Hydrological limits to carbon capture and storage

Abstract

Post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an important technology to reduce CO2 emissions from the electricity and industrial sectors. Despite the mounting concerns about global water scarcity and its impact on energy production, the potential hydrological consequences of large-scale CCS have not yet been explored. Here we simulate the impacts on water resources that would result from retrofitting global coal-fired power plants (CFPP) with four different CCS technologies. We find that 43% of global CFPP capacity currently experience water scarcity at least one month per year and 32% experience scarcity for five or more months during the year. Addition of CCS does increase water scarcity, and the extent to which it does so depends on the technology. We show that the choice of what CFPP to retrofit and what CCS technologies to deploy will be essential in preventing additional water scarcity. If CCS were to be pursed, facilities not affected by water scarcity should be selected. Globally coal-fired plants account for 38% of electricity generation 1 and 19% (8.9 Gt CO2 y-1) of total CO2 emissions 2. Coal generation is also a primary source of toxic airborne emissions globally 3. Despite the growing reliance on renewable energy and the recent policy efforts aimed at reducing the use of coal 4 , today the global coal dependence for power generation is the same as twenty years ago 1. Since the turn of the 21 st century, population growth, increasing affluence, and industrialization in developing countries have demanded an unprecedented growth in coal Deleted: use a global biophysical monthly hydrological 31 analysis to … 32 Deleted: existing 33 Deleted: By retrofitting global CFPP with CCS, water 34 consumption and withdrawals from CFPP would more 35 than nearly double.

Potential for sustainable irrigation expansion in a 3 °C warmer climate

“…We run WATNEEDS using baseline, 1.5 °C warmer, and 3 °C warmer precipitation and evaporation data while keeping the spatial extent of global croplands fixed to the MIRCA2000 dataset ( 39 )—the most updated dataset containing spatially explicit information of global croplands extent. WATNEEDS has been extensively used to assess CWR and IWR ( 9 , 10 , 14 , 57 , 58 ).…”

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

“…This trade-off requires a thorough evaluation considering local boundary conditions, since water is a local resource and nowadays water scarcity is already widespread and perceived as a socio-economic risk to human activities. 192,193 4.1.3 Multi-functionality. With multi-functionality, we refer to the number of functions the product system provides.…”

“…soil quality change), although they exhibit high energy consumption 178,195 and could result in water issues in water scarce areas. 192 On the contrary, all other CDR technologies can exhibit substantial side effects including (i)LUC, food and water competition, 192,193 biodiversity and albedo change as well as ecosystem disturbances. 49 A full understanding of theseoften depending on regional, local, or even site-specific boundary conditions -is often missing, especially for EW and OF.…”

Amine-based capture of CO2 for utilization and storage

“…Water management is a relatively new topic in this area. A recent study has shown that water use is an important consideration in the implementation of CCS [105]. Lifecycle assessments of CCUS are also an urgent issue that should be studied further [106].…”