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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. 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 CO2 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 CO2 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 CO2 EOR industry in the U.S. are listed below:   <ul> <li>Depth and oil composition can enable CO2 to form miscibility lowering viscosity</li> <li>There is sufficient unrecovered oil after primary and secondary recovery (usually water flooding)</li> <li>There is sufficient access to a reliable supply of CO2</li> <li>Operator knowledge and experience can be applied</li> <li>Tax incentives to promote profitable implementation</li> </ul>

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 in situ 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 CO2. 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 CO2 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 CO2 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 CO2 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 CO2), 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) CO2 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 CO2 post-combustion capture (PCC) processes based on solvent scrubbing. PCC is currently the leading near-term technology for large-scale deployment of CO2 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.

Technical Report

RMNER Network Meeting

1 June 2016
Event Proceedings
Storage

The three day meeting included themes on risk assessment methodologies, risk communication and mitigation strategies as well as environmental research. There was an emphasis on potential impacts of CO2 in marine environments, natural variability and the unscheduled release of CO2 from pipelines. Coverage also included formation fluid release, overburden features, international initiatives and environmental impact assessments notably the Peterhead – Goldeneye project.

Technical Report

Can CO₂ Capture and Storage Unlock 'Unburnable Carbon'?

1 May 2016
Capture
Storage

This study has undertaken an initial assessment on the relevance of CCS in terms of the unburnable carbon issues. This consisted of the following tasks: <ol> <li>Undertake a comprehensive literature review to identify and assess those studies done to date which are relevant to, include or comment upon the role of CCS in the issues of unburnable carbon.</li> <li>Assess the assumptions, methodologies, any contentious subjects, and understand differences in these studies.</li> <li>Identify and assess sources of information on the global potential for CCS deployment, including storage potential.</li> <li>Potential issues that would contribute to better understanding and assessment of this topic (which are of a technical nature and thus IEAGHG could address), will be identified and recommendations made for further work, including whether any work is necessary relating to global storage capacity and CCS global potential.</li> </ol>

Technical Review

International Workshop on Offshore Geological CO₂ Storage

1 May 2016
Event Proceedings
Storage

The aims of the workshop were to undertake a global needs assessment for offshore geological CO₂ storage, to initiate a discussion about the various aspects of offshore transport and storage, and to build an international community of parties interested in offshore storage. This was achieved by bringing together those who are doing offshore CCS to share knowledge with those who are interested in doing, and by facilitating countries to identify their specific issues, challenges, opportunities, and then to identify synergies, common gaps and goals, and define common action items.

Technical Review

Review of GHG Accounting Rules for CCS

1 May 2016
Policy & Regulation

This report aims to provide a comparative review of how current rules for compiling and reporting inventories of GHG emissions and removals, and for MRV of GHG emissions and removals (hereafter collectively termed “GHG accounting rules”) apply to CCS activities worldwide. These include international, regional and national approaches employed under policies and measures such as mandatory GHG emissions reporting, carbon taxes and emission trading schemes (ETS). The report will identify any significant differences between accounting protocols for CCS, the reasons for differences, and any issues that might arise from their differences. It will identify issues, gaps and potential barriers emerging from the review and possible measures that could be taken to support CCS deployment.

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