Twitter headlinesCarbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
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COFs Among the Best Adsorbents for Storage of Hydrogen, Natural Gas and CO2
June 07, 2009
| High-pressure CH4 isotherms for COFs measured at 298 K. Credit: ACS. Click to enlarge. |
COFs (covalent organic frameworks)—thermally stable and highly functional crystalline organic networks—are among the most porous and the best adsorbents for hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide, according to a new study by Professor Omar Yaghi and postdoc Hiroyasu Furukawa at the Center for Reticular Chemistry at UCLA. A paper on their findings was published online 4 June in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Yaghi and his colleagues have been at the forefront of inventing new classes of crystalline porous materials: metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and then COFs, reported in the journal Science in 2007. (Earlier post.)
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DOE to Award $2.4B in Funding for Carbon Capture, Storage and Reuse Projects
May 16, 2009
The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award $2.4 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand and accelerate the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and reuse technology. The Department is posting Notices of Intent to issue this funding, supporting the following initiatives:
Clean Coal Power Initiative. $800 million will be used to expand DOE’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, which provides government co-financing for new coal technologies that can help utilities cut sulfur, nitrogen and mercury pollutants from power plants. The new funding will allow researchers broader CCS commercial-scale experience by expanding the range of technologies, applications, fuels, and geologic formations that are tested.
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ZEP Unveils Proposal for EU Demonstration Program to Accelerate Deployment and Availability of CCS
November 13, 2008
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| The demonstration phase will require funding to close the gap between the cost of CCS and the price of carbon. Click to enlarge. |
The European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants (ZEP) unveiled a report outlining the rapid deployment of an EU-wide CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) Demonstration Program—integrating all aspects of CO2 capture, transport and storage—which would speed up the deployment of CCS in the EU by 10 years and contribute to the commercial availability of CCS by 2020.
An wide range of experts and stakeholders participated in the creation of the report, which outlines every aspect of CCS demonstration to establish the optimal portfolio of projects across Europe necessary to cover a full range of CCS technologies and fuel sources, geographies and geologies.
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In-Situ Carbonation of Peridotite Offers Large Scale Capacity for Permanent Storage of CO2
November 07, 2008
Researchers at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have concluded that the in situ carbonation of peridotite, a type of rock found at or near the surface in Oman and other areas around the world, could consume more than 1 billion tons of CO2 per year in Oman alone, affording a low-cost, safe, and permanent method to capture and store atmospheric CO2.
Their studies show that the rock reacts naturally at surprisingly high rates with CO2 to form solid minerals, and that the process could be speeded by multiple orders of magnitude with simple drilling and injection methods. The study appears in this week’s early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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RAND Study Concludes Oil Sands Synthetic Crude Can Be Cost-Competitive with Conventional Petroleum Even Over a Wide Range of CO2 Prices
October 12, 2008
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| Estimated unit costs of SCO from steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) with upgrading, with and without CCS, and of conventional crude oil in 2025, versus different costs of CO2 emissions. Click to enlarge. Source: RAND |
A new report from RAND concludes that in 2025, synthetic crude oil (SCO) produced from oil sands can have a cost advantage over conventional petroleum at a wide range of CO2 prices, even though it is more CO2-intensive (15-20% on a life-cycle basis). Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) transportation fuels can also be cost-competitive with conventional petroleum, although the degree of cost-competitiveness is more sensitive to the price of oil and the CO2 emission cost, the report says. CTL fuels can be approximately twice as CO2-intensive on a full life-cycle basis as conventional petroleum fuels.
Current methods for oil sands production require large quantities of water and can harm local water quality, the report notes. Development of oil sands can also cause large-scale disturbances of land and habitat. Both resources also represent potentially significant sources of carbon dioxide emissions. The study was funded by the National Commission on Energy Policy.
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McKinsey Report Concludes CCS Could Be Economic at New Power Plants by 2030
September 29, 2008
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| While many CCS component technologies are relatively mature, to date there are no fully integrated, commercial-scale CCS projects in operation. Click to enlarge. Source: McKinsey |
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) at new power plants could become economic by 2030, according to a new report by management consultancy McKinsey & Co. The report, which focuses on the European power generation market, projects CCS costs in the reference case scenario down to around €30-45 (US$43-65) per tonne of CO2 abated by then—costs which are in line with expected carbon prices in that period.
Early CCS demonstration projects will have a significantly higher cost of €60-90 per tonne, according to the report. Early full commercial-scale CCS projects—potentially to be built soon after 2020—are estimated to cost €35-50/tonne CO2 abated.
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DOE to Provide $36 Million to Advance Carbon Dioxide Capture from Coal-Fired Power Plants
July 31, 2008
The US Department of Energy (DOE) will provide $36 million for 15 projects aimed at furthering the development of new and cost-effective technologies for the capture of carbon dioxide from the existing fleet of coal-fired power plants. Research areas supported in the award include membrane technology; solvents; solid sorbents; oxycombustion, flue gas purification; oxycombustion boiler development; and chemical looping combustion.
Membranes. Membrane-based CO2 capture uses permeable or semi-permeable materials that allow for the selective transport and separation of CO2 from flue gas. Research projects in this area will address key technical challenges to the use of membrane-based systems such as large flue gas volume, relatively low CO2 concentration, low flue gas pressure, flue gas contaminants, and the need for high membrane surface area.
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Deep-Sea Basalt Rocks May Offer Vast Repository for CO2
July 19, 2008
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| Deep-sea basalt region for CO2 burial. Red outline shows where water depth exceeds 2,700 meters and sediment thickness exceeds 200 meters; hatched areas show where sediment thickness exceeds 300 meters. Seamounts and areas near plate boundaries or continental shelf are excluded. Click to enlarge. Credit: Goldberg et al. |
Deep-sea basalt rocks off the West Coast and elsewhere might be used to securely sequester large amounts of anthropogenic CO2, according to researchers at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. In particular, they concluded, an area of 78,000 km2 (30,000 mi2) of ocean floor off California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia could lock in the equivalent of around 150 years of US CO2 production. An open-access paper on their work, Carbon dioxide sequestration in deep-sea basalt, appeared in the 14 July edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Injection of CO2 into deep-sea basalt formations provides “unique and significant advantages over other potential geological storage options,” according to lead author David Goldberg and his colleagues Taro Takahashi and Angela Slagle. These include:
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DOE to Invest Approximately $1.3B to Commercialize CCS Technology in Revamped FutureGen Program
June 25, 2008
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to invest in multiple commercial-scale Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) or other advanced coal power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology under the Department’s restructured FutureGen program. (Earlier post.)
The solicitation is seeking multiple cost-shared projects to advance coal-based power generation technologies that capture and store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). The Department anticipates $290 million will be available for funding of selected projects through fiscal year (FY) 2009 and an additional $1.01 billion is expected to be available in subsequent years, subject to appropriations by Congress.
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UK Regional Development Agency, Industry Partners Propose US$3.9B Pipeline Network for CO2
June 08, 2008
Yorkshire Forward, the development agency for the Yorkshire and Humber region in the UK, along with some of the UK’s largest energy and industrial companies, released a study concluding that a carbon capture and storage (CCS) network into which emitters link would be the most cost effective CO2 transportation option for the region.
The study proposes that a regional pipeline network be built now—a £2 billion (US$3.9 billion), 20-year effort if begun in 2008—rather than develop as a matter of course from discrete CCS projects, to help accelerate the development and application of CCS, and to serve as an economic lure for companies seeking a system for safe and cost-effective CO2 transport and storage. The £2 billion investment does not include costs at the capture or storage sites.
