What is carbon capture and storage (CCS)?

CCS involves capturing carbon

dioxide (CO2) from large
emission sources and then
transporting and storing or
burying it in a suitable deep
geological formation.
CCS can also mean the removal CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO 2) from
power stations then transporting and storing it in a

or scrubbing of CO2from the deep geological formation.

open atmosphere followed by

storage in a deep geological
formation.
Why CCS?
Globally, emissions of CO2from fossil-fuel use in the
year 2000 totalled about 23.5 Gt with 60% attributed to
large (>0.1 Mt CO2yr -1) stationary emission sources
such as power stations, cement production and
refineries.
Various ways to try to reduce overall CO2emissions are
now being investigated but the main way to reduce
CO2emissions from these large sources is called carbon
capture and storage.
CCS applied to a modern conventional electricity power
plant could reduce CO2emissions to the atmosphere by
CO2 CAPTURE
CO2can be captured from large point sources, such as
large fossil fuel or biomass electricity power plants,
industries with major CO2emissions, natural gas
processing, synthetic fuel plants and fossil fuel-based
hydrogen production plants.
Where fossil fuels are burnt for electricity, there are
three techniques to remove or scrub' CO2:
post-combustion
pre-combustion
oxyfuel combustion.
CO2 TRANSPORT
After capture CO2must be
transported to suitable storage
sites. Pumping carbon dioxide
though pipelines is the cheapest
form of transport.
Ships and road tankers can also be
used to transport CO2for small
scale applications.
How can CO2be stored?

CO2can be stored in three main ways:

in deep geological formations
in deep ocean water ocean storage
in the form of mineral carbonates mineral storage
Deep ocean storage will increase ocean acidification, a
problem that also stems from the excess of carbon
dioxide already in the atmosphere and oceans.
Geological formations are currently considered the most
promising sequestration sites.
CO storage(Deep geological
2

formations):
Storage in deep geological
formations is also known as geo-
sequestration.
In this technique carbon dioxide is
converted into a high pressure
liquid-like form known as
supercritical CO2.
This supercritical CO2is injected
directly into sedimentary rocks. The
rocks may be in old oil fields, gas
CO2 storage(Deep geological
formations cont):
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR):
CO2 is injected from one side and
oil is recoverd from another side.

Unminable coal:
Unminable coal seams (or coal that is too deep or difficult to mine) can be
used to store CO2because it is adsorbed in the coal if the coal is permeable
enough to allow CO2to penetrate.
In the process of absorption the coal releases previously absorbed methane,
and the methane can be recovered.
CO storage(Mineral storage):
2

In mineral storage, captured CO2is reacted with

naturally occurring magnesium- (Mg) and calcium- (Ca)
containing minerals.
Such magnesium and calcium minerals are very
abundant and are very stable.
However, these carbonation reactions are very slow
under normal temperatures and pressures and to speed
it up would need energy.
CCS using mineral storage will need 60180 per cent
more energy than a power plant without CCS.