This study quantifies the trade-offs and synergies between climate and air quality policy objectives for the European power and heat (P&H) sector. An overview is presented of the expected performance data of CO2 capture systems implemented at P&H plants, and the expected emission of key air pollutants, being: SO2, NOX, NH3, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM). The CO2 capture systems investigated include: post-combustion, oxyfuel combustion and pre-combustion capture. For all capture systems it was found that SO2, NOx and PM emissions are expected to be reduced or remain equal per unit of primary energy input compared to power plants without CO2 capture. Increase in primary energy input as a result of the energy penalty for CO2 capture may for some technologies and substances result in a net increase of emissions per kWh output. The emission of ammonia may increase by a factor of up to 45 per unit of primary energy input for post-combustion technologies. No data are available about the emission of VOCs from CO2 capture technologies. A simple model was developed and applied to analyse the impact of CO2 capture in the European P&H sector on the emission level of key air pollutants in 2030. Four scenarios were developed: one without CO2 capture and three with one dominantly implemented CO2 capture system, varying between: post-combustion, oxyfuel combustion and pre-combustion. The results showed a reduction in GHG emissions for the scenarios with CO2 capture compared to the baseline scenario between 12% and 20% in the EU 27 region in 2030. NOx emissions were 15% higher in the P&H sector in a scenario with predominantly post-combustion and lower when oxyfuel combustion (-16%) or pre-combustion (-20%) were implemented on a large scale. Large scale implementation of the post-combustion technology in 2030 may also result in significantly higher, i.e. increase by a factor of 28, NH3 emissions compared to scenarios with other CO2 capture options or without capture. SO2 emissions were very low for all scenarios that include large scale implementation of CO2 capture in 2030, i.e. a reduction varying between 27% and 41%. Particulate Matter emissions were found to be lower in the scenarios with CO2 capture. The scenario with implementation of the oxyfuel technology showed the lowest PM emissions followed by the scenario with a significant share allocated to pre-combustion, respectively -59% and -31%. The scenario with post-combustion capture resulted in PM emissions varying between 35% reduction and 26% increase.@en

The focus of this research is to develop a first assessment of the impacts of the implementation of CO2 capture technologies in the Dutch power sector on the transboundary air pollution (SO2,NOX,NH3,NMV OC,PM10 and PM2.5) levels in 2020. Results show that for the power sector SO2 emissions will be very low for scenarios that include large scale implementation of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The annual emissions of NOx are estimated to be lower in all scenarios with greenhouse gas reductions. However, applying the post-combustion technology on existing power plants may result in higher NOx emissions per kWh. Both SO2 and NOx emissions from the power sector are a substantial part of the current national total. Large scale implementation of the post-combustion CO2 capture technology may result in more than 5 times higher NH3 emissions compared to scenarios without CCS and to other capture options (i.e. pre-combustion and oxyfuel combustion). Particulate Matter (PM) emissions are lower in the scenarios with CO2 reduction. A scenario with large scale implementation of the oxyfuel technology shows the lowest emissions of PM. In the scenarios with post-combustion capture Non Methane Volatile Organic Compounds emissions may increase due to the emission of solvents used in the capture process. The main conclusion is that climate policy and air quality policy are entwined and may result in synergies and trade-offs. Quantification of these synergies and trade-offs however encompasses inaccuracies due to data uncertainty and knowledge gaps.@en

This paper reports the development of a tool to assess the environmental performance of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) chains. The environmental assessment is done for the whole CCS chain. The tool has been designed to produce transparent and traceable results and is easy to work with. The tool is meant for a broad group of stakeholders for assessing CCS chains on their environmental performance. It provides insights into the environmental performance of CCS chains by using a learning-by-doing experience for users. It allows both knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement so that view points of stakeholders are better understood and decision making on the deployment of CCS can be improved.@en