Energy

<p style="text-align: justify;">CCUS<span data-preserver-spaces="true">&nbsp;refers to CO2 capture, transport, utilization, and storage technologies combined to abate CO2 emissions. Out of the five CO2 capture technologies post-combustion, oxy-combustion, pre-combustion, and natural gas sweetening are the four that occur at different steps of the combustion value chain and the fifth one is emerging new Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. The point source emissions have a higher CO2 percentage than the lower, ppm level, in the DAC process.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">There are many CO2 technologies currently in advanced stages of development that have the potential to further reduce costs, require less energy, and new approaches for carbon capture like the Allam cycle, where a CO2 stream rather than steam is used to spin a turbine, in the power-generation process. The three main options for storage and reuse are passive storage aka sequestration in the underground saline aquifers or depleted petroleum reservoirs, beneficial reuse involves Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) or injecting in coal seam for Enhanced Coal Bed Methane (ECBM) and industrial use.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Applications of CO2</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Once captured, CO2 can be utilized for generating many useful products and the near-term market potential of CO2-derived streams are sustainable alternate fuels, chemicals including urea, alcohol, baking soda, mineralization, building materials like concrete alternate, and enhance the yields of biological processes like green-house gas concentration and food processing.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">CO2 utilization can support climate goals where the application is easily scalable, utilizes low-carbon green energy, and has the potential to displace the product with higher life-cycle emissions. CO2 sourced from biomass, or the DAC could play a key role in a net-zero CO2 economy, as a carbon source for aviation fuels and chemicals. Also, CO2 could be an important raw material for products that require carbon in some key needed properties for example, in the aviation sector</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Growth of CO2</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The oil and gas sector and the power sector have been leading CCUS development and are expected to remain as such at least until 2030. The new development phase seen in the CCUS is characterized by the development of clusters grouping multiple sources of CO2 emissions from different industrial sources such as hydrogen production, coal and natural gas power industry as well as higher emitting sectors such as iron, steel, and cement production. Faster scale-up, lower costs and investment risks, and more government support are the reasons for the CCUS hubs becoming part of mainstream industrial decarbonization strategic projects in the US Gulf Coast, UK&rsquo;s Net Zero Teesside, Norway&rsquo;s Northern Light/ Longship, Netherlands Porthos and China Northwest Junggar Basin. But some will be geographically scattered, collecting emissions sources by pipeline and/or ship, as in Northern Lights in Norway.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The field of application for CO2 utilization in the coming years is more facilities with blue hydrogen, green methanol, and ammonia as marine fuel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production. The trend is supported by the development of national plans across the globe to switch domestic and industrial applications from fossil fuel and natural gas to green hydrogen combined with CCUS. A higher carbon price and investment as well as production tax credits like the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA, earlier known as 45Q) provide a strong incentive for technological innovation in CCUS across all sectors.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak" dir="ltr"><em>This article was contributed by our expert &nbsp;</em><a class="fui-Link ___10kug0w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1hu3pq6 f11qmguv f19f4twv f1tyq0we f1g0x7ka fhxju0i f1qch9an f1cnd47f fqv5qza f1vmzxwi f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn" title="https://www.linkedin.com/in/p-raman-narayanan-p-eng-a37b84132/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/p-raman-narayanan-p-eng-a37b84132/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Link P. Raman Narayanan">P. Raman Narayanan</a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions <span class="ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak" dir="ltr">Answered by P. Raman Narayanan</span></strong></span></h3><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true">1. What are the potential risks associated with underground storage of carbon dioxide?&nbsp;</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The carbon dioxide (CO2) can be injected deep underground in geological formations, such as saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas fields. The most mature storage technique is sequestration in deep saline aquifers. CO2 when compressed and stored in underground reservoirs, runs the risk of leaking either abruptly or gradually, and others like contamination of water and, stimulation of seismic activity. The leaks could lead to environmental and safety issues, including soil contamination and waterway pollution. Also, injected CO2 will displace saline water and minerals. migrating CO2 could foul valuable mineral resources, cause pollution of underground freshwater aquifers by mobilizing metals, or occupy valuable storage space. Many qualitative and quantitative methods have been developed and used to mitigate these risks. Besides, during and after the injection it is necessary to monitor the evolution of CO2, the reservoir, and the caprock to detect leakage from the reservoir. It is necessary to have suitable monitoring under the MMV (measurement, monitoring, and verification) program.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true">2. What are the economic challenges and benefits of implementing carbon capture technologies?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">One of the main benefits is the ability to use a proven method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy-intensive manufacturing facilities, industrial facilities, and power plants to combat climate change. This could lead to a more stable and sustainable environment in the future. Carbon capture technologies also provide several economic benefits, like creating and sustaining high-value jobs; supporting economic growth through new, lower-carbon industries and innovation to lower capture cost as well as chemicals; converting the captured CO2 to useful e-fuels with green hydrogen/power and potentially enabling existing infrastructure reuse or build new infrastructure. The main challenge associated is the need to manage and address certain risks associated with the technology. Another major challenge for deployment is the commercial aspect. Further details on the challenges can be seen in the answer to Question 3 below.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true">3. What are the major challenges hindering the widespread adoption of CCUS technologies?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">CCUS requires significant investment in capital-intensive long-lived assets, making it a costly endeavor. The high cost of CCUS technologies is a significant barrier to their widespread deployment. In addition, infrastructure development, community engagement, technical difficulties in finding safe storage capacity, and regulatory requirements. CO2 capture technologies are well-developed and proven. However, their application in high energy use industries like iron &amp; steel, cement, and chemical have been very limited. Besides, long-term liability for stored CO2 generally rests with the operator in perpetuity which can hinder the investment. Also, the emerging new renewable and green fuels, in the ongoing energy transition phase, displace the long-term fossil fuel use by consumers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true">4. To what extent can CCUS contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of industries?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">CCUS is a key strategy in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change by reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants, industrial facilities, and other high-emitting sources. As per the International Energy Agency (IEA) Sustainable Development (SD) Scenario study, the contribution of CCS grows over time as the technology improves, costs fall and deployment in the energy and industry sector has been highlighted as critical to cost-efficiently reducing global CO2 emissions. The total carbon capture can achieve ~ 14 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2050.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">While on the subject, it is worth noting that the 2022 estimated CCS capacities in operation are ~ 42 Million tons (Mt) of CO2. Considering the various CCS projects under construction and development, the expected carbon capture capacity will increase to 260 MtCO2 by 2030. The majority of these projects will go towards geological storage, accounting for&gt; 200 MtCO2pa, while EOR applications will account for 43 MtCO2. As per McKinsey and DNV analysis, CCUS would reach approximately 2.2 GTPA (Giga Tons Per Annum) by 2050, which is 70% lower than the Net Zero 2050 IEA requirement of permanently storing 7.2 GtCO2.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p>