Double Yields and Negative Emissions? Resource, Climate and Cost Efficiencies in Biofuels With Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization
Open accessAbstract
As fossil-reliant industries turn to sustainable biomass for energy and material supply, the competition for biogenic carbon is expected to intensify. Using process level carbon and energy balance models, this paper shows how the capture of residual CO 2 in conjunction with either permanent storage (CCS) or biofuel production (CCU) benefits fourteen largely residue-based biofuel production pathways. With a few noteworthy exceptions, most pathways have low carbon utilization efficiencies (30–40%) without CCS/U. CCS can double these numbers and deliver negative emission biofuels with GHG footprints below −50 g CO 2 eq./MJ for several pathways. Compared to CCS with no revenue from CO 2 sequestration, CCU can offer the same efficiency gains at roughly two-third the biofuel production cost (e.g., 99 EUR/MWh vs. 162 EUR/MWh) but the GHG reduction relative to fossil fuels is significantly smaller (18 g CO 2 eq./MJ vs. −99 g CO 2 eq./MJ). From a combined carbon, cost and climate perspective, although commercial pathways deliver the cheapest biofuels, it is the emerging pathways that provide large-scale carbon-efficient GHG reductions. There is thus some tension between alternatives that are societally best and those that are economically most interesting for investors. Biofuel pathways vent CO 2 in both concentrated and dilute streams Capturing both provides the best environomic outcomes. Existing pathways that can deliver low-cost GHG reductions but generate relatively small quantities of CO 2 are unlikely to be able to finance the transport infrastructure required for transformative bio-CCS deployment. CCS and CCU are accordingly important tools for simultaneously reducing biogenic carbon wastage and GHG emissions, but to unlock their full benefits in a cost-effective manner, emerging biofuel technology based on the gasification and hydrotreatment of forest residues need to be commercially deployed imminently.
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Coupling bioenergy production with carbon capture and utilization or storage (BECCU/BECCS) can significantly improve overall energy exploitation from biogenic carbon and enhance bioenergy's climate mitigation potential.
“Furthermore, coupling bioenergy production with carbon capture and utilization (CCU) or storage (CCS)-known as BECCU and BECCS-can significantly improve the overall energy exploitation from biogenic carbon and enhance bioenergy's climate mitigation potential across various sectors [255,256].”
From Biofuels, E-Fuels, and Waste-Derived Fuels: Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions (2025) · cites this paper as [255]
The Abstract reports improved carbon utilization from CCS and CCU in fourteen largely residue-based biofuel pathways, with particularly strong GHG benefits from CCS. The Conclusion says CCU offers similar carbon-utilization gains but generally smaller climate benefits than CCS. The study does not establish climate-mitigation gains across various sectors; its analysis concerns biofuel production pathways. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBECCS offers a pathway to negative emissions by storing captured biogenic CO2.
“BECCS, in particular, offers a pathway to negative emissions by storing the captured biogenic CO 2 , while BECCU allows the captured CO 2 to be combined with renewable hydrogen for producing additional fuels (e.g., e-Fuels), potentially offering a less costly CO 2 source than direct air capture for future fuel synthesis needs [257].”
From Biofuels, E-Fuels, and Waste-Derived Fuels: Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions (2025) · cites this paper as [255]
CO2 is generated in the gasification process and can either be captured and stored to achieve negative emissions (BECCS) or synthesized to methanol along with syngas.
“CO2 is also generated in the gasification process and can either be captured and stored to achieve negative emissions (BECCS) [16,25], or be synthesized to methanol along with the syngas.”
From Locked in on RFNBOs – Will EU mandates for drop-in synthetic aviation fuels lead to decreased energy- and cost-efficiency? (2026) · cites this paper as [25]
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- Authors
- Jafri, Y., Ahlström, J. M., Furusjö, E., Harvey, S., Pettersson, K., Svensson, E., & Wetterlund, E.
- Affiliations
- Luleå University of Technology (SE)
- RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (SE)
- Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Jafri, Yawer
- Wetterlund, Elisabeth
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Energy Research
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-06-20
- Volume
- 10
- ISSN
- 2296-598X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4283155433
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6
- FWCI
- 1.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Energy Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Chalmers Research (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Energimyndigheten (P48363-1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Carbon Dioxide Capture Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development
- Keywords
- biofuels, carbon capture and storage, carbon capture and utilization, carbon dioxide removal, carbon use efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, forest residues, gasification, hydrotreating, biogenic carbon, biofuel production costs, transport infrastructure
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