2023-05-18 02:58:25
If it is up to the cabinet, we will remove CO2 from the air on a large scale through the incineration of our residual waste. But the waste industry has doubts about whether it will be possible to store millions of tons of CO2 under the sea as early as 2030.
Every year we all produce a huge amount of waste. Much is separated and recycled, but every year more than 7 billion kilos of residual waste also ends up in Dutch incinerators. There, the residual waste still produces some energy, but many megatons of CO2 are also released into the air.
The government wants to significantly reduce these emissions in the coming years. By recycling more and incinerating less waste, but also by capturing CO2 emissions in the chimneys of the waste incinerators. In 2030, at least 3 million tons of CO2 from waste must disappear underground every year, according to the new package of climate plans from Minister Rob Jetten (Climate and Energy).
Of that, 2 million tons would count as “negative emissions”: CO2 taken from the air. It works like this: almost two-thirds of the residual waste consists of biomass, such as paper or food waste. When that is burned, CO2 is released into the air, which has recently been removed by plants and trees. As a result, there are zero net emissions. If this CO2 is captured and stored permanently, we actually remove CO2 from the air.
Slightly more than a third of residual waste consists of plastic, made from petroleum. If the CO2 is stored, our ‘fossil’ emissions will decrease. But then there is no question of removing CO2 from the air.
Infrastructure and subsidy needed
A lot still needs to be done to really capture millions of tons of CO2 during waste incineration. The largest installation that captures CO2 is currently located in Duiven, at the AVR waste-to-energy plant. There, 60,000 tons of CO2 per year are collected and transported to market gardeners. By using this CO2 in their greenhouses, they need to burn less natural gas.
But to achieve the government target, fifty times as much CO2 must be captured from the chimneys. And it must be transported to the empty gas fields under the North Sea where it can be permanently stored.
According to the Dutch Waste Management Association, that is where the problem lies. “From a technical point of view, a lot is possible,” says spokesman Jeroen Stein. But he has many practical concerns. For example, the government must ensure that there is room to store that CO2 under the North Sea.
The transport there also has to be arranged, which is a lot more difficult for a waste processor in Twente than for a company in Rotterdam. Moreover, the companies still need a subsidy to do this. “Otherwise it doesn’t seem feasible and affordable,” says Stein.
The government is releasing 222 million euros from the Climate Fund to help waste companies become greener. Stein cannot say whether that is sufficient to realize Jetten’s ambitions. “This is being explored in consultation with the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure and Water Management as well as our members.”
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Licensing takes years
AVR already has plans to capture 450,000 tons of CO2 per year at its incinerator in the port of Rotterdam. Nevertheless, this company also finds Jetten’s ambition “firm”, says Michiel Timmerije, director of energy at AVR. “There also has to be infrastructure to do it.”
For its CO2 storage project, AVR wants to use pipelines that are laid from the port of Rotterdam to empty gas fields. But it is not yet clear when construction can continue. The Council of State has yet to rule on a lawsuit about nitrogen emissions during the construction of the so-called Porthos project.
2030 is already around the corner. “Before you have an installation, before you have permits, you have been working for at least three or four years,” says Timmerije.
Our laws are also not yet prepared for CO2 removal. No system has yet been set up to reward companies for their negative emissions. In Brussels, there is still extensive discussion about how that would work and how it can be verified that CO2 has really been removed from the air. And that it will also be stored for a long time.
‘Scaling up technology already’
According to scientists, we will have to remove much more CO2 from the air in the future to limit global warming. We must not only be climate neutral by 2050, but also have net negative emissions afterwards in order to limit warming as much as possible.
It is therefore good to start with negative emissions now, says Kiane de Kleijne. She conducts research at Radboud University into ways of reusing or removing CO2 from the air. “You have to start working on that now, to develop and scale it up.”
She emphasizes that CO2 removal is not a substitute for reducing emissions. It is usually much more difficult to remove CO2 from the air than it is to prevent the greenhouse gas from coming out of our chimneys and exhausts. “Emissions reduction must remain the core of climate policy. CO2 removal can never replace it.”
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