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Revealing the GHG reduction potential of emerging biomass-based CO2 utilization with an iron cycle system

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Abstract

CO2 utilization becomes a promising solution for reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Biomass-based CO2 utilization (BCU) even has the potential to generate negative emissions, but the corresponding quantitative evaluation is limited. Herein, the biomass-based CO2 utilization with an iron cycle (BCU-Fe) system, which converts CO2 into formate by Fe under hydrothermal conditions and recovers Fe with biomass-derived glycerin, was investigated. The GHG reduction potential under various process designs was quantified by a multidisciplinary method, including experiments, simulations, and an ex-ante life-cycle assessment. The results reveal that the BCU-Fe system could bring considerable GHG emission reduction. Significantly, the lowest value is −34.03 kg CO2-eq/kg absorbed CO2 (−2.44 kg CO2-eq/kg circulated Fe) with the optimal yield of formate (66%) and Fe (80%). The proposed ex-ante evaluation approach not only reveals the benefits of mitigating climate change by applying the BCU-Fe system, but also serves as a generic tool to guide the industrialization of emerging carbon-neutral technologies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21978170), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 19ZR1424800), and the Center of Hydrogen Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Jing Xu was supported by Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellence Program of Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jing Xu, Jiong Cheng, Runtian He, Chunling Wang, Heng Zhong & Fangming Jin

  2. Innovation Centre for Environment and Resources, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Jiaqi Lu

  3. Center of Hydrogen Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Fangming Jin

  4. Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Fangming Jin

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  1. Jing Xu
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  2. Jiong Cheng
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  3. Runtian He
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  4. Jiaqi Lu
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  5. Chunling Wang
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  6. Heng Zhong
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  7. Fangming Jin
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Correspondence to Jiaqi Lu or Fangming Jin.

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Highlights

• Greenhouse gas mitigation by biomass-based CO2 utilization with a Fe cycle system.

• The system including hydrothermal CO2 reduction with Fe and Fe recovery by biomass.

• The reduction potential quantified by experiments, simulations, and an ex-ante LCA.

• The greatest GHG reduction potential is −34.03 kg CO2-eq/kg absorbed CO2.

• Ex-ante LCA supports process optimization to maximize GHG reduction potential.

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Xu, J., Cheng, J., He, R. et al. Revealing the GHG reduction potential of emerging biomass-based CO2 utilization with an iron cycle system. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 17, 127 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1727-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1727-8

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