Transcript MITIGATION STRATEGY Carbon Capture and sequestartion:

CARBON CAPTURE AND
SEQUESTARTION:
HOW TO CATCH CARBON
AND WHERE TO PUT IT
Adam Baske
Nov. 12, 2007
STATIONARY POINT SOURCE CAPTURE
• Globally,
emissions of CO2 from fossil-fuel use in the year
2000 totaled about 23.5 GtCO2 .
• Greater than 60% of this was from stationary point sources (mainly coal fired
power plants)
• The projected potential of CO2 capture has
been estimated at an annual 2.6 to 4.9
GtCO2 by 2020 and 4.7 to 37.5 GtCO2 by
2050.
• These numbers correspond to 9–12%,
and 21–45% of global CO2 emissions in 2020
and 2050, respectively
* Source: IPCC WGIII Special Report SRCCS 2005
© 2006 Bruno & Lígia Rodrigues.
CAPTURE TECHNIQUES
Post-combustion: captures CO2 in flue; applies to power plants.
Low concentration and need to pressurize CO2 for
transport
Pre-combustion: captures CO2 prior to burn in gasification stage; The
CO2 is relatively concentrated (50 volume %) and at
high pressure. These conditions offer the opportunity
for lower cost CO2 capture and transport.
Oxy-combustion: Burn in enriched oxygen environment. In development
stages.
All systems capable of capturing 80% to 90% CO2 emissions
CO2 post-combustion capture at a plant in Malaysia.
This plant employs a chemical absorption process to
separate 0.2 MtCO2
per year from the flue gas stream of a gas-fired power
plant for urea production (Courtesy of Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries).
(b) CO2 precombustion
capture at a coal gasification plant in North Dakota,
USA. This plant employs a physical solvent process to
separate 3.3 MtCO2 per
year from a gas stream to produce synthetic natural
gas. Part of the captured CO2 is used for an EOR
project in Canada.
Before sequestration, you need transportation…
SEQUESTRATION TECHNIQUES
Geological sequestration potential: 700-1,000 Gt CO2
Emissions versus Geologic Storage Potential
HOW ABOUT OCEAN STORAGE?
Deep saline Ocean storage potential: 1,000 to 10,000 Gt CO2
PROBLEMS WITH OCEAN STORAGE
Limited duration of CO2 in ocean (10s to 1,000s
of years)
 Increased oceanic acidity:

A simulation that assume a release from seven locations
at 3,000 m depth and ocean storage providing 10% of the
mitigation effort for stabilization at 550 ppmv CO2 projected
acidity changes (pH changes) of more than 0.4 over
approximately 1% of the ocean volume.

Impacts on ocean ecosystem and biogeochemical
cycles unknown.
SUMMARY OF CAPTURE AND
SEQUESTRATION TECHNIQUES BY IPCC
* An integrated CCS system does not yet exist for a large fossil
fuel power plant. System not as mature as its components
COSTS OF CCS TECHNOLOGIES


Application of CCS to electricity production,
under 2002 conditions, is estimated to increase
electricity generation costs by about 0.01–0.05 US
US$/kWh (20%-85% increase)
Retrofitting existing plants with CO2 capture is
expected to lead to higher costs and significantly
reduced overall efficiencies than for newly built
power plants with capture fuel, the specific
technology, the location and the national
circumstances
COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH CCS (A WIDE
RANGE)
ECOSYSTEM SEQUESTRATION

Terrestrial Opportunities
Replanting and agricultural methods
 Genetics of soil microbes


Ocean Fertilization
Iron seeding projects have shown that dumping the
micronutrient into certain areas of the ocean produce
plankton blooms. The potential for these blooms to
sequester carbon in the deep ocean is poorly
understood.
 Hotly debated issue: ecosystem alteration, definition
of sequestration, oxygen depletion, costs, etc.

PRIVATE INVESTMENT:


US companies Planktos Corp. and Climos hope to capitalize
by selling carbon credits for dumping iron into the ocean.
From www.planktos.com
“Carbon Offsets:
Plankton and trees both capture CO2 through photosynthesis and store
the carbon in their tissues. Once sequestered, this CO2 converts to carbon
credits that Planktos can sell in global emission markets.”

Their research ship, the Weatherbird II, set sail on Nov. 5 to conduct its
first iron fertilization experiment.
FINAL THOUGHTS

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IPCC scenarios project increasing CO2 emissions, and that
supply of energy will continue to be dominated by fossil
fuels until mid-century.
No single technology will provide all emissions reductions
needed (hundreds to thousounds of Gtons this century) –
CCS is only a piece of this
Implementation of CCS requires socio-economic and
industrial change (mandatory emission levels, accounting
infrastructure, etc.)
Too many gaps in knowledge to put accurate numbers on
mitigation potential.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Which countries should lead the way in CCS
implemtation?
 Does China have an incentive?
 What legal framework would be involved. Does
the Law of the Sea impact ocean storage?
 What economic benefits can be associated with
CSS? (CO2 in industry, EOR)
 Where do you stand on the ocean fertilization
issue? Should we support private firms
researching the technology? What biases may
occur?
