Integrating Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies with Sugarcane-Based Bioenergy in Colombia

Colombia committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% concerning the 2030 projected levels according to the Paris Agreement; sugarcane mills are of high interest in reaching Colombian mitigation goals. Currently, sugarcane mills are producing raw sugar, but also; bioethanol and bioenergy by using fermentation and combustion processes, respectively, producing several million tons of CO2 as a by-product. The evaluation of CO2 capture requires an exhaustive delimitation of the generation unit, and the purification requirements vary depending on the final use, therefore it is important to study the CO2 source and the utilization processes that proceed in an integrated manner, known as the CO2 valorization chain. Bioenergy with carbon capture and utilization (BECCU) is an approach that aims at harnessing the two essential carbon sources in post-fossil scenarios, biomass and CO2 while looking to achieve global mitigation goals. Thus, this chapter presents, based on a literature review and process data analysis from local Sugarcane mills, an approach to a CO2 valorization chain considering Colombian legislation and incentives around CO2, integrating a sugarcane cogeneration plant as a CO2 source, absorption with amine solvents or calcium carbonate looping as options for carbon capture, and CO2 bioconversion into succinic acid. Technologies for CO2 utilization are often developed separately, and each sugarcane mill explored in the light of BECCU systems presents challenges and opportunities that may affect its implementation possibilities. On a one-year basis, technical and economic parameters calculated for a particular sugarcane mill show that of the 628,7 kilotons of CO2 produced by sugarcane bagasse burning, 452,7 and 402,4 tons can be captured at 34,6 and 58,3 US$/ton of CO2 captured by absorption with amine solvent or calcium carbonate looping, respectively. Then, putting the captured CO2 to use in anaerobic fermentation produces close to one thousand kilotons of succinic acid per route. This scenario can help to analyze the panorama of CO2 emissions and valorization in Colombia suggesting a need for growth in the overall technology carbon conversion yield, and that capture and CO2 use as feedstock does not automatically guarantee environmentally friendly processes; there appear to be more challenges to take care of in the current Colombian Sugarcane and CO2 incentives scenarios.