Given Enerkem's poor performance in Edmonton, it is worth asking: why does Repsol think that the tech will work better in Spain? Is it worth additional money💶 from the EU🇪🇺 and indirectly Spanish🇪🇸 taxpayers? Unfortunately, neither Enerkem nor Repsol wanted to talk to me. More in my latest newsletter

While Enerkem's projects in CA failed, one in Spain moves ahead. Ecoplanta at Repsol's Tarragona complex🧪🏭 is probably Enerkem's last chance to succeed. Ecoplanta only came to pass after plans for the extension of an energy tax🏛️ in Spain were dropped after the party Junts declined to support it

Most existing CO2 storage is something called Enhanced Oil Recovery. Existing CCS usually uses easye CO2 sources, and gas-fired power plants are the opposite of that. A key determinant for the costs of CCS is the concentration of a CO2 source. Check my video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO72...

Sometimes, I feel we're talking about different worlds of CCS. One is the world of ideas that people may have about what CCS might look like. The other is how actual CCS projects look in the real world.

If you want to know why companies whose names you may have never heard - like Bigadan or BioCirc - may soon be more important players in the carbon removal space than well-known names like Climeworks, check my latest newsletter.

A smarter way of doing BECCS could be to tap into existing processes that create CO2 as a by-product - like Biomethane upgrading. Biogas from anaerobic digestion is a mixture of Methane and CO2. If those gases are separated, which is often already done, CO2 is available in high concentrations.💨

An alternative way of removing carbon from the atmosphere is BECCS - Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage. However, "naive" BECCS, i.e., having a biomass power plant 🪵🔥 with a carbon capture unit, isn't exactly cheap.

If you find topics like this interesting, consider subscribing to my newsletter: industrydecarbonization.com/subscribe.html

The Tønder biogas plant by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners delivers CO2 for the Kasso E-Methanol plant by European Energy.

It's a form of BECCS (Bio Energy with CCS), but it is very different from "traditional BECCS" (aka: CCS on bioenergy power plants🪵🔥).
While Biomethane with CCS is not exactly at the center of the CCS debate, companies like neustark, The Carbon Removers, Bigadan, BioCirc are working on it.

Biogas from Anaerobic Digestion also contains CO2, and it can be upgraded to Biomethane, also known as Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), by removing CO2. Biomethane upgraders are, in a sense, the renewable🌱 equivalent to fossil gas upgraders.
They provide an easy source for biogenic🌿 CO2.

Apart from the fact that it's usually used for Enhanced Oil Recovery, the sources are, in most cases, fossil gas upgraders💨🏭
Fossil gas💨 usually contains CO2 that needs to be removed. Gas upgraders provide CO2 in high concentrations. Capturing it is cheap.

CCS is a controversial topic to begin with. That has a lot to do with the fact that many see it - often rightfully so - as a delay strategy by the fossil fuel🛢️ industry.
While people have power plants or cement factories in mind, real-world CCS looks quite different.

Landfills are bad due to their methane emissions. But properly managed landfilling of plastics can avoid most emissions. Should we landfill to permanently keep carbon out of the atmosphere? ⛰️
More in my latest newsletter, link above.

What should be called unrecyclable is not so clear. Chemical recycling may allow us to recycle plenty of "unrecyclable waste" - if it works. Big "if". 🧪

CCU? I kinda like CCU, but going from energy-rich waste to low-energy CO2 and back to something high-energy like Methanol does not strike me as the best idea. ↕️
Avoiding waste is good, recycling is much better than burning. But particularly plastic recycling has limits. ♻️

Waste incinerator operators will often claim that 1/2 of their CO2 doesn't count 🌿 or even that they have net-negative emissions 🌎. I disagree.
Are waste incinerators a sector that needs CCS? I have looked at a number of projects, and there's a common theme: costs are higher than expected. 💰💰💰