Bringing AMS radiocarbon into the Anthropocene: Potential and drawbacks in the determination of the bio-fraction in industrial emissions and in carbon-based products

In the frame of the general efforts to reduce atmospheric CO2 emissions different efforts are being carried out to stimulate the use of non-fossil energy sources and raw materials. Among these a significant role is played by the use of waste in Waste to Energy (WTE) plants. In this case a relevant problem is related to the determination of the proportion between the bio and the fossil derived fraction in CO2 atmospheric emissions since only the share of energy derived from the bio-fraction combustion can be labelled as “renewable”. We discuss the potential of radiocarbon in this field by presenting the results of different campaigns carried out by analysing CO2 sampled at the stack of different power plants in Italy with different expected bio-content of the released carbon dioxide. The still open issues related to the calculation procedures and the achievable precision and accuracy levels are discussed.