The role of biomass in the drive to Net-Zero?

Copyright © NNFCC 2021
The role of biomass in the drive to Net Zero?
BBNet Annual Conference
October 2021

A specialist business consultancy with over 18
years of bioeconomy experience
Providing clients with a strategic view of feedstock, technology, policy and
market development across the bioeconomy.
Enabling informed business decisions and sustainable business strategies.

Enabling policy deployment

UK Bioeconomy (LBNet Conference 2018)
2008
Gallagher Review
2008
IBTI Club
2009 Industrial Biotechnology
Innovation and Growth Team
2010 BBSRC confirm IB & Bioenergy as one of
its strategic priorities
2013 Industrial Biotechnology Showcase
2014 Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst
2014 Networks in Industrial Biotechnology & Bioenergy
2015 Govt Building a high
value bioeconomy report
2016 IB Catalyst
mothballed
2018 IFR Biorefinery
Centre closes
2016 BioPilots
UK formed
2011 NIBF expansion
2007 Launch of
NIBF at CPI
2017 Call for new NIBB
2018
Bioeconomy strategy
Bioeconomy sector deal
Industrial strategy challenge fund

Climate change urgency

The UK’s fossil dependency
Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics, 2000 and 2020 2000

Net Zero
‘The UK should set and vigorously pursue an
ambitious target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
(GHGs) to 'net-zero' by 2050, ending the UK's
contribution to global warming within 30 years.’
Known actions
low-carbon electricity (which must quadruple its
supply by 2050),
efficient buildings and low-carbon heating electric
vehicles,
carbon capture and storage (CCS),
diversion of biodegradable waste from landfill,
phase-out of fluorinated gases,
increased afforestation and measures to reduce
emissions on farms.

Net Zero
‘A net-zero GHG target is not credible unless policy is
ramped up significantly’
Criticisms
no serious plan for decarbonising heating.
Carbon capture (usage) and storage untested.
Afforestation targets not being delivered.
Challenges
Industry must be largely decarbonised.
Heavy goods vehicles must switch to low-carbon fuel
sources.
Emissions from international aviation and shipping.
A fifth of our agricultural land must shift to alternative
uses that support emissions reduction.
Remaining emissions must be fully offset by
removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and permanently
sequestering it.

Climate Change Committee (CCC) -
Biomass in a low-carbon economy
Findings:
• Managing biomass stocks is an important component of global
climate mitigation strategies.
• Sustainably harvested biomass can play a significant role in
meeting long-term climate targets, provided it is prioritised for
the most valuable end-uses.
Recommendations:
• Increase the volume of carbon stored in our forests and land.
• Food and biodegradable waste must be collected separately from other refuse in all
areas across the UK.
• Rules governing the supply of sustainable sources of biomass for energy need to be
improved.
• Biomass must be used in the most effective way. Uses that enable long-term
carbon storage should be prioritised.

Biomass flexibility and inflexibility
Physical characteristics limit technical processability
Geography and logistics limit economic viability

Sustainable use of Biomass and Land
Provisioning
services
Cultural
services
Supporting
services
Regulating
services
Sustainability is regional and personal.
Policy restrains demand and places
sustainability criteria to avoid damage to
regulating and supporting services.
To date policy has been siloed e.g. RO,
RTFO, RHI, FIT etc with limited technical
restrictions on feedstock use or the use
of incentives to sway feedstock choice.
How to find a balance between demand
for provisioning and cultural services.
And furthermore between provisioning
services?

Bioenergy

Total area of crops grown for bioenergy, UK 2008 - 2018
0
20
40
60
80
1 00
1 20
1 40
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
wheat for bioethanol barley for bioethanol oilseed Rape for biodiesel sugar Beet for bioethanol
maize for anaerobic digestion short rotation coppice miscanthus
NB 1) Maize, SRC and miscanthus are England only
2) Barley and maize only included from 2014
3) for other caveats see originally data set
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/943264/nonfood-statsnotice2019-10dec20v3.pdf
In 2019 arable land used for
bioenergy crops in the UK equated
to 1.6% of the total arable area
(20% of which was used for biofuel
production)
Thousand
hectares

Biomass as a UK energy source
In 2018, around 82% of wood pellets
imported were from the United States
and Canada.
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
Biomass Wind, wave,
water
Biofuel Solar Waste from
households
and similar
Other
Energy consumption from renewable
and waste sources, by source, UK,
2017
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/aburningissuebiomassisthebiggestsourceofrenewableenergyconsumedintheuk/2019-08-30
Biomass" category includes plant (e.g. straw or crops) and
animal biomass (e.g. poultry litter), wood (e.g. wood pellets)
and charcoal.
%

UK biofuel production (2019)
In 2019 289 million litres eq. of
renewable fuel was produced from
UK origin feedstock.
The most common source of
biodiesel was Used Cooking oil
(118 million litres).
The most common source of
bioethanol from UK origin
feedstock was sugar beet (64
million litres).
Increasing blending obligation
(11.235% to 14.155% by 2032)
with decreasing crop cap (3.83% to
2.00% in 2032).
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/932933/renewable-fuel-statistics-2019-
final-report.pdf

So what does valuable mean?
How to stimulate the use
of residues, wastes?
Where the economic value of biomass as feedstock
for primary products is clear.
How do incentives for marginal economic
opportunities affect established markets?

Carbon
The elemental backbone of the global economy

Petrochemicals
Direct blending of renewable naphtha
into cracker feeds allows bio-attributed
production of 1000’s of chemical
derivatives.
The use of natural gas grid allows mass
balanced production of bio-attributed
chemicals through the introduction of
biomethane.

Changing oil demand
Global climate change policies
are expected to impact on oil
demand.
In response to the
electrification of transport
refiners will move to on
purpose chemicals production.
Oil prices are likely to be
supressed in the near term but
increasing exploration and
refining costs spread across a
smaller market will lead to an
increasing price of fuel and
chemical feedstocks.

Increasing demand for petrochemicals
14%
7%
25%
8%
28%
7%
11%
Global Oil Consumption (2019)
Ethane and LPG Naphtha Gasoline
Jet/kerosene Diesel/gasoil Fuel oil
Others
Source: bp Statistical Review of World Energy 2020, IEA Oil 2020
Global demand for petrochemical feedstock
accounted roughly 12 percent of total
demand for oil in 2017.
Petrochemicals are likely to be responsible
for ~50% in the growth in oil consumption
between 2020 and 2025

Petrochemical alternatives
Reduce consumption
Business models
Process and material efficiency
Alternative materials
Metals and glass both have
functional and energy issues
Sustainable carbon sources
Recycled carbon
Direct Air Capture
Biomass

biobased

UK Plastics - An economic, social and
environmental opportunity?
The UK consumes around 5 million tonnes of plastic per year.
The UK plastic industry consumes around 3.3 million tonnes of raw materials per
year.
The industry is heavily reliant on imports of raw material, amounting to around 1.6
million tonnes per year.
UK Plastics
Employment 182,000 direct jobs
(3rd biggest manufacturing
sector).
Turnover of £25.5bn per year.
Exports worth over £8bn a year
(top 10)
Source: British Plastic Federation

Value beyond carbon
Energy Environ. Sci., 2021, 14, 4358-4376
Macromolecular Bioscience 7(2):105-17
Taking advantage of product value and process stoichiometry to
oxygenated intermediates.
Targets for biotech based production.

Ethanol Value Chain
Globally, the only large
scale BECCS project is
based on the production
of bioethanol.
Source: E4tech & LCAworks

Not just more of the same!
Reduced resource requirements.
Simpler product design and material
requirements.
Improved product shelf life.
Reduced end-of-life issues
New feedstock provides new
chemical platforms and the potential
for new chemicals and polymers,
with improved or new functionality.

Effective use of biomass
Circular economy
Cascading
use
Resource
efficiency
Deploy biorefinery principles ensuring
the optimum use of all components of
biomass.
Best practice in process design for
efficient material conversions.
Follow cascading principles of material
use followed by energy recovery with
carbon capture, utilisation and finally
storage
Co-development of product and
systems and infrastructure to enable
circular use.

Sequestering carbon in the economy
Circular economy and BECCS

Some concluding thoughts
The use of biomass is currently the only way to turn off the fossil fuel tap.
Sustainability is not one dimensional, reducing carbon emissions is just one
aspect of the value of biomass, also economic, societal and other
environmental needs.
Biobased manufacturing will also have higher environment impacts over
fossil production, need to contextualise impacts.
Biomass feedstock provides opportunities for new chemistry enabling the
design of better products, with greater ‘in-use’ performance.
Biobased products are a functional form of biomass, and through cascading
use eventually a feedstock for BECCS.

Thank You for listening
While the use of biomass to produce fuel, chemicals & material
isn't necessarily sustainable, the use of fossil fuels is
unquestionably unsustainable.
a.higson@nnfcc.co.uk
@biobasedchem

The role of biomass in the drive to Net-Zero?

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