CCS Redux: “Greatest” Carbon Seize Facility In World Creates 25x Extra CO2 From Use Of Product

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Carbon seize and sequestration in all of its varied ineffective, inefficient and costly kinds is having one other run up the hype cycle. Nothing has actually modified. The issues nonetheless exist. The options are nonetheless higher. The potential to be used continues to be minuscule. And so, the CCS Redux sequence, republishing outdated CCS articles with minor edits.

CleanTechnica has been publishing a sequence of my analyses on carbon seize and sequestration applied sciences over 2018 and 2019, in addition to some further items. Two items on soil carbon capture and carbon farming have made the record, mentioning that these are helpful, however extremely sluggish and so whereas price doing don’t imply we will hold emitting greenhouse gases. I additionally revealed on the size downside of carbon seize, in that to get a ton of CO2 it’s important to filter it out of a Houston Astrodome of air, and the Grand Canyon solely comprises about 1,270 tons of it.

Then there are the 9 articles (to date) on the present darling of the air carbon seize or direct air seize crowd, Carbon Engineering. The primary 5 begin here, the three particularly on air-to-fuel begin here, and the final one on the anticipated use of pumping extra oil and creating extra greenhouse gases is here. That sequence confirmed that there’s no inexperienced in air carbon seize the best way that Carbon Engineering is doing it, however that there are small niches the place a lot wiser options like Global Thermostat’s make sense. That sequence confirmed in gory element that mechanical air carbon seize goes to be a tiny wedge within the battle in opposition to world warming, so small as to be price ignoring, whatever the headlines that the fossil gasoline trade’s PR flaks and the International CCS institute (a subset of the PR flaks) are pumping into media websites. (As a observe, I spent 90 minutes this week speaking carbon seize and Carbon Engineering in particular with a CNBC crew that flew into BC to fulfill the CE staff in Squamish and me in Vancouver. Movie at 11.)

One of many articles regarded on the 50-year historical past of mechanical carbon seize efforts, all totally tied to the fossil gasoline trade, most simply used to pump extra oil out of performed out oil wells as enhanced oil restoration approaches. The evaluation confirmed that nearly no CO2 by world requirements has been captured by CCS and {that a} single 12 months’s output of present wind and photo voltaic farms are avoiding 35 occasions the CO2 that has been ‘captured’ over 50 years of CCS historical past. Principally, all CCS is a rounding error on the precise resolution, simply cease emitting CO2.

However one of many world examples stood out, the Norwegian Equinor (nee Statoil) Sleipner facility within the North Sea.

It’s an incredible outlier in a number of methods. First off, it was put into operation in 1996, making it a lot older than many of the amenities. Second, it wasn’t getting used for enhanced oil restoration, however was really sequestering CO2 so far as will be advised. Third, it has been in continuous operation for now 28 years and sequestering about one million tons of CO2 a 12 months, resulting in it being the largest precise sequestration facility on the planet. (The US Shute Creek facility is simply getting used to pump extra oil, and because of this is at best obtain 20% of its claimed sequestration.) Lastly, it was filth low cost by CCS requirements, with a recorded capital price of lower than $30 million, in comparison with billions on some failed US efforts.

Sadly, issues don’t look as rosy below the covers as they do. This isn’t the magic bullet on methods to efficiently and cheaply sequester CO2 that it seems to be like.

Sleipner’s CO2 doesn’t magically seem earlier than being sequestered. It’s a part of the pure gasoline that they pump out of fields offshore from Norway within the North Sea. The gasoline comprises 9% CO2, greater than is allowed within the pure gasoline distribution community. They will’t promote it as is.

Carbon dioxide is stripped from pure gasoline with amine solvents and is deposited in a saline formation. The carbon dioxide is a waste product of the sphere’s pure gasoline manufacturing. Storing it underground avoids this downside and saves Statoil a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of euros in carbon taxes. Sleipner shops about a million tons of CO2 a 12 months, so has saved about 23 million tons. Given the worth level, that appears near a greenback per ton, which is an astounding determine when Australia’s history is about $4,300 AUD per ton, and the USA’s historical past is worse.

Principally they couldn’t promote the pure gasoline with out eliminating the CO2 they usually needed to do one thing with it. Norway had a carbon tax even in 1996, so it made financial sense for Equinor to sequester it as an alternative of simply venting it to the ambiance. They needed to construct many of the functionality regardless, so I’m fairly certain the represented price is simply the additional price of injection on high of what they needed to do anyway.

However that is the kicker. All of the pure gasoline that they’re transport turns into an entire lot extra CO2. The maths is easy. For each 1000 kg of pure gasoline, they seize 90 kg of CO2 and sequester it. Assuming zero leaks, the 910 kg of pure gasoline is burned by prospects, producing a bit over 2500 kg of CO2. Internet CO2 emissions are roughly 2410 kg for each 1000 kg of pure gasoline they pump out of the bottom.

What does that flip into when it comes to actual tons of CO2 sequestered vs emitted? Effectively, they’re producing 36 million cubic meters of pure gasoline per day. They’ve been producing that day by day since 1996, in order that’s about 300 billion cubic meters of gasoline as of 2019. That turns into about 581 million tons of CO2 emitted by the pure gasoline, in comparison with the 23 million tons of CO2 that’s been sequestered.

That’s over 25 occasions extra CO2 within the ambiance than was sequestered. And Equinor is being paid for the pure gasoline and the sequestered CO2. Good work if you will get it. Not so good for the planet.

Each different carbon seize facility on the planet is dearer, sequesters much less CO2, and has a a lot worse ratio than 25:1 for emitted vs captured. The fossil gasoline trade and customers of fossil fuels are producing vastly extra CO2 emissions than the easiest sequestration case research can handle.