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Alberta - investing in CCS technology University of Regina - leading CCS research SaskPower Boundary Dam - SNC-Lavalin on overcoming design challenges IPAC-CO2 - best practice for July / Aug 2010 Issue 16 CO2 storage
Weyburn-Midale and Aquistore projects keeping Saskatchewan at the forefront of CCS research The public perception of carbon capture and storage - outreach programs at the University of Edinburgh Green Alliance - a CCS strategy for the new UK government Element Energy study on the potential for CCS in the North Sea Calera - using CO2 to make useful materials Setaram - use of calorimetric techniques for the investigation of CCS CCJ16:Layout 1 20/07/2010 11:51 Page 2
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Contents Leaders - CCS in Canada Alberta - investing in transformative technologies Alberta is leading the way in funding new technologies, with a regulatory program for large industry that uses carbon pricing to support CCS 2 University of Regina - leading carbon capture research on the Canadian Prairies From fundamental research to commercialization, researchers at the University of Regina have been developing innovative post-combustion CO2 capture technology for two decades 4
July/Aug 2010 Issue 16 IPAC-CO2 - best practice for CO2 storage IPAC-CO2 is a not-for-profit organization that was established to meet the needs of industry, regulators, and the public by providing independent, objective information, best Carbon Capture Journal practices, advice and assessment on geologic storage of carbon dioxide 5 213 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9FJ, UK www.carboncapturejournal.com Tel +44 (0)207 510 4935 SaskPower Boundary Dam project Fax +44 (0)207 510 2344 SaskPower is leading the development of one of the world’s first and largest carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects at the Boundary Dam Power Station in Editor Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada, with SNC-Lavalin and Cansolv Technologies Inc. 7 Keith Forward [email protected] Weyburn-Midale and Aquistore projects in Saskatchewan During spring 2010, the Weyburn Oilfield in southeastern Saskatchewan surpassed 16 Publisher million tonnes of CO2 stored underground 10 Karl Jeffery [email protected] Legal Column Subscriptions There is a storm brewing in UK waters at the moment which has the potential to [email protected] profoundly affect the development of the regulations governing the UK’s CCS Advertising and Sponsorship infrastructure, says Calum Hughes, principal consultant in CCS regulation and policy at Alec Egan Yellow Wood Energy, as he continues his regular legal column 12 Tel +44 (0)203 051 6548 [email protected] Projects and policy Carbon Capture Journal is your one stop The public perception of Carbon Capture and Storage information source for new technical The University of Edinburgh and Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage are involved in both developments, opinion, regulatory and locally and globally oriented research on public perception, ranging from a schools outreach research activity with carbon capture, program and a working bench top CCS model, to analysis of global engagement work 13 transport and storage. Element Energy study on the potential for CCS in the North Sea Carbon Capture Journal is delivered on print Element Energy, a UK-based low carbon energy consultancy, has recently completed the and pdf version to a total of 6000 people, all ‘One North Sea’ study 15 of whom have requested to receive it, including employees of power companies, A CCS strategy for the new UK government oil and gas companies, government, Chris Littlecott from thinktank Green Alliance looks at the early actions of the new UK engineering companies, consultants, government, and identifies three key challenges that their CCS strategy must address 16 educators, students, and suppliers. Energy Institute - good practice for CCS Subscriptions: £195 a year for 6 issues. To Carbon capture and storage (CCS), like any other area of the energy industry, will need to subscribe, please contact Karl Jeffery on operate in a safe framework. Here, Martin Maeso CEnv MEI, Technical Director, Energy [email protected] Institute (EI) highlights the EI’s recent published guidelines on CCS Alternatively you can subscribe online at 18 www.d-e-j.com/store Capture Calera - using CO2 to make useful materials Calera captures carbon in a different way from typical gas separation technologies: Front cover: permanently converting CO2 emissions to CO3 and producing carbon-negative building Cows rest beside a CO2 materials such as cement and concrete 23 injection well near Weyburn Converting CO2 streams into chemical streams in Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage has broadened the scope of its research, by southeastern incorporating the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh 26 Saskatchewan where more Setaram - use of calorimetric techniques for the investigation of CCS than 16 Calorimeters can be used for the investigation of gas-liquid absorption for CO2 capture million tonnes of carbon using frequently used amine solutions and CO2 storage in saline aquifers 28 dioxide have been stored Transport and storage underground CSIRO partners in China for CO2 storage project CSIRO is partnering with China United Coalbed Methane Corporation Limited (CUCBM) on a AUS $10 million CO2 storage with enhanced methane recovery project 32 Carbon capture journal (Print) ISSN 1757-1995 July - August 2010 - carbon capture journal 1 Carbon capture journal (Online) ISSN 1757-2509 CCJ16:Layout 1 20/07/2010 11:52 Page 2
Leaders - CCS in Canada Alberta - investing in transformative technologies
Alberta, a major North American energy producer, is not only a global leader in funding large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, it is also a leader in funding new technologies, with a regulatory program for large industry that uses carbon pricing to support CCS. Ogho Ikhalo, Alberta Environment
Since July 1, 2007 Alberta has required fa- ness monitor and reviewed by panel mem- cilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes bers with varied expertise. of greenhouse gases annually to reduce their The first set of funding worth $ 71.3 emissions intensity by 12 per cent. million has been allotted into categories with To meet this goal, companies were giv- six energy efficiency projects receiving $5.7 en four options: improve operations, pur- million, five renewable energy projects re- chase Alberta-based offset credits, purchase ceiving $37.5 million and five CCS and or use Emission Performance Credits, or greening energy projects receiving $28.1 contribute to the Climate Change and Emis- million. sions Management Fund (CCEMF). Two major cleaner energy projects re- This program is unique for two reasons. ceived $23.3 million. E-T Energy received The commitment was made at a time of $6.86 million for its electro-thermal dynam- strong signals for global action, yet Alber- ic stripping process for oil sands develop- ta’s program is one of the few carbon pric- ment and a consortium of companies, includ- ing systems actually operating in the world ing Nexen Inc. and Suncor Energy, received today. Secondly, this program uses the price $16.47 million for its enhanced solvent ex- signal to drive technology development at traction incorporating electromagnetic heat- the large facilities. ing. The companies that choose the CCEMF Three CCS projects received $4.8 mil- route are required to pay $15/tonne for emis- lion: sions that exceed their targets. The goal of - HTC Pure Energy Inc. received the fund is to help finance clean technology $315,000 for a CO2 capture FEED study for that will have a significant, sustainable re- Devon’s Jackfish SAGD facility in northern duction in greenhouse gas emissions. Alberta; In the past three years, more than $187 - GE and partners received $2 mil- million (CDN) has been received by the Cli- lion for ceramic membrane-based technolo- Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner, mate Change and Emissions Management gy for H2 production with CO2 capture and left, and Climate Change Emissions Corporation (CCEMC) to manage. This sequestration and; Management Corporation chairman Eric Newell recently announced a number of arms-length organization, which is inde- - Suncor Energy Inc. and partners re- projects that will receive funding for clean pendent from government, has a multi-stake- ceived $2.5 million for its OTSG oxy-fuel energy/carbon capture and storage research. holder board. It is comprised of industry demonstration project at an oil sands in-situ leaders from a variety of sectors including operation in northern Alberta. chemical producers, oil sands, conventional All of companies receiving funding for would capture CO2 from a bitumen upgrad- oil and gas, pipeline, electricity and forestry, their projects funded by CCEMF will at a er and fertilizer plant for use in Enhanced academia, municipalities and the public at minimum match the dollars being invested. Oil Recovery (EOR); Shell’s Quest Project large. Full details on the fund and the projects which will upgrade bitumen from Alberta’s The CCEMC’s board is chaired by Eric chosen for funding are available at ccemc.ca oil sands and store the CO2; Swan Hills Syn- Newell, the retired Chair, CEO and President and details on Alberta’s regulations on fuels will use an in-situ coal gasification of Syncrude Canada Ltd. Jim Carter, chair greenhouse gas emissions are available at process to access deep coal seams to convert of the Alberta Carbon Capture and Storage www.environment.alberta.ca the coal to synthetic gas (syngas); TransAlta Development Council and former president Alberta is also providing funding for will use CCS technology to capture CO2 of Syncrude, is also on the board. large-scale CCS projects. In 2008 the from an electricity plant and use it either for The Corporation issued its first call for province allocated $2 billion to kick-start enhanced oil recovery or for permanent stor- proposals in 2009 and received more than four steel-in-the-ground projects. The select- age. 230 submissions from all over the world. It ed project proponents have all signed Letters culled through the applications and asked 30 of Intent with the province and are working proponents whose projects best met the cri- toward signing Grant Agreements. More information teria to submit more extensive proposals. The projects being pursued are: En- To learn more about Alberta’s CCS pur- Those proposals went through a rigor- hance Energy’s Alberta Carbon Trunk Line suit, visit www.energy.alberta.ca ous process which was overseen by a fair- (ACTL), a 240-kilometre pipeline that
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Leaders - CCS in Canada University of Regina - leading carbon capture research on the Canadian Prairies From fundamental research to commercialization, researchers at the University of Regina have been developing innovative post-combustion carbon capture technology for the past two decades.
www.uregina.ca/oee It was clear to the University’s handful of early pioneers that post-combustion capture (PCC) was the direction to pursue for carbon capture technology development, though in the late 1980s, the interest was in develop- ing carbon capture as a source of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. The ability to retrofit existing conven- tional coal-fired power plants with post- combustion capture capacity makes the tech- nology particularly appealing to Canada and the USA as well as many other countries around the world and necessary for reducing global CO2 emissions. “Our researchers looked at the regional and global context and concluded that an easy retrofit was going to be necessary,” said Dr. Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul, Dean of the U of R researchers conduct work on laminar jet absorber to obtain formulated solvent's kinetic data Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Regina and co-founder of the University’s International Test Centre highly flexible, industry-relevant, CO2 cap- nology was developed by the ITC and li- for CO2 Capture (ITC). “Over 40 per cent ture pilot plant. This plant processes flue gas censed to Doosan Power Systems and HTC of the world’s electricity is produced from from the combustion of natural gas. Purenergy. In the United States, a front end coal-fired power plants. PCC provides an Field testing and demonstration are engineering and design (FEED) study is cur- important solution to balancing energy de- conducted at the ITC’s pre-commercial CO2 rently being carried out to outline the poten- mand with environmentally sustainable pro- capture plant, which captures CO2 from the tial to use ITC capture technology on a coal duction methods.” coal-fired Boundary Dam Power Station. fired power plant in North Dakota. Since 2001, the ITC has been conduct- This unit allows the ITC to test its CO2 cap- A commercial demonstration of CCS ing leading-edge carbon capture research ture technology in a wide range of weather like the proposed plant in North Dakota is and development in its state-of-the-art labo- conditions, so that researchers can see how critical for CCS commercialization, and we ratories and pilot plants. The ITC is one of the technology performs whether it’s -40°C need commercial CCS if we are to meet the best-equipped research facilities in North or +40°C outside. global carbon reduction targets. America and features equipment such as an The technology also includes integrat- “If you look at the International Ener- X-Ray Diffractometer, Scanning Electron ed artificial intelligence/knowledge-based gy Agency numbers, we’re currently produc- Microscope, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance process control and monitoring systems that ing about 30 billion tons of CO2 globally, Spectrometer, Gas Chromatography-Mass help to increase operating efficiencies and and by 2050, we’ll be up to 50 billion tons Spectrometer, and High Performance Liquid further drive down operation costs associat- per year. Globally, we are increasing the Chromatograph. ed with the capture process. concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere by Researchers at the ITC study formulat- In addition, the ITC provides analytical 2 parts per million or slightly more than 2 ed/designer solvent development and testing, services to industry and other research or- parts per million per year. This cannot go on packing and membrane development, ganizations, from chemical and elemental indefinitely,” said Dr. Malcolm Wilson, Di- process configurations, corrosion studies, identification, characterization and quantifi- rector of the University’s Office of Energy and simulation and modeling. “Our mission cation to analysis of degradation, decompo- and Environment and co-founder of the ITC. is to develop the most economic, effective, sition, structural mutation, porosity, absorp- “We need to make big cuts, which is why and versatile greenhouse gas reduction solu- tion, kinetics, and oxidation. commercialization of CCS is essential.” tions possible,” said Dr. Raphael Idem, As- The carbon capture research being un- The research in carbon capture at the sociate Dean of Research and one of the lead dertaken at the University of Regina is re- ITC is complemented by a strong Petroleum researchers at the ITC. ceiving international interest. In June, Systems Engineering program in the Faculty Fundamental and bench-scale carbon Doosan Power Systems announced the open- of Engineering and Applied Science at the capture research developed in the labs is then ing of its post combustion plant test facility University of Regina. “The program has followed by testing at the ITC’s two pilot at Renfrew, Scotland. This new plant will use grown quickly and become one of the largest plants. The ITC’s in-house facilities enable Solvent Scrubbing Technology to capture accredited petroleum engineering undergrad- researchers to test their technologies in a CO2 from coal-fired flue gases. This tech- uate programs in Canada,” said Dr. Daoyong
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Leaders - CCS in Canada
(Tony) Yang, Petroleum Systems Engineer- CO2), high quality and focused research has tainable oil and gas production methods. ing Program Chair. been conducted with outstanding achieve- “At the U of R,” said Dr. Tontiwach- Over the last decade, as a result of the ments: reservoir engineering, enhanced oil wuthikul, “We’re building a full-chain of ex- establishment of the Petroleum Technology recovery suitable for medium and heavy oil pertise in CCS that will provide the research Research Centre (PTRC), the International reserves, well logging and well testing, and expertise to support commercial imple- Test Centre for CO2 Capture (ITC), and the drilling and production – all are applicable mentation of CCS not just in Saskatchewan International Performance Assessment Cen- to the geological storage side of CCS, as well and Canada, but around the world.” tre for Geologic Storage of CO2 (IPAC- as the development of environmentally sus- IPAC-CO2 - best practice for CO2 storage IPAC-CO2 is a not-for-profit organization that was established to meet the needs of industry, regulators, and the public by providing independent, objective information, best practices, advice and assessment on geologic storage of carbon dioxide. Majid Nasehi, senior project coordinator, IPAC-CO2
IPAC-CO2 Research inc. was established in and the industry that assessment of the risk focus on geo- 2009 with $14 million in funding from the of geological storage is being undertaken in logical storage government of Saskatchewan, Royal Dutch an appropriate manner. of CO2 to Shell and government of Canada. Currently, one of the most challenging minimize the Building upon Western Canada’s con- aspects of any successful CCS project is se- risk of leak- siderable experience and skills in the sub- curing the public acceptance and trust. age, and is in- surface oil and gas exploration and produc- IPAC-CO2’s focus here as an independent tended to es- tion, as well as the experience and expertise organization is to create the transparency tablish re- in the emerging field of Carbon Capture and and the assurance needed for public and reg- quirements for Storage (CCS), IPAC-CO2 has set out to ulator acceptance and trust in the safety and the design, im- achieve its objective of supporting the de- efficiency of the project. If potential risks plementation, velopment, commercialization and accept- are exposed through a transparent decision and manage- ance of CCS as a safe and effective technol- making process that includes objective and ment of stor- ogy for controlling CO2 emissions. IPAC- independent research, full disclosure, and age sites in- CO2 will achieve this objective by focusing public education, widespread public accept- cluding rec- “IPAC-CO2 is a central its activities in three main areas: ance of CCS will be possible and could re- ommendations access point for researchers 1. Independent assessment and veri- sult in more rapid deployment of CCS proj- for screening to connect, learn and collaborate in the fication (assurance) of CO2 geological stor- ects. and site selec- development of best age projects, There are two fundamental things that tion, design, practices, terminology, 2. Development of standards for facilitate transparency and enhance public injection and standards and tools for the CCS, and acceptability. The first is common under- operation, mitigation of risk in 3. Global collaboration and exchange standing of both the language and terminol- abandonment geological storage of CO2. “ - Majid Nasehi, senior of knowledge ogy surrounding CCS, and the second is and long-term project coordinator, IPAC- Risk assessment is a means for under- trust that all of the factors that need to be stewardship. CO2 standing technical parameters and cost im- considered in a safe, complete, and perma- Once the plications of geologic storage. Comprehen- nent storage process are recognized and are first draft of sive and independent risk assessments are fully considered. To this end IPAC-CO2 is the standard (or the seed document) is com- necessary to gain broader public and regu- working to develop standards for the pleted by IPAC-CO2 and CSA, it will be latory acceptance for CCS as a preferred process as well as the terminology. handed to a technical committee comprised green house gas (GHG) mitigation and cli- For standardizing CCS terminology to of experts from universities, research insti- mate change management strategy. allow improved communication, IPAC-CO2 tutes, government, and the industry. The ap- In this respect, the goal of IPAC-CO2 is engaging with the IEA Greenhouse Gas proach taken here is to develop the standard is to facilitate project deployment by filling R&D Program to take the work undertaken based on best technology and industry prac- a niche in the CCS world of independent as- by the IEA Green House Gas R&D program tices, as well as the collective efforts, ex- sessment and verification of CO2 storage and Imperial College in London to develop pertise, and experience of project develop- projects at different stages including site a glossary of terminology for Risk Assess- ers, researchers, regulators and public. screening and selection, design and con- ment for Geological Storage. This glossary The issues around CCS are global in struction, injection, closure, and post clo- will be converted into a wiki that will allow nature and therefore, require a global ap- sure. It is not the intent of IPAC-CO2 to continuous editing and improvement. proach. Several groups and partnerships compete with commercial risk assessment IPAC-CO2 is also, in collaboration around the world are conducting research organizations but to provide, through an in- with the Canadian Standards Association, into geological storage of CO2, with risk dependent third party performance confir- preparing standards for geological storage and performance assessment as two impor- mation and process reviews, the level of of CO2. The goal is to move quickly into tant components of the work. IPAC-CO2 comfort needed by regulators, the public, the global standard arena. The standard will seeks to connect and support this expertise
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Leaders - CCS in Canada
to build confidence for implementing CCS ologic stor- START on a large scale. age of CO2 Independent Process Review From offices located in Regina, IPAC- through an Site screening/selection One of the most challenging aspects of CO2 is developing a global network of ex- internation- any successful CCS project is currently Review of available data perts through participating universities and ally distrib- public acceptance and trust. research agencies in different regions uted net- Independent 3rd party performance Site Ranking throughout the globe, to provide for knowl- work of ex- confirmation and process reviews at different stages of the project Site Characterization edge transfer, capacity building and the abil- perts. including site screening and selection, ity to provide “conflict free” expertise. The IPAC-CO2 design and construction, injection, closure, and post closure are necessary Development global network will grow from regional cen- is a central for all CO2 storage projects. The goal Design ters IPAC-CO2 has in: Africa – South access point is to facilitate the projects by providing the level of comfort required by the Construction African National Energy Research Institute for re- CO2 producers, government, (SANERI), Australia – Cooperative Re- searchers to regulators, NGOs, and the public. search Center for Greenhouse Gas Tech- connect, Involvement of an independent Injection organization creates the transparency nologies (CO2CRC), Brazil – Brazilian Car- learn and and the assurance needed for public Closure and regulator acceptance and trust in bon Storage Research Center, Canada – Car- collaborate Decommissioning the safety and efficiency of the storage bon Management Canada whose member- in the de- project. ship include University of Regina, Univer- velopment Ongoing Stewardship sity of Alberta, Dalhousie University and 18 of best other Canadian universities, China – North practices, China Electric Power University, Europe – terminology, standards and tools for the mit- dertake independent application of develop- Imperial College in London, England, India igation of risk in geological storage of CO2. ing standards for the commercial projects. – The Energy and Resources Institute IPAC-CO2 offers its services to collab- (TERI), and USA – Colorado Energy Re- orate with the major projects in Canada and source Institute (CERI). worldwide. This will be a mechanism also For more information and to be kept up- The aim is to build worldwide confi- to provide knowledge back to IPAC-CO2 dated on the activities of IPAC-CO2 visit: dence for implementing CCS on a large from commercial scale projects. This work www.IPAC-CO2.com scale by developing and providing a global could include the provision of experts to as- or contact: [email protected] body of knowledge for safe and effective ge- sist in risk reviews and the potential to un-
Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage Short Courses August 2010
CO2 Storage: Geology for Engineers - 25-August-2010 This short course is designed for Engineers and Managers with limited or no previous geological knowledge. The aim is to provide an up-to-date introduction of the geological and geophysical aspects of CO2 Storage.
CO2 Injection and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) - 26-August-2010 This short course is designed for geologists, researchers, industry executives and managers with limited technical knowledge and anyone who wants to know more about CO2 injection, flow and storage in underground geological reservoirs.
Risk and uncertainty in the geological storage of CO2 - 27-August-2010 This course is designed for Engineers, Earth Scientists and Managers with basic geological knowledge seeking to understand fundamental science related to the geological storage of CO2 in saline aquifers and disused oil and gas fields. The aim is to provide an up-to-date introduction of the geological and geophysical aspects of CO2 Storage. Techniques to explore risk and uncertainty associated with the geological storage will be presented and applied to assess storage and security. www.sccs.org.uk/cpd The courses will be be held in central Edinburgh - see the website or email [email protected] for more information.
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Leaders - CCS in Canada SaskPower Boundary Dam project
SaskPower is leading the development of one of the world’s first and largest carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects at the Boundary Dam Power Station in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada, and has awarded SNC-Lavalin an Engineer, Procure, and Construct (EPC) contract to build this CO2 capture system with Cansolv Technologies Inc. providing the process technology. Andy Sundararajan, Manager, Business Development, SNC-Lavalin Inc.
SNC-Lavalin together with Cansolv will as- sist in commissioning and startup of the plant, pending SaskPower’s final decision scheduled for before the end of 2010 as to whether or not to proceed with the full exe- cution of the project. The project will be fed by flue gasses from an existing 150MW lignite coal-fired unit that is being retrofitted for carbon cap- ture, and will supply CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Successful operation of this carbon capture technology may lead to the retrofit of the other units at the Boundary Dam Power Station, and aid in the commer- cialization of this technology. This article provides an overview of the project and a brief summary of the develop- ment from concept to implementation, as well as some of the techniques being used by SNC-Lavalin in its implementation. Based in Canada with operations Figure 1: CAD Overlay of Future Carbon Capture Plant worldwide, SNC-Lavalin is one of the lead- ing engineering and construction groups in the world with a long track record deliver- Front-End-Engineering Design contract in of regenerable amines for selective bulk ing projects in sectors such as power, oil & 2009, SNC-Lavalin’s EPC proposal for the scrubbing of SO2 from oxidative flue gases, gas, infrastructure & environment, and min- complete EPC of the facility was selected Cansolv brings a unique approach to the ing & metals. ahead of 2 other competitors, and accepted challenge of CO2 capture with their integrat- With over 20,000 staff located world- in early 2010 with anticipated project com- ed SO2/CO2 technology offering. wide, SNC-Lavalin is currently working on pletion by the end of 2013. SaskPower is the electrical utility for projects in over 100 countries. A unique ex- Technology provider Cansolv Tech- the Province of Saskatchewan located in posure to both the power and oil & gas sec- nologies Inc. (CTI) are a wholly-owned sub- central Canada. Its power generation portfo- tors places SNC-Lavalin in a unique position sidiary of Shell Global Solutions, and are lio includes three coal-fired power stations, to design and execute CO2 capture projects. providing the core SO2/CO2 removal tech- seven hydroelectric stations, five natural gas As a result of being awarded a competitive nology for this project. Pioneers of the use stations and two wind facilities.
Committed to sustainable solutions
SNC-Lavalin is one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure, and in the provision of operations and maintenance services. From studies to design/build mandates, we are helping implement carbon reduction solutions around he world. Sustainability is one of our core values and in 2010 SNC-Lavalin was ranked one of the top 10 socially responsible businesses in Canada.
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Leaders - CCS in Canada
Project background ers two marketable by-products where cap- liquid solution flows down the tower, it Carbon capture and sequestration technolo- tured SO2 is converted into sulfuric acid meets the rising hot steam in sections of gy in a modern power plant has the potential (H2SO4), and captured CO2 is compressed mass transfer packing where the heat revers- to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions to the and used for Enhanced Oil Recovery. This es the absorption reaction and returns the atmosphere by approximately 90 percent. contrasts with alternative FGD technologies SO2 and CO2 to the gas phase. For this project, the resulting captured CO2 such as wet limestone scrubbing, which pro- The gaseous product is carried over- emissions will be compressed and transport- duce a contaminated waste by-product that head and cooled in the respective Stripper ed through pipelines and sold for Enhanced would add additional operating costs to the Condensers where most of the steam con- Oil Recovery (EOR). project. denses. Water-saturated product (vapor) and When completed, the SaskPower inte- At the heart of the Cansolv process are product-saturated condensate are separated grated carbon capture plant will capture over the patented Cansolv solvents: DS (SO2 in the Stripper Overhead Accumulator and one million tones of CO2 per year, reflect- scrubbing) and DC-103™ (CO2 capture). the condensate is returned to the top of the ing a 90% CO2 capture rate for the 150MW Each offers distinct advantages, including: Stripper Tower as reflux. The CO22 prod- coal-fired unit. Additional benefits of the uct leaves the Stripper Overhead Accumula- project include integration of an SO2 cap- • Low regeneration energy; tor and is delivered at positive pressure to ture process that will provide feedstock for a • Low solvent degradation Fast the final dehydration and compression 50 ton per day sulfuric acid plant. The proj- kinetics: similar to primary amines; stage. • >99.9% SO2 and CO2 product ect scope also includes the EPC of an acid purity; plant, where SNC-Lavalin is a worldwide Engineering, Procurement, and • Produces Minimal effluent; leader in sulfuric acid plant design. • Guaranteed removal efficiencies. Construction Challenges The Boundary Dam Power Station is an With the core aspects of the novel carbon aging asset in the SaskPower fleet, and the As a matter of sequence, flue gas is capture technology not yet fully defined to a intent is to extend its life rather than replace first sent to the SO2 absorber and then onto commercial scale, SNC-Lavalin has met de- the plant. The current projection is that the the CO2 absorber before being returned to sign challenges through innovative ap- planned upgrades to the plant will extend its the stack with zero SO2 and only 10% of the proaches. The size of the CO2 absorber to useful power production life by 30 years. CO2 remaining. The gas is first quenched be utilized as part of the facility is on a scale As part of this plant retrofit effort, a re- and sub-cooled in a Prescrubber section, that has not been implemented previously, quirement to perform a Steam Turbine Gen- which is located in the SO2 absorber. SO2 but working with leading vendors, flow erator replacement is imminent; by integrat- and CO2 are absorbed from the gas by con- modeling and 3D reviews of the design have ing the overall retrofit requirements with tact with the Cansolv solvents through sec- been successful in addressing unknowns and CO2 and SO2 capture implementation, sav- tions of structured mass transfer packing in providing confidence to SaskPower and the ings will emerge versus an uncoordinated the absorption towers. Lean cool amine is project team who are now involved in engi- approach that would require significant re- fed to the top of each Absorber Tower. neering and procurement phases of the proj- work of completed installations if carbon In each tower, as the absorbents flow ect. and sulfur capture were implemented sepa- down the column counter current to the feed Other scaling and technical challenges rately. gas, the pollutant is absorbed into the amine. have benefited from implementing a full 3D The rich amine collects in the sump of the CADD project execution using the advanced Cansolv Integrated SO2 / CO2 Capture Absorber Tower and is pumped to the Re- SmartPlant platform from Intergraph. By in- Technology – A Brief generation Tower (or “Stripper”). Since the tegrating Piping and Instrumentation Dia- Since SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Station absorption of CO2 is an exothermic reaction, grams (as well as all multi-disciplinary engi- Unit 3 had no existing SO2 treatment, to interstage cooling is employed mid-tower to neering work) directly to the 3D model, end- retrofit the unit to capture carbon dioxide remove this heat from the Absorber tower, to-end management of design through front- first required the addition of flue gas desul- thus maintain- furization (FGD) technology. In offering a ing efficiency. single integrated system utilizing technolo- The rich gies that are very similar, Cansolv is unique- absorbent is ly able to integrate the SO2 and CO2 sys- pumped at a tems that work in unison within a single constant rate to plant. the Regenera- The Cansolv process incorporates FGD tion Tower into the “front-end” of the treatment process, through a and maximizes efficiencies in alignment Lean/Rich Heat with SaskPower interests in maximizing heat Exchanger that integration and minimizing Low Pressure recovers sensi- steam usage. One such example is the re- ble heat from covery of waste heat from the SO2 process, the lean amine. which will be utilized in the capture of CO2, A Reboiler is lowering the overall parasitic energy load used to gener- that is associated with typical amine-based ate stripping carbon capture processes. The second form steam which is of internal heat integration is internal to the injected into the CO2 system itself. bottom of the The result is a single system that deliv- column. As the Figure 2: Flowsheet for Integrated Cansolv SO2/CO2 Process
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These interactions are actively encour- aged as part of SNC-Lavalin’s design process that facilitates open communication with the client, resulting in positive changes being implemented across the entire model of the facility, leading to a design that SaskPower can be comfortable with. Simi- larly, the 3D model is also extremely helpful in Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) reviews of the plant where client personnel can see and fully appreciate the implications of con- Figure 5: 3D Model of Modularized Utility Rack Figure 3: 3D Model of SaskPower Carbon trol systems, and potential implications of Capture Plant hazardous situations that could arise, and im- plement the appropriate design changes to of contingency on pricing making potential end and detailed engineering has been main- mitigate risks to future operators, and the solutions uneconomic from the outset, and tained. plant itself. The SmartPlant 3D model may ensuring that the aspect of competition The benefits of this are reduced rework also be used for operator training prior to would also encourage creativity and efficien- during construction where any field changes startup. cy in the designs and EPC proposals provid- dramatically increase costs, and cause sched- A great focus has also been placed on ed. ules to slip. Specifically, accurate identifi- design for constructability throughout de- SaskPower’s execution strategy has al- cation of bulk materials and identification of tailed engineering. The Saskatchewan con- so reflected the reality of a project involving potential clashes for routings of piping, struction and labor market is constrained, a novel scale-up of technology As with all equipment, and wiring are readily apparent with the regional weather (notoriously harsh similar projects that involve scaling up tech- during model reviews during the engineer- Prairie Winters) also reducing the calendar nologies, risks associated with warranties on ing phase of the project, where changes can year that is suitable for construction. Areas the processes involved, and performance be made when necessary with minimal im- where field construction can be optimized guarantees for the plant are hot button issues. pact. have been exploited to provide the project Risk allocation between a client, the Bulk materials which are identified and with potential schedule advantages. technology vendor, and the EPC firm needs quantified via SmartPlant are downloaded Modularization of areas of the plant to be appropriately divided to help novel electronically via a proprietary system de- where possible has been emphasized, while projects like this to move forward. veloped by SNC-Lavalin called EMDS, di- accommodating restrictions imposed in SaskPower included time in its execution rectly into SNC-Lavalin’s in-house project transporting large modules and equipment to schedule to ensure that this significant con- management system, PM+. The systems be- the landlocked location within the Central tract negotiation issue was given sufficient ing utilized on the project have the positive Canadian Province. Specific attention has focus without risking overall project sched- effect of optimizing effort hours of engineer- been paid to modularizing utility racks, ule. For all such projects, this element should ing so that efficient use of available re- which will be shipped to the project site di- not be overlooked. sources can be made. rectly and interconnected in the field reduc- In summary, through the application of Other aspects of the project execution ing rework, but requiring incredible preci- Cansolv’s state of the art carbon capture where SaskPower is seeing benefits as a sion and detail in the detailed engineering technology and SNC-Lavalin’s depth of ex- client is in attending and providing input in- phase. pertise and advanced execution tools, all el- to 30%, 60%, and 90% engineering comple- Sequencing of construction given the ements are in place to successfully imple- tion model reviews. These reviews are man- size and scope of equipment and modular- ment one of the world’s first and largest car- aged by SNC-Lavalin with the technology ized portions is also a big part of design ef- bon capture facilities on behalf of SaskPow- provider and the client in attendance. Spe- forts underway, with construction looming er, and further the commercialization of this cific input is sought from SaskPower opera- in early 2011. technology. tions personnel as portions of the plant are viewed, with the intent that potential opera- SaskPower Competitive FEED tions and maintenance issues are addressed Execution Model immediately by the project team. In awarding the project, SaskPower benefit- ed from first implementing a competitive Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage More information where three competing technology/EPC con- For further information relating to this tractor teams were selected and awarded a project, or related subjects, please contact: mandate to develop a full FEED package, and EPC proposal to design and build a car- Andy Sundararajan bon capture facility. Manager, Business Development With proven commercial scale CO2 so- SNC-Lavalin Inc. lutions not available in the marketplace cur- 2275 Upper Middle Road East rently, this approach allowed competitors to Oakville, ON, Canada L6H 0C3 undertake the necessary engineering to de- Tel no.: (289) 291-4295 velop designs to a level to finalize costs for email: Figure 4: Project Director Walt Tomkiewicz walks through the 3D model during the 30% major equipment, piping, materials and con- [email protected] model review struction and avoid heaping large amounts
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Leaders - CCS in Canada Weyburn-Midale and Aquistore projects keeping Saskatchewan at the forefront of CCS research During spring 2010, the Weyburn Oilfield in southeastern Saskatchewan surpassed 16 million tonnes of CO2 stored underground. Combined with the over 2 million tonnes underground at the adjacent Midale Field, more than 18 million tonnes of CO2 has been stored in the subsurface of Saskatchewan. Norm Sacuta, Communications Manager, Petroleum Technology Research Centre
Currently, 8000 tonnes of new CO2 per day are injected into the two oil fields operated by Cenovus Energy and Apache Canada– de- livered from the Dakota Gasification Com- pany’s coal gasification facility in North Dakota via a 320 km pipeline. Present annu- al injection is approximately 2.8 million tonnes of new CO2, more than double other current CCS projects. When injection of CO2 was planned for the Weyburn oil field by then field oper- ators, Pan Canadian (now Cenovus Energy of Calgary) in 2000, Dr. Malcolm Wilson of the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, suggested that the CO2 enhanced oil recovery operations of- fered the perfect opportunity to develop an accompanying measurement, monitoring and verification program to assure the CO2 stayed in place and was verifiable. What began as purely an EOR opera- Figure 1: This geological model of the Weyburn Field depicts the layers of strata forming tion transitioned quickly into a major re- aquifers and aquitards above the formation. Wells are shown as vertical red lines. (Image search initiative, recognized by the Interna- courtesy of the PTRC) tional Energy Agency as an important pro- gram from which best practices could be de- veloped to help other CO2-EOR operations Largest research project in the world for long-term storage. The second phase, transition into long-term storage. With the looking at the geological storage of CO2 which began in 2005, has sought to expand addition of Apache Canada’s Midale field in With no fewer than 10 corporate sponsors, as on the modeling and monitoring work per- 2005 to expand the area of study, a second well as funding from the Governments of formed in phase one, and explore other areas phase of research, the IEA GHG Weyburn- Canada, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Japan, and such as wellbore integrity, and conduct as- Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Proj- the United States (USDOE), the Weyburn- sessments of and non-technical components ect, was initiated. Midale project is an multi-million dollar re- such as regulations and public communica- search initiative that, after ten tion. years of study, is coming to a “Geophysical monitoring is one area conclusion. where the Weyburn-Midale researchers have The first phase of the proj- made significant inroads in terms of identify- ect, completed in 2004, focused ing where the CO2 is, and much work is now on themes, including: geologi- focused on quantifying its distribution,” cal characterization; predic- notes the project’s senior manager, Dr. Steve tion, monitoring and verifica- Whittaker.” tion of CO2 movements; CO2 storage capacity and distribu- Project is in its final year tion predictions and the appli- With the project now approaching the end of cation of economic limits; and its extensive monitoring and research pro- long-term risk assessment of gram, the end deliverable – planned for late Table 1: Injection totals for selected CCS projects, globally the storage site. This phase of 2011 – is a Best Practices Manual that will (Chart courtesy of the International Energy Agency work concluded that the geo- help existing and planned EOR-CO2 opera- Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme) logical setting is highly suitable tions in other jurisdictions to transition their
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and Enbridge who will be building the pipeline. SaskPower has also joined the consortium, to complement its own extensive plans for its own CCS work such as the Boundary Dam project near Estevan.” Aquistore also has re- ceived Canadian federal funding from Sustainable De- Figure 2: Using the year 2000 as a baseline, differences in velopment Technology Cana- seismic data collected in 2002, 2004 and 2007 are shown in da and provincial funding the three images that map the expanse and location of the from Saskatchewan Ministry injected CO2 within the Weyburn reservoir. (Diagram of the Environment. courtesy of PTRC) Public outreach and consultation a must operations into long-term storage. With CCS projects becoming more visible “The BPM,” says Whittaker “will look worldwide, and with the public interested in at all aspects of storage and, given the rich learning more about the technologies in- data generated by the project, offer direction volved, the Aquistore project has been cog- on how to best transition EOR into long-term nizant from the very beginning that every storage. With research wrapping up by the step of the project should involve public con- end of March, 2011, we’re optimistic we will sultation and input. The project is now in dis- Cows rest beside a CO2 injection well near Weyburn in southeastern Saskatchewan have the manual produced before the end of cussions with local stakeholders regarding where more than 16 million tonnes of carbon that year.” the program and identifying the preferred lo- dioxide have been stored underground cations to generate feedback. Open houses New project in the works: Aquistore are planned and a website to keep the public Leveraging the experience gained in the informed about all stages of the project is in Weyburn-Midale Project, the PTRC has been design. integral in the development of a new, inte- “We want to grated carbon capture and storage project that make sure Aquistore will look at the full value chain of CCS – garners the sort of from capture, to transport, injection, storage community support and monitoring – but this time storage will that the Weyburn-Mi- take place into a deep saline formation. dale project has en- The Aquistore project, which involves joyed,” notes Worth. CCS Development Engineer – Storage the capture of CO2 from an oil refinery and “And that project has CCS Development Engineer – Capture Technology transport via pipeline to an injection location, been a success, in Longannet Power Station - Kincardine on Forth will see 550 tonnes of carbon dioxide per day part, because of the £42,800 - £53,500 + 10% bonus + single cover healthcare delivered for injection starting in 2013. trust developed be- ScottishPower, part of the Iberdrola Group, is a leading supplier in the UK “We’re excited about the project,” not- tween the community, gas and power markets. Our business is ever changing and to support our future needs, we are looking to recruit experienced people to support ed manager Kyle Worth, “because it may be Cenovus and Apache, and develop ScottishPower’s strategy on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) the first operational CCS project involving and the PTRC.” through the provision of expert knowledge of current and future technologies. We expect you to establish an expert position on CCS within the business being deep saline storage. We are on target for “We want the recognised as the fi rst point of contact for CCS technology. You will be responsible drilling our injection well, and hope to have PTRC to be the lead- for ensuring that all our projects comply with relevant capture readiness criteria and that all future projects make use of the most effi cient and cost effective small sample injections of CO2 beginning in ing edge in providing technology. Also, you will have responsibility for leading a range of CCS research 2011.” one possible solution projects, cascading this knowledge to the relevant areas of the business. A large amount of site characterization to climate change,” The people we seek are as unique as the roles. ScottishPower is investing heavily in Carbon Capture and Storage and the successful applicants will of the deep saline aquifer into which the CO2 says Whittaker. “And play a pivotal role in helping shape our business in the years to come. will be injected has already been completed. Aquistore can provide To fi nd out more or to apply, please visit www.scottishpower.jobs and search The PTRC has involved a number of research that by taking one our vacancies page for IRC12315 (Storage) and IRC12316 (Capture Technology) Closing date 31st August 2010. organizations (some of which carry with step past Weyburn- them extensive knowledge used in the Wey- Midale to look at the burn-Midale project) to assist with the initial whole value chain of measurement and monitoring during the test- a CCS project, right ing phase prior to large-scale injection. through from capture “This project has generated significant to long-term storage. industry and government interest,” noted Dr. This project could be Whittaker, “just as Weyburn did. Our indus- the thin edge of the try sponsors include the Consumers’ Co-op- wedge of a whole erative Refinery, which will be providing the new industry built CO2, Schlumberger, RITE, and SaskEnergy around CCS.”
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CCS legal column - Calum Hughes CCS legal and policy – July / Aug 2010 There is a storm brewing in UK waters at the moment which has the potential to profoundly affect the development of the regulations governing the UK’s CCS infrastructure, says Calum Hughes, principal consultant in CCS regulation and policy at Yellow Wood Energy, as he continues his regular column covering developments in the legal and regulatory aspects of CCS. [email protected]
The regulatory regime that currently governs Whatever this proves to be, the referral seems able and to al- access to offshore oil and gas transportation to have brought to the fore a deficiency in the low adequate and processing infrastructure in UK waters has current oil and gas infrastructure access regu- time, for those remained more or less unchanged for 35 years. latory regime with regard to its role in provid- who may wish Under this regime, parties seeking access to ing developers of more marginal oil and gas to have addi- existing infrastructure, who consider the terms fields with access to processing and trans- tional capacity upon which they are being offered such access portation infrastructure at sufficiently com- or functionali- to be unreasonable, may refer their case to the mercially attractive rates. ty incorporated Secretary of State for a determination of fair This deficiency has apparently been into its de- terms. recognised by the new coalition Government signs, to enter Similar referral options exist under dif- and the next Energy Bill, announced in May’s into negotia- ferent statutes for onshore and offshore Queen’s Speech, will include provisions to: tions to have pipelines and, as well as regulating access to “ensure that North Sea infrastructure is avail- this done. It is existing infrastructure, allow third parties to able to all companies to ease the exploitation hard to envis- require that new pipelines and associated of smaller and more difficult oil and gas age, though, “Unless there are further equipment are specified and constructed in or- fields”. how an open- changes made, in light of the recent experiences in der that the capacity required by the third par- The relevance of all this to CCS is that season alone the oil and gas industry, I ty is available provided that they are willing DECC proposes to use the current oil and gas might achieve doubt whether the first CCS to pay the incremental cost of such capacity regulatory model as the basis for the regime DECC’s aims. regulatory model will stand provision. that will be applied to CCS infrastructure in Consider, for the test of time as well as This regulatory model has been criticised the UK. The obvious question raised by the example, an in- its oil and gas cousin”. - Calum Hughes, Yellow by some as one which fails to yield infrastruc- recent events described above is whether a dividual organ- Wood Energy ture design which is economically optimal, regulatory regime which is proving unsatis- isation, that but, while this may be true, advocates of the factory for an industry where project econom- currently pre- current model have cited in its defence that the ics are being squeezed is a sound basis for one dicts it will require, in order to remain com- Government determination option has never where project economics are marginal from petitive, a relatively modest amount of CO2 been called upon and, therefore, all parties the outset. transportation capacity at some time in the must be content with the price and quantity of Open access for new industry entrants to next 15 years, but knows that the accuracy of infrastructure access it engenders. Recently existing infrastructure is one key area for CCS these predictions are subject to the resolution though, a rebuttal of this argument has been and it is, accordingly, mandated in the Euro- of a number of policy decisions which are aired publicly: the apparent harmony may be pean CCS Directive. The Directive must be highly uncertain and have the potential to ma- due to the reticence of smaller, independent transposed into Member State national law by terially affect at which point its participation oil companies to risk raising the ire of their June 2011 and DECC has stated that one of in CCS might be economically justifiable. Will larger neighbours by exposing them to the po- the reasons it finds the oil and gas model ap- this organisation decide to invest capital in the tential embarrassment of a public censure, or pealing for application to CCS is that it ad- provision of that capacity now? worse, for abusing their dominant position. dresses the issue of mandated open access. Whether further adjustments will be Whatever the case in fact, the status quo A satisfactory CCS regulatory frame- made to the oil and gas model, over and above is about to be tested; Endeavour International, work must, however, also deliver adequate in- those which have already been publicly moot- being apparently unhappy at the amounts it is frastructure capacity, and do so in an econom- ed, as it is moulded into the final CCS regula- being charged by Nexen Petroleum for the use ically efficient manner. It has been recognised tions, is expected to become clearer over the of the Scott Platform, has referred its case to that the oil and gas regulatory model as it next year or so. But, the nature of the CCS in- DECC. stands is not ideal in this regard and that it is dustry is materially different from that of oil The offshore industry has a Code of likely to be even less suitable when applied to and gas and, unless there are further changes Practice intended to lay down acceptable pro- an industry in which there are even fewer driv- made, in light of the recent experiences in the cedures and approaches for those entering in- ers for the infrastructure developer to build in oil and gas industry, I doubt whether the first to access negotiations and DECC has issued spare capacity and future revenue uncertain- CCS regulatory model will stand the test of guidelines as to how it will carry out its deter- ties are even greater. time as well as its oil and gas cousin. Well-ad- minations. However, neither of these are DECC’s proposed method of addressing vised project developers will consider the po- mandatory and, as the details of the tariff this deficiency is to build in an ‘open-season’ tential for changes to the regulatory regime agreements in the subject case are not publicly period in the early stages of the infrastructure when evaluating projects and add contingen- available, one can only opine on what line will planning application procedure. During this cies for this regulatory risk, a factor which will be taken by the Department in its determina- period, the infrastructure developer is required impact negatively on the likelihood of their tion and the tenor of the precedent it will set. to make details of its proposals publicly avail- projects achieving sanction.
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Projects and Policy The public perception of Carbon Capture and Storage The University of Edinburgh and Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage are involved in both locally and globally oriented research on public perception. Activities range from a schools outreach program and a working bench top CCS model, to analysis of global engagement work.
www.sccs.org.uk From the Netherlands to the U.S, public op- position can be, and has proven an obstacle to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) proj- ects around the world. Opposition to these CCS projects has shown that there is a need to better understand local beliefs and to situ- ate plans in the local context. Royal Dutch Shell’s CCS project close to Barendrecht has been postponed by at least three years as a result of pressures from the local electorate1. Despite local concern with the risks of CO2 injection and stated distrust in the developers, the national gov- ernment has decided to permit the project2. Public opposition has also formed over plans to sequester CO2 beneath Greenville, Ohio and could feasibly prove an obstacle to plans for a new-build coal power plant with CCS at Hunterston, UK3. By contrast, the To- tal full-chain development at Lacq has gained very positive local support. It is there- fore vital to understand why the public chooses to oppose or support CCS projects. Pupils from Linlithgow Academy and Linlithgow Primary learn about CCS and climate change The recent CCS roadmap published by the International Energy Agency (IEA)4 ar- gues that public opposition may arise when people feel that they have been treated un- while issues of trust are generally important, Outreach activities at the University of fairly in the planning process and when de- in many cases the resulting mood is tem- Edinburgh velopers do not appear to be trustworthy. pered by local socio-economic conditions. CCS school’s outreach program And while developers often wrongly assume Public perception research from the USA With the help of Scottish Power and the that the local populace has a poor under- concluded that a local population was more Scottish Government, the Scottish Earth Sci- standing of climate science it is still impor- concerned with monetary compensation and ence Education Forum (SESEF) has devel- tant that the link between CCS and global employment, than with leakage risks from a oped and successfully delivered a pilot out- warming is made explicit to avoid confusion. potential CCS development and already had reach programme for secondary school stu- Rather than objecting to the merits of little trust in regulatory agencies and devel- dents in Scotland. Since November 2009 stu- reducing CO2 emissions, opposition often opers5. dents in schools around Longannet Power arises from an incomplete understanding of In the case of Barendrecht a different Station in Fife, have had a series of work- the CCS chain, or because plans are not set of priorities - concerns with local risks - shops delivered to them, as part of their na- adapted to the local social context. On the dominated the debate. In such cases, lessons tional curriculum. other hand, local support is often not direct- on how to align the views of stakeholders SESEF educators developed workshops ly related to beliefs about CO2 sequestration who do not share the same perceptions of a where secondary school students were intro- and climate change, but is instead grounded planned development may be taken from duced to the concept of capturing carbon in hopes for future employment and facili- technologies with a longer history such as dioxide, why it could be a mitigation tech- tated through successful relationship man- wind energy projects. nology, the role of CCS in future energy gen- agement. Relatively high public trust in Non SCCS at the University of Edinburgh eration and the risks involved. To ensure that Governmental Organisations (NGOs), com- currently has three outreach groups address- the students understood the concept, these pared with government and industry, means ing different aspects of public perception. secondary school students then became the that NGOs are often in a favoured position Programs like these and others are needed to science educators and went to the local pri- to communicate the risks and benefits and to help educate the public, and to help avoid mary school to explain the concept of CCS consider the concerns of local stakeholders. clashes like those that have happened in oth- to the primary school students. Students then Case study comparisons show that er countries. went on, to present their ideas about CCS at
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Projects and Policy
The Edinburgh International Science Festi- tiative. The grant was to fund the design and val and at Longannet Power Station. construction of a traveling outreach project communicating CCS technology placed in For further information about SESEF and the context of balancing energy demand with their CCS outreach program, please con- emissions reductions. tact Catherine Morgan: The project, named “CO2 Storage: Go- [email protected] ing Underground”, will be premiered at Our or go to: Dynamic Earth, a popular science museum www.sesef.org.uk in central Edinburgh, from the 8th to the 11th July 2010. Visitors will have the chance to learn all about the full CCS chain; why the CCS Interactive working desktop demon- technology was developed to how rocks can stration model hold CO2, conceptualized with hourly In collaboration with the School of Engi- demonstrations from FUSION’s CCSI. neering and Scottish Carbon Capture & Stor- Geophysical monitoring of CO2 will be age, the FUSION outreach research group communicated with the aid of audial materi- has designed and built an interactive CCS al giving participants the chance to "hear" model (CCSI), which demonstrates the CCS their way through a CO2 storage site. Per- chain from capture of CO2 to injection. haps most importantly, CCS technology will The desktop-sized interactive is built in be placed within the CO2 reducing strategy three sections: a power station model, which for the UK. Visitors will, with the help of a produces a CO2-rich output; a working two- brilliant game, have the chance to design In collaboration with the School of column pressure swing adsorption system, their own "clean energy strategy", proposing Engineering and Scottish Carbon Capture & used to demonstrate the capture of the CO2 the energy mixtures that they think are most Storage, the FUSION outreach research group and the return of the cleaned flue gases; and suitable for the UK to adopt. has designed and built an interactive CCS a simulation of the transport and subsequent Three SCCS members will be present model (CCSI), which demonstrates the CCS chain from capture of CO2 to injection. injection of the captured CO2 into a subsur- for all four days to assist with the games and face water-filled structure trap. concepts and to answer any questions or con- The SCI-FUN Roadshow, visiting sec- cerns of the public. Keep an eye on the example of rapid Knowledge Exchange into ondary schools (11-14yrs) throughout Scot- SCCS website for a documentary movie of practical application. land in the coming academic year, will use “CO2 Storage: Going Underground”! SCCS is the largest carbon storage the CCSI as part of a science show describ- These very practical examples are pro- grouping in the UK, comprising in excess of ing current areas of research at the Universi- viding practical information to the interested 65 researchers in the University of Edin- ty of Edinburgh. The interactive will also be public and schools. The content and type of burgh, Heriot-Watt University and the used at science festivals and other public message portrayed is influenced and in- British Geological Survey. SCCS is unique events, both independently and as part of a formed by the social and technology reseach in its connected strength across the full CCS show describing aspects of climate change. undertaken in SCCS, where Simon Shack- chain and unique in its biochar capability. The software and hardware design of ley, Nils Markusson, Stuart Russell and oth- the CCSI allows it to be demonstrated in a ers have academically anaysed project pro- References variety of different ways, according to the posals worldwide and contributed to the 1 Voosen, P (2010) A Town's Lonely Strug- level of knowledge of the target audience. writing of the IEAGHG roadmap4. Truly an gle Shows CO2 Fears Here to Stay. The New Furthermore, as a fully-functioning CCS York Times, accessed: May 16, 2010 URL: system, the exhibit will also be available for http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/11/ basic research into the characteristics of the 11greenwire-a-towns-lonely-struggle- adsorption process. shows-co2-fears-here-to-218.html?page- wanted=4 For further information about the CCS in- 2 Desbarats et al (2010) Review of the pub- teractive exhibit, please contact Peter lic participation practices for CCS and non- Reid: [email protected] CCS projects in Europe. Institute for Euro- pean Environmental Policy 3 BBC news 2 June2010 SCCS Outreach http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glas- Members of the SCCS research team are al- gow_and_west/10208275.stm so actively involved in outreach projects. As 4 Technology Roadmap – Carbon Capture well involvement in the Edinburgh Science and Storage, OECD/IEA, 2009. Festival, an internationally recognized annu- www.iea.org/papers/2009/CCS_Roadmap.p al event running for two weeks every spring, df PhD students and postdocs have visited sev- 5 Bradbury J., Isha Ray, Tarla Peterson, erals shcools and sixth forms across the Sarah Wade, Gabrielle Wong Parodi. (2009). country to talk about their research on CCS. The Role of Social Factors in Shaping Pub- In addition, this year members of the PhD students and postdocs have visited lic Perceptions of CCS: Results of Multi- SCCS were awarded a grant from the Edin- severals shcools and sixth forms across the State Focus Group. Interviews in the US. En- burgh Beltane,a science communication ini- country to talk about their research on CCS ergy Procedia 1, 4665-4672
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Projects and Policy Element Energy study on the potential for CCS in the North Sea Element Energy, a UK-based low carbon energy consultancy, has recently completed the ‘One North Sea’ study funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Norwegian Ministry for Petroleum and Energy. The work was commissioned on behalf of the North Sea Basin Task Force, which is presently considering the report. Harsh Pershad, Energy Consultant, Element Energy
According to the report, Carbon Capture and DepletedDepleted hydrocarbonhyydrocarbon Storage (CCS) in the North Sea countries fieldfield or could play an important role in European DecarbonisedDecarrbonised CO2 ppipelineipeline aquiferaquifer EnhancedEnhanced CO2 ppipelineipeline electricityelectrricity forfor oil recoveryrecovery CO2 emissions abatement by 2030, with homeshomees & businessesbusinesses NATIONALNAATTIONAL capture volumes above 270 million tonnes BOUNDARBOUNDARYY
(Mt) CO2/year. By 2050 this could rise CO2 sshipships above 450 Mt CO2/year. CO2 The combination of abundant CO2 ElectricElectectectric CentralCentral & storage capacity, clusters of CO2 sources, vehiclesv northernorthernn North Sea world class research institutes and commer- aquifersaquifers CrCross-bordeross-border cial stakeholders, and a strong demonstra- pipelinepipeliness CO2 tion programme makes the North Sea coun- RReused naturalatu gas tries natural leaders for the development and pipelineel deployment of CCS technology in Europe. Around fifty per cent of European CO2 storage potential is located under the North ExportEExpoExporxportort Sea. A large amount of predicted CCS de- decarbonisedddecarbode rbonbonisenisedd OnshoreOnshoshorsho e COO powerppo ere storagstoragesstoraorage mand is located within Germany, the Nether- 2
lands, Norway and the UK, the countries of COCO 010 2 fo 2 1-313 km k n.in 3 km sto CO2 sshipships we the North Sea Basin Task Force. k auulweston.infol 201 w.p ww The geographical clustering of sources c: © www.pa DDepletedepleted phi gragra and/or sinks gives opportunities to develop ggasas fifieldeld CO2 NATIONALNAATTIONAL efficient transport and storage networks. BOUNDARYBOUNDARY
Many stakeholders around the North LLargearge Sea have already developed visions for de- aaquiferquifer ploying safe, cost-effective and timely trans- port and storage infrastructure, although di- verse but significant challenges have also A One North Sea vision (illustration © www.paulweston.info) emerged. The modelling and stakeholder consul- contribute up to 25% of overall CO2 flows sector from making the clear commitments tation conducted demonstrate that: in 2030. to CCS that the private sector requires. • In a ‘Very High’ CCS scenario source • Uncertain CCS economic incentives, Element Energy’s analysis concludes ‘clusters’ or ‘hubs’ could be responsible for regulations and viability of specific sinks, that the rapid deployment of large scale low 80% of stored CO2 in 2030. and limited co-operation and organisation of cost infrastructure by 2030 is technically • Cross-border transport could become stakeholders, work against private sector in- achievable and is necessary for full deploy- increasingly important beyond 2020 in sce- vestment in capture and large scale transport ment (e.g. the ‘Very High’ scenario de- narios with high CCS growth and/or where and storage infrastructure. scribed in this report which stores over 270 storage is restricted(for example, in onshore • Uncertainties over capture demand Mt CO2/year in 2030). However this would sinks). Cross border transport volumes could and storage capacity also impede the public require a step change in co-operation in plan-
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ning by numerous stakeholders, favourable Legend graphic: www.paulweston.info economic conditions and CCS cost reduc- 2030 Sinks © ElementEnergy 2010 tion. 30 year annual With only modest further intervention, capacity (Mt/yr) the market is likely to deliver only a few of <2.5 2.5-5 5 Mt/yr the most straightforward CCS projects by 5-10 10 Mt/yr 2030, storing up to 46 Mt CO2/year under 10-15 15-20 the North Sea in a ‘Medium’ scenario. The 20-50 shortfall between ‘Very High’ and ‘Medium’ 50+ Sources 40 Mt/yr 20 Mt/yr 60 Mt/yr scenarios would need to be met by other ap- Source clusters 2030 proaches to CO2 abatement. Power sector source Industrial Sources The report makes a number of specific 10 Mt/yr recommendations for key stakeholders. A 43 Mt/yr general conclusion is that the focus for gov- 20 Mt/yr ernment and industry cooperation around the
North Sea should be to: 40 Mt/yr 1. Co-ordinate and lead the pre-com- 0 500 1000 mercial deployment of CCS in the period to Kilometres 2020 and beyond. 2. Increase confidence in the location, CCS activity in the 'Very High' scenario in 2030 (illustration © www.paulweston.info) volumes and reliability of sink capacity in and around the North Sea, and facilitate ac- 3. Recognise shared interests, speak cess to safe storage, for example through de- with one voice and act consistently, where The full report and appendix can be found veloping frameworks for managing cross- possible, to promote the development of at www.element-energy.co.uk border CO2 flows. CCS. A CCS strategy for the new UK government Chris Littlecott, senior policy adviser at the environmental thinktank Green Alliance, looks at the early actions of the new UK government, and identifies three key challenges that their CCS strategy must address. We are exploring uncharted political territory, Ministers take the lead a prospect at once exciting but full of uncer- On 8th July, the recently-created Office of BOX 1 – Coalition agreement on CCS and tainty. The new UK coalition has broken the CCS (OCCS) held its first senior stakeholder related issues mould of what we had come to take for grant- conference at which Secretary of State Chris • We will continue public sector invest- ed as the standard process of forming a new Huhne announced the new Market Sounding ment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) government. Manifesto commitments have exercise to identify projects that could receive technology for four coal-fired power sta- this time been blended into a new Liberal- government support via the levy mechanism tions. Conservative cocktail. agreed in the Energy Act 2010. In making • We will establish an emissions perform- And when it comes to the equally un- clear that the new government’s aim is to ance standard that will prevent coal-fired charted technology of CCS, we rightly have make the UK first choice for CCS investment, power stations being built unless they are to ask whether this should be a cause for con- Huhne also underscored that he and his Con- equipped with sufficient carbon capture cern. Will there be differences of view be- servative ministers Charles Hendry and Greg and storage to meet the emissions perform- tween parties and ministers that threaten the Barker are “totally as one” when it comes to ance standard. progress that was made in fits and starts under supporting CCS. Charles Hendry himself is • We will introduce a floor price for car- the previous Labour government? Thankfully, well-respected across the CCS industry for his bon, and make efforts to persuade the EU the signs so far seem positive. enduring interest and support for the technol- to move towards full auctioning of ETS While there are many areas where the co- ogy, and has already made clear his desire to permits. operation of the two parties will be severely push DECC and OCCS into delivering at the • We will reform energy markets to deliv- tested, broad agreement on the climate and en- scale and speed required. er security of supply and investment in low vironment chapter of the coalition agreement With such strong ministerial backing, the carbon energy, and ensure fair competition was quickly reached. Only in respect to nu- challenge for DECC can therefore be con- including a review of the role of Ofgem. clear power has a potentially messy compro- ceived as one of ensuring CCS investment at mise been required. scale. The creation of the OCCS under the regulation that can provide the necessary con- Instead, the coalition agreement states Labour government, something that we at fidence to both industry and wider stakehold- that public sector investment in CCS technol- Green Alliance pushed hard to secure, now ers. For achieving the government’s stated aim ogy will be prioritised, as will the introduction provides DECC with the institutional capacity of making the UK the most attractive place to of an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) required to deliver a detailed roadmap for invest in CCS necessarily entails addressing and efforts to reform energy markets and car- CCS. This must find a route through the thick- concerns from environmental NGOs and oth- bon price signals. Box 1 sets out further de- et of practical infrastructural challenges as er non-industry stakeholders. tails. well as fleshing out a package of finance and For if a weakness is to be found in the
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new government’s exposition of its CCS pri- agreement. Now orities so far, it is in respect to the scope of its BOX 2: UK must capitalise on conducive they must find field of vision, which has focused almost ex- public acceptability conditions: the resolve to clusively on engaging with industry. While it 1. Public Acceptability. The silver lining maintain its posi- is understandable that the new government of UK slowness on demonstration projects tion against any wants to boost investor confidence in these to date is that no public acceptability fight Treasury pres- fragile economic times, it cannot afford to lim- has needed to take place. It is indeed “the sure. Failure to it its outreach to other stakeholders. Box 2 de- dog that is yet to bark”. There is therefore do so would tails how the UK can lead the way in this too. an opportunity to proactively pre-empt damage the UK’s such opposition before such a situation credibility in the Defining the strategy arises. A successful strategy will need to eyes of CCS de- With these opportunities in mind, and given bring together strong message about the velopers and in- the constrained economic circumstances faced role of CCS in tackling climate change vestors, and seri- by the UK exchequer, three key challenges with location-specific arguments related ously prejudice stand out for action: to the economic benefits of particular the timescale for 1. Think big, talk climate projects. The safety of CO2 transport and making CCS Chris Littlecott, senior Ministers need to set the terms of the discus- storage will need to be addressed under commercially policy adviser, Green sion about CCS, clearly situating it as a cli- both of these areas. available for Alliance mate mitigation measure, not an interesting 2. Pragmatic NGO engagement. UK power sector de- technology experiment. After all, CCS only NGOs have been willing to participate in carbonisation. It would make the delivery of exists because of the imperative of acting on discussions of CCS on a far more positive CCS more expensive rather than less. climate change. Too often in the past, the risk- basis than anywhere else in the EU. NGOs Of course, there is clearly room for more minimisation approach taken by DECC failed will be of central importance in shaping creative approaches to project finance, includ- to portray CCS as an integral option for decar- public opinion about CCS, and can be key ing for projects 2-4. Indeed, the restraints on bonising energy supply. While the UK Foreign messengers in support of CCS demonstra- public spending should force greater attention Office has always been clear that CCS is a po- tion projects. To take this opportunity, on projects that can commit to up front emis- tentially game-changing technology that can government policy needs to actively en- sions reductions, rather than leaving open a unlock international political blockages to cli- gage with the climate change concerns of potentially larger bill for publically-financed mate action, UK domestic delivery has lagged NGOs and other key influencers from the retrofit of CCS at a later date. Cooperation be- behind making this real. academic community and advisers such as tween consortia rather than further rounds of Delivery of CCS demonstration projects the Committee on Climate change. All of competitive tendering should be encouraged. will be made much easier within such a politi- these perspectives need to be included in A CCS demonstration project for gas is also cal framing, backed up by a policy framework the new OCCS development forum. now imperative, as per the recommendation that gives clarity on the timescale for the de- of the Committee on Climate Change in June carbonisation of UK energy supply, such as ket reform measures to make CCS an attrac- 2010. the Committee on Climate Change recommen- tive long-term industry, not a series of one-off Furthermore, the government should dation of a 2030 target. Broader reform of en- projects. consider alternative ways of making capital ergy markets will help, but clear signals need At Green Alliance, our experience from available and bringing down the risk to in- to be sent now that low-carbon power invest- the multi-stakeholder dialogue we convened vestors via its newly proposed Green Invest- ments must become the new norm. The coali- in September 2009 alongside our partners at ment Bank. Now is the time to consider how tion’s commitment to defining an EPS can the CCSA is positive. Over two days of dia- it can incentivise the development of critical help to play that role. logue we clearly saw that a package of meas- CCS infrastructure and leverage private sector 2. Define direction of travel early ures combining public finance with regulatory investment in CO2 capture projects. CCS project developers and investors will drivers offers the greatest chance of cross-sec- need to know the likely operating require- toral support. Conclusion ments for new plant across the lifetime of the 3. Secure the money If the coalition government is to succeed on asset, and, for those proposing to initially in- While there is no doubting the good intentions delivering its aim of making the UK first vest in only partial capture, the timescale with- of DECC ministers and the OCCS team to choice for investing in CCS it will have to ad- in which full deployment of CCS technology make CCS happen, their enthusiasm is dress the challenges set out above: by fram- will be required. Charles Hendry’s recent pub- matched within government by the Treasury’s ing the CCS challenge in strong climate terms; lic statements that he envisages an EPS as pro- reputation for ruthlessness. In particular the providing a policy framework that defines the viding additional clarity to aid investment are original CCS competition, the now-titled ‘de- timeline for power sector decarbonisation and therefore to be welcomed. The timescale for mo 1’, will be in their sights given that the the roadmap for CCS infrastructure develop- this is clear, with decisions needed over the structure of the competition places a far ment; and securing public sector finance to same timescale as the negotiation of project greater burden on the government’s balance leverage private sector investment. In all of financing for demonstration projects 2 to 4. sheet than subsequent projects 2 to 4. these it must engage with broader social stake- With limited public funding available, it Green Alliance has argued strongly dur- holders as well as the growing CCS industry. will be of central importance to build the mar- ing the past year that, despite its flaws, the It’s a big job, but one within the grasp of min- ket at sufficient scale to foster the develop- CCS competition should be maintained as the isters and the new OCCS team. Green Alliance ment of supply chains and the availability of fastest way to getting an early demonstration will be championing their efforts over the different technology options. A combination project underway in the UK. Senior Conser- coming year. By early 2011 we will know of early decisions on EPS and a strategic in- vative politicians have taken this message on whether the new government is on track. frastructure roadmap can combine with mar- board, as seen by its inclusion in the coalition
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Projects and Policy Energy Institute - good practice for CCS Carbon capture and storage (CCS), like any other area of the energy industry, will need to operate in a safe framework. Here, Martin Maeso CEnv MEI, Technical Director, Energy Institute (EI) highlights the EI’s recent published guidelines on CCS and looks to further work needed in the future.
In 2006, the Department of Business, Enter- produce a conservative set of analyses. Al- been made to reduce the uncertainties around prise and Regulatory Reform asked the Health though there are comparatively few carbon the modelling of carbon dioxide, and in par- & Safety Executive (HSE) to determine if dioxide pipelines in operation, the construc- ticular a better understanding of the there were any health and safety concerns re- tion of these pipelines is not vastly dissimilar solid/vapour transition. lating to the deployment of large-scale carbon to many other conventional pipelines – there- At present, there is no database of car- capture and storage (CCS) technology in the by providing a large dataset of incident rates. bon dioxide incidents. A further recommen- UK. So whilst current dispersion models are not dation has been to set up an industry group to The HSE began a review of all aspects exclusively designed for carbon dioxide, the monitor these and to compile a database so of the carbon capture and storage chain, from EI guidance sets out methods to adapt the that industry can learn from such incidents. the various capture technologies through to models for carbon dioxide. This has been the Similarly, the need to share data on pipeline the injection points on the offshore platforms. accepted approach in the industrial gases sec- conditions has been highlighted so that col- As part of this process it approached the En- tor in relation to carbon dioxide and other lectively the industry can come to an agreed ergy Institute (EI), as a technical forum for fa- cryogenic liquid installations. This approach opinion on what maintenance and inspection cilitating discussion on energy issues. It asked has also been used to model carbon dioxide requirements and schedules constitute best that the EI draw on its broad membership and releases to assess environmental impact. practice. This should allow both the general initiate a discussion on the key health and A second guidance document has been public and regulatory authorities to have con- safety issues around this emerging technolo- produced to ensure that the emerging CCS in- fidence that carbon dioxide pipeline failures gy. Subsequently the EI identified a number dustry takes advantage of existing good prac- are no more than likely than, for example, nat- of areas which it believed merited greater at- tice in other sectors. Carbon dioxide has par- ural gas pipeline failures. tention. These concerns can be split into two ticular properties that affect the choice of ma- The EI is also working with partners to broad subject areas: terials and plant design. Although many of develop training on carbon capture and stor- • modelling the dispersion of any leak these issues are well understood by the indus- age. Vital to the success of CCS is the avail- of carbon dioxide appropriately; and trial gases sector, they are not ‘business as ability of appropriately skilled individuals. • ensuring good practice techniques usual’ for the CCS industry. For example, cer- The Government’s paper: Clean Coal: an in- from the industrial gases, chemicals and en- tain elastomers are commonly used in seals dustrial strategy for the development of car- ergy sectors is fed into the UK CCS industry. in the power generation and oil and gas in- bon capture and storage across the UK esti- To address these issues, the EI, working dustry, but cannot be used for carbon dioxide mates that by 2030 the CCS industry could in partnership with the HSE and the Carbon as they explode when rapidly depressurised. employ up to 100,000 people across the UK. Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), set This guidance document, Good plant design As well as working to ensure the industry has up a Joint Industry Project (JIP), drawing to- and operation for onshore carbon capture in- operational good practice at its disposal, the gether members from the oil and gas, power stallations and onshore pipelines – A recom- EI is working to ensure that those in the ener- generation, pipeline and industrial gases sec- mended practice guidance document sets out gy industry have access to good continuing tor, along with the Health & Safety Laborato- the impact carbon dioxide has on aspects of professional development opportunities. The ry, the Environment Agency and HSE, to set plant design, operation and safety, and covers provision of training as well as good practice about addressing the two key issues raised. both onshore operations and offshore is one way of achieving this aim. The outputs from this activity are two guid- pipelines. In undertaking its activity on CCS the ance documents, both of which were pub- EI works with and is supported by a wide lished in May 2010. Work for the future range of organisations. These include the cur- The methods recommended by the EI guid- rent members of the CCS JIP, the EI Techni- Modelling and good practice ance are generally expected to be conserva- cal Partners, CCSA and institutes such as the Appropriate hazard analysis is fundamental tive, which may result in overestimating the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. to assessing the risks for onshore pipelines hazard and thereby increasing mitigation un- This work is vital if the safety case is to be and installations. The first guidance docu- necessarily. It has therefore been recommend- made for CCS schemes in future, and for the ment, Technical guidance on hazard analysis ed that these conservative assumptions are UK to fulfil its full potential in making a con- for onshore carbon capture installations & on- used to screen CCS projects until there is a tribution to the development of CCS globally. shore pipelines addresses concerns that the wider body of work to reduce the uncertain- commercial models available to model the ties. A number of potential future projects dispersion of gases are not validated for car- have also emerged from this process. The EI’s CCS guidance documents are bon dioxide, which has particular thermody- These include a recommendation to available from: namic properties. As a result, any dispersion monitor moisture content of carbon dioxide www.energypublishing.org modelling using these commercial models systems to reduce pipeline corrosion, and If you would like to contribute to the EI’s may not be accurate and, without any valida- specify what corrective action needs to be tak- activity on CCS please contact Martin tion, it would be impossible to use them with en if excursions from the expected moisture Maeso, EI Technical Director, at any confidence. content occur. e: [email protected] The document sets out an approach to A suggestion for future work has also
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Projects and Policy Policy, company and regulation news Scottish and Southern to prepare CCS tions as well as coal. I be- project in Peterhead lieve Peterhead repre- www.scottish-southern.co.uk sents the best site in the SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) has UK for a gas CCS project announced plans to conduct carbon cap- and I hope that our sub- ture at its gas-fired power station at Pe- mission to the Govern- terhead, Scotland. ment will be successful." The project would demonstrate post- combustion capture of carbon dioxide emis- US-China sions relating to the electricity output of the collaboration fosters equivalent of 400MW of capacity. It would three projects involve using an existing gas turbine, an ex- fossil.energy.gov isting steam turbine, an existing electricity Three clean energy network connection and land adjacent to the technology projects, one power station already owned by SSE. relating to CCS, have Peterhead is well-located for trans- resulted from a 2009 portation of carbon dioxide emissions and agreement between the for subsequent storage, and a number of op- United States and Chi- tions for this are being considered. SSE will na on a collaborative re- Scottish and Southern Energy’s gas-fired power station at Peterhead, Scotland (Image ©SSE) be discussing these, and the project in gen- search effort. eral, with the UK Government as part of its The projects are a market-sounding exercise launched on 8 Ju- joint research effort be- ly by the Department of Energy and Climate tween two U.S. Depart- Change (DECC). ment of Energy (DOE) laboratories - the Na- Valued at approximately $67 million The Energy Act 2010 provides for the tional Energy Technology Laboratory ($15 million in non-federal cost sharing) creation of a financial incentive, funded by (NETL) and the Pacific Northwest National over three years, the projects are focused on electricity suppliers, to support up to four Laboratory (PNNL) - and the Chinese Acad- reducing the "energy and efficiency penal- CCS commercial-scale demonstration proj- emy of Sciences. ties" associated with applying currently ects in the UK. The first project is being se- Directors from DOE’s NETL and available carbon capture and storage (CCS) lected through the ongoing competition for a PNNL recently met with representatives of technologies to existing and new power post-combustion capture project on a coal- the Chinese Academy of Sciences to embark plants. fired power station. on multiple projects aimed at accelerating CO2 power plant capture systems cur- In June 2010, the UK Committee on development and deployment of coal con- rently require large amounts of energy for Climate Change (CCC), the independent version, emissions capture, and carbon stor- their operation, resulting in decreased effi- body which advises the UK Government on age technologies. ciency and reduced net power output when setting carbon budgets, said that CCS equip- The research team, called the Clean En- compared to plants without CCS technolo- ment should be fitted to new gas-fired pow- ergy Partnership, will undertake three proj- gy. er stations. While its current policy, reflect- ects as part of the agreement, which has a These "penalties" can add as much as ed in the Coalition Agreement, is to contin- five-year term and emphasizes growing col- 80 percent to the cost of electricity for a new ue investment in CCS for four coal-fired laborative energy R&D between the two na- pulverized coal plant and about 35 percent power stations, the Government is consider- tions: to the cost of electricity for a new advanced ing the CCC's recommendations. In the first project, researchers will gasification plant. The overall goal of re- SSE is also developing plans for CCS evaluate converting an enhanced-oil-recov- search conducted by DOE’s Office of Fossil on coal-fired power stations, and the Ferry- ery site at China’s Jiangsu oilfield into a ge- Energy (FE) and managed by FE’s National bridge clean coal pilot project, a collabora- ologic storage site for carbon dioxide emis- Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is to tion between SSE, Vattenfall, and Doosan sions. Other geologic sites in China also will improve efficiencies and reduce these costs Babcock in the UK, was awarded £6.3m by be evaluated to provide better understanding to less than 30 percent and 10 percent, re- DECC, the Technology Strategy Board and of the challenges and costs of deploying spectively. Northern Way in April this year. CCS in China. The Obama Administration has made a A different proposal to capture carbon The other two projects related to gasi- goal of developing cost-effective deploy- dioxide emissions at Peterhead, and then ex- fication of biomass and converting synthetic ment of CCS technologies within 10 years, port them to the North Sea for enhanced oil gas into natural gas. with an objective of bringing 5 to 10 com- recovery and ultimate storage, was aban- mercial demonstration projects online by doned in 2007 because the then public poli- $67 million for DOE research into CCS 2016. cy framework did not allow adequate finan- at exisiting coal power plants The funding will focus on bench-scale cial support. Ten projects aimed at developing ad- and slipstream-scale development (0.5 to 5 "If long-term targets for reducing emis- vanced technologies for capturing CO2 MWe) and testing of advanced post-combus- sions are to be met, CCS technology is go- from coal combustion have been selected tion CO2 capture technologies that include ing to have to apply as widely as possible," by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) membranes, solvents, and solid sorbents. commented Ian Marchant, Chief Executive under its Innovations for Existing Plants For a full list of the projects see the of SSE. "This means gas-fired power sta- (IEP) Program. DOE website.
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Doosan Babcock test facility officially opened www.doosanbabcock.com HRH The Princess Royal has opened Doosan Babcock’s post combustion plant test facility at Renfrew, Scotland. The test facility features Post Combus- tion Carbon Capture (PCCC) technology and will be a key component in what the compa- ny says is now the world’s largest carbon capture research facility. The PCCC facility simulates the entire process of modern coal-fired power genera- tion. It will burn real coals and biomass, and includes a range of gas clean-up systems, be- fore carbon dioxide capture takes place. The new facility uses Solvent Scrub- bing Technology to capture CO2 from coal- fired flue gases, through a process of absorp- tion and regeneration. Doosan Power Sys- tems has been developing and will continue to develop this technology in partnership HRH The Princess Royal opening Doosan Babcock’s post combustion plant test facility at Renfrew, Scotland (Image: Doosan Babcock) with the Canadian based HTC Purenergy and the University of Regina. The company says it will be ready to deliver very low carbon emission power technology to its customers in both the UK Element Energy study into CCS for gas heavy industry and other global markets, as soon as the mar- www.element-energy.co.uk - developers of capture technologies ket for these products becomes available. Element Energy has completed a study in- - public and private stakeholders con- The new facility makes the Renfrew to the potential for CCS in the gas power sidering the development of regional CO2 site a global centre for carbon capture re- and industrial sectors released. transport networks. search, complementing the OxyCoal Clean The UK Committee on Climate Change To obtain a copy of the report, please Combustion Test Facility, opened by Doosan (CCC) has indicated that in order to be on email [email protected] Babcock in Renfrew, Scotland, in July 2009. course to meet the 2050 target, the UK’s or [email protected] HRH The Princess Royal originally power sector will need to be largely decar- visited the Doosan Babcock site 10 years bonised by 2030. Focus to date has been on Committee advises UK Government to ago, and revisited Renfrew to meet employ- the more carbon intensive coal-fired power consider CCS on gas ees on site and find out more about their ac- stations as options for CCS. As the debate www.theccc.org.uk tivities in carbon capture. develops, however, it is important to under- The Committee on Climate Change stand the opportunity for CCS on natural gas (CCC) has advised UK Secretary of State UK Government seeks industry input fired power generation and industry. for Energy and Climate Change, Chris on CCS demo In June, the CCC published a report led Huhne, to consider extending the CCS www.decc.gov.uk by Element Energy Ltd, working with part- competition to include gas as well as coal The UK Department of Energy and Cli- ners Carbon Counts and Amec, which quan- demonstration projects, and to consider mate Change (DECC) has announced the tifies: extending the proposed Emissions Per- start of a 'market sounding process' for - The technical potential for CCS in in- formance Standard to cover new gas plant the UK’s CCS Demonstration Pro- dustry and the gas power sector. added to the system from 2020. gramme. - Plausible economic potentials (i.e. A letter, from Lord Adair Turner, rec- DECC says it is intended to help the market sizes and breakdown) for CCS in in- ommends a coherent approach to all conven- Department to explore workable options for dustry and the gas power sector under a tional fossil fuel generation (i.e. coal and the CCS demonstration project selection and range of technology readiness, build rate and gas), building on the current – coal focused funding processes, and learn about projects CO2 price scenarios. – approach. being considered by industry. - The impacts on CCGT-CCS econom- Given new evidence on the potential The market sounding period is expect- ics in the context of high renewable penetra- competitiveness of gas CCS with other ed to last approximately 2 months – from 08 tion leading to low load factors for fossil forms of low carbon generation, and the very July to 15 September. plant limited international effort to develop this DECC says it will use the information The report discusses the challenges technology, the Committee suggests that se- gathered during market sounding to inform posed by the need to operate flexibly, for ex- rious consideration should be given to fund- the design of its selection process and proj- ample to manage intermittency caused by ing at least one gas CCS demonstration proj- ect requirements. wind power. The report is useful for: ect as part of the four coal CCS demonstra- It expects to launch the next stage of - energy and carbon market modellers tion projects committed to in the Coalition the demonstration program, funding up to - investors, owners, operators, suppli- Agreement. four projects, by the end of 2010. ers and customers of gas power stations and The Committee’s analysis shows that
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the path to meeting the UK’s 2050 target to plants with CCS to move to a low carbon & Chemicals, Denbury Onshore LLC, the reduce emissions by 80% requires that the economy. The sooner we get on with it, the University of Texas Bureau of Economic power sector is largely decarbonised in the better." Geology, and Valero Energy Corporation. period to 2030 (e.g. average emissions Commenting on the Committee’s rec- (DOE share: $253 million) should be around 100 g/kWh in 2030, com- ommendation to implement an Emissions * Archer Daniels Midland Company pared to around 500 g/kWh today). Performance Standard to mandate CCS on (Decatur, Ill.)—The project will capture and Given the need to decarbonise the pow- gas generation, Dr Chapman suggested: sequester 1 million tons of CO2 per year er sector in the period to 2030, and therefore "An Emissions Performance Standard from an existing ethanol plant in Illinois, the very limited scope for investment in con- could be useful in developing CCS on gas starting in August 2012. The CO2 will be se- ventional gas generation beyond 2020, an and coal generation but it cannot be imple- questered in the Mt. Simon Sandstone, a Emissions Performance Standard that would mented in isolation. We need an appropriate well-characterized saline reservoir located effectively require any new gas plant beyond market structure, which balances fossil fuels about one mile from the plant. 2020 to be fitted with CCS should also seri- with CCS, wind power and nuclear to decar- The project team includes Archer ously be considered, the letter says. bonise the power sector, as promoted by the Daniels Midland, Schlumberger Carbon The Committee acknowledges the need Committee on Climate Change." Services, and the Illinois State Geological for investment in conventional gas fired gen- Survey. (DOE share: $99 million) eration to maintain security of supply over DOE extends funding for three projects * Leucadia Energy, LLC (New York, the next ten years, and propose that the www.fossil.energy.gov N.Y.)—Leucadia and Denbury Onshore LLC Emissions Performance Standard should not Three Recovery Act funded projects in will capture and sequester 4.5 million tons apply to plant added to the system before Texas, Illinois, and Louisiana have been of CO2 per year from a new methanol plant 2020. selected by the U.S. Department of Ener- in Lake Charles, La. The CO2 will be deliv- "In order to meet our climate change gy (DOE) to continue testing large-scale ered via a 12-mile connector pipeline to an targets, we need to invest in low carbon pow- CCS from industrial sources. existing Denbury interstate CO2 pipeline er generation. New conventional gas genera- In 2009, the industrial sector accounted and sequestered via use for enhanced oil re- tion is required to maintain security of sup- for slightly more than one-quarter of total covery in the West Hastings oilfield, starting ply over the next ten years. Beyond that, fur- U.S. CO2 emissions of 5,405 million metric in April 2014. ther investment in conventional gas would tons from energy consumption, according to The project team includes Leucadia En- conflict with required decarbonisation of the data from DOE’s Energy Information Ad- ergy, Denbury, General Electric, Haldor Top- power sector by 2030," explains Chief Ex- ministration. The three projects are expected soe, Black & Veatch, Turner Industries, and ecutive David Kennedy. to capture and store a total of 6.5 million tons The University of Texas Bureau of Econom- "We are recommending that investment of CO2 per year, and increase domestic pro- ic Geology. (DOE share: $260 million) in conventional gas after 2020 should be duction of oil by more than 10 million bar- ruled out, and that this should be replaced rels of oil per year by the end of the demon- CO2Sense Yorkshire launches online with investment in gas CCS and other low stration period in September 2015. CCS network for region carbon technologies. We are making the rec- Following successful completion of www.co2sense.org.uk ommendation now given the need to move their Phase 1 activities, the three projects An online network has been set up to help forward with the second CCS competition will now enter into Phase 2 for design, con- businesses interested in the Yorkshire and and to promote debate around proposed new struction, and operation. The second phase Humber CCS cluster in the UK to find out energy legislation." of these projects includes $612million in Re- what’s new and exchange ideas with other covery Act funding and $368 million in pri- companies. Comments vate sector cost-sharing for a total invest- The Carbon, Capture and Storage "The Committee on Climate Change has hit ment of $980 million. The projects will be (CCS) Supply Chain network has been set the nail firmly on the head: we cannot meet managed by the Office of Fossil Energy’s up for organisations who may be interested our country’s climate change targets unless National Energy Technology Laboratory in supplying products and services to devel- we decarbonise the power sector and we can- (NETL). op this technology within the region. not do this without carbon capture and stor- Potential additional applications for It is one of over 20 public and private age (CCS) on gas as well as coal fired pow- funding of large-scale industrial carbon cap- networks that focus on other areas, such as er plants," said Dr Jeff Chapman, Chief Ex- ture and storage projects are pending further recycling, renewable energy, food and drink, ecutive of the CCSA. clarification and review. plastics and local authority waste manage- "We absolutely support the develop- The selected projects are: ment. ment of CCS for gas generation, but this can- * Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (Al- The interactive forums compliment not be at the expense of decarbonising coal lentown, Pa.)—Air Products will partner CO2Sense’s website by allowing people to generation. The CCSA recommends the with Denbury Onshore LLC to capture and take part in online discussions, and find so- Government commits to support additional sequester 1 million tons of CO2 per year lutions to common industry problems. They projects, outside the current competition, from existing steam-methane reformers in also meet CO2Sense’s objectives of lower- specifically to develop CCS for application Port Arthur, Texas, starting in November ing the region’s carbon footprint, and help- on gas fired power stations." 2012. ing businesses to reduce costs and encour- "The simple facts are these: we need The CO2 will be delivered via a 12- age growth. new power stations in the UK to replace the mile connector pipeline to an existing Den- CO2Sense Yorkshire is a business sup- retiring coal and nuclear fleet, the impor- bury interstate CO2 pipeline and sequestered port and market development programme tance of having coal as well as gas plant to via use for enhanced oil recovery in the West funded by Yorkshire Forward and the Euro- ensure reliable electricity supplies is well Hastings oilfield. pean Regional Development Fund. documented, and we need to equip these new The project team includes Air Products
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Capture and Conversion Calera - using CO2 to make useful materials
Calera captures carbon in a different way from typical gas separation technologies: permanently converting CO2 emissions to CO3 and producing carbon-negative building materials such as cement and concrete. Brent Constantz, CEO, Calera
The heart of the Calera process is the tech- nology associated with carbon capture and conversion to stable solid minerals. We refer to this new process as Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation, or MAPTM for short. In its simplest form MAP involves contact- ing gas from the power plant with water. The water chemistry is controlled such that the carbon dioxide in the power plant gas is ab- sorbed into the water and reacts with the wa- ter hardness to form solid mineral carbon- ates and bicarbonates, which are very simi- lar to finely disseminated 'whitings' seen in tropical oceans at mid-day. These solid mineral carbonates and bi- carbonates now contain carbon dioxide that would have been emitted into the air. After removal from the water and with further pro- cessing, the solids have value in a number of construction applications. The versatility of MAP also allows the generation of soluble Figure 1 Schematic of the MAP (Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation) process and suspended bicarbonates, using half the amount of input materials, but still convert- tion that can be injected underground for low levels prior to capture of carbon diox- ing carbon dioxide into aqueous solution that storage without the possibility of leakage of ide. In contrast, MAP actually removes sul- can be injected underground for incorpora- carbon dioxide. fur dioxide compounds and other air pollu- tion into geologic record without the need Depending on location and product of- tants using the same basic absorption and for a structural trap or the risk of leakage of fering, a Calera proprietary high-efficiency conversion techniques as used for carbon carbon dioxide. electrochemical process called Alkalinity dioxide. Many of the crystallographic forms Based on Low Energy (ABLETM) is em- Calera has conducted multi-pollutant Calera synthesizes are previously unde- ployed to produce NaOH and HCl using on- testing with the process operated on flue gas scribed, or poorly known. These novel 'poly- ly salt and electricity: from a wide variety of coals in the pilot scale morphs' make it possible to produce high re- plant. These studies have shown that MAP active cements, and aggregate precursors, NaCl + H2O -> NaOH + HCl removes most trace metal emissions to non- with bulk chemistries that would usually be detect levels using U.S. EPA reference meth- relatively inert. In locations with water shortage, the ods; captures mercury with high removal ef- Akin to portland cement and aggregate process water streams leaving the dewater- ficiency and incorporates the mercury into which derive from mining operations in ing operations may be desalinated quarries and subsequent processing, the pre- in a reverse or forward osmosis cise stoichiometry of Calera's cements and with reduced cost and energy de- aggregates will vary somewhat by site and mand, owing to the chemical re- will include other trace/minor components. moval of Ca/Mg (precipitated soft- In particular, many trace components will be ening in the MAP process) as well captured from the flue gas such as sulfur ox- as shared pretreatment and dis- ides and mercury and will be incorporated charge operations. The salt-en- into the solid phase as insoluble sulfates and riched RO concentrate can be uti- carbonates. lized in the ABLE process opera- After removal from the water and ap- tions. propriate processing, the solids have value The Calera process has been in a number of construction applications. proven to be robust and is not very The versatility of MAP also allows the gen- sensitive to flue gas carbon diox- eration of bicarbonates, using half the ide composition. Other carbon amount of input materials but still mineral- capture technologies require pre- izing carbon dioxide into an aqueous solu- scrubbing of sulfur dioxide to very
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the carbonate matrix in a nonleachable form, drochloric acid). The caustic and captures high levels of acid gas by ab- is used directly in the MAP sorption. All trace elements assayed in the process as a source of alkalin- supernatant water are below water discharge ity. limits (U.S.: NPDES). Our pollutants are in- If our ABLE process is corporated into the minerals we form and the required to supplement the testing performed demonstrates non-de- natural alkalinity at a host site, tectable levels of these pollutants are avail- aqueous HCl would be co-pro- able, which meets EPA standards using stan- duced. This would be used in dard EPA tests. a number of proprietary Based upon evaluations conducted on processes under development the retrofit of existing coal fired plants, the at Calera with the remainder expected capital cost for installing a tradi- being sold into the merchant tional Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) for market. Current industrial us- sulfur dioxide control is in the range of es for aqueous HCl include us- $450/kW. Since the Calera MAP technolo- es in the food, biofuel and gy captures both sulfur dioxide and carbon pharmaceutical industries, dioxide, the retrofit of a 500 MW coal fired steel pickling, and the produc- Cost comparison of the Calera process facility with MAP would offset approximate- tion of organic chemicals such ly $225 million that would have been neces- as chloromethane. The acid sary to control sulfur dioxide alone. Since can also be used in oil well acidizing or brine The Environmental Impact of Reduced sulfur interferes with the carbon dioxide ab- production with underground injection and Mining sorption reaction for other technologies such incorporation into the geologic record. Over 32 billion tons of aggregate are mined as amine scrubbers, the true cost of installing Fly ash is an extremely valuable re- out of the Earth every year; 2/3rds of it is these systems are much higher in a retrofit source that can be used as a source of alka- limestone used in concrete and asphalt. An- of existing coal plants. linity and cations for the Calera process. It other 4 billion tons of limestone are mined As mentioned earlier one of the revolu- is in keeping with the spirit of Calera to every year to make portland cement. tionary breakthroughs that have been made make use of this material to greatest extent Calera's process has the potential to replace at Calera is the ability to generate sodium possible. Calera can use both the as-pro- between 24 and 36 billion tons of mining hydroxide at lower energy than other com- duced (real time) fly ash and that stored on every year; this is 4 to 6 times the total peting technologies. Calera’s ABLE process site at a power plant. The need to store as amount of coal that is mined every year. uses an electrochemistry process to split salt produced material is eliminated and the dan- Every ton of coal burned produces 2.5 tons to form an alkaline solution and acid at one- ger associated with storing ash on site can of carbon dioxide which makes 5 tons of third to one-fifth of the energy of the current be remediated. Calera SCM or aggregate. state-of-the-art. Anywhere salt and electric- Calera has successfully used fly ash in ity are available we can make alkalinity for our process in the laboratory and at the pilot Avoided Mining the MAP process. plant scale. After passing through the Calera Each ton of coal mined produces approxi- process, the silica from the fly ash remains mately five tons of SCM and aggregate, thus available and can be used in the production reducing mining for cement and aggregates of Calera SCM and aggregates. by more than 80%. Calera has the potential to foster signif- Calera has been awarded funding for icant environmental benefits: Carbon Capture and Sequestration activities When one ton of coal is burned, ap- from both the Department of Energy (DOE) proximately 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are and the California Energy Commission produced. Using the MAP process, Calera (CEC). We are moving forward quickly with makes two tons of product from every ton of significant technological advances at our carbon dioxide captured. That means we Moss Landing Pilot Facility. The design and What is unique about the process is that generate 1 x 2.5 x 2 = 5 tons of product per scale-up for this 10 MWe coal equivalent it builds on advances in chlor-alkali and fuel ton of coal burned. cell design to reduce the energy require- So, for every one ton of ments for the process. We have demonstrat- coal mined, we can avoid min- ed the continuous operation at laboratory ing five tons of limestone and scale and have constructed a 1-ton per day aggregate. If we make supple- pilot scale system at our facility in Moss mental cementitious materials Landing. there is an avoidance of 7.5 We have teamed with the world’s tons of limestone mining that largest supplier of advanced electrochemical would have been required in cell components to accelerate the scale-up of the cement process to produce the technology. Once the pilot scale opti- 5 tons of cement. In this case, mization is complete, the process is readily the Calera process for SCM scalable to full scale through the addition of production reduces mining by more cell stacks. The product of our process over 85%.
is caustic (sodium hydroxide) and acid (hy-
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carbon capture demonstration facility has epidemic of osteoporosis, he capture rates above 85% of carbon dioxide had been interested in co-opt- and 95% of SO2. ing coral growth mechanisms The Moss Landing Facility represents for creating large structures in Calera’s first complete demonstration of the tropical oceans out of ‘moth- formation of metastable calcium and magne- er-of-pearl’ or synthetic lime- sium carbonate and bicarbonate minerals by stone. His vision was that capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas and these mechanisms would be converting the gas to solid minerals that can lifted out of the sea in modules be sold as carbon-negative building materi- and assembled into massive als. Calera will work with Bechtel to design structures in the built environ- and build cement plants, plans to open its ment, like buildings and first commercial plant next year. The com- bridges. pany is in talks with Dynegy and a utility in Constantz started his col- Pennsylvania and has received grants from lege career in 1976 at U.C the Australian government to build a cement Berkeley in architecture, Break even price of building materials as a function of CO2 plant next to a coal plant in the state of Vic- mostly to play on their NCAA price toria. championship water polo While we believe many solutions will team. He transferred to UC Santa Barbara in Khosla saw the value of the idea imme- be needed to address global climate change, 1978 to a double major in Aquatic Biology diately and funded Calera after a couple of Calera does more to reduce carbon dioxide and Geological Science, after seeing scan- meetings, without even a business plan or emissions and is more financially attractive ning electron micrographs of the elaborate slide presentation. Within a few months, than any alternative carbon capture solution. mineralized structures of diatoms (siliceous Constantz had assembled a team that was Most other carbon dioxide capture technolo- marine plants), which he saw as the most making carbonate cements from seawater, gies must overcome high costs and can con- fantastic architecture. hauled over from Santa Cruz to their facility sume above 35% of the host plant’s electric- During the two decades (1987 – 2007) in Los Gatos in a water trailer. In October ity generating capacity1. following his post-doctoral studies at the 2007, while Khosla was visiting the Los Calera is unique among carbon capture USGS and Fulbright at the Weizmann Insti- Gatos laboratory, the team noted that lack of solutions because, in most markets, revenues tute, his primary attention was focused on carbon dioxide in the seawater was limiting from the capture and sequestration of carbon medical applications of biomineralization. the reaction, and there was a need for more dioxide, SOx, Mercury, other heavy metals, Having initially met Vinod Khosla in 1987, carbon dioxide. An experiment was in and fly ash remediation, as well as sales of and having learned of Khosla’s interest in progress, bubbling carbon dioxide through the building materials and water, allow clean technology, Constantz contacted the seawater, and it was noted that the yield Calera to generate a profit with an attractive Khosla in 2007 with his idea about a new increased eight-fold. Constantz turned to return on capital, while increasing the value "green cement" to replace the carbon-inten- Khosla and asked, “Where can we get large of the carbon emitting plant. sive Portland cement, the third largest source quantities of carbon?” Each point emitter site is different. Our of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. evaluation process assesses the optimal con- figuration and go-to-market strategy for each location. This analysis determines the tech- nology applied, the specific configuration, and the best mix of products and services of- fered. The Calera story began in 1984, when Brent Constantz was a graduate student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Constantz had a coveted National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship grant, entitled "The Skeletal Ultrastructure of Scle- ractinian Corals”, allowing him to study coral growth mechanisms in the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific, as well as the deep sea and temperate latitudes. His insights about the physiochemically-dominated skeletogen- tic mechanism of reef coral led to Norian SRS, a market leading biomimetic biomin- eral bone cement used today in most operat- ing rooms that perform orthopedic surgery. Before he became aware of the global
1 The Future of Coal (MIT, 2007) reports that when retrofitting a coal fired power plant, MEA can re- CEO Brent Constantz walking across the upper platform of the electrochemical portion of the duce the output of the host plant by 41% while Oxy- fuel reduces the output by 36%. plant
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Capture and Conversion Converting CO2 streams into chemical streams Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage has broadened the scope of its research, by incorporating the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. The School of Chemistry is working on a range of reactions to put our excess CO2 to good use. Professor Polly L Arnold, Chair of Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
Carbon dioxide is more reactive and chemi- cally useful than it is often given credit for. In fact, it is already used in industrial processes to make urea, salicylic acid, and some polycarbonate plastics. Globally, about 110 megatons are currently consumed in this way each year. In nature, nickel-containing enzymes can convert CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO) and water catalytically in ambient condi- tions. For this to occur, the reaction requires two protons, two electrons and, unfortunate- ly, also a large and complex surrounding pro- tein structure to help control the reaction (which can occur with turnovers of 40,000 reactions per second). The lab chemist's version of 'two pro- tons and two electrons' is either hydrogen, which is an expensive and high-energy com- modity, or water and a lot of electricity. However, given energy and protons, or in- deed other high-energy reagents such as The groups working on catalyst synthesis at the Joseph Black laboratory. Supervisors are Polly Arnold (far left) and Dr Jason Love (far right). epoxides, we can start to design our own cat- alysts to target not just carbon monoxide, but also a range of other chemicals. it will make a small impact, and with poten- PhD studies to investigate the trapping and In the Joseph Black laboratory in the tially high product value, and significant reduction of CO2 by new supramolecular ar- University of Edinburgh, we are working a positive impact on the global carbon bal- chitectures that combine amines and redox range of reactions that would put CO2 to use. ance. active metals. She is supervised by Dr Jason For example, the binding of catalysts to elec- University of Edinburgh Masters and B Love (Chemistry, UoE). trodes to reduce the amount of electrical en- PhD students, and postdoctoral research • Aaron Gamboa is studying the use ergy required to reduce CO2, and to convert scholars are currently working on a range of of asymmetric metal complexes as catalysts, it to other products such as hydrocarbons. CO2-related projects, for example: for the copolymerisation of CO2 with other We are also working on catalysts that can in- • Rakesh Barik is studying the elec- biorenewable monomers, to make highly corporate the CO2 into new types of poly- trochemical conversion of CO2 by different oxygenated plastics such as polycarbonates. mer. In the context of geological storage, the catalysts at an electrode, and the coupling of The resulting biodegradable materials will fundamental chemistry of CO2 binding can this electrochemistry to renewable energy be assessed for their applications to replace be used in the development of leak-sensing sources. He is funded by the Carbon Trust, traditional plastics in food packaging, elec- electrodes, self-healing cements, and alter- and supervised native adsorbent design, to name just a few by Prof Lesley examples. J Yellowlees Some major reasons for producing (Chemistry, chemicals from CO2 are: UoE) and Dr • can replace toxic chemical feed- Dimitri stocks (e.g. phosgene) Mignard • will soon be stored for use in large (Chemical En- feedstock reservoirs gineering, UoE) • could possibly be used to make to- • Aline tally new materials (e.g. new polymers) Devoille is tak- • could provide more efficient and ing a three economical routes to existing chemicals month second- Whatever chemistry we do with CO2, ment from her
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tronic devices, and medical biomaterials. He is funded by Conacyt, Mexico, and super- More information SCCS is unique in its connected strength vised by Prof Polly L Arnold (Chemistry, Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage across the full CCS chain and unique in UoE). (SCCS) is the largest carbon storage its biochar capability. • Research Associate Dr. Andrei grouping in the UK, comprising in excess www.sccs.org.uk Gromov is studying the functionalisation of of 65 researchers, at the University of Ed- nanostructured carbon materials for small- inburgh, Heriot-Watt University and the For further information on the Joseph scale carbon capture from air. He is super- British Geological Survey. Consortium Black Laboratory please visit: vised by Prof Eleanor Campbell (Chemistry, membership includes a wide range of in- www.homepages.ed.ac.uk/parnol UoE) and Prof Stefano Brandani (Chemical dustries and businesses, and helps to d/JoB or contact Ian Sharp: Engineering, UoE). sponsor PhD research and MSc training. [email protected]
Capture news
DOE sponsors research on CO2 Services, Desert Research Institute and mercial scale. conversion Clean Energy Systems. In addition, commer- CO2 Solution in conjunction with its fossil.energy.gov cial partners have signed on to advance work consultant, Procede Group B.V., has con- Research to help find ways of converting on the first round of commercial plants. ducted lab scale testing and process model- into useful products CO2 captured from The project team has received a first ling which it says has demonstrated the po- emissions of power plants and industrial phase of funding from the National Energy tential to reduce the size of CO2 absorber facilities will be conducted by six projects Technology Laboratory (NETL) to demon- columns at coal-fired power plants by more announced by the U.S. Department of En- strate these technologies. than 90% when the enzymatic technology ergy (DOE). The solar reforming technology plat- was used with MDEA, as opposed to pure The projects are located in North Car- form will be colocated next to industrial fa- MDEA. olina, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Is- cilities that have waste CO2 streams such as By employing the enzyme, the rate of land, Georgia, and Quebec, Canada (through coal power plants, natural gas processing fa- CO2 absorption in MDEA was increased collaboration with a company based in Lex- cilities, ethanol plants, cement production fa- more than 10 fold, reducing the height of the ington, Ky.) and have a total value of ap- cilities and other stationary sources of CO2. modelled CO2 absorption column from more proximately $5.9 million over two-to-three than 200 meters to approximately 20 meters. years, with $4.4 million of DOE funding and GoNano Technologies awarded grant Relatively small quantities of the enzyme $1.5 million of non-Federal cost sharing. for CO2 conversion tech catalyst are necessary to achieve the desired The work will be managed by the Office of www.gonano-9.com rate increase. Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technolo- The National Science Foundation has Additionally, by taking advantage of gy Laboratory. awarded a Phase I Small Business Inno- the low-energy properties of MDEA, solvent It is anticipated that large volumes of vative Research (SBIR) grant of $147,095 regeneration and process energy consump- CO2 will be available as fossil fuel–based to GoNano Technologies. tion is predicted to be reduced by approxi- power plants and other CO2-emitting indus- The Moscow, Idaho-based nanotech- mately 30% compared to the current indus- tries are equipped with CO2 emissions con- nology company specialises in the develop- try standard monethanolamine (MEA) trol technologies to comply with regulatory ment of high surface area Nanospring mate- process. requirements. While DOE efforts are under- rials, and will use the grant to continue de- These results point to a significant re- way to demonstrate the permanent storage veloping their Carbon Capture & Recycling duction in capital and operating costs of of captured CO2 through geologic seques- (CCR) technology. commercial scale carbon capture at typical tration, there is also a potential opportunity Using a photocatalyst consisting of sil- coal-fired power plants or other large emit- to use CO2 as an inexpensive raw material ica Nanosprings coated with a combination ters, while using a widely available commer- and convert it to beneficial use. The selected of titanium dioxide and proprietary dopants, cial solvent. The use of the enzyme also projects will develop or improve scalable GoNano Technologies has demonstrated holds a distinct advantage in that its use is processes with the potential to use signifi- conversion of CO2 to useful and commer- energy-neutral to the process, as opposed to cant amounts of CO2, the DOE said. cially valuable feedstock chemicals, includ- chemical CO2 absorption promoters, such as ing methanol, formic acid, and formalde- piperazine or primary amines, which in- CO2 to fuel alliance formed hyde. GoNano Technologies says its CCR crease the energy required for subsequent www.reiinternational.org process is the only photocatalytic carbon re- CO2 stripping. An alliance of industry, academic and cycling system that offers a selectable prod- CO2 Solution is developing this tech- government organizations has been uct output based on input and flow rate. nology in collaboration with Codexis. The formed to commercialize technologies that process is expected to benefit further from will use concentrated solar energy to con- CO2 Solution announces results of low cost carbonic anhydrases developed by vert waste carbon dioxide into diesel fuel. enzyme based capture Codexis which provide for enhanced stabili- The alliance team members include www.co2solution.com ty and catalytic activity in industrial carbon Sandia National Laboratories, Renewable CO2 Solution says it has achieved 'signifi- capture solvents at the elevated temperatures Energy Institute International (REII), Pacific cant technical results' towards validating typical of commercial operations. Renewable Fuels, Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne the impact of its enzymatic process on re- (a United Technologies Division), Quanta ducing the cost of carbon capture at com-
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Capture and Conversion Use of calorimetric techniques for the investigation of CO2 capture and storage
Calorimeters can be used for the investigation of gas-liquid absorption for CO2 capture using frequently used amine solutions and CO2 storage in saline aquifers. By Pierre LE PARLOUËR, Scientific Director, SETARAM Instrumentation, Caluire, France
Capture and storage demonstration projects surrounding heat Ts are multiplying worldwide as industrial com- sink, made of a Sample + container Cs panies are facing the obligation to cut back high thermal their CO2 emissions. conductivity ma- As a consequence, industrial interest is terial. R Thermostatic block generating important technological develop- The heat ments at the process level, but another sig- flux for a given
nificant aspect is the drive to find and under- sample at a tem- Tp stand the chemistries and technologies that perature Ts is will provide the most efficient capture and equivalent to the safest storage in the field. (figure 1): Heating elements Most CCS technologies are based upon Heat sink gas-solid or gas-liquid adsorption or absorp- dqs/dt = - dh/dt + tion systems and during such a process, heat Cs dTs/dt (1) Figure 1: Single cell calorimetric principle is exchanged by the system. By measuring this heat, the corresponding thermal data can where: provide critical information on the amount - dh/dt : heat flux produced by the including the container of adsorbed (absorbed) CO2 at a given tem- transformation of the sample or the reaction - Tr : temperature of the reference perature and gas pressure and also on the ki- - Cs : heat capacity of the sample, in- netics of the reaction. Such a measurement cluding the container If dh/dt corresponds to an absorbed is ideally performed using the calorimetric The heat flux dqs/dt is exchanged with thermal power due to an endothermic trans- technique. the thermostatic block at a temperature Tp formation or reaction, the dh/dt value is pos- This paper explains how such a calori- through a thermal resistance R according to itive. metric technique is used for the investigation the following relation; If dh/dt corresponds to a released ther- of gas-liquid absorption for CO2 capture us- mal power due to an exothermic transforma- ing frequently used amine solutions and for dqs/dt = (Tp – Ts) / R (2) tion or reaction, the dh/dt value is negative. CO2 storage in saline aquifers. If the calorimetric test is run isother- From equation (1), it is seen that the mally, the parameter dTp/dt is null. In the The calorimetric technique thermal contribution due to the heat capacity case of a small perturbation of the tempera- Calorimetry is a common technique used for of the sample and container is significant and ture Tp of the thermostatic block, the corre- the measurement of thermodynamic param- will provide a major disturbance at the intro- sponding thermal effect will be minimized if eters such as enthalpy and heat capacity (1). duction of the container in the calorimeter. the Cs and Cr heat capacities are similar. Though calorimetry is not a new technique, From relation (2), it is also evident that any The last term R Cs d2q/dt2 (called also a lot of developments have been made in the temperature perturbation of the thermostatic thermal lag) that affects the measurement last years to make it simpler and more suited block will affect the calorimetric measure- mostly depends on the thermal resistance or to the requirements of the new research proj- ment. also the time of response of the calorimeter ects. In order to resolve these different prob- on one side, and the heat capacity of the sam- This is typically the case with the grow- lems, a symmetrical calorimeter is preferred. ple and container on the other side. For long ing development of the CCS market and the Two identical calorimetric chambers con- period of time (t>>RCs) it will be negligi- need to better understand more about the taining a container with the sample and an ble. capture and storage processes. identical container with an inert reference A basic calorimeter is designed to material are placed in the thermostatic block The Calvet principle measure any heat change that will occur in a at the same Tp temperature. The difference As seen in the previous paragraph, the use sample undergoing a structural transforma- of heat flux is measured between the two of a symmetrical design was a major im- tion during a process or reaction. chambers. provement for the calorimetric technology It consists of a measurement chamber and was introduced by professors Tian and surrounded by a detector (thermocouples, re- dh/dt = - dq/dt + (Cs – Cr) dTp/dt – Calvet (2). sistance wires, thermistors, thermopiles) to R Cs d2q/dt2 (3) The detection concept is based on a integrate the heat flux exchanged by the three dimensional fluxmeter sensor. The sample contained within a sample vessel. where: fluxmeter element consists in a ring of sev- The measurement chamber is insulated in a - Cr : heat capacity of the reference, eral thermocouples in series (Fig.2). The cor-
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Capture and Conversion
Fig.3: The High Pressure Flow Mixing vessel (cross section and picture)
Fig.2: Schematic of the Calvet type less steel tube in a helicoidal shape mounted sel at a controlled temperature and flowrate calorimeter within a cylindrical container. The length of under a given pressure. This flow defines the the tube in closed thermal contact with the base line for the calorimetric signal as seen cylinder is about 240 cm. The fluids A and on the curve. responding thermopile of high thermal con- B are separately introduced at the upper part In a second step, CO2 (in blue) at a se- ductivity surrounds the experimental space of the vessel in two vertical and concentrical lected flowrate and pressure is added. This within the calorimetric block. The radial tubes. The fluids are preheated at the tem- introduction gives rise to an exothermic de- arrangement of the thermopiles guarantees perature of the calorimetric vessel before en- viation of the calorimetric signal due to the an almost complete integration of the heat. tering the calorimetric zone, in order to avoid reaction. After reaching its equilibrium, the The C80 microcalorimeter (the most thermal perturbation due to the variation of flowrate of CO2 is halted and the calorimet- popular Calvet calorimeter produced by the heat capacity of the fluids. ric signal returns to the initial baseline. SETARAM company) is designed with a Mixing (dissolution, reaction) starts The integration of the calorimetric sig- large experimental volume (15 cm3) that has when the thinner part of the tube is reached nal corresponds to the heat produced by the allowed the design of a large variety of ex- at the bottom of the calorimetric vessel. The reaction between the solution and CO2 at a perimental vessels for mixing and reaction heat that is associated with the reaction is ex- given temperature. investigations (3). changed between the rolled tube and the The use of such a calorimetric vessel is It works according to different calori- calorimetric block through the wall of the illustrated with two applications in the field metric modes: vessel in an isothermal mode. The resulting of CCS: - isothermal calorimetry mixture is extracted from the vessel through - calorimetry for CO2 capture on liq- - scanning calorimetry the oulet tube. uid sorbents - gas adsorption calorimetry The flow mixing vessel operates from - calorimetry for CO2 storage in - liquid absorption calorimetry room temperature to 200°C and for a range saline aquifers - mixing calorimetry of fluid pressure from 0.1 to 20 MPa. The - percolation calorimetry fluid flowrates - reaction calorimetry vary from 50 to - pressure calorimetry 1500 μl/min, 1. Solution 2. CO2 which allows cov-
This article will focus on liquid adsorp- erage of a wide 2.5 tion calorimetry as it is the most suitable range of mixture 2.0 mode for investigations in the CCS field. In compositions. 1.5 such a mode a liquid is mixed with the solu- In the case of 1.0
tion under study to investigate the correspon- introducing CO2 flowHeat (mW) ding dissolution and absorption under nor- in a solution, the 0.5
mal or high pressure at a given temperature experimental dia- 0.0 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 (4). gram is shown in Adsorption time (s) In order to work under pressure, a ded- figure 4. In a first icated high pressure mixing vessel was de- stage, the solution mixing veloped to be used on the Setaram C80 (in red) is only in- calorimeter. troduced in the The mixing vessel is made of a stain- calorimetric ves- Figure 4: The experimental diagram and the resulting calorimetric curve
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Capture and Conversion
Calorimetry for CO2 capture on liquid AMP) system the sorbents enthalpy does not The use of chemical sorbents is one of the vary linearly with most popular absorption technique for the a up to the satura- CO2 capture in post combustion processes. tion point. In an absorption based capture process, CO2 If the fluid reacts with a liquid chemical, while in ad- pressure is in- sorption the CO2 will be attached to the sur- creased (Figure 6), face of a chemical, also called adsorbent, the CO2 solubility which in most cases is a solid material (this is slightly en- process can also be investigated with the hanced. calorimetric technique but is not described in this article). Calorimetry for CO2 is removed by a chemical absorp- CO2 storage in tion process involving the interaction of a saline aquifers flue gas stream with an aqueous amine solu- The emission of tion. CO2 reacts with the amines to form a greenhouse and soluble carbonate salt. This reaction is re- acid gases, result- versible and the CO2 can be released by ing from the com- Figure 5: Post combustion process ((from Bellona CCS website) heating the solution with the carbonate salt bustion of fossil in a separate stripping column (Figure 5) fuels, or present as In such an industrial process, the amine constituents of natural gas, must be reduced. 20MPa (6) solution is introduced at the top of an absorp- One procedure consists in the capture, the The enthalpy of solution of carbon tion tower while the exhausted fume contain- transport and finally the geological storage dioxide in water is exothermic in this tem- ing carbon dioxide is introduced at the bot- (sequestration) of these gases in depleted oil perature and pressure range and decreases in tom. As an intimate contact is reached in the and gas reservoirs, unminable coal beds or absolute value with increasing pressure (Fig- absorption tower, the amine solution chemi- in deep saline aquifers. ure 7). cally absorbs the carbon dioxide from the As the transfer of acid gases in saline At a given pressure, the mixing en- gaseous stream. Such a gas treating process aquifers are performed under high pressure, thalpy reaches a maximum. The correspon- especially requires two types of thermody- data on solubility of weak electrolyte gases ding curve allows the limit of solubility cor- namic parameters: like carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide responding to a given CO2 concentration to - CO2 solubility in the amine solution in geological brines are therefore of direct be determined. This limit of solubility in- - enthalpy of absorption between CO2 interest for processes developed, namely by creases with pressure. and the amine solution. the petroleum industry, for storage of the The calorimetric test can also be used The gas solubility defines the capacity acid gases. Calorimetry is again the ideal ex- to investigate the effect of salt concentration of adsorption of CO2 for a selected amine perimental solution for the investigation of on the enthalpies of solution. solution at given experimental conditions the dissolution of CO2 in water and aqueous It is also adapted for experiments with (temperature, flowrate, pressure). solution of sodium chloride under supercrit- toxic gases (like H2S) at high pressure. The enthalpy of absorption, according ical conditions. The calorimetric information to the amount of absorbed gas and the corre- on the thermodynamic understanding of the Other calorimetric applications for the sponding heat capacities of solutions, define dissolution of CO2 as a function of tempera- CCS research area the temperatures of the fluids when they ex- ture and pressure will be very helpful for the This article has only shown two examples of it the absorption columns. modelling of gas sequestration in deep saline applications of the calorimetric technique in Many investigations are realized on the aquifers. the field of CO2 capture and storage. But capture of carbon dioxide for the reduction The high pressure flow mixing vessel, more applications can be achieved through of the greenhouse effect. Industrial process- previously described, was used to measure this technique, especially when it is com- es are mostly based on the absorption in the enthalpies of mixing of CO2 in water at bined with a gravimetric or a volumetric aqueous solutions of amines. In particular, 323.1 K and different pressures from 2 to technique. Here is a non exhaustive list: the (CO2 + H2O + AMP) system is interest- ing because of the specificity of the alka- nolamine (5). Indeed, the AMP (2-amino-2- methyl-1-propanol) is a hindered primary amine and the carbamate formed with the hydrogen carbonate is unstable. The calorimetric data can serve for an indirect determination of the saturation load- ing point of CO2 corresponding to the limit of solubility of CO2 in the aqueous AMP so- lution. For this purpose the enthalpy –Hs ex- pressed as kJ/mol of AMP is plotted (Figure Figure 6: Enthalpy of solution versus CO2 loading for aqueous solution of AMP 15 wt% at 322.5 K: 6) versus the CO2 loading a. The enthalpy ° enthalpies of solution per mole of gas (-Hs/(kJ/mol of CO2)); of solution -Hs increases up to the saturation ° enthalpies of solution per mole of amine (-Hs/(kJ/mol of AMP)). of the AMP solution. For the (CO2 + H2O + (from reference 5)
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Capture and Conversion
3. P. Le Parlouer, M. Rouyer and F. Pithon, “New experimental vessels for calorimetric 5MPa 323 K investigations of gases and liquids on the SETARAM C 80”, Thermochimica Acta 92, 1985, 375-378 10MPa 4- C. Mathonat, V. Majer, A.E. Mather, J.P. Grolier, “Use of flow calorimetry for deter- mining enthalpies of absorption and the sol- 14MPa ubility of CO2 in aqueous mo- noethanolamine solutions”, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 37, 1998, 4136-4141 5- H. Arcis, L. Rodier, J-Y. Coxam, “En- thalpy of solution of CO2 in aqueous solu- tions of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol”, J. Chem. Thermodynamics 39, 2007, 878-887 Solubility increases with P 6- D. Koschel, L. Rodier, J-Y. Coxam, V. Majer, “Enthalpy and solubility data of CO2 in water and NaCl(aq) at conditions of inter- est for geological sequestration”, Fluid Phase Equilibria 247, 2006, 107-120
Figure 7: ΔHmix (kJ mol−1 salt free solution) at mNaCl = 1, T = 323.1 K, P = 5, 10, 14 and 20 MPa (from reference 6) More information Pierre LE PAR- For capture: The flexibility and the wide experimental LOUËR is the • Characterisation of gas separation possibilities make the calorimetric technique scientific direc- membrane an ideal and powerful tool for the CCS re- tor of Setaram • Evaluation of solid adsorbents search area. Instrumentation (activated carbon, zeolites, MOF’s) specialized in • Gasification of coal References the design and 1. W. Hemmiger and S.M. Sarge, “Defini- production of For storage: tions, Nomenclature, Terms and Litterature” thermal analyz- • Characterisation of CO2 in “Handbook of Thermal Analysis and ers and calorimeters. He is a member of (adsorption/desorption) of coal, Calorimetry” Vol.1 “Principles and Prac- the French “Club CO2”. basalts… tice”, M.E. Brown editor, 1998 Elsevier B.V. www.setaram.com • Investigation under supercritical 2. E. Calvet and H. Prat, “Recent progress in email: [email protected] CO2 Microcalorimetry”, H.A. Skinner editor, • Characterisation of CO2 hydrates 1964, MacMillan, London
Transport and storage news
DOE demonstrates viability of CO2 ing" for a short period of time, and produc- ual in-place oil. Following 2 weeks of "soak- storage with EOR tion (the puff stage). Compared to other huff- ing," the well was placed back into produc- fossil.energy.gov and-puff operations, the PCOR Partnership tion. A field test conducted by a U.S. Depart- test was unique for several reasons: Production more than doubled over the ment of Energy (DOE) team of regional - The depth (approximately 8,050 feet), course of a 3-month period, increasing from partners has demonstrated that simulta- was among the greatest. a baseline rate of 1.5 stock tank barrels (STB) neous CO2 storage combined with en- - Pressure (3,000 pounds per square per day to 3-7 STB per day. The percentage hanced oil recovery (EOR) is viable in car- inch) and temperature (180 degrees Fahren- of oil in the produced fluid, commonly re- bonate reservoirs. heit) were among the highest. ferred to as the "oil cut," also increased, more The Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) - The formation was a carbonate rather than doubling from less than 3 percent to 6 Partnership, one of seven in DOE’s Regional than clastic reservoir. percent. Carbon Sequestration Partnership program, The test was conducted using a produc- The test also determined that two collaborated with Eagle Operating Inc. to ing oil well in the Mission Canyon Forma- Schlumberger technologies, a reservoir satu- complete the test in the Northwest McGregor tion, part of the Madison Group of Mississip- ration tool (RST) and vertical seismic profil- Oil Field in Williams County, N.D. pian-age carbonate rocks in the western Unit- ing (VSP), may be effective tools for detect- The test used the 'huff-and-puff' method ed States. During the test, 440 tons of liquid ing and monitoring small-volume CO2 of enhanced oil recovery which proceeds in CO2 were injected into the well to a depth at plumes in deep carbonate reservoirs to ensure three phases: injection (the huff stage), "soak- which CO2 is miscible and blends with resid- safe and permanent sequestration.
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Transport and Storage
CSIRO partners in China for CO2 storage The target rock in the Moray Firth is project buried more than half a mile below the sea www.csiro.au bed and lies at least 30 miles into the North CSIRO is partnering with China United Sea. It is one of many sandstones filled with Coalbed Methane Corporation Limited salt water that provide more than 95% of po- (CUCBM) on a AUS $10 million CO2 tential CO2 storage capacity in the northern storage with enhanced methane recovery North Sea. joint demonstration project. New geological mapping and modelling The project will focus on advancing en- of the Captain Sandstone will appraise the hanced coal bed methane (ECBM) recovery thickness, extent and fluid flow properties of and providing a pathway to adoption for near the rock. The study will also address the chal- zero emissions technology from coal-fired lenges of CO2 injection and monitoring to power. assess suitability of this and other North Sea ECBM involves the injection of CO2 sandstones. into coal seams to displace methane that can Computer modelling of CO2 injection be used to generate energy, while providing into the rocks will test the storage site and its the additional benefit of reducing greenhouse long-term performance to ensure CO2 re- gas emissions by storing the CO2 under- mains permanently locked in. ground. The research will be completed this year Director of CSIRO’s Advanced Coal and the results will be available to inform the Technology research, Dr John Carras, says implementation of carbon storage in Scotland Preparing a gas sample for carbon isotopic analysis. Isotopic and chemical tracers are the ECBM project will trial new approaches and northern England. used in a comprehensive monitoring and to maximise CO2 injection and methane re- verification program to verify the secure covery. US Geological Survey to reassess containment of injected carbon dioxide. "ECBM wells are typically drilled ver- nation’s CO2 storage potential (Image ©CSIRO) tically to inject CO2 into coal seams but this www.usgs.gov demonstration project will drill horizontally A new methodology to assess the US's po- Agency, and the Bureau of Land Manage- meaning the entry point of the well is more tential to store CO2 is available and the ment. directly embedded in the coal seam, which The U.S. Geological Survey will now begin This assessment methodology for stor- we predict will increase the flow rate of CO2 a national assessment of CO2 storage po- ing carbon dioxide focuses on the “technical- for underground storage," Dr Carras said. tential. ly accessible resource,” which is the geolog- CSIRO’s research is supported by the The new methodology identifies a ic resource that may be available and se- Japan Coal Energy Centre, JCOAL. The proj- means to assess the mass of CO2 that can be questered using present-day geological and ect has received funding from the Chinese retained within the pore space in under- engineering knowledge and technology. No and Australian Governments as part of the ground rocks. The process of injecting liquid economic factors are used in the estimation Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Develop- CO2 into subsurface rocks is known as geo- of the volume of resource. ment and Climate. logic carbon sequestration. The ECBM demonstration project The USGS methodology builds upon its DOE CO2 tracer technology tested in builds upon CSIRO’s existing collaborations draft published in March 2009. The original New Mexico with China, which include supporting the draft report went through extensive external The SEQURE tracer technology devel- launch of a post combustion capture (PCC) peer review, and this revised version incor- oped by the Office of Fossil Energy’s Na- pilot plant in Beijing and the first capture of porates suggestions from the review commit- tional Energy Technology Laboratory CO2 in China using PCC technology. tee and other federal agencies. tracks the movement of CO2 in geological Work has also begun on a second, trans- The processes by which rock forma- reservoirs. portable PCC pilot plant that is designed to tions can trap and seal CO2 were addressed The technology can measure concentra- capture 600 tonnes per annum of CO2. The in this updated methodology. The revised ap- tions as small as parts-per-quadrillion and collection of robust data from this demonstra- proach also estimates the potential storage differentiate injected CO2 from natural CO2. tion will inform the techno-economic assess- capacity for the entire storage formation, It was successfully tested in a San Juan ment of PCC and direct the next steps in which includes both saline formations and Basin coalbed site in New Mexico. SEQURE commercial-scale technology development. petroleum reservoirs. This allows for a more uses perfluorocarbon tracers (PFTs) – non- comprehensive look at the entire storage for- toxic, chemically inert clear colorless liquids CO2 storage in Scotland Moray Firth - mation and accounts for various trapping – to provide a verifiable way to measure CO2 study mechanisms within the formation. movement as well as provide leak detection. www.bgs.ac.uk The methodology was developed in ac- At the San Juan Basin, the SEQURE The Moray Firth region in Scotland is be- cordance with the Energy Independence and tracers detected gas first in the eastern-most ing examined for the storage of CO2 emis- Security Act of 2007, which authorized the of three production wells and then in the sions in a £290k study by a consortium of USGS to develop the methodology and con- southwest production well. Numerical mod- the Scottish Government and industry. duct the national assessment. This research els used for the test site had predicted the CO2 The Captain Sandstone will be evaluat- also benefited from discussions with a vari- movement but indicated that the movement ed for its capacity, technical feasibility and ety of partners and stakeholders, such as the would initially occur at the southwest well. commercial viability as a CO2 store by sci- Department of Energy and the National En- In 2009, the patent-pending SEQURE entists at the Scottish Centre for Carbon Stor- ergy Technology Laboratory, State Geologi- technology earned R&D Magazine’s presti- age (SCCS). cal Surveys, the Environmental Protection gious R&D 100 Award.
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Uf_r gd,,, wms ucpc rfgligle _`msr Just some of our areas of expertise: O Integrated Carbon Management Services O Technical and commercial counsel from source to sink O Guidance in legislative and market developments O Planning and consenting advice O Environmental and monitoring assistance RPS are global specialists in managing major, complex, multi-disciplinary projects. Contact: T: +44 (0) 1491 415 400 Email: [email protected] kil`khni'\hf(^g^k`r CCJ16:Layout 1 20/07/2010 11:56 Page 34 Your solution for secure gas storage In 2009, companies have benefitƚĞĚĨƌŽŵKdžĂŶĚ͛ƐĂďŝůŝƚLJto: ¾ Implement Risk management frameworks ¾ Optimize CO2 ʹ EOR solutions ¾ Perform Well integrity risk assessments (P&RTM) ¾ Share our knowledge through training sessions on demand What about your projects ? Take advantage of our unique experience and know-how. Oxand : Over 50 leading risk management consultants and experts in geology, geophysics, material durability, and long term structural integrity, working from 5 locations worldwide and applying the same rigor as for their nuclear projects. www.oxand.com [email protected]