Co2 Capture Project - An Integrated, Collaborative Technology Development Project for Next Generation Co2 Separation, Capture and Geologic Sequestration

Abstract

The CO 2 Capture Project (CCP) is a joint industry project, funded by eight energy companies (BP, ChevronTexaco, EnCana, Eni, Norsk Hydro, Shell, Statoil, and Suncor) and three government agencies (European Union {DG Res & DG Tren}, Norway {Klimatek} and the U.S.A. {Department of Energy. The project objective is to develop new technologies, which could reduce the cost of CO 2 capture and geologic storage by 50% for retrofit to existing plants and 75% for new-build plants. Technologies are to be developed to "proof of concept" stage by the end of 2003. The project budget is approximately $24 million over 3 years and the work program is divided into eight major activity areas:• Baseline Design and Cost Estimation -defined the uncontrolled emissions from each facility and estimate the cost of abatement in $/tonne CO 2 .• Capture Technology, Post Combustion: technologies, which can remove CO 2 from exhaust gases after combustion.• Capture Technology, Oxyfuel: where oxygen is separated from the air and then burned with hydrocarbons to produce an exhaust with high CO 2 for storage.• Capture Technology, Pre -Combustion: in which, natural gas and petroleum coke are converted to hydrogen and CO 2 in a reformer/gasifier.• Common Economic Model/Technology Screening : analysis and evaluation of each technology applied to the scenarios to provide meaningful and consistent comparison.• New Technology Cost Estimation: on a consistent basis with the baseline above, to demonstrate cost reductions.• Geologic Storage, Monitoring and Verification (SMV): providing assurance that CO 2 can be safely stored in geologic formations over the long term.• Non-Technical: project management, communication of results and a review of current policies and incentives governing CO 2 capture and storage.Technology development work dominated the past six months of the project. Numerous studies are making substantial progress towards their goals. Some technologies are emerging as preferred over others. Pre-combustion Decarbonization (hydrogen fuel) technologies are showing good progress and may be able to meet the CCP's aggressive cost reduction targets for new-build plants. Chemical looping to produce oxygen for oxyfuel combustion shows real promise. As expected, post-combustion technologies are emerging as higher cost options that may have niche roles. Storage, measurement, and verification studies are moving rapidly forward. Hyper-spectral geo-botanical measurements may be an inexpensive and non-intrusive method for long-term monitoring. Modeling studies suggest that primary leakage routes from CO 2 storage sites may be along wellbores in areas disturbed by earlier oil and gas operations. This is good news because old wells are usually mapped and can be repaired during the site preparation process.Many studies are nearing completion or have been completed. Their preliminary results are summarized in the attached report and presented in detail in the attached appendices.4 Technologies are to be developed to "proof of concept" stage by t...