Advancing Biogenic Carbon Lifecycle Assessment in Bio-Based Systems

"The Paris Agreement, established in 2015, set an ambitious goal to keep global temperature rise well below 2degreesC, ideally limiting it to 1.5 degreesC. Achieving this requires not only cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also leveraging negative emissions technologies like Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). BECCS combines bioenergy production from biomass with carbon capture to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

As part of its Net Zero by 2050 goal under the Climate Change Act of 2008, the UK sees BECCS as crucial to its climate strategy.

Yet, the effectiveness of BECCS depends on several factors-forest management practices, biomass sustainability, and how operations are run all impact its GHG reduction potential. Additionally, current life cycle analysis (LCA) methods often struggle to accurately account for biogenic carbon.

This PhD project aims to develop a comprehensive biogenic carbon accounting framework to improve the assessment of the real carbon impacts of bioenergy systems, specifically bioenergy with carbon capture, utilisation, and storage. With the complexity of different biomass feedstocks, CCS technologies, energy vectors and applications, carbon storage and use, and supply chains often reaching across national borders, a robust approach for accounting and evidencing biogenic carbon fluxes is necessary to ensure that BECCUS systems are truly carbon negative.

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