Carbon capture and storage, also known as carbon sequestration, requires CO2 be captured from the combustion process of fossil fuels and then pumped underground (for example into depleted oil fields) where it can be securely stored for very long periods.
The current carbon capture and storage technologies are cost prohibitive, nearly doubling the cost of energy produced by coal plants utilizing the technology. The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), states that most modern coal technology currently available for commercialization, which includes pulverized coal combustion, integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC) and natural gas combined cycles (NGCC), has total plant costs that range from $554 per kilowatt for NGCC to $1,841 per kilowatt for IGCC, when not utilizing carbon capture and storage. When utilizing carbon capture and storage, the average total plant costs for NGCC jump to $1,172/kW and $2,496/kW for IGCC.
IGCC is not a new technology, but performance is improving. IGCC have been around for the past two decades without achieving a commercial breakthrough in general power generation while being used in courtiers with high coal reserves and limited access to gas for the use in the chemical industry[1]. With tighter emissions standards and higher gas prices and carbon costs, the economics have improved and this together with technological progress on the combustion are expected.
In addition to the three large-scale demonstration projects, several pilot projects are in operation in six countries (none are in the U.S.). Of these, only one project captures CO2 at a coal-based plant. The other current projects demonstrate carbon storage or reuse at enhanced coal bed methane. Additionally, more than 20 capture and storage projects are proposed in the U.S. and five other countries between now and 2020. Pilot projects as listed at www.nma.org/pdf/fact_sheets/ccs.pdf.
The Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has created a comprehensive report, “Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting of CO2 Stored in Deep Geologic Formations,” that examines existing and emerging techniques to monitor, verify, and account for CO2 stored in geologic formations. Link to the report at http://fossil.energy.gov/news/techlines/2009/09016-DOE_Releases_MVA_Report.html.
Research by Kevine Lidoro
