Determining biogenic and fossil CO2 in flue gas, process gas, and solid and liquid fuels

When trading CO₂ in the context of capturing, transporting, using, or storing CO₂, you must determine and document the proportion of biogenic and fossil CO₂.

This applies to the flue gases directed into the carbon capture process, to the resulting post-CO₂ capture process gas, and to Power-to-X fuels produced from the resulting CO₂. 

The measurement results are typically used for reporting and verification of CO₂ emissions according to the EU ETS trading scheme.

You need to know the proportion of biogenic and fossil CO₂ in these contexts:

• Calculating CO₂ emissions for a waste incineration facility
  When a waste incineration facility prepares its annual emission inventory for CO₂ as required according to the EU ETS scheme, it needs to know how much CO₂ it emits from fossil carbon and from biological materials. Measuring the proportion of biogenic CO₂ enables a waste incineration facility to document the emission of fossil-origin CO₂, which is the basis for it to pay CO₂ taxes to the government.

• Sales documentation for your customers
  When you sell CO₂, your customers need documentation on how much biogenic CO₂ the delivered gas contains.

• Buying green fuels
  When you buy green fuels for Power-to-X systems, you need documentation to prove that the specified proportion of biogenic CO₂ is accurate. 

Accredited methodology for safe, reliable measurement of biogenic CO₂ in flue gases

Since January 2013, FORCE Technology has been using the carbon-14 method, as set out in EN ISO 13833, at several Danish and Swedish waste incineration facilities in order to measure annual emissions of fossil-origin CO₂ to support adherence to EU’s CO₂ ETS scheme. The facilities use the measured proportion of fossil-origin CO₂ to calculate and report their annual CO₂ emissions to the authorities. 

This method is based on collection of CO₂ in an alkaline liquid. CO₂ is collected as a carbonate, and the carbon-14 content in the collected carbonate is then analysed in order to calculate the proportion of biogenic CO₂. This method has been found to be particularly safe and reliable for measuring fossil-origin and biogenic CO₂ in flue gases from mixed fuels. Collecting CO₂ over long periods (typically 1 month per sample) reduces the number of samples needed per year, resulting in lower costs for sampling and analysis.

This method makes it possible to meet the uncertainty requirements for the annual fossil-origin CO₂ average according to EU’s ETS scheme. Traceability and the availability of accredited testing are among the method's major advantages. Additionally, the method operates independently from the facility's own automated monitoring systems (AMS). Therefore, the method does not impose any additional requirements on the operation and quality of existing AMS and other equipment.

Carbon-14 method now applicable to process gases in CO₂ capture

This method can be used to document the proportions of biogenic and fossil-origin CO₂ from carbon capture when burning mixed fuels. Doing so also makes it possible to document the proportion of biogenic CO₂ in transported or stored CO₂. In this context, CO₂ is typically measured using samples taken over a short period of time.

Measuring the proportion of biogenic and fossil carbon in solid and liquid fuels

It can be difficult to determine the proportion of biogenic carbon in fuels, particularly when it comes to fuels derived from waste flows: solid recovered fuel (SRF), refuse-derived fuel (RDF), waste oils, etc. To accomplish this, we offer analyses involving a laboratory-controlled burning of sample material followed by an analysis of the CO₂ in the resulting combustion gas.

Please contact us for more information on the measurement of biogenic and fossil carbon in solid or liquid fuels.