Assessment of an Integrated Direct CO2 Air Capture System Using Wind Power with Compressed Air Energy Storage in Northern Regions

Abstract

This work examines the techno-economic viability for replacing, in remote Northern Canadian villages not connected to the grid, local diesel generation systems with a wind turbine potentially combined with compressed air energy storage and/or CO2 direct-air capture systems. The compressed air energy storage configurations analyzed include a geological reservoir at constant volume, a multi-stage compressor with intercooler, a multi-stage turbine and a heat exchanger. The direct-air capture technology analyzed uses a solid sorbent with temperature swing adsorption. The analysis is based on a model village of 1000 inhabitants with an average electrical demand of 1000 kW with daily morning and evening peaks, and a daily average effective capacity factor varying according to a sinusoidal probability density distribution. It is found that the direct-air carbon capture potential of a compressed air energy storage system appropriately sized for the present application is negligible owing to the small flow volume and low atmospheric CO2 concentration. Furthermore, the integration of compressed air energy storage does not lead to appreciable reductions in diesel generation and related carbon emissions. Overall, the most interesting cases considered in the present study use either the smallest wind turbine, sized for the average power demand, requiring the smallest initial investment, offering the fastest payback and reducing carbon emissions by 95% over the current case, or a wind turbine twice as powerful, covering most demand peaks, such that payback time doubles but overall carbon emission reductions are also doubled.