H2FC SUPERGEN- Delivering Negative Emissions from Biomass derived Hydrogen

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, i.e. negative CO2 emissions. It will likely have an important role in the transition to a net-zero economy by offsetting hard-to-abate greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are concerns about the sustainability of large scale BECCS deployment using bioenergy from predominantly primary biomass sources (i.e. dedicated energy crops). Secondary sources of biomass (e.g. waste biomass, municipal solid wastes, forest/agricultural residues) are potentially an economical and sustainable alternative resource. Furthermore, supplementing primary biomass demand with secondary sources could enable the supply of biomass from solely indigenous sources (i.e. from the UK), which could provide economic advantages in a growing global bio-economy.

There is also a growing interest in biomass-derived hydrogen production with CCS (BHCCS), which generates hydrogen and removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Hydrogen could help decarbonise fuel-dependent sectors such as heat, industry or transportation. The aim of this study was to determine whether BHCCS could possibly deliver net negative CO2 emissions, making comparisons against the other BECCS technologies.