The future role of waste management in providing CO₂ for power-to-X

Estimates were made of future annual amounts of CO₂ available in Denmark from point sources potentially suitable for carbon capture. This involved industrial plants, biomass-based energy plants, waste incinerators and biogas plants. The total amount of CO₂ potentially available in the future (around 9 million tons annually in Denmark) matches well the expected need for CO₂ to produce renewable fuels for sea and air transportation and for production of chemicals for Denmark by Power-to-X. CO₂ from waste incineration constitutes about 30% of the total amount of available CO₂. Although the numbers are associated with significant uncertainty, the conclusion is that waste incineration may play an important role in supplying Power-to-X with CO₂. The fossil part of the captured CO₂ affects its environmental and economic aspects, but climate neutral CO₂ from incinerators, even including climate neutral incinerators, can be obtained by routing part of the CO₂ (around 30-40%) to storage (CCS) and utilizing the remaining part (CCU). The assessment suggests that from the perspective of climate change impacts, it makes sense to introduce carbon capture at waste incinerators as both underground storage and utilization seem relevant. The issue addressed is relevant to other countries, but numbers as well as the potential importance of waste management in supplying CO₂ will vary.