A report found that many carbon capture projects either underperformed or failed.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Cheryl Tan
PUBLISHED
SEP 5, 2022,
SINGAPORE - A new study calls into question the ability of carbon capture projects to cut global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and puts forth recommendations for upcoming projects if no alternative solutions to emission reduction can be found.
The report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis released last Thursday found that many carbon capture projects either underperformed or failed, and questioned whether the world could rely on such technology to meet its target of net-zero emissions.
The problem is that much of the CO2 captured is being used to extract more oil from oil fields, which contributes to more CO2 emissions, said the study.
It also found that CO2 that has been captured and stored may leak into the atmosphere. This means such storage facilities would require monitoring for centuries to ensure that trapped CO2 does not return to the atmosphere, said the study's author, Mr Bruce Robertson.
Hence, the report called on developers to take responsibility for the leakage of CO2 from their projects, and stressed that CO2 captured should not be used in oil extraction.
Carbon capture projects must also not be used by governments as a climate solution to justify the use of any type of fossil fuel, said the report.
Carbon capture and storage technology entails the capturing of CO2 and storing it underground. This prevents CO2 from accumulating in the atmosphere, where it traps heat and causes global warming.
The International Energy Agency said that annual carbon capture capacity needs to increase to 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2030 to meet the global target of net-zero emissions by 2050. This would help avert the catastrophic impact of climate change on countries and economies.
However, the new report said carbon capture projects in the natural gas, industrial and power sectors were not effective in meeting the goal.
The study looked at 13 flagship carbon capture and storage projects in these sectors, which accounted for around 55 per cent of the total current operational capacity worldwide.
Mr Robertson, an energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said that seven of the 13 projects underperformed, two failed, and one was mothballed.
"Carbon capture and storage technology has been going for 50 years and many projects have failed and continued to fail, with only a handful working," he added.
The reasons for underperformance are diverse, ranging from economic to engineering problems, said Mr Robertson.
Cheryl Tan
PUBLISHED
SEP 5, 2022,
SINGAPORE - A new study calls into question the ability of carbon capture projects to cut global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and puts forth recommendations for upcoming projects if no alternative solutions to emission reduction can be found.
The report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis released last Thursday found that many carbon capture projects either underperformed or failed, and questioned whether the world could rely on such technology to meet its target of net-zero emissions.
The problem is that much of the CO2 captured is being used to extract more oil from oil fields, which contributes to more CO2 emissions, said the study.
It also found that CO2 that has been captured and stored may leak into the atmosphere. This means such storage facilities would require monitoring for centuries to ensure that trapped CO2 does not return to the atmosphere, said the study's author, Mr Bruce Robertson.
Hence, the report called on developers to take responsibility for the leakage of CO2 from their projects, and stressed that CO2 captured should not be used in oil extraction.
Carbon capture projects must also not be used by governments as a climate solution to justify the use of any type of fossil fuel, said the report.
Carbon capture and storage technology entails the capturing of CO2 and storing it underground. This prevents CO2 from accumulating in the atmosphere, where it traps heat and causes global warming.
The International Energy Agency said that annual carbon capture capacity needs to increase to 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2030 to meet the global target of net-zero emissions by 2050. This would help avert the catastrophic impact of climate change on countries and economies.
However, the new report said carbon capture projects in the natural gas, industrial and power sectors were not effective in meeting the goal.
The study looked at 13 flagship carbon capture and storage projects in these sectors, which accounted for around 55 per cent of the total current operational capacity worldwide.
Mr Robertson, an energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said that seven of the 13 projects underperformed, two failed, and one was mothballed.
"Carbon capture and storage technology has been going for 50 years and many projects have failed and continued to fail, with only a handful working," he added.
The reasons for underperformance are diverse, ranging from economic to engineering problems, said Mr Robertson.
Oil industry gears up to tap US climate bill for carbon capture projects
For example, the ExxonMobil Shute Creek carbon capture plant in the United States - the world's biggest and longest-running carbon capture project - failed to reach its carbon capture capacity after operating for 35 years.
Only half the targeted CO2 was captured, while the remaining was released back into the atmosphere.
The facility commenced operations before climate change was a widespread public concern. Its principal purpose was to sell captured CO2 for oil recovery, where CO2 is pumped into dwindling oil fields to extract more oil.
Some three-quarters of the CO2 captured annually by multibillion-dollar facilities globally - around 28 million tonnes out of 39 million tonnes - is reinjected into oil fields to push more oil out of the ground, Mr Robertson noted.
Asked if the newer carbon capture projects would likely be plagued by the same issues faced by the older ones, he said that the technology has not fundamentally changed and success rates continue to be mixed.
He cited the Gorgon carbon capture project in Australia as an example.
The problem is that much of the CO2 captured is being injected into oil fields to push more oil out of the ground.
Owned by Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil, he noted that some of the best carbon capture and storage engineers in the world had worked on the project, and yet they could not get the facility to function properly.
Finding suitable CO2 storage sites and preventing CO2 from leaking back into the atmosphere are major challenges, the study said.
Mr Robertson gave the example of the In Salah carbon capture project in Algeria, which was suspended in 2011 after seven years of operations as there were concerns about the trapped CO2 escaping.
"Many international bodies and national governments are relying on carbon capture in the fossil fuel sector to get to net zero, and it simply won't work.
"Overall results show that these projects continue to overstate and underperform," said Mr Robertson.
Storegga is the lead developer of Britain's Acorn programme, which has a portfolio of projects including the capture and storage of CO2 in depleted oil and gas fields under the Central North Sea.
Its spokesman said that the CO2 stored some 2km below the seabed is not used for other commercial purposes.
"Enhanced oil recovery using CO2 is not a climate protection methodology," he said, adding that the Acorn CO2 storage licence precludes the use of CO2 for extracting oil.
Most major carbon capture and storage projects haven't met targets
By Adam Vaughan
New Scientist
The Gorgon gas project in South Australia CHEVRON
The Gorgon gas project in South Australia CHEVRON
© Provided by New Scientist
Several of the world’s biggest projects capturing and storing carbon dioxide are significantly underperforming, according to an analysis showing some are capturing only half as much CO2 as promised.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen as a vital tool for tackling climate change by authorities such as the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The technology stands to receive generous support in the US government’s new climate bill, and other countries are incentivising take-up, including Norway and the UK.
Could a trillion dollars solve the world's problems? Rowan Hooper at New Scientist Live this October
A report published today analysed the performance of 13 flagship existing CCS schemes worldwide, which together represent 55 per cent of captured CO2, using figures published by the companies.
Most have captured much less CO2 than expected, the report found. Across its lifetime, the report says ExxonMobil’s LaBarge facility at Shute Creek in Wyoming has underperformed by around 36 per cent in terms of capacity. The world’s only large power station with CCS, Boundary Dam in Saskatchewan, Canada, has captured about 50 per cent less than planned, according to the report, and the capacity of Chevron’s Gorgon gas scheme in Western Australia has been about 50 per cent lower than planned in its first five years.
Two projects included in the report failed, including the Kemper coal CCS project in Mississippi, which was long delayed and construction was eventually abandoned in 2017.
Several of the world’s biggest projects capturing and storing carbon dioxide are significantly underperforming, according to an analysis showing some are capturing only half as much CO2 as promised.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen as a vital tool for tackling climate change by authorities such as the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The technology stands to receive generous support in the US government’s new climate bill, and other countries are incentivising take-up, including Norway and the UK.
Could a trillion dollars solve the world's problems? Rowan Hooper at New Scientist Live this October
A report published today analysed the performance of 13 flagship existing CCS schemes worldwide, which together represent 55 per cent of captured CO2, using figures published by the companies.
Most have captured much less CO2 than expected, the report found. Across its lifetime, the report says ExxonMobil’s LaBarge facility at Shute Creek in Wyoming has underperformed by around 36 per cent in terms of capacity. The world’s only large power station with CCS, Boundary Dam in Saskatchewan, Canada, has captured about 50 per cent less than planned, according to the report, and the capacity of Chevron’s Gorgon gas scheme in Western Australia has been about 50 per cent lower than planned in its first five years.
Two projects included in the report failed, including the Kemper coal CCS project in Mississippi, which was long delayed and construction was eventually abandoned in 2017.
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“Is CCS a solution to our climate woes? I would say no. More often than not, it doesn't actually work to its design capacity,” says Bruce Robertson at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), an Australian think tank, who is the author of the report.
The technology dates back to the 1970s, and in many cases is used to extract more oil from reservoirs rather than for curbing climate change by capturing CO2 for the long term. “They [the industry] say it’s an emerging sector. In actual fact it has been has been in operation for most of our lifetimes,” says Robertson. The underperformance of schemes isn't for want of financial or engineering resource, he adds. The Gorgon project alone cost AU$3.1 billion.
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On a more positive note, the report finds the Sleipner and Snøhvit CCS projects in Norway have been a success, which it says is largely due to the country’s unique business and regulatory environment. Robertson says he concedes there may be a future role for CCS in heavy industries where emissions are hard to prevent, such as cement making.
Stuart Haszeldine at the University of Edinburgh in the UK says the IEEFA report is thorough, but that it is “too simple” to claim that CCS doesn't work. He says one reason CCS projects appear to be underperforming isn't the technology but a lack of market incentives for storing CO2, and an absence of good regulation. “CCS does and will work when the rules are correct,” says Haszeldine.
A spokesperson for Chevron says: “Innovation on this scale is not without its challenges, but the technology works.” An ExxonMobil spokesperson says: “The LaBarge facility has captured more CO2 than any other facility in the world to date.”
Saskpower disputed the suggestion the Boundary Dam project had a capture rate of around 50 per cent, giving a figure of 68 per cent. Robertson says this discrepancy is due to the IEEFA assessing the project’s original capture rate target, rather than a revised, lower target.
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