(514d) Life Cycle Analysis Tools to Evaluate Environmental Footprint of Carbon Conversion Projects

Conversion of captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted from power and industrial sources into valuable products for various applications can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide conversion or carbon dioxide utilization (CO2U) is an emerging research area that encompasses many possible pathways, including biological uptake, catalytic conversion, and mineralization. Life cycle assessment/analysis (LCA) can help determine the potential environmental impacts and net life cycle GHG reductions of conversion technologies from a consistent and unbiased viewpoint, which is crucial for commercialization and acceptance of CO₂-derived products in the marketplace. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the federal government are increasingly requiring LCA as a condition for funding primary research, grant programs such as Utilization Procurement Grants (UPGrants) for eligible entities to procure and use carbon conversion products, and tax incentives such as “45Q” for CO₂ utilization projects (Treasury Regulations Section 1.45Q-4 (26 C.F.R. § 1.45Q-4), 2021).

To support the creation of useful and consistent LCAs of carbon conversion projects, the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has developed a CO2U LCA Toolkit and released version 2.0 in 2022. The NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit is intended to help the project principal investigators meet LCA requirements under the DOE Carbon Conversion Program and support program managers in decision-making by ensuring consistency and transparency across Carbon Conversion Program projects. NETL also released specific addenda to support the development of LCAs for UPGrants and 45Q. The toolkit has also been used to guide a wider audience outside the Carbon Conversion Program in conducting LCAs on carbon conversion systems and advance the global discussion on carbon conversion LCA.

The guidance document should be considered a companion to the requirements established in ISO 14040/14044, providing specific guidance on methodological issues for scoping and completing the LCA. The guidance, data, and tools are publicly available and free. This presentation will provide an overview of each part of this updated LCA toolkit, its utility to the LCA community, and its value in assessing emerging and existing carbon conversion technologies.

References:

Treasury Regulations Section 1.45Q-4 (26 C.F.R. § 1.45Q-4) (2021). Retrieved from https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/td-9944.pdf on November 18, 2021

Disclaimer: This project was funded by the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory an agency of the United States Government, through a support contract. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of its employees, nor the support contractor, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressor implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.