9.

Problem of Carbon Dioxide: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a natural gas that allows sunlight to reach the Earth but also prevents some of the sun's heat from radiating back into space, which causes the temperature of the planet to slowly rise, a phenomenon called global warming. Scientists estimate that global GHG (green house gases) emissions due to human activities increased 70 percent between 7970 and 20010. Carbon dioxide emissions alone grew 80 percent in the same period [8]. Nearly sixty percent of CO2 is emitted by utility or industrial power systems, which are based on fossil fuel combustion [9]. This has led many researchers to believe that the process of carbon capture and storage can help us to get this number down to a healthy level. It is expected to develop a device that can capture the CO2 emitting from vehicle exhausts and stored, such that it is not exhausted in the atmosphere. Such a technology is already being used in power plants and other factories where fossil fuels are being used and huge amount of gases are being exhausted. To understand how such CO2 capturing is possible here we will try to throw some light on some of the current methods of CO2 capture, storage and transportation currently used in power plants. 9.7 Carbon Capture and Storage There are three main steps to carbon capture and storage (CCS) (i) (ii) (iii) Trapping the CO2 , Separating the CO2 from other gases, Transporting this captured CO2 to a storage location, and storing that CO2 far away from the atmosphere (underground or deep in the ocean).

Let's take a more detailed look at the trapping and separation process: Carbon is taken from a power plant source in three basic ways Post-combustion, Pre-combustion and Oxy-fuel combustion.

A fossil fuel power plant generates power by burning fossil fuel (coal, oil or natural gas), which generates heat that turns into steam this steam then turns a turbine connected to an electricity generator. We call the process that turns the turbine combustion.

With post-combustion carbon capture, the CO2 is grabbed after the fossil fuel is burned. The burning of fossil fuels produces something called flue gases, which include CO2, water vapour, sulphur dioxides and nitrogen oxides. In a post-combustion process, CO2 is separated and captured from the flue gases that result from the combustion of fossil fuel. This process is currently in use to remove CO2 from natural gas. The biggest benefit to using this process is that it allows us to retrofit older power plants, by adding a "filter" that helps trap the CO2 as it travels up a chimney or smokestack. This filter is actually a solvent that absorbs carbon dioxide. The solvent can later be heated, which will release water vapour and leave behind a concentrated stream of CO2. Post-combustion carbon capture can prevent 80 to 90 percent of a power plant's carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere [7]. But the post-combustion process requires a lot of energy to compress the gas enough for transport. With pre-combustion carbon capture, CO2 is trapped before the fossil fuel is burned. That means the CO2 is trapped before it's diluted by other flue gases. Coal, oil or natural gas is heated in pure oxygen, resulting in a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This mix is then treated in a catalytic converter with steam, which then produces more hydrogen, along with carbon dioxide. These gases are fed into the bottom of a flask. The gases in the flask will naturally begin to rise, so a chemical called amine is poured into the top which binds with the CO2, falling to the bottom of the flask. The hydrogen continues rising, up and out of the flask. Next, the amine/ CO2 mixture is heated. The CO2 rises to the top for collection, and the amine drops to the bottom for reuse [11]. The excess hydrogen also can be used for other energy production processes. Precombustion carbon capture is already in use for natural gas, and provides a much higher concentration of CO2 than post-combustion. The pre-combustion process is lower in cost, but it's not a retrofit for older power plant generators. As with post-combustion, pre-combustion carbon capture can prevent 80 to 90 percent of a power plant's emissions from entering the atmosphere [7]. With oxy-fuel combustion carbon capture, the power plant burns fossil fuel in oxygen. This results in a gas mixture comprising mostly steam and CO2. The steam and carbon dioxide are separated by cooling and compressing the gas stream. The oxygen required for this technique increases costs, but researchers are developing new techniques in hopes of bringing this cost down. It is estimated that oxy-fuel combustion can prevent 90 percent of a power plant's emissions from entering the atmosphere [7].

The efficiency with which CO2 generated is compressed for different fossil fuels is depicted by the Figure7 below based on these statistics one can predict the efficiency of the method that is being used to capture CO2.

9.2 Transporting Carbon Dioxide After carbon dioxide (CO2) is captured, the next step is transporting it to a storage site. The current method of transporting CO2 is through a pipeline. Pipelines have been in use for decades, and large volumes of gases, oil and water flow through pipelines every day. A CO2 pipeline usually begins at the source of capture and travels directly to the storage site -- although, in some cases, it might travel as far as it can in the pipe, then transition to a tanker or ship for further disposal. It all depends on where the source, pipeline and storage site are located. These pipelines can be used to transport CO2 in any of the three states: solid, gaseous or liquid. Transporting Solid CO2 (commonly known as dry ice) is not cost-effective. Thus, pipelines commonly transport carbon dioxide in its gaseous state with the help of a compressor that "pushes" the gas through the pipeline. A pipeline may have intermittent compressors to keep the gas moving. The CO2 must be clean (free of hydrogen sulphide) and dry to prevent the corrosion off the pipeline, which is commonly made of carbon manganese steel. As of yet, there are no standards in place for "pipeline quality" carbon dioxide,

but experts say that pipelines built from stainless steel would have a lowered risk of corrosion. This, however, may not be economical, as we would have to build brand new pipelines just for CO2. It's also possible to transport carbon dioxide as a liquid, using ships or tanker trucks. Liquid CO2 requires low pressure and a constant low temperature, so cargo tanks need to be both pressurized and refrigerated. 9.9 Carbon Storage After we collect and transport all that carbon dioxide (CO2), the next concern is storage. There are two places that are feasible to store CO2 Underground and Underwater. In fact, estimates project that the planet can store up to 70 trillion tons of carbon dioxide. This would allow 700 years of storage of all human-created emissions [12]. Underground storage is a feasible solution as the pressure found deep underground causes CO2 to behave more like a liquid than a gas thus, it can seep into the spaces in porous rocks and great amount of CO2 can be easily stored in a relatively small area. Underground storage, also called geological sequestration, is already in use by the oil and gas industries to squeeze out extra oil or gas from depleted reservoirs. The non-leakage of is naturally assured as oil and gas reservoirs consist of layers of porous rock formations that have trapped oil and gas for years. Geological sequestration involves injecting CO2 into underground rock formations below the earths surface. These natural reservoirs have overlying rocks that form a seal, keeping the gas contained. Basalt formations (volcanic rock) also appear to be suitable for storing CO2. In fact, basalt is one of the most common types of rock in the Earth's crust -- even the ocean floor is made of basalt [13]. For underwater storage the ocean are considered for permanent CO2 storage. Some experts claim that we can safely dump CO2 directly into the ocean -provided we release it at depths greater than 77,1082 feet (91100 meters) [13]. At these depths, the CO2 will compress to a slushy material that will fall to the ocean's floor. However oceans carbon storage is largely untested, and there are many concerns about the safety of marine life and the possibility that the carbon dioxide would eventually make its way back into the environment.

Conclusion: Scientists are working on various other methods that are safe and cheap to restrict CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. With such amount of progress going on in CO2 capturing we can surely think of a future where all vehicles, plants and other CO2 emitting bodies will be capable to capture the CO2 formed and dispose it off to clean our atmosphere clean.

REFERENCES [7] http://www.greenfacts.org/en/co2-capture-storage/l-2/9-capture-co2.htm [8] www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assesment-report/ar10/syr/ar10_syr_spm.pdf [9] U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Carbon Sequestration: State of the Science. A working paper on carbon sequestration science and technology. Office of Science, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC, 7999. [10] www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/srccs/srccs_chapter10.pdf [11] http://www.guardian.co.uk/en/environment/interactive/2008/june/72/carbon.capture [12] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/012/070127771199117.htm [13] http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/basalt.html