In Search of a Carbon Cure

We saw in an earlier article that Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is a well-known technology which has been around for years. It was first used by oil companies in the 1950s to increase the productivity of the oilfields, but was repurposed towards the end of the 20th century to lock away carbon dioxide. The technology itself is rather simple and involves the separation of CO2 from the flue gas produced by power plants and other large industries such as cement plants, steel plants and fertiliser units. This flue gas is then cooled in a Cooling Tower, after which it is passed through an absorber, which is a solution containing chemicals called amines. The CO2 binds itself to the amines and stays in the ‘absorber’, and the clean exhaust is released into the air. The ‘absorber’ is further heated, and the CO2 is separated from the amines, making it purer. This purified CO2 is then transported mainly by pipelines (in a liquefied form) and injected into abandoned oil and gas fields or underground saline aquifers. In this article, we will look at some champion CCS projects such as the Albert Trunk Line in Canada, the Petra Nova and the Northern Lights project in Norway. It may be noted that projects such as Petrobras Santos Basin pre-salt oilfield in Brazil and ExxonMobil Chute Creek gas processing plant in the US are larger in terms of the carbon dioxide handled, but these are operated by Oil and Gas companies where the primary aim is to use the carbon dioxide to inject it into oilfields for enhanced oil recovery. The other project’s primary aim is to lock away carbon dioxide underground (though the secondary aim in Petra Nova was also enhanced oil recovery).

The CCS Projects Alberta Trunk Line, Canada

This is the largest CCS project in the world and consists of a 240 km pipeline that captures carbon dioxide from industrial emitters such as the North West Redwater Partnership Sturgeon Refinery and Nutrien’s Redwater Fertiliser Facility and transports it to be stored or used further in oilfields. The Alberta project has the capacity to capture 14.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The project cost was Canadian $1.2 billion and was commissioned in 2020.

The Petra Nova CCS Project in Houston, Texas

The Petra Nova coal power plants began operations in 1977, and the attempts to control carbon dioxide emissions began only in 2017. At the time, NRG, a US energy company, was operating the power plant as well as the CCS project, in partnership with the Japanese company JX Nippon. In 2022, JX Nippon took full control of the company. The technology used to capture carbon dioxide is the usual one: separate carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases from the power plant, compress it into a liquid and transport it by pipelines to either store it underground or use it in a nearby oil field. The carbon dioxide capture was done by the technology of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. In fact, when oil prices fell during COVID in 2019-20, the CCS plant also shut down and was revived only after JX Nippon took over.

The Longship CCS Project, Norway

The Longship project in Norway is an ambitious project, designed to capture 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2025. The Longship project is an ambitious project, with carbon dioxide being captured from a cement plant in Brevik and transported 400 km away to a terminal in Oygarden near Bergen, off the Norwegian coast in the North Sea. The handling and storage of carbon dioxide is to be done by Northern Lights, a joint venture of Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies. From Bergen, a 100 km pipeline will transport the carbon dioxide and store it 2,600 meters below the seabed in the North Sea. The capacity in Phase I is 1.5 million tonnes and will go up to 5 million tonnes by 2028.

Conclusion

While CCS is an important technology, it is expensive and is still driven by the oil and gas companies. However, as countries are battling the adverse effects of climate change, projects such as Longship are now being undertaken for locking away carbon dioxide. As the challenges become more acute, it is expected that more and more countries will use CCS to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from thermal power plants and industrial emissions.