Technology Focus: CO2 Applications (July 2012)

Abstract

Technology Focus Last year in this focus on CO2 applications, I (as others have) connected enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as an enabling business foundation and a possible way forward to accomplish carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a business investment. This year, in an address to the CCS conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy Charles McConnell encouraged the CCS industry to help operators establish a salient business case between CO2 EOR and usage and sequestration. Creating a technical lead in CO2 EOR and other usage technologies establishes an opportunity to commercialize the technologies that could be in high demand in the years to come, particularly in coal-reliant developing countries such as China and India. The technologies needed to accomplish carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) require expertise in science and engineering that, in some cases, are not completely matured or, at least, require a different focus and commitment in science and business to affect CCUS. An acceptable return on investment will depend on economic CO2 capture and largely on regulatory stability. Administratively, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed a carbon pollutions standard for new power plants, which will have to meet 1,000 lbm of CO2 per electrical megawatt-hour produced. Older coal plants average approximately 1,768 lbm of CO2 per megawatt-hour but are exempt from the standard, as are plants permitted to begin construction within a year. A typical natural-gas electricity-generation plant emits 800 to 860 lbm of CO2 per megawatt-hour. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. IPTC 15029 An Integrated Reservoir-Simulation/Geomechanical Study on Feasability of CO2 Storage in M4 Carbonate Reservoir, Malaysia by Rahim Masoudi, Petronas, et al. CMTC 151027 NETL CO2-Injection and -Storage Cost Model by T.C. Grant, US Department of Energy, et al. SPE 154539 Evaluation of the CO2-Storage Capacity of the Captain Sandstone Formation by Min Jin, Heriot-Watt University, et al. SPE 145440 Monitoring on CO2 EOR and Storage in a CCS Demonstration Project of Jilin Oil Field China by Shaoran Ren, China University of Petroleum, et al. CMTC 151716 The Longannet to Goldeneye Project: Challenges in Developing an End-to-End CCS Scheme by P.J. Garnham, Shell, et al.