Energy co-products

V1.1

Module name	Energy co-products
Module category	Transformation
Methodology name	Biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS)
Version	1.1
Methodology ID	RIV-BICRS-T-ECP-V1.1
Release date	June 5th, 2025
Status	In use

Glossary

This is a Transformation Module and covers any avoided emissions from the production and export of energy co-products. This module is part of the Riverse BiCRS methodology, which allows Project Developers to choose the relevant modules for their project, and shall be used with the necessary accompanying modules.

This module is optional, and not all projects will use this module.

See more details on how modules are organized in the BiCRS home page.

How to use this module

BiCRS Methodology

Scope of the module

This module covers energy co-products and the resulting avoided emissions related to BiCRS projects. It is used for issuing avoidance RCCs, whereas the rest of the methodology focuses on removal RCCs. Types of energy co-products may include but are not limited to:

• direct combustion of syngas for heat

• combustion of syngas in combined heat and power (CHP) plants for heat and electricity

• combustion of syngas to generate steam for electricity

• bio-oil use as biofuel

• heat for district heating or industrial use

Note that only energy co-products that are exported from the project site and used elsewhere are included in this module and eligible for avoidance RCCs.

Energy that is used internally by the project (e.g. recirculated heat from pyrolysis) is not considered. The benefits of this are already included within the project LCA by counting a zero-impact heat source.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria requirements specific to this module are detailed in the sections below. Other eligibility criteria requirements shall be taken from the accompanying modules and methodologies:

BiCRS methodology

• Additionality

• No double counting

• Targets alignment

Other modules

• Permanence

• Substitution

• Co-benefits

• No double counting

• ESDNH

• Leakage

Riverse Standard Rules

• Measurability

• Real

• TRL

• Minimum impact

Environmental and social do no harm

Project Developers shall prove that the project does not contribute to substantial environmental and social harms.

Project Developers shall prove that they follow all European, national, and local environmental regulations related to pollution from energy combustion (e.g. syngas, bio-oil...).

The Project Developer, the Riverse Certification team, or the VVB may suggest additional risks to be considered for a specific project.

Substitution

Project Developers shall justify the selection of an avoided baseline energy source by demonstrating that their energy co-products is an appropriate, realistic and efficient substitute. This may be done using, for example,

• direct measurements of the co-product's characteristics

• contractual agreements specifying the required standards for the energy co-product or

• reliable secondary/literature data detailing well-documented, consistent properties of the co-product.

The energy co-product may replace a specific energy source if it is known (e.g. natural gas) or a mix of energy sources (e.g. grid electricity, or average national heat sources). If the energy source is not specifically known, the replaced energy source shall be conservatively chosen.

The amount substituted shall be calculated based on the energy content of both the project's energy co-product and the baseline avoided energy product.

The GHG reduction quantification instructions from all other modules used by the project must be used in conjunction with the present module in order to obtain full life-cycle GHG reduction quantifications.

The additional quantification steps required in this module only relate to the baseline emissions from the avoided energy source. No additional project emissions are accounted for here, since the project's full life-cycle GHG emissions are already reported and quantified in other modules.

Monitoring and quantification may be done per Production Batch, or per calendar year. Verification shall be done annually by summing the GHG reduction quantifications for each production batch produced in the calendar year.

GHG quantification

Data sources

The required primary data for GHG reduction calculations from projects are presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Summary of primary data needed from projects and their source for initial project certification and validation. Asterisks (*) indicate which data are required to be updated annually during verification (see Monitoring Plan section).

Parameter	Unit	Source
Amount and type of energy product replaced*	kg, liter, MJ, MWh	Invoices, bills, contracts

The version 3.11 (hereafter referred to as ecoinvent) shall be the main source of emission factors unless otherwise specified. Ecoinvent is preferred because it is traceable, reliable, and well-recognized. The ecoinvent processes selected are detailed in Appendix.

If the available emission factors do not accurately represent the project, a different emission factor may be submitted by the Project Developer, and approved by the Riverse Certification team and the VVB. Any emission factor must meet the data requirements outlined in the Riverse Standard Rules, and come from traceable, transparent, unbiased, and reputable sources.

If the project undergoes ex-ante validation, estimations and calculations may be accepted instead of measured primary data. These shall be replaced by measured primary data upon verification. Any estimates and calculations should be justified with:

• process engineering documents

• technical specifications for machinery

• measured data from previous projects or from the scientific literature

• statistics or databases

Note that conservative estimates and calculations shall always be made to avoid overestimating provisional credits.

Co-product allocation

The rules outlined at the methodology-level in the BiCRS methodology document shall be applied for allocating GHG emissions between co-products.

Project scenario

The project scenario is the sum of induced GHG emissions from all other processes in other modules that are related to the generation of the energy co-product.

These processes may be shared with the carbon storage solution (e.g. transport of biomass to the transformation site), but for the purpose of issuing avoidance RCCs, these emissions shall be fully allocated to the energy co-product.

Any processes that take place after the carbon storage solution and energy co-product are generated, and that are not shared between them (e.g. transport of biochar to the agricultural field, permanent carbon storage), shall be excluded from the project scenario for energy co-products.

See the co-product allocation section in the BiCRS methodology document for more details.

Calculations- Project scenario

$\textbf{(Eq.1)}\ E_{P,energy\text{-}coproduct} = E_{feedstock} + E_{T,shared} + E_{P,E,shared}+E_{infra,shared}$

Where,

• $E_{P,energy\text{-}coproduct}$ represents the total emissions from the project scenario assigned to the energy co-product

• $E_{feedstock}$ represents the net emissions from the feedstock module
• $E_{T,shared}$ represents the emissions from transportation that are shared between the energy co-product and the carbon storage solution
• $E_{P,E,shared}$ represent the emissions from onsite processing and energy use that are shared between the energy co-product and the carbon storage solution, and/or used for only the processing of the energy co-product
• $E_{infra,shared}$ represents the emissions from the onsite infrastructure and machinery that are shared between the energy co-product and the carbon storage solution

Baseline scenario

Project Developers shall follow the baseline scenario selection guidance in the Riverse Standard Rules and the substitution criteria for this module.

All life cycle emissions from the avoided energy source shall be accounted for in the baseline scenario. This includes raw material extraction, processing, upgrading, distribution, and if relevant, combustion.

Calculations- Baseline scenario

$\textbf{(Eq.2)}\ E_{baseline} =A_{energy} \times EF_{energy}$

Where,

• $E_{baseline}$ represents the total emissions from the baseline scenario

• $A_{energy}$ represents the amount of energy avoided in the baseline scenario, in units that correspond to the units of the chosen emission factor (see below)

• $EF_{energy}$ represents the emission factor for the type of energy avoided in the baseline scenario, taken from ecoinvent. See Appendix 1 for the ecoinvent process options.

Uncertainty assessment

See general instructions for uncertainty assessment in the Riverse Standard Rules. The outcome of the assessment shall be used to determine the percent of RCCs to eliminate with the .

Uncertainty may come from project data, but this is estimated to be negligible, since it is required to come from a direct measurement.

There is low uncertainty from the baseline scenario selection, where the specific type of energy replaced may not be known, in which case the replaced energy source shall be conservatively chosen.

The uncertainty at the module level is estimated to be low. This translates to an expected discount factor of at least 3% for projects that have significant GHG impacts from avoided energy products.

Monitoring plan

Monitoring Plans for this module shall include, but are not limited to, tracking of the following information for each Production Batch and/or each calendar year:

• Amount and type of energy product avoided by the project's energy co-product.

The Project Developer is the party responsible for adhering to the Monitoring Plan.

Appendix

The table below presents a non-exhaustive selection of Ecoinvent activities that may be used in the GHG reduction calculations for this module. Additional activities may be used for any project, if the following selection does not cover all relevant activities.

Table A1 List of ecoinvent 3.11 processes used in the GHG reduction quantification model, all processes are from the cutoff database

Input	Ecoinvent activity name
grid electricity	market for electricity, low voltage, country specific
diesel fuel material	market for diesel, low-sulfur market for diesel
diesel burning	diesel, burned in agricultural machinery diesel, burned in diesel-electric generating set, 18.5kW
natural gas burning	natural gas, burned in gas turbine
heat, from steam	market for heat, from steam, in chemical industry
heat, from municipal incineration	heat, from municipal waste incineration to generic market for heat, district or industrial, other than natural gas
heat, from biomethane burning	market for heat, central or small-scale, biomethane
heat, from straw burning in a furnace	heat production, straw, at furnace 300kW
heat, from natural gas	market for heat, district or industrial, natural gas market for heat, central or small-scale, natural gas

Version history

Change	Justification	Date	Version changed
Change GHG quantification from ecoinvent v3.10 to v3.11	Using more recent version of database	June 5th, 2025	V1.0 to V1.1
First release of module	-	December 4th, 2024	V1