Your chance to question some of the leading researchers working on this important part of low-carbon energy technologies
While fossil fuels are inevitably sety to continue to play an important role in energy production in the next few decades, many in the industry believe that this can only happen if their carbon content is prevented from reaching the atmosphere where it could contribute to climae change. Capturing carbon from fuels, before or after they have been burned; converting it into a transportable form, and storing it in geological formations have all been demonstrated, but as yet nobody has tied all the processes together and shown they can work at the scale of a power station.
We have lined up some of the leading developers of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to answer Engineer readers’ questions on this developing field. Whether you want to know about the industrial processes involved, the safety aspects, or how it affects the financial performance of energy production, our expers from Shell and Imperial College London’s Energy Futures Lab will be able to enlighten you.
Please send us your questions, using the comment box below, by 5pm on Monday 22nd December. We will publish the answers in our next issue and online.
What’s the parasitic load associated with the absorption, stripping, compression and transport of the recovered CO2 to storage and where will the additional power generation capacity come from?
What is the main driver of private funding into CCS – concern for climate change, or EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery)? If there was no gathering pressure under unfccc (especially Paris 2015) to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions from all sources, would the petro- and coal based industries be putting any money into environmentally motivated CCS? Honest answqer please!
From what I understand, CCS won’t really be viable until there is a competitive price for carbon. What indications are you receiving from various governments that this situation will improve for you? Thanks.
This carbon storage sounds a lot like nuclear waste storage? Once carbon is stored in geological formations, will it leak out and if so, how long does stored carbon take to become harmless to the environment?
Here in Canada, I don’t get much information on this subject so I apologize for my primitive question!
The main reasons for CCS are (I guess):
Reduce global warming
Maintain Status Quo in the composition Earth Atmosphere
My Engineering Training taught me that each solution towards a problem causes more problems which are not anticipated before.
Are we aware of such problems?
The Carbons that we intend to capture are in the form of Carbon Dioxide (mostly, I guess). Will the CCS might cause imbalance in composition of Atmosphere (reduction of some and Increase of some)?
Thanks
Mohsin
What is the monetary cost of CCS per Mwh of electricity generated from Coal, oil and Gas? (That’s 3 questions).
What is the monetary cost of CCS per tonne of CO2?
Consider the Allam cycle where the CO2 comes off process pipeline ready without all the extra sorption-desorption gear. I think the same could be done with coal, but all the ash producing content would have to be gone. I have no idea how to do that. Coal gasification is the only way?
What are the methods used to separate the CO2 from nitrogen and unused oxygen?
I assume you could use absorbants, or you can pressurise and cool the exhaust until the CO2 becomes a liquid.
This means the CO2 is already under the pressure required for disposal, but the energy used to compress the nitrogen needs to be recovered – perhaps by improving the carnot efficiency of the generator.
CCS is an expensive solution in search of a problem.
The world has not warmed significantly for the last 18 years even though carbon dioxide levels have continued to rise steadily. This proves that man-made carbon dioxide does not cause dangerous global warming.
The only substantial affect that carbon dioxide is on the environment is to promote plant growth without the need for additional water. This is brought trillions of dollars of benefits to agriculture all around the world and has helped reduce desertification and starvation.
To label such an environmentally beneficial gas as a “pollutant” is idiotic beyond belief.