Carbon-capture projects proliferate

Abstract

Large energy and chemical companies are increasingly looking to CO 2 capture and storage (CCS) to deal with the greenhouse gas generated by their operations. In Scotland earlier this month, the Acorn CCS project gained ExxonMobil as a customer and selected the advanced amines CCS firm Carbon Clean to provide carbon-capture technology. If it opens as planned in the middle of this decade, Acorn will store 5–10 million metric tons (t) of CO 2 per year from facilities at or near the Saint Fergus gas complex. The UK government has set a national carbon-capture goal of 10 million t per year by 2030. Acorn is a partnership between Shell, Harbour Energy, and Pale Blue Dot Energy. The chemical company Ineos and the oil refiner Petroineos have also signed on to the project. In France, the industrial gas firm Air Liquide, the chemical makers Borealis and Yara, and the oil companies