Carbon-14 based determination of the biogenic fraction of industrial CO2 emissions – Application and validation

The 14C method is a very reliable and sensitive method for industrial plants, emission authorities and emission inventories to verify data estimations of biogenic fractions of CO2 emissions. The applicability of the method is shown for flue gas CO2 samples that have been sampled in 1-h intervals at a coal- and wood-fired power plant and a waste incineration plant. Biogenic flue gas CO2 fractions of 5–10% and 48–50% have been measured at the power plant and the waste incineration plant, respectively. The reliability of the method has been proven by comparison of the power plant results with those based on carbon mass input and output data of the power plant. At industrial plants with relatively low biogenic CO2 fraction (<10%) the results need to be corrected for sampled 14CO2 from atmospheric air.