Carbon Capture & Sequestration: In The News

Check out these videos of CCS expert presentations.

It was meant to be the world's first demonstration of a technology that could help save the planet from global warming – a project intended to capture emissions from a coal-fired power station and bury them safely underground. But the German carbon capture plan has ended with CO2 being pumped directly into the atmosphere, following local opposition at it being stored underground. The scheme appears a victim of "numbyism" – not under my backyard.

So far, though, CCS has proved to be a tough sell. "It's become clear that there is no public acceptance for carbon capture and storage in the boundaries of this community," said Simon Zuurbier, the town alderman who has emerged as a leading opponent of the technology. Barendrecht residents cite concerns, from the dangers of living and working above tonnes of noxious gas to more banal worries about property prices. They have managed to delay Shell's plans. They are braced for a tougher fight as the federal government prepares a final ruling on the project before the year-end.

"A failure to demonstrate the viability of these technologies during the next decade would greatly restrict options to reduce the electricity sector's CO2 emissions over succeeding decades," the report says. "The urgency of getting started on these demonstrations to clarify future deployment options cannot be overstated." The report says that for the effective demonstration of carbon capture and storage at coal- and natural gas-fired power plants, the United States must build 15 to 20 retrofits and new demonstration plants featuring a variety of feedstocks, generation technologies, capture strategies and geologic storage locations before 2020.

Bill introduced on July 22nd to establish a fund for post-closure stewardship of geologic storage sites

The FINANCIAL -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Australia, through its Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, have signed a trust fund agreement to support the capture and storage of rising levels of carbon emissions in Asia.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, July 27, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Odyssey Oil & Energy, Inc. (OTCBB:OOGI) reports that the Algae Bio-fuels / Carbon Capture pilot plant at the Boschoek smelter is running and has successfully completed a variety of tests. The Algae is growing rapidly and being harvested on a regular basis thereby meeting the goals of carbon capture and creating lipids to be converted into bio-fuel.

Doosan Babcock Energy switched on its OxyFuel combustion burner, Britain's largest demonstration project for carbon capture and storage (CCS), on Friday.

The proposed project at Wandoan, 400km west of Brisbane, would produce 400 megawatts of power and be capable of capturing 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide in the fuel stream for future storage. If the development phase moves forward this year, the plant is expected to be ready for commercial operation in late 2015 or early 2016.

video on FutureGen

Recognizing the great potential in India-U.S. science and technology collaboration, the two sides have concluded a Science and Technology Endowment Agreement, and signed a Technology Safeguards Agreement that will permit the launch of civil or non-commercial satellites containing U.S. components on Indian space launch vehicles. Both sides welcomed India’s participation in the FutureGen Project for the construction of the first commercial scale fully integrated carbon capture and sequestration project and India’s participation in the Integrated Ocean Development Project, an international endeavour for enhancing the understanding of Earth and Ocean dynamics and addressing the challenges of climate change.

A new 'north-east passage' for shipping around Russia's Arctic coast and across the North Pole will be opened within a decade as global warming causes the ice cap to melt, Norway's foreign minister has predicted. Article includes discussion of CCS.

Secretary Chu announced a new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center at Tsinghua today. This is a new bilateral R&D effort to accelerate key climate mitigation technologies. CCS is one of the research tracks.

Dave Robert's from Grist interviews WRI CCS expert Sarah Forbes.

"If we're going to be able to add carbon capture and storage to our toolbox of ways to address climate change, the time to demonstrate it is right now -- or yesterday, maybe," said Sarah Forbes, a senior associate at the World Resources Institute. "CO2 emissions are continuing to rise, and we're seeing impacts of climate change."

The exit of American Electric Power Co. and Southern Co. leaves the nine power and coal companies that are still part of what's known as the FutureGen Alliance searching for new partners to help cover building and start-up costs they expect to reach roughly $2.4 billion.

The European Union said Thursday it will give China up to euro50 million ($70 million) to build a carbon capture and storage plant that will test a technology aimed at limiting climate change.