Schlumberger New Energy, Chevron and Microsoft develop bioenergy project

The BECCS plant will convert agricultural waste biomass, such as almond trees, into a renewable synthesis gas that will be mixed with oxygen in a combustor to generate electricity. More than 99% of the carbon from the BECCS process is expected to be captured for permanent storage by injecting CO₂ underground into nearby deep geologic formations.

By using biomass fuel that consumes CO₂ over its lifetime to produce power and then safely and permanently storing the produced CO₂, the process is designed to result in net-negative carbon emissions, effectively removing greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. The plant, when completed, is expected to remove approximately 300 000 tpy of CO₂, which is equivalent to the emissions from electricity use of more than 65 000 US homes.

The completed facility will help improve air quality in the Central Valley, California, by using approximately 200 000 tpy of agricultural waste, in line with the recent California Air Resources Control Board plan to begin phasing out almost all agricultural burning in the Valley by 2025. The bioenergy technology is designed to operate without routine emissions of nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and particulates from combustion produced by conventional biomass plants.

The project is expected to create up to 300 construction jobs and about 30 permanent jobs once the facility is operating. The companies involved expect to begin front end engineering and design immediately, leading to a final investment decision in 2022, and will then evaluate other opportunities to scale this carbon capture and sequestration solution.

For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry read our latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global’s Winter 2020 issue

The Winter issue of Energy Global provides a range of technical articles covering technological advancements and future outlooks in the renewables sector, from companies including CorPower Ocean, Rystad Energy, Black & Veatch, Voltalia, FUERGY, and more.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/bioenergy/09032021/schlumberger-new-energy-chevron-and-microsoft-develop-bioenergy-project/