The CO2 Pilot at Lacq: An Integrated Oxycombustion CO2-Capture and -Storage Project

Abstract

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper IPTC 11737, "The CO2 Pilot at Lacq: An Integrated Oxycombustion CO2 Capture and Geological-Storage Project in the South West of France," by Nicolas Aimard, Marc Lescanne, Gerard Mouronval, and Claude Prebende, Total, originally prepared for the 2007 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Dubai, UAE, 4-6 December. The paper has not been peer reviewed. In 2006, Total launched an integrated carbon-capture and -storage (CCS) project in southwest France. It entails the conversion of a steam boiler into an oxyfuel combustion unit, with oxy-gen being used for combustion rather than air to obtain a more-concentrated carbon dioxide (CO2) stream that is easier to capture. The pilot plant, which will produce some steam for use by other facilities, will emit up to 150,000 tons of CO2 over a 2-year period, which will be compressed and conveyed by pipeline to a depleted gas field, 8 miles away, where it will be injected into a deep carbonate reservoir. CO2 injection is scheduled to begin by the end of 2008. Introduction For decades to come, oil and gas will remain an energy source of choice. But oil and gas operators have to develop fields that require much more processing and energy while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to mitigate climate-change consequences. Among the options, CCS is an important option for tackling greenhouse-gas emissions. While the worldwide CO2 atmospheric emission was approximately 30 billion tons in 2005, CO2 geological-storage capacity could be very significant: approximately 600 to 1,200 billion tons in depleted oil and gas fields, 3 to 200 billion tons in unmineable coal seams, and as much as 1,000 to 10,000 billion tons in deep saline formations. This represents 70 to 500 years of storage at current production rates. Industry pilot plants are necessary to ensure that CCS technology will be reliable, energy efficient, accepted by the public, and commercially viable. At the end of 2006, Total launched an integrated CCS project in southwest France that entails the conversion of a steam boiler into an oxyfuel combustion unit, with oxygen being used for combustion rather than air to obtain a more-concentrated CO2 stream that is easier to capture. The pilot plant will produce steam for use by other facilities and will emit 150,000 tons of CO2 over a 2-year period at the Lacq facilities. The CO2 will be treated, com-pressed, and conveyed by pipeline to the depleted Rousse gas field 18 miles away to be injected into a deep carbon-ate reservoir (Fig. 1).