Carbon Capture & Sequestration: In The News

This video clip features WRI's China energy expert Deboragh Seligsohn.

BEIJING — Three prominent American research organizations that are pushing for greater cooperation between the Obama administration and China on the issue of climate change say the two governments should make a priority of supporting the use of carbon capture technology and the creation of a market for carbon.

When developers approached Cook Inlet Region Inc., an energy and resource development company in Anchorage, Alaska, with the idea of using underground coal gasification to tap into a huge coal field nearby, officials thought the plan sounded too good to be true.

China could become a world leader in the development and deployment of technology to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground, the Natural Resources Defense Council finds in a sweeping new report out today.

Scientists found that 90 percent of China’s big carbon-emitting industrial facilities are within 100 miles of a geologic reservoir. The scientists have identified 90 potential repositories on the Chinese mainland that could store an estimated 2,300 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Coal-fired power stations, cement plants and other industrial facilities emit 3.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, or 64 percent of China’s carbon emissions, according to the report. The scientists also found 16 offshore formations that could store an additional 780 billion metric tons of carbon under the seabed.

The Midwestern Governors Association last week announced a goal to site and permit by 2012 at least one interstate pipeline to ferry global warming pollution from the region's power plants to suitable underground storage sites. The goal was among several laid out in the Midwestern Energy Infrastructure Accord aiming to transform the region's coal-rich states into hubs for CCS technology (Greenwire, Oct. 7).Denbury Resources Inc., a Texas-based oil and gas company, announced in July that it was conducting a feasibility study into a 500-mile Midwest pipeline that would link the proposed plants to the company's production fields in Mississippi. The company said it could build the estimated $1 billion pipeline at a profit -- and without government subsidies -- if at least three commercial-scale coal gasification plants in the region supplied CO2.

* World needs 100 carbon capture projects by 2020 * More than 3,000 needed by 2050 * Carbon capture must be part of Copenhagen climate deal (Adds closing comments from London conference) By Daniel Fineren LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The world needs...

A Christian Aid report based on the findings of research conducted by the University of Edinburgh and the University of Surrey

The province has signed a Letter of Intent with Shell Canada Energy, on behalf of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project: a joint venture among Shell Canada - 60 per cent, Chevron Canada Limited - 20 per cent and Marathon Oil Sands L.P. - 20 per cent to provide $745 million in funding for its Quest project over the next 15 years.Shell Canada Energy/ Chevron Canada Ltd./ Marathon Oil Sands L.P. - Quest project The Quest project in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland near Fort Saskatchewan will capture and store up to 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 per year from the Scotford Upgrader and from the Scotford Upgrader Expansion. The CO2 will be captured from the steam methane units, which produce hydrogen for upgrading oil sands hydrocarbon known as bitumen. The CO2 will be injected 2,300 metres below the earth’s surface underneath cap rock. Two injection wells are in the test phase until early 2010. The total cost of the project is projected to be $1.35 billion.

Links to presentations providing information on CCS technologies.

Article summarizes the report by Edmonton Journal columnist Graham Thomson on CCS. The full report is available at http://www.powi.ca/pdfs/other/U_of_Toronto_Conference_Paper_CCS_and_Water_WW.pdf

Take a virtual tour of a CCS operation by watching the series of Videos

Washington, DC - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the first round of funding from $1.4 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the selection of 12 projects that will capture carbon dioxide from industrial sources for storage or beneficial use. The first phase of these projects will include $21.6 million in Recovery Act funding and $22.5 million in private funding for a total initial investment of $44.1 million. The remaining Recovery Act funding will be awarded to the most promising projects during a competitive phase two selection process.

Vattenfall can't bury the CO2 it sequesters at Schwarze Pumpe because authorities have so far failed to provide the necessary permits. So the gas is either sold for industrial cleaning or just vented into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, when Vattenfall in April unveiled its plan to store carbon in the Neutrebbin area, it triggered a storm of protest.

As China's largest coal producer, Shenhua Group has concluded an agreement on September 27 with the Virginia University to jointly conduct research on technology to cut down the carbon dioxide emission in the coal-to-oil process, which means that Shenhua has formally set foot in the high-end technology field for carbon emission reduction. Under the terms of the agreement, both sides will build a demonstration project in the feasibility research phase to recycle 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year. The project is to be implemented in Erdos, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to decrease carbon emission for its coal liquefaction projects.

At the Mikawa pilot plant, Toshiba will deploy and validate its latest advances in separation and capture technology. The Mikawa pilot plant is designed to capture 10 tons of CO2 a day from actual live flue gas of the boiler of the coal- fired thermal power plant.

Like the House bill, the Boxer-Kerry draft would provide emissions allowances to fund commercial deployment of carbon capture and sequestration, although it does not provide specifics. It also establishes performance standards for emissions of greenhouse gases from new coal-fired power plants.

Dongguan Power plans to implement the gasification scheme at an existing 120-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant, turning it into an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant that uses cheap, moisture-laden lignite coal. The retrofit should be operating in 2011. That will provide its developers with a demonstration to determine whether technology will work in larger IGCC plants and whether it is a process suitable to integrate carbon capture and storage technology...

Chinese President Hu Jintao has said that technology and finance will be key factors in addressing the universal problem of climate change. Likewise necessary is global cooperation through the common adoption of action plans, such as the Bali Roadmap, which proposes the transfer of climate-friendly technologies from developed countries to developing countries. Countries have also begun to work together to develop innovative technology. For example, the joint institute of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), initiated by China, is establishing research labs with the U.S. and Europe.