Casie L. Davidson

A CO2-storage supply curve for North America and its implications for the deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage systems

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the results that indicate a large and variably distributed North American storage capacity of at least 3,800 gigatones of carbon dioxide (GtCO2), with deep saline formations accounting for the majority of this capacity. A geospatial and techno-economic database of 2,082 anthropogenic CO2 point sources in North America, each with annual emissions greater than 100,000 tones of CO2, was also refined. By computing a series of pairwise cost-minimizing decisions for these CO2 sources and potential geological-storage reservoirs, a CO2-storage cost curve for North America was calculated that includes the cost of transporting CO2 from the plant gate to a selected storage reservoir, the cost of injecting it into the underground formation, and any offsetting revenue associated with resulting enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, yielding a classic, positively sloping supply curve. Sensitivities examined for this CO2-storage cost curve focus on: high/low oil and gas prices; the maximum allowed distance between source and reservoir; and, for storage in value-added reservoirs, the infrastructure costs associated with CO2-driven hydrocarbon recovery.

Regional Opportunities for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in China: A Comprehensive CO2 Storage Cost Curve and Analysis of the Potential for Large Scale Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in the People’s Republic of China

This study presents data and analysis on the potential for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies to deploy within China, including a survey of the CO2 source fleet and potential geologic storage capacity. The results presented here indicate that there is significant potential for CCS technologies to deploy in China at a level sufficient to deliver deep, sustained and cost-effective emissions reductions for China over the course of this century.

The role of carbon dioxide capture and storage in reducing emissions from cement plants in North America

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates that stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases requires addressing important emission sources. The cement industry faces several challenges in reducing its CO2 emissions such as: its heavy dependence on fossil fuels, especially high-carbon fossil fuels, its dependence on limestone-based clinker, and the age and efficiency of its capital stock. The industry has several options for reducing cement-related CO2 emissions. Conventional CO2 management approaches are available to address technological and product improvements that can reduce emissions per unit of cement produced, and that to some degree are already being deployed within the industry. Advanced CO2 management approaches include technologies and alternative products that are in an early stage of technical development or acceptance, including carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), hybrid cement-energy facilities, and the use of non-cement binders that have lower specific emissions. The present cost curves for the marginal cost of mitigating CO2 emissions through conventional approaches as well as for CCS deployment for the North American cement industry. These cost curves provide insight into the emissions-reduction roles that these different options may fill for the industry over the near and longer terms, based on estimated future demand and possible climate policy emissions reduction targets.

On the Long-Term Average Cost of CO2 Transport and Storage

Paper describes general trends in the cost of CO2 transport and storage (including measurement, monitoring, and verification) and how these can be used to justify a proxy cost to cover a large number of potential CCS commercial deployment scenarios.

A Brief Technical Critique of Ehlig- Economides and Economides 2010: "Sequestering Carbon Dioxide in a Closed Underground Volume"

In their 2010 paper, “Sequestering Carbon Dioxide in a Close Underground Volume,” authors Ehlig-Economides and Economides assert that “underground carbon dioxide sequestration via bulk CO2 injection is not feasible at any cost.” The authors base this conclusion on a number of assumptions that the peer reviewed technical literature and decades of carbon dioxide (CO2) injection experience have proven invalid. In particular, the paper is built upon two flawed premises: first, that effective CO2 storage requires the presence of complete structural closure bounded on all sides by impermeable media, and second, that any other storage system is guaranteed to leak. These two assumptions inform every aspect of the authors’ analyses, and without them, the paper fails to prove its conclusions. The assertion put forward by Ehlig-Economides and Economides that anthropogenic CO2 cannot be stored in deep geologic formations is refuted by even the most cursory examination of the more than 25 years of accumulated commercial carbon dioxide capture and storage experience.

MIDWEST REGIONAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIP (MRCSP) MANAGING CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURING A FUTURE FOR THE MIDWEST'S INDUSTRIAL BASE

This is the third semiannual report for Phase I of the Midwest Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP). The project consists of nine tasks to be conducted over a two-year period that started in October 2003. The makeup of the MRCSP and objectives are described. Progress on each of the active Tasks is also described and where possible, for those Tasks at some point of completion, a summary of results is presented.

Regional differences in carbon dioxide capture and storage markets within the United States

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study on integrated CO 2 capture, transport, and storage cost curves for three distinct regions of the United States: West Texas, the Ohio River Valley, and the Southeastern United States. The study assembled and refined a geospatial and techno-economic database of over 2,000 stationary, anthropogenic North American sources of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) accounting for over 4 gigatonnes of annual CO 2 emissions. These point sources produce CO 2 emissions streams that range from 3 to 99% purity by volume, thus implying that there are numerous possible prices for producing pipeline-quality CO 2 from these point sources. The study also collected available data on candidate geologic reservoirs in the United States and Canada, and developed and employed a methodology for estimating the effective storage capacities of these deep saline formations, enhanced oil recovery plays, gas reservoirs, and coal basins. Results indicate a large and variably distributed North American geologic CO 2 storage capacity of at least 3,800 gigatonnes of CO 2 .