Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) allows fossil fuel plants to significantly lower their climate impacts by employing this technology alongside natural carbon sinks like forests and wetlands to mitigate climate change.
Once captured, CO2 is stored permanently within deep geological formations such as oil and gas reservoirs, coal beds or saline aquifers.
Capturing CO2
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) refers to technologies that capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial facilities or fossil fuel power plants before either using it productively or storing it underground for future use. At present, over 30 CCS projects are operational worldwide while another 153 are at various stages of development.
CCUS works best when applied at sources that generate high concentrations of CO2, such as natural gas processing plants, ethanol plants or cement factories. CO2 produced during these processes is compressed under greater pressure than it would be found naturally, making it simpler and quicker to capture than atmospheric carbon emissions.
Once captured, CO2 is pressurized into liquid form before being transported via pipeline to a storage site – typically an abandoned oil or gas reservoir or deep saline formation – where it will be permanently stored underground, mitigating climate change and ocean acidification.
Transporting CO2
Once captured, CO2 is compressed and chilled before being transported via pipelines (sometimes trains or vehicles) to its storage site. Long term storage solutions include injecting it into deep geological formations like depleted oil reservoirs, coal beds or deep saline formations – another popular storage strategy is structural trapping whereby carbon dioxide is trapped beneath layers of impermeable rock layers.
Transport of CO2 capture can also take place by ship or rail, but pipelines offer the most cost-effective means of long distance delivery. Significant energy is expended in compressing and chilling CO2 into liquid form for safe shipping – leading to higher shipping costs than other forms of transport but showing some promise with improved technology and reduced transport costs.
Injecting CO2
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) refers to the practice of collecting greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power stations and energy intensive industries and transporting them for underground storage – also referred to as Carbon Utilisation and Storage (CCUS).
CCS can be one solution to reduce global CO2 emissions while simultaneously maintaining industrial production. While most often associated with fossil fuel power plants, CCS can also help lower emissions from other sources like cement and steel production.
Once CO2 has been collected, it is transported by pipeline, rail or road tanker to a deep geological storage site via pipeline, rail or road tanker. Typical deep storage locations could include depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers that have become saturated; typically 0.62 miles (1km). Once there, various methods exist for storing it; structural trapping being one method whereas sealing could seal in pressure and temperature factors to seal the CO2.
Utilizing CO2
CO2 capture is currently used predominantly to aid energy production processes such as enhanced oil recovery and coal conversion into synthetic fuels, while also being applied in fossil-fuel power plants and industrial processes like cement and steelmaking. Leading climate change modelling shows that rapid deployment of CCUS technologies is essential if we want to limit global warming to 1.5degC or below.
CCUS systems use various techniques to remove carbon dioxide from flue gas streams, including solid sorbents and polymer membranes. More recent innovations include direct air capture and biogenic capture.
Once CO2 has been collected, it is compressed and chilled before being transported underground via pipelines, ships or rail tankers for permanent storage. Once underground storage has taken place, injection into deep geological formations such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or coal beds is then often conducted; or alternatively CO2 may be used in products like plastics and construction materials manufacturing processes.