Economic evaluation of the geological storage of CO 2 considering the scale of economy

Abstract

CO 2 capture and storage (CCS) technology is expected to play an important role in the efforts directed toward long-term CO 2 emission reduction. This paper analyzes the cost of the geological storage of CO 2 in Japan in order to consider future research, development and deployment (RD&D); these would be based on the information of the obtained cost structure. According to the analysis results, the costs, particularly those of the transportation by pipeline and of CO 2 injection, strongly depend on the scale of the facilities. Therefore, the distance of the transportation of CO 2 should be minimized in the case of small-scale storage, particularly in Japan. In addition, the potential injection rate per well is another key factor for the injection cost. Based on the analyzed cost, the injection cost of the geological storage of CO 2 in Japan for individual storage sites is estimated, and the cost–potential curve is obtained. A mixed-integer programming model has been developed to take into account these characteristics of the CCS technology and its adverse effects arising from the scale of economy with regard to the transportation and injection cost for the geological storage of CO 2. The model is designed to evaluate CCS and other CO 2 mitigation technologies in the energy systems of Japan. With all these adverse effects due to the scale of economy, the geological storage of CO 2 will be one of the important options for CO 2 emission reduction in Japan.