings and payback period. Finally, the preliminary results are used to provide an insight on the potential abatement of CO2 emissions for the national residential building stock.

Co-control of Local Air Pollutants and CO2 in the Chinese Iron and Steel Industry

The present study proposes an integrated multipollutant cocontrol strategy framework in the context of the Chinese iron and steel industry. The unit cost of pollutant reduction (UCPR) was used to examine the cost-effectiveness of each emission reduction measure. The marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves for SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and CO2 were drawn based on the UCPR and the abatement potential. Air pollutant equivalence (APeq) captures the nature of the damage value-weights of various air pollutants and acts as uniformization multiple air pollutants index. Single pollutant abatement routes designed in accordance with the corresponding reduction targets revealed that the cocontrol strategy has promising potential. Moreover, with the same reduction cost limitations as the single pollutant abatement routes, the multipollutant cocontrol routes are able to obtain more desirable pollution reduction and health benefits. Co-control strategy generally shows cost-effective advantage over single-pollutant abatement strategy. The results are robust to changing parameters according to sensitivity analysis. Co-control strategy would be an important step to achieve energy/carbon intensity targets and pollution control targets in China. Though cocontrol strategy has got some traction in policy debates, there are barriers to integrate it into policy making in the near future in China.

Comparative assessment of a biofilter, a biotrickling filter and a hollow fiber membrane bioreactor for odor treatment in wastewater treatment plants

A low abatement efficiency for the hydrophobic fraction of odorous emissions and a high footprint are often pointed out as the major drawbacks of conventional biotechnologies for odor treatment. In this work, two conventional biotechnologies (a compost-based biofilter, BF, and a biotrickling filter, BTF), and a hollow-fiber membrane bioreactor (HF-MBR) were comparatively evaluated in terms of odor abatement potential and pressure drop (ΔP) at empty bed residence times (EBRTs) ranging from 4 to 84 s, during the treatment of methyl-mercaptan, toluene, alpha-pinene and hexane at trace level concentrations (0.75–4.9 mg m−3). High removal efficiencies (RE > 90% regardless of the air pollutant) were recorded in the BF at EBRTs ≥ 8 s, although the high ΔP across the packed bed limited its cost-effective operation to EBRTs > 19 s. A complete methyl-mercaptan, toluene and alpha-pinene removal was recorded in the BTF at EBRTs ≥ 4 s and ΔP lower than 33 mmH2O (∼611 Pa mbed−1), whereas slightly lower REs were observed for hexane (∼88%). The HF-MBR completely removed methyl-mercaptan and toluene at all EBRTs tested, but exhibited an unstable alpha-pinene removal performance as a result of biomass accumulation and a low hexane abatement efficiency. Thus, a periodical membrane-cleaning procedure was required to ensure a steady abatement performance. Finally, a high bacterial diversity was observed in the three bioreactors in spite of the low carbon source spectrum present in the air emission.

Modelling future impacts of air pollution using the multi-scale UK Integrated Assessment Model (UKIAM)

Integrated assessment modelling has evolved to support policy development in relation to air pollutants and greenhouse gases by providing integrated simulation tools able to produce quick and realistic representations of emission scenarios and their environmental impacts without the need to re-run complex atmospheric dispersion models. The UK Integrated Assessment Model (UKIAM) has been developed to investigate strategies for reducing UK emissions by bringing together information on projected UK emissions of SO2, NOx, NH3, PM10 and PM2.5, atmospheric dispersion, criteria for protection of ecosystems, urban air quality and human health, and data on potential abatement measures to reduce emissions, which may subsequently be linked to associated analyses of costs and benefits. We describe the multi-scale model structure ranging from continental to roadside, UK emission sources, atmospheric dispersion of emissions, implementation of abatement measures, integration with European-scale modelling, and environmental impacts. The model generates outputs from a national perspective which are used to evaluate alternative strategies in relation to emissions, deposition patterns, air quality metrics and ecosystem critical load exceedance. We present a selection of scenarios in relation to the 2020 Business-As-Usual projections and identify potential further reductions beyond those currently being planned.

An evaluation of the effect of greenhouse gas accounting methods on a marginal abatement cost curve for Irish agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract Marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) analysis allows the evaluation of strategies to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to some reference scenario and encompasses their costs or benefits. A popular approach to quantify the potential to abate national agricultural emissions is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines for national GHG inventories (IPCC-NI method). This methodology is the standard for assessing compliance with binding national GHG reduction targets and uses a sector based framework to attribute emissions. There is however an alternative to the IPCC-NI method, known as life cycle assessment (LCA), which is the preferred method to assess the GHG intensity of food production (kg of GHG/unit of food). The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of using the IPCC-NI and LCA methodologies when completing a MACC analysis of national agricultural GHG emissions. The MACC was applied to the Irish agricultural sector and mitigation measures were only constrained by the biophysical environment. The reference scenario chosen assumed that the 2020 growth targets set by the Irish agricultural industry would be achieved. The comparison of methodologies showed that only 1.1 Mt of the annual GHG abatement potential that can be achieved at zero or negative cost could be attributed to agricultural sector using the IPCC-NI method, which was only 44% of the zero or negative cost abatement potential attributed to the sector using the LCA method. The difference between methodologies was because the IPCC-NI method attributes the abatement from agricultural mitigation measures, partially or fully, to other sectors within a nation or to activity taking place in other countries. This suggests that it may be politically difficult to justify to farmers that mitigation measures should be adopted in agriculture, if the accounting process does not credit this mitigation to them. The disagreement between methodologies also indicates that unilateral national or regional policies to reduce agricultural GHG emissions based on the IPCC-NI method could lead to mitigation options that increase global emissions (carbon leakage). The limitations of the IPCC-NI method for assessing national agricultural GHG emissions could be overcome by reforming or expanding the accounting methodology to include domestic offsetting and to assess emissions associated with national consumption via LCA. This would overcome the problem of carbon leakage and credit (in part) agricultural practices that reduce emissions in other sectors or nations without emission caps.

Nutrient Abatement Potential and Abatement Costs of Waste Water Treatment Plants in the Baltic Sea Region

We assess the physical potential to reduce nutrient loads from waste water treatment plants in the Baltic Sea region and determine the costs of abating nutrients based on the estimated potential. We take a sample of waste water treatment plants of different size classes and generalize its properties to the whole population of waste water treatment plants. Based on a detailed investment and operational cost data on actual plants, we develop the total and marginal abatement cost functions for both nutrients. To our knowledge, our study is the first of its kind; there is no other study on this issue which would take advantage of detailed data on waste water treatment plants at this extent. We demonstrate that the reduction potential of nutrients is huge in waste water treatment plants. Increasing the abatement in waste water treatment plants can result in 70 % of the Baltic Sea Action Plan nitrogen reduction target and 80 % of the Baltic Sea Action Plan phosphorus reduction target. Another good finding is that the costs of reducing both nutrients are much lower than previously thought. The large reduction of nitrogen would cost 670 million euros and of phosphorus 150 million euros. We show that especially for phosphorus the abatement costs in agriculture would be much higher than in waste water treatment plants.

Cost effectiveness comparison of certain transportation measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in San Diego County, California

California's overarching mandate to achieve 1990 levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in 2020 (AB 32, 2005), and the ensuing recent regulations (SB 375, CEQA updates) require local and regional governments to assess GHG mitigation policies, including on-road transportation. The regulations do not make cost-effectiveness a primary criteria for choosing measures but cost remains important to a variety of stakeholders.This communication summarizes results from GHG and cost analysis for seven actual San Diego County road transportation policies: telecommute, vanpools, a bicycle strategy, an increase in mass transit use, parking policies (parking pricing, preferred parking for electric vehicles), an increased local fuel tax and speed harmonization (signal re-timing, roundabouts). Net costs are calculated as the sum of direct costs and benefits to the administering agency, the employer and the individual. Net costs per metric ton GHG abated vary greatly across measures, from negative to high positive (more than US $1000). We find that local GHG cost cannot be sensibly compared to other carbon or GHG policy costs outside the local context for a variety of reasons, but especially because measures have not been adopted primarily for carbon or GHG abatement potential or on the basis of cost effectiveness.

Modelling the future CO2 abatement potentials of energy efficiency and CCS: The case of the Dutch industry

Reaching the long term goals of climate policies requires the implementation of a portfolio of measures. This paper quantifies the potentials of energy efficiency technologies and CO2 capture and storage (CCS) for seven Dutch industry sectors between 2008 and 2040. Economically viable energy efficiency technologies offer carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction potentials of 25±8% in 2040 compared to 1990 levels. Economically viable CCS options can raise the industry's total emission reductions to 39–47%. These potentials require abatement costs above 90 € (Euro) per tonne CO2, but they are still not sufficient to reach European Union's long term emission reduction plans. While economically viable potentials of improving energy efficiency may exist in all sectors (energy efficiency improvements of 2% per annum (p.a.)), attractive CCS potentials exist in the fertilizer, basic metal and refinery sectors with abatement costs estimated at 25–120 €/t CO2 for 2040. Implementing CCS in these sectors would reduce total industry's primary energy efficiency improvement rates from 2% to 1.6% p.a. and would increase total industrial energy use by at least 10%. Reaching higher emission reductions in the Dutch industry will require the implementation of a portfolio of measures including energy and materials efficiency, renewables and CCS.

Quantifying and modelling the carbon sequestration capacity of seagrass meadows – A critical assessment

Seagrasses are among the planet’s most effective natural ecosystems for sequestering (capturing and storing) carbon (C); but if degraded, they could leak stored C into the atmosphere and accelerate global warming. Quantifying and modelling the C sequestration capacity is therefore critical for successfully managing seagrass ecosystems to maintain their substantial abatement potential. At present, there is no mechanism to support carbon financing linked to seagrass. For seagrasses to be recognised by the IPCC and the voluntary C market, standard stock assessment methodologies and inventories of seagrass C stocks are required. Developing accurate C budgets for seagrass meadows is indeed complex; we discuss these complexities, and, in addition, we review techniques and methodologies that will aid development of C budgets. We also consider a simple process-based data assimilation model for predicting how seagrasses will respond to future change, accompanied by a practical list of research priorities.

In vitro Fermentation, Digestion Kinetics and Methane Production of Oilseed Press Cakes from Biodiesel Production.

Following the extraction of oil for biodiesel production, oilseed press cakes are high in fat. As the dietary supplementation of fat is currently considered the most promising strategy of consistently depressing methanogenesis, it follows that oilseed press cakes may have a similar potential for CH4 abatement. As such, this study aimed to characterise the nutritive value of several oilseed press cakes, glycerine and soybean meal (SBM) and to examine their effects on in vitro ruminal fermentation, digestion kinetics and CH4 production. Moringa press oil seeds exhibited the greatest in sacco effective degradability (ED) of DM and CP (p<0.05). In vitro gas production (ml/g digested DM) was not affected (p = 0.70) by supplement at 48 h of incubation. In vitro DMD was increased with the supplementation of glycerine and SBM at all levels of inclusion. Moringa oilseed press cakes produced the lowest CH4 (mg/g digested DM) at 6 and 12 h of incubation (p<0.05). The findings suggest that moringa oilseed press cake at 400 g/kg DM has the greatest potential of the oilseed press cakes examined in this study, to reduce CH4 production, without adversely affecting nutrient degradability.

The usefulness of marginal CO2-e abatement cost curves in Austria

Energy efficiency measures are manifold in all economic sectors. These measures can be pictured by a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) which is a common way to show CO2-e abatement potential and its related costs in various fields. In this paper, we calculated the marginal CO2-e abatement cost curve for Austria for the first time to fulfill the need for country specific cost curves. One of the strengths of such curves lies in their ability to highlight that energy efficiency measures can even have negative abatement costs. The weaknesses consist of neglecting a change in energy prices, the rate of diffusion, and compatibility with existing technologies. By using a static bottom-up approach we constructed the MACC for four economic sectors (household, service, transport, energy) and found a national mitigation potential of 45.4 million tons CO2-e. The results further show that even with the measures with negative abatement costs it is possible to make the necessary CO2-e mitigation to fulfill the Kyoto Protocol. The conclusions emphasize that the curve makes a contribution to overcome one of the barriers of implementation by providing enhanced information on energy efficiency measures and its costs.

Technologies, policies and measures for GHG abatement at the urban scale

As a greater fraction of the world's residents moves to cities, urban-scale policies will play a critical role in mitigating global climate change. Recognizing this role, many city governments around the world are developing greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and action plans. Despite their ambition, however, these jurisdictions often lack the capability to prioritize actions based on the scale of GHG abatement potential and to use mitigation assessment to set and a plan on how to meet (often ambitious) emissions targets. This paper helps to address these gaps by (a) developing a general typology of urban-scale emission-reduction technologies and practices, (b) identifying policies and measures that can support their adoption, (c) assessing their relative abatement potential in the nearer (2020) and longer (2050) term and (d) examining the relative degree of influence that urban jurisdictions can wield with respect to realizing these potentials. Local jurisdictions can use this typology as an initial ...

CO2 abatement potential towards 2050 for shipping, including alternative fuels

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated a cost-effective potential to reduce the CO2 emissions in the existing world shipping fleet by 15%, and by 30% for the 2030 fleet. Methods & results: CO2 abatement pathways for shipping towards 2050 have been modeled, using a new probabilistic model. In addition to measures analyzed in the past, the uptake of alternative fuels is modeled. The results show that with uptake of operational and technical measures, as well as biofuels and liquefied natural gas, the cost-effective CO2 reduction potential in 2050 is in the order of 50%. Conclusion: For shipping to substantially contribute to a 2°C pathway, a financial incentive for biofuel is one alterative, but nuclear power in large ships could also cut emissions drastically.

Hemp: A more sustainable annual energy crop for climate and energy policy

Abstract The objective of this study was to compare the fuel-chain greenhouse gas balance and farm economics of hemp grown for bioenergy with two perennial bioenergy crops, Miscanthus and willow, and two more traditional annual bioenergy crops, sugar beet and oil seed rape (OSR). The GHG burden of hemp cultivation is intermediate between perennial and traditional annual energy crops, but net fuel chain GHG abatement potential of 11 t/CO 2 eq./ha/year in the mid yield estimate is comparable to perennial crops, and 140% and 540% greater than for OSR and sugar beet fuel chains, respectively. Gross margins from hemp were considerably lower than for OSR and sugar beet, but exceeded those from Miscanthus when organic fertilizers were used and in the absence of establishment grants for the latter crop. Extrapolated up to the EU scale, replacing 25% of OSR and sugar beet production with hemp production could increase net GHG abatement by up to 21 Mt CO 2 eq./year. Hemp is a considerably more efficient bioenergy feedstock than the dominant annual energy crops. Integrated into food crop rotations, hemp need not compete with food supplies, and could provide an appealing option to develop more sustainable non-transport bioenergy supply chains.

Mapping the Global Flow of Aluminum: From Liquid Aluminum to End-Use Goods

Demand for aluminum in final products has increased 30-fold since 1950 to 45 million tonnes per year, with forecasts predicting this exceptional growth to continue so that demand will reach 2-3 times today's levels by 2050. Aluminum production uses 3.5% of global electricity and causes 1% of global CO2 emissions, while meeting a 50% cut in emissions by 2050 against growing demand would require at least a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of aluminum produced--a challenging prospect. In this paper we trace the global flows of aluminum from liquid metal to final products, revealing for the first time a complete map of the aluminum system and providing a basis for future study of the emissions abatement potential of material efficiency. The resulting Sankey diagram also draws attention to two key issues. First, around half of all liquid aluminum (~39 Mt) produced each year never reaches a final product, and a detailed discussion of these high yield losses shows significant opportunities for improvement. Second, aluminum recycling, which avoids the high energy costs and emissions of electrolysis, requires signification "dilution" (~ 8 Mt) and "cascade" (~ 6 Mt) flows of higher aluminum grades to make up for the shortfall in scrap supply and to obtain the desired alloy mix, increasing the energy required for recycling.

The Roles of Energy and Material Efficiency in Meeting Steel Industry CO2 Targets

Identifying strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from steel production requires a comprehensive model of the sector but previous work has either failed to consider the whole supply chain or considered only a subset of possible abatement options. In this work, a global mass flow analysis is combined with process emissions intensities to allow forecasts of future steel sector emissions under all abatement options. Scenario analysis shows that global capacity for primary steel production is already near to a peak and that if sectoral emissions are to be reduced by 50% by 2050, the last required blast furnace will be built by 2020. Emissions reduction targets cannot be met by energy and emissions efficiency alone, but deploying material efficiency provides sufficient extra abatement potential.

Policy challenges for livestock emissions abatement: lessons from New Zealand

Under the current framework embodied in the Kyoto Protocol and envisaged for future multilateral agreements, Annex I parties are obliged to limit their economy-wide GHG emissions and accept responsibility for exceeding their targets through various flexible mechanisms. The predominant sources of agricultural GHGs, which represent about 8% of total Annex I emissions, are methane and nitrous oxide from livestock. Efforts to reduce livestock emissions have so far been limited due to disagreements over the abatement potential, technical feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of the policy instruments available, including market-based measures. Two key challenges facing the application of market-based measures to livestock emissions are evaluated: first, to design a policy framework that appropriately aligns the measurement of emissions, the abatement options, and the incentives facing livestock producers; second, to address the risk of leakage and economic regrets that arise from unilateral domestic policy action. Particular attention is given to the policy developments in New Zealand and the lessons learnt from its experience. The challenges of applying market-based measures to livestock emissions are surmountable, but require innovative policy responses.