Graphical analysis of CO2 emissions reduction strategies

Abstract

The emergence of increased numbers of CO2 utilization options to convert CO2 from emissions sources requires decision-making as to which emission sources to choose for CO2 capture and which of the many available utilization technologies or sequestration options to implement. The overarching goal of any strategy is to achieve emissions reductions at low costs. Recent developments have addressed the problem of designing CO2 Integration Networks with minimum costs to achieve low cost emissions reductions, while considering many alternative processing schemes that exist across multiple CO2 emissions sources and alternative utilization and storage sinks. However, the network optimization is complex and provides results in the form of detailed CO2 processing network configurations as opposed to high-level insights into the problem. There is currently no simple graphical analysis method available that can give quick insights into the economics of the problem across all available CO2 sources, utilization and storage options. In this work, a graphical representation is proposed that allows the analysis of CO2 capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) strategies. It allows the quick identification of the lowest cost portfolio for CO2 utilization and storage options for a given set of CO2 emissions sources without the need to resort to detailed and time-consuming network optimization. It also enables the economic analysis of alternative CCUS strategies developed based on other criteria such as environmental merit. The application of the method is illustrated with an example.