Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is one of the many ways we can mitigate emissions from power plants, steel mills and cement production facilities, ammonia/ethanol plants and similar facilities. CCS involves collecting CO2 gas from these sources before transporting it and permanently storing it underground.

Transport of CO2 requires compressing it into a liquid state for easier transmission through pipelines to its storage site, where it will then be injected into deep geological formations such as used-up oil or gas reservoirs.

Capturing CO2

Carbon capture and storage technology is an effective tool for mitigating climate change by reducing fossil fuel-based emissions from power plants, industry processes such as cement manufacturing or steel casting, as well as historic CO2 from the air that has built up over time and contributed to global warming.

CCS technologies have been around since 1972 when West Texas saw their inaugural commercial-scale project to capture carbon from natural gas for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

At present, two primary forms of carbon capture and transport exist: direct air capture (DAC) and post-combustion capture. At DAC plants, huge fans draw air into machines which extract CO2 using chemical processes; these technologies use up a lot of energy and remain costly today. Most current CCS strategies involve extracting CO2 from flue gases at fossil fuel power plants before transporting it for permanent storage in porous rock formations underground.

Transporting CO2

Once carbon has been captured, it needs to be transported. This may involve trucks, railways or ocean vessels. Alternatively, it could be stored deep beneath Earth’s surface in geologic formations like used oil and natural gas reservoirs or deep saline aquifers until eventually being reused or recycled for another purpose.

Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCS) is an integral method for mitigating climate change by collecting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities.

CCS technology can be installed at power plants and other large industrial facilities by either directly capturing air or chemically isolating CO2 from exhaust fumes, then transporting it via pipelines (or road or sea when feasible) to storage sites, before finally injecting it deep underground geologic formations for long-term storage, never to return back into the atmosphere.

Utilising CO2

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an established technology used to combat climate change. CCS allows industrial processes to become carbon neutral or even reduce their emissions to near zero by extracting CO2 from exhaust gas of power plants or industrial processes before transporting it underground geologic formations for long-term storage.

CO2 from these processes is either stored in saline formations or used to reduce temperature at oil fields for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). CCS projects store over 50 million tons annually – enough to cover annual emissions from an entire country such as Greece or Peru.

Direct air capture (DAC) technology uses fans to funnel air through machines that use chemicals to separate out CO2. Once captured, this liquidized CO2 is compressed and delivered via pipeline to storage sites such as deep saline formations or depleted oil reservoirs for permanent storage.

Storing CO2

CO2 captured from power plants or other industrial sources can be safely sequestered underground or integrated into products like concrete for permanent storage. This process is known as ‘utilisation’ or’sequestration’ within CCUS.

Captured CO2 is then liquefied and transported via ship or pipeline to storage locations. There are various geological-based options for carbon dioxide storage such as saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs that are usually located at least 0.62 miles (1km) beneath the surface.

Long-term CO2 storage requires certain characteristics in an ideal setting. These include storage resource, injectivity, integrity and depth – for instance saline aquifers should typically be at least 1 mile (1.6km) underground while CO2 injected into impermeable formations like sandstone or basalt can trap CO2 within its structure and prevent it migrating to overlying groundwater sources. Safe CO2 underground storage remains one of the key challenges to meeting global mitigation targets, and this is where CCUS can make an essential contribution.