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Technology Collaboration Programme by IEA

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Discover the latest advances carbon capture and storage research

Technical Report

Techno-Economic Evaluation of HYCO Plant Integrated to Ammonia / Urea or Methanol Production with CCS

  • 1 February 2017
  • Capture
  • Costs of CCUS

The ammonia and methanol industry is an allied industry very related to the production of hydrogen or HyCO gas. Globally, around 60% of the produced hydrogen is consumed by these industries. Outside China, production of these chemicals from natural gas is predominant. In fact, the production of ammonia and methanol is always an important strategy on how natural gas assets are monetised. An important aspects of this study is to demonstrate how an SMR based hydrogen/HyCO production is integrated to an industrial complex. Furthermore, it is essential to understand the different aspects of the production process and how will it be affected when additional CO<sub>2</sub> is captured from the SMR’s flue gas. IEAGHG has commissioned this study to evaluate the performance and cost of deploying CO<sub>2</sub> capture and storage in mega-plants producing urea and methanol from natural gas as feedstock. The results presented in this study should form the basis of future studies in industrial CCS and CCU.

Technical Report

Monitoring & Modelling Meeting

  • 1 February 2017
  • Event Proceedings
  • Storage

The combined meeting of the IEAGHG Monitoring and Modelling Networks took place at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation from the 6-8th July 2016. The meeting brought together leading experts from research and industry to discuss the latest work and developments, with around 60 participants from 11 countries participating.The theme for this meeting was ‘using the modelling-monitoring loop to demonstrate storage performance more effectively’. Sessions on monitoring included induced seismicity, novel monitoring techniques, monitoring costs, near-surface natural variability, monitoring CO<sub>2</sub>-EOR, wellbore integrity issues, modelling environmental conditions, updates from ongoing and closed projects, lessons from other industries, modelling reservoirs and overburden, pressure measurements and conformance in the monitoring modelling loop.

Technical Report

Case Studies of CO₂ Storage in Depleted Oil and Gas Fields

  • 1 January 2017
  • Storage

CO₂ storage has now been tested at a number of demonstration sites around the world, including some depleted oil and gas reservoirs. The use of depleted reservoirs can offer some advantages because the geological characteristics that are pertinent to CO₂ storage, such as the distribution of porosity and permeability, have been pre-determined. Although depleted hydrocarbon fields can show strong evidence of fluid retention, there are risks associated with existing wellbores and the possibility of caprock deterioration. The aim of this study is to highlight key factors that influence CO<sub>2</sub> storage in depleted oil and gas fields based on four detailed examples. Comparisons were made between storage operations in depleted fields (with or without enhanced hydrocarbon recovery) and storage in saline aquifers with the approaches required in modelling, monitoring, reporting, economics, and operational strategies. Fundamental differences in the reservoir pressure and risk profiles between the different storage sites have been explored. These studies have also allowed a comparative assessment to be made of the requirements for CO₂ storage projects from different geographic and regulatory regimes. The work was led by the British Geological Survey with support from the Gulf Coast Carbon Center based at the University of Texas at Austin.

Technical Review

Review of CO₂ Storage Basalts

  • 1 January 2017
  • Storage

This technical review has been undertaken with the aim of providing a high level overview of the current status of basalts as an option for the geological storage of CO₂. The review also includes a short section on the storage potential of ultramafic rocks.<br />Two high profile sites, CarbFix in Iceland and the Wallula project in Washington State have both injected and monitored CO₂ storage in basalts since 2012 and research has recently been published for both sites. Basalts are important storage sites to consider for CCS as they comprise approximately 10% of the Earth’s surface and are often located in areas where no other storage options exist. Basalts have a high weight percentage of Ca, Mg and Fe rich minerals which react with CO₂ to form carbonates. At the pilot projects Wallula and CarbFix, in-situ carbonisation has been proven to occur and within much shorter timescales than initially predicted. In conventional deep sandstone aquifer storage sites, CO₂ remains buoyant for 1,000s to 100,000s of years and consequently this form of storage relies predominately on structural and solution trapping within the reservoirs to prevent CO₂ leakage.

Technical Report

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Retrofitting ccs in a market pulp mill and an integrated pulp and board mill

  • 1 December 2016
  • Capture
  • Costs of CCUS

This study assessed two hypothetical reference mills situated in the west coast of Finland as a basis for evaluation. The pulp mill (Base Case 1A) has an annual production of 800,000 adt of bleached softwood Kraft pulp (BSKP) which is sold as market pulp. The integrated pulp and board mill (Base Case 1B) has an annual production of 400,000 adt of board. This mill also consumes 60,000 adt/y of the softwood Kraft pulp that it produces, thus only 740,000 adt/y of BSKP is sold to the market. This study aims to evaluate the performance and cost of retrofitting post-combustion CO₂ capture technology to the pulp mill and understand its implication on the mill’s operation in terms of fuel balance, utility requirements (i.e. steam and electricity balance) and the mill’s financial performance.

Technical Report

RESERVED CO₂EOR Accounting JK

  • 1 October 2016
  • Policy & Regulation
  • Storage

The report attempts to review issues associated with greenhouse gas emissions accounting where anthropogenic carbon dioxide is captured and used for enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) in conjunction with long-term geological storage of CO₂. Whilst this suggests a fairly narrow scope of research, it in fact opens up several lines of complex enquiry, requiring a strong understanding of global oil production, trade, supply and demand. This is a topic to which countless hours of debate and consideration are made on an ongoing basis, generally without any clear consensus in respect of matters such as ‘peak oil’, ‘carbon lock-in’ and fossil fuel ‘demand destruction’. It is also a topic that is highly political, with oil being at the heart of economic activity and life-style behaviour. As such, the analysis presented herein has required some simplifying assumptions in order to provide limits to the discussions presented. This has been carried out to the best of the authors’ capacity, commensurate with the time and resources available for the study. The report does not claim to provide a definitive view on how to resolve issues of greenhouse gas emissions accounting for CO₂- EOR, but rather provides a source of ideas on how to establish a framework for considering the issues at hand, and food for thought in respect of further discussion and debate.

Technical Report

Regional assessment of the economic barriers to carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery in the North Sea, Russia and GCC States

  • 1 October 2016
  • Storage

The objective of this study is to explore the economic conditions that would be necessary for a CO<sub>2</sub> EOR project in the North Sea and in the Middle East. Traditional oil production can recover up to 20-40% of the original oil in place (OOIP). The application of an EOR technique, typically performed towards what is normally perceived to be the end of the life of an oilfield, can increase the cumulative recovery by an additional 5-15%. The investment decision for a CO<sub>2</sub> EOR project hinges on key factors relating to geological site suitability, capital and operational costs. A number of identified success factors for the well-established CO<sub>2</sub> EOR industry in the U.S. are listed below: <!-- wp:acf/columns {"name":"acf/columns","data":{"padding_top":"1","_padding_top":"field_columns_fields_padding_top","padding_bottom":"1","_padding_bottom":"field_columns_fields_padding_bottom","margin_top":"0","_margin_top":"field_columns_fields_margin_top","margin_bottom":"0","_margin_bottom":"field_columns_fields_margin_bottom"},"mode":"preview"} --> <!-- wp:acf/column-content {"name":"acf/column-content","mode":"preview"} --> <!-- wp:list --><ul> <!-- wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --><li>Depth and oil composition can enable CO<sub>2</sub> to form miscibility lowering viscosity</li><!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --><li>There is sufficient unrecovered oil after primary and secondary recovery (usually water flooding)</li><!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --><li>There is sufficient access to a reliable supply of CO<sub>2</sub></li><!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --><li>Operator knowledge and experience can be applied</li><!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --><li>Tax incentives to promote profitable implementation</li><!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- /wp:list-item --> </ul><!-- /wp:list --> <!-- /wp:acf/column-content --> <!-- /wp:acf/columns -->

Technical Report

Fault Permeability

  • 1 October 2016
  • Storage

The present review adds to an earlier report (IEAGHG, 2015a) by using the published literature to examine how fault permeability is modified by fault zone and host rock properties and <em>in situ</em> stresses of anthropogenic or geological origins. The primary goal of the report is to use publically available literature to examine when, where and how faults may negatively or positively impact the storage and migration of injected CO<sub>2</sub>. In particular, four key tasks have been undertaken and are outlined below. TASK 1 - Provide a brief summary of the key parameters that influence the mechanical and hydraulic properties of fault zones including a summary of CO<sub>2</sub> flow data along faults at natural seeps. TASK 2 - Review current oil industry practices that are used to assess and control the unwanted migration of hydrocarbons along faults. Use the experience of different industry/academic teams to assess and model fault leakage from potential CO<sub>2</sub> storage sites. TASK 3 - Review the approaches used by other industries (e.g. waste disposal, hydrocarbons, civil engineering) to assess the properties, permeabilities, and leakage thresholds of faults and examine how these approaches might be useful for CO<sub>2 </sub>storage sites. TASK 4 - Identify the knowledge gaps in current understanding of fluid migration along faults. Identify the challenges in modelling fault permeability, and monitoring fluid migration (including CO<sub>2</sub>), along and across faults. Recommend the direction of future research and development that is directly related to a better understanding of fault permeability. The principal objective of this report is to provide a review and synthesis of international research and current understanding of fault permeability, with emphasis on how it could influence (positively or negatively) CO<sub>2</sub> storage. To address this principal aim and the four key tasks outlined above, the report contains 10 main sections. These main sections are summarized below.

Technical Review

National Storage CO₂ Assessment Guidance

  • 1 October 2016
  • Storage

This guide provides information on where to find the material required to undertake initial national scale storage assessments. It is designed to help government bodies and policy makers with limited prior carbon capture and storage (CCS) experience find information regarding the methodology of conducting an assessment. A nationwide storage estimate is fundamental to progress CCS as a climate mitigation technology as it will determine how suitable the regional geology is for CO₂ storage and provide an initial indication of capacity.

Technical Report

PCC Process Control

  • 1 September 2016
  • Capture

The study focuses on performing an evaluation of process control strategies for normal, flexible and upset operation conditions of CO<sub>2</sub> post-combustion capture (PCC) processes based on solvent scrubbing. PCC is currently the leading near-term technology for large-scale deployment of CO<sub>2</sub> capture in the power generation sector.

Technical Report

4th CCS Cost Network Meeting

  • 1 August 2016
  • Costs of CCUS
  • Event Proceedings

The purpose of the workshop is to share and discuss the most currently available information on the cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in electric utility and other industrial applications, as well as the current outlook for future CCS costs and deployment. The workshop also seeks to identify key issues or topics related to CCS costs that merit further discussion and study.

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