Cownden, R. orcid.org/0000-0002-9153-9735 and Lucquiaud, M. (2024) Assessing best practices in natural gas production and emerging CO2 capture techniques to minimize the carbon footprint of electricity generation. Environmental Science & Technology, 58 (47). pp. 20906-20917. ISSN 0013-936X
Abstract
Natural gas (NG) is expected to provide a substantial portion of electricity generation in many jurisdictions for the foreseeable future. Postcombustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) effectively abates direct CO2 emissions; however, indirect NG supply chain emissions in most jurisdictions are incompatible with climate change mitigation goals. This life cycle assessment evaluates specific opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) generation with CCS using existing low-emission NG production practices, technologies, and processes combined with emerging CCS techniques to achieve high CO2 capture rates and mitigate startup emissions. We find baseload life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity ranges from 22 to 62 kgCO2e/MWh for 95–98.5% CO2 capture, within the range of published estimates for wind and photovoltaic power and considerably below prior estimates of CCGT with CCS. Low-emission NG production practices reduce other environmental impacts, which are dominated by combustion-related air pollution. We also show how interim solvent storage can effectively mitigate emissions from CCGT start/stop cycles. This work highlights the importance of mitigating both CO2 and methane emissions from NG supply chains and proposes a more nuanced discussion regarding the potential contribution of NG to the future energy supply. A surrogate model is provided to estimate life cycle GHG emissions for CCGT with CCS and user-input parameters.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | life cycle assessment; greenhouse gas emissions; combined cycle gas turbines; duty cycle; carbon capture and storage; natural gas production |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Mechanical Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2024 10:34 |
Last Modified: | 02 Dec 2024 11:27 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.est.4c02933 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:219745 |