Economic and environmental benefits of the integration between carbon sequestration and underground gas storage

Abstract

It is critical for China to promote the substitution of coal with natural gas (NG), and the development of carbon sequestration (CS) technology to achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2060. Underground gas storage (UGS) employing CS technology is an important choice suitable for NG development in large scale and carbon neutral goal requirements. Unfortunately, to date China's UGS has not yet adopted CS technology. This paper focuses on the operation optimization scheme of UGS with CS technology as well as the economic benefits and carbon emission reduction effects of this technology. Firstly, a proxy model with consideration of CS is constructed to improve the operation mode of UGS, and then the operation parameters concerning the dual objective function of maximizing revenue and CS volume is optimized. Based on the range of geological parameters in China, Monte Carlo simulation is used to simulate 100,000 scenarios. The results show that by 2050 the total UGS revenue in China would reach 22.013 billion to 39.423 billion US dollars, and the total CS volume would reach 26.374 million to 54.018 million tons, approximately the total carbon emissions of China's Qinghai Province in 2018. Finally, policy recommendations are provided.