Carbon capture process shows promising results.

Vancouver symposium indicates big opportunity to deal with fossil fuel emissions of CO2

Carbon capture and storage won’t save the world from global warming, but it can play a significant role in curtailing global emissions of carbon dioxide.

At the American Association for the Advancement of Science convention that wrapped up Monday in Vancouver, experts on carbon capture and storage indicated that the technology can work on a global scale to cut CO2 emissions back by 25 per cent over the next century.

Speakers representing carbon capture ( CCS) projects in Germany, Illinois and Western Australia all reported favourable results in projects that pull CO2 out of smokestacks and pump it deep underground for permanent storage.

The point of the technology in all cases is to help head off a scenario where the planet’s climate and weather systems are negatively impacted by a buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuel – oil, coal and natural gas.

Coal accounts for half of annual CO2 emissions globally and it’s the least expensive option for developing nations to extend electricity supply to all citizens as well as support industrial growth.

The International Energy Agency, the watchdog for energy supply security, has identified carbon capture and storage technology as an essential balance for ongoing reliance on fossil fuels – particularly, the rapid expansion of coal- fired generation in countries such as China, India and Russia.

In British Columbia, the provincial government has banned development of coal- fired generation that does not include carbon capture and storage technology. A test project for CO2 from natural gas processing is underway in northeastern British Columbia.

Canada is a pioneer with the technology through the Weyburn carbon storage project that has been underway in Saskatchewan since 2000.

Carlos Saraiva Martins of the European Commission noted that the world’s population is expected to grow from seven billion to nine billion by 2050, and “there are a lot of populations still with no access to energy or electricity. This situation will not continue forever.

“The age of fossil fuel is far from being over.”

Even if the world shifts entirely to green energy sources such as hydro, wind and solar for electricity generation, carbon capture technology will still be needed, according to Michael Kuhn of HemholtzCentre Potsdam, a carbon capture and storage project in Ketzin, Germany,

“We still remain with CO2 from the cement, steel and petrochemical industries. This CO2 we have to deal with as well and we won’t get rid of it when we switch to renewable energies,” Kuhn said.

The Ketzin project, operational since 2008, involves pumping CO2 650 metres underground into a saltwater or saline aquifer locked beneath an impermeable layer of rock.

Saline aquifers, worldwide, are the best medium for injecting gas, he said.

“We are not talking about large [ underground] cavities. CO2 is pumped into porous rocks. They take up the CO2 like a sponge takes up water.

“So far we have injected more than 58,000 tonnes of CO2 and our results show that the injection is safe and reliable.”

Kuhn said that globally there’s a finite supply of underground reservoirs for injecting gas — about a hundred year’s worth of storage.

It’s not cheap — the cost of capture at the Ketzin project is about the same as producing wind or solar heat energy.

Sally Greenberg of the Illinois State Geological Survey said the key to getting the project launched in her state was getting the public engaged — assuaging concerns about CO2 leakage among people living in the vicinity of the storage basin, for example.

“No amount of outreach and education and information can guarantee public acceptance but if you don’t do anything then it is very likely that the public will form their own opinions, which are likely to be negative, based on perceived risk.

“If you ... are transparent about your science and the way that you communicate what you are doing with a new technology such as carbon capture and storage then you have a much more progressive way to move forward with development.”