Carbon dioxide capture and disposal

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Disposal Carbon Sequestration... 

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) Capture and disposal of co2 This technology has a large disposal potential, but sites are not available in all counties. It is energy-intensive and will expand the use of fossil-C well beyond the current limits... 

The capture of CO2 from point sources (industry and power plants) or from the atmosphere has attracted much attention. Captured CO2 can either be disposed in natural sites (capture of CO2 and storage, CCS) or used in technological applications (Table 39.1, right side) or in chemical processes (Table 39.1 left side) (carbon dioxide capture and utilization, CCU), or else used in enhanced (industrial conditions) biological fixation (microalgae). Actually, the conversion of COj into other chemicals (170 Mt/year) is the major application of CO2, much larger than CCS (only a few megatons in four experimental fields). 

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is today at the centre of attention of the scientific and technological world because of its potential role in climate change, which is supposed to be, directly or indirectly, caused by the growing level of CO2 in the atmosphere. Policy-makers work out solutions ranging over a large number of options, including carbon capture and disposal or sequestration (CCS) or carbon capture and utilization (CCU). 

Technology and Cost Options for Capture and Disposal of Carbon Dioxide from Gas Turbines ... 

Carbon dioxide neutral production and utilization of methanol as an automotive fuel for the transport sector integrated with production of electric power and district heat could be achieved with biomass combined with natural gas or coal as a raw material. An amoimt of CO2 corresponding to the carbon in the fossil fuel then has to be captured and disposed into, e.g., an aquifer. Examples of a few such options... 

Herzog, H. et al., A Research Needs Assessment for Capture Utilization, and Disposal of Carbon Dioxide from Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plan, DOE/ER-30194, U.S. DOE, Washington, 1993. 

While, in the short term, the costs of CO2 capture and transport are likely to dominate the cost of carbon sequestration, in the end, the cost of disposal will become more important. There are two major reasons. First, as technologies improve and power plants are designed around the concept of carbon capture, the incremental cost of capturing carbon dioxide will become smaller. Indeed, in some of the zero-emission designs, the capture processes separate CO2 while capturing other pollutants, and thus the net costs of carbon capture may be close to zero. 

The following question then arises would it be sensible and acceptable to dispose of captured carbon dioxide in the oceans Such action would merely be accelerating a natural process and may not therefore fall under the international convention on the dumping of industrial wastes at sea. This is a matter for marine biologists, lawyers and politicians to debate. In terms of the technology, there are two broad approaches that might be adopted ... 

Department of Energy A Research Needs Assessment for the Capture, Utilization and Disposal of Carbon Dioxide From Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants, DOE/ER-30194, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1993, p. 61. 

The PHB as a biodegradable thermoplastic has captured the attention for more than 30 years, due to their similar properties to various thermoplastics and elastomers, which have been used in consumer products, and completely degraded to water and carbon dioxide upon disposal under various enviromnents (Choi and Lee, 1999). However, the inefficient and expensive production and recovery methods, lack of detailed knowledge about the cultural conditions regulating PHB production, need of gene transfer from efficient PHB producer to easily cultivable organisms have hampered... 

Examples of total costs for capture, transport, and disposal of carbon dioxide... 

TABLE C-4 Summary of Estimated Costs for the Capture, Transport, and Disposal of Carbon Dioxide... 

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