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2016-05-10
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) (or Carbon capture and sequestration), is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources, such as fossil fuel power plants, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally an underground geological formation. The aim is to prevent the release of large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere (from fossil fuel use in power generation and other industries). It is a potential means of mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming and ocean acidification. Although CO2 has been injected into geological formations for several decades for various purposes, including enhanced oil recovery, the long term storage of CO2 is a relatively new concept. The first commercial example was Weyburn in 2000.'CCS' can also be used to describe the scrubbing of CO2 from ambient air as a geoengineering technique.
An integrated pilot-scale CCS power plant was to begin operating in September 2008 in the eastern German power plant Schwarze Pumpe run by utility Vattenfall, in the hope of answering questions about technological feasibility and economic efficiency. CCS applied to a modern conventional power plant could reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by approximately 80–90% compared to a plant without CCS.The IPCC estimates that the economic potential of CCS could be between 10% and 55% of the total carbon mitigation effort until year 2100.
Capturing and compressing CO2 may increase the fuel needs of a coal-fired CCS plant by 25–40%.These and other system costs are estimated to increase the cost of the energy produced by 21–91% for purpose built plants.Applying the technology to existing plants would be more expensive especially if they are far from a sequestration site. Recent industry reports suggest that with successful research, development and deployment (RD&D), sequestered coal-based electricity generation in 2025 may cost less than unsequestered coal-based electricity generation today.
Storage of the CO2 is envisaged either in deep geological formations, or in the form of mineralcarbonates. Deep ocean storage is no longer considered feasible because it greatly increases the problem of ocean acidification. Geological formations are currently considered the most promising sequestration sites. Reference Needed (previous reference not valid, referenced only a couple specific sites in a larger survey) The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) reported that North America has enough storage capacity for more than 900 years worth of carbon dioxide at current production rates.A general problem is that long term predictions about submarine or underground storage security are very difficult and uncertain, and there is still the risk that CO2 might leak from the storage into the atmosphere.
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