Review article
CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES
Veronika Haramija
; KONČAR - Institut za elektrotehniku d.d., Fallerovo šetalište 22, 10000 Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Increased use of fossil fuels and industrial production during the last century resulted in an increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere and caused the greenhouse effect and global warming. Long-term solutions for reducing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere are: increased use of the alternative energy sources regarding electricity production, increase of energy production and conversion efficiency, the use of alternative fuels in power plants, increase of efficiency of devices and other means to reduce energy requirements as well as the use of waste CO2 for energy recovery, as raw material or reagent. Since the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is alarmingly high, apart from various measures to reduce CO2 emissions, measures for its removal from the atmosphere are necessary as well. The common name for all procedures related to the separation of CO2 from flue gas, transportation and permanent deep underground storage is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). There are three main components of CCS processes: capture, transport and storage (disposal). These include separation of CO2 from other flue gases, and the transportation to the place suitable for storage, which may be remote from the CO2 source. All three procedures are present in industrial practice, although usually not for CCS purpose. Potential disposal methods include injection into underground geological formations, injection into the depths of the ocean or storage via bonding in inorganic carbonates. Until 2005 there were three commercial projects related to CO2 capture and geological disposal, and each process extract and store 1-2 Mt CO2 per year. It should be noted that CCS has not yet been applied to large power plants (i.e. 500 MW) powered by fossil fuels. Given that nearly 80% of world energy consumption is related to fossil fuels, it is clear why there is a great interest in the CSS systems and their potential to reduce CO2 emissions in the next 100 years, either as a measure of emissions reduction or removal from the atmosphere. All models indicate that application of CCS systems in the industry will be difficult as long as there is no explicit policy that systematically limits the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The upcoming legislation regulates that each new power plant should be designed so that the technology for capturing and storing CO2 can be implemented. This paper gives an overview of CCS processes in the commercial application, processes in an advanced stage of research or pilot plant stage, and the processes at the stage of laboratory or theoretical research.
Keywords
CO2; capture; storage; technologies
Hrčak ID:
96033
URI
Publication date:
5.1.2013.
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