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awareness about the importance of CCS.
Businesses and government leaders around the
world are looking to this process as a way to
prevent large amounts of harmful CO2 from
escaping into the atmosphere.
The good news is that the technology behind
CCS is nowhere near as far-fetched as the CO2
charged sparkling water in the EV-EON prank. In
fact, thanks to decades of research and development,
CCS technology is a viable option for companies
in the power, oil and gas, chemical, and refining
sectors to offset their CO2 production.
“CCS has made significant progress over the
years,” says Luke Warren, Chief Executive of
the London-based Carbon Capture and Storage
Association (CCSA). “The processes involved
are considered safe, with limited scientific and
engineering challenges.”
And it’s a solution that couldn’t have come at a
better time. In April 2014, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says global CO2
emissions must be cut 50 to 80 percent to avoid
the most damaging effects of climate change. It’s a
lofty goal – but it’s one that Warren and other CCS
experts think is attainable.
“CCS can achieve large emission reductions and
is considered a key option within the portfolio
of technologies needed to tackle climate
change,” Warren says. “According to the
International Energy Agency, to achieve a 50
percent cut in global emissions by 2050, CCS
will need to contribute nearly 20 percent of
CO2 reductions. Indeed, the IPCC concluded
that the cost of tackling climate change could
more than double if CCS isn’t deployed.”
Proven Three-Step
Technology
After CCS captures CO2 emissions during industry
operations, the CO2 must then be compressed,
transported, and injected into an underground
geological formation.
One of several effective technologies for capturing
the CO2 is amine scrubbing. The process utilizes a
water solution containing organic compounds that
bind with CO2 and separate it from other emitted
gasses. The pure CO2 is then compressed into a
supercritical fluid for pipeline transfer.
Of course, once the CO2 is captured and
compressed, it has to be stored somewhere. This
step calls for injecting the CO2 “through a well into
sedimentary rocks a mile or more below the surface,”
says Susan Hovorka, Senior Research Scientist with
the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University
of Texas at Austin, which recently hosted an
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The processes involved are
considered safe, with limited
scientific and engineering challenges.