Carbon Capture, Utilization, And Storage Research Articles

Modelling of decarbonisation transition in national integrated energy system with hourly operational resolution

In this paper, we present an optimisation integrated energy system model (IESA-Opt) for the Netherlands with the use of a linear programming formulation. This state-of-the-art model represents a scientific contribution as it integrates a European power-system model with a complete sectoral representation of the energy system technologies and infrastructure that account for all greenhouse gas emissions considered in the targets, and takes into consideration a detailed description of the cross-sectoral flexibility (e.g. flexible heat and power cogeneration, demand shedding from power-to-X and electrified industrial processes, short- and long-term storage of diverse energy carriers, smart charging and vehicle-to-grid for electric vehicles, and passive storage of ambience heat for the built environment). This model provides a detailed description of the operation of technologies and considers exogenous technological learning to simultaneously solve multi-year planning of investments, retrofitting, and economical decommissioning with intra-year operational, flexible, and despatch decisions. The model is applied to a case study of the Netherlands energy transition under the current climate policy and conservative projections for the economy and availability of resources. The results present a significant reliance on renewable energy sources, such as wind (800 PJ) and solar (300 PJ), to fuel the electrification revolution as well as biomass (550 PJ) for feedstock and heat purposes coupled with carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) to achieve negative emissions in certain sectors. However, oil (880 PJ) and gas (1050 PJ) constitute almost half of the final energy demand as they are required for heat applications, industrial feedstock, refined oil products for export, and international transport fuel. Four different sensitivity analyses are presented for the emission reduction target, oil demand streams, biomass availability, and demand volumes. The most significant findings are as follows: 1) it is crucial to have simultaneous highly available biomass and CCUS storage capacities to achieve negative emissions and facilitate the transition; 2) even in a highly decarbonised scenario, it is necessary to simultaneously develop climate policies focused on international transport emissions, oil-based feedstock, and refined-oil product exports to completely displace oil from the energy mix; 3) (imported) biomass has the ability to decrease system costs (3% under conservative scenarios of availability and price); however, for biomass prices higher than 20 €/GJ, this effect is lower; 4) in relative terms, the system is most sensitive to demand uncertainties from the transport sector than any other sector, followed closely by the industrial sector.

The value of CCUS in transitions to net-zero emissions

The majority of global-scale energy system models find that deep decarbonization to limit anthropogenic global warming to well below 2 °C is infeasible or significantly more costly without carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Yet, there is some dissent amongst academics, businesses, and policymakers regarding the role CCUS can or should play in a low-carbon future. This article explores the value that CCUS provides in time-bound, economy-wide transitions to net-zero emissions (NZE). We consider value on three levels:(a) threshold value, i.e. whether or not CCUS is necessary in economy-wide pathways to NZE;(b) commercial value, i.e. the role of CCUS in minimum-cost pathways to NZE; and(c) option value, i.e. whether or not the inclusion of CCUS in a mitigation portfolio reduces the risk of not meeting NZE given socio-technical uncertainties facing alternative pathways.We review recent global-scale techno-economic modeling studies that describe pathways to NZE by mid-century, and Princeton University’s recent Net-Zero America (NZA) study which provided a granular downscaling of modeled pathways to NZE by 2050 for the lower 48 U.S. states. These complementary studies indicate that getting to NZE without CCUS is costlier, more difficult, and likely not possible in at least some major economies, without breakthrough advances in mitigating hard-to-abate sectors and/or natural climate solutions. CCUS therefore holds both threshold and commercialvalue for NZE transitions.Leveraging the granular results from NZA, we show that CCUS also provides option value in a technology portfolio even when the planned pathway to NZE either does not include or only includes a limited amount of CCUS. The option value exists by providing a hedge against plausible (but hard to anticipate) real-world execution challenges for certain low-cost mitigation pathways, including those related to: capital mobilization; supply chains; siting and permitting; and potential public and political opposition owing to land-use impacts or disaffected industries. Such challenges are plausible for renewables-heavy pathways, which present unprecedented infrastructure pace and scale demands and the potential for social disruption at the community-level for fossil fuel-dependent economies. Finally, we consider what it would take to assure CCUS as a real option for commercial deployment when needed in NZE transitions. Recommendations are provided for how governments might de-risk CCUS value chains and backstop CCUS counterparty risks.

Assessing Representative CCUS Layouts for China's Power Sector toward Carbon Neutrality.

China's carbon neutrality target is building momentum for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), by which the power sector may attain faster decarbonization in the short term. However, an overall CCUS pipeline network blueprint remains poorly understood. This study, for the first time, links the China TIMES model and ChinaCCUS Decision Support System 2.0 to assess representative CCUS layouts for the power sector toward carbon neutrality, with the level of deployment and the maximum transportation distance from emission sources to storage sites considered. The total length of the proposed layouts under the low, medium, and high levels of deployment are about 5100, 18,000, and 37,000 km, with the annum CO2 captures of 0.4, 1.1, and 1.7 Gt, respectively, whereas pipes of medium diameters (12, 16, and 20 in) account for the majority in all three plans. As the deployment rate increases, the layouts generally spread from Northeast, North, and Northwest China to East, South Central, and Southwest China. However, some local exceptions take place considering terrain areas that the pipeline passes through. In addition to engineering guidance, this assessment also illuminates the opportunity for improving the efficiency of CCUS based on carbon pricing.

The integration of hydrogenation and carbon capture utilisation and storage technology: A potential low‐carbon approach to chemical synthesis in China

The development of carbon emission reduction technologies and clean energy utilisation are two critical drivers for reducing and controlling greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from human activities. Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) is an established and crucial emission reduction technology capable of achieving near-zero-emission from fossil fuels. Hydrogen, a zero-carbon fuel, provides energy security while improving air quality. However, hydrogen is commonly derived from fossil fuels with significant associated CO2 emission. Hence, this study investigates the feasibility of integrating CCUS in the hydrogen industry, particularly from technical, sustainability, and policy perspectives. This study also critically reviews existing CCUS and hydrogen production technologies and discusses the prospects and challenges of each. Studies show that CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) and CO2 enhanced coal-bed methane recovery (CO2-ECBM) are promising CCUS technologies in China, while producing clean hydrogen from fossil fuels with CCUS and water electrolysis are ideal development route. Specifically, this study proposes the coupling technical route of CCUS + SMR (steam methane reforming) and CCUS + CTH (coal-to-hydrogen) to accelerate carbon emission reduction by 2050 considering their promising carbon reduction potential and the ratio of hydrogen with CCUS. Besides, CO2 hydrogenation integrated chemical production is becoming increasingly popular to achieve carbon emission reduction and low-carbon economy. However, the relatively high costs and lack of hydrogen transportation infrastructure is currently the major bottleneck restricting the development of CCUS and hydrogen industry. Therefore, government subsidies, standardised operation of the carbon market, and technological innovation are useful strategies to address this issue.

Principle Demonstration of Fuel Cell System with CO2 Capture

Recently, the desire of decarbonization is increasing on the part of the general public worldwide as many companies take part in RE100 initiative. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. declared to reduce 10 million tons carbon dioxide emission by 2030 in “Compass 2030” which is company vision of Tokyo Gas group in November 27th, 2019. We drive CO2 net-zero including emission from customer and lead the transition to a decarbonized society. To achieve CO2 net-zero, we will take two actions. The first one is expansion of use of renewable energy. Second is development of decarbonization technologies for gaseous energy, which include effective use of natural gas, use of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).Fuel cell system is expected to use natural gas effectively. In Japan, residential fuel cell system has already installed extensively since the first model was sold in 2009. Tokyo Gas have also studied fuel cell technologies for over three decades. These days, we developed and reported mono generation system which had AC-power generation efficiency of over 65.0%LHV and output of 5kW. In this system, anode lines of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks are connected in series. A fuel regenerator is placed between two-stage SOFC stacks, which remove H2O from the anode off-gas of first-stage SOFC stack. Then, the regenerated anode off-gas is used as a fuel of the second-stage SOFC stack. Hence, this system can be operated at high total fuel utilization (Uf) value of over 90% and enable each SOFC stack to be operated at safe Uf condition for each, simultaneously. We could make easy flow system by using condenser as fuel regenerator.This system can reduce much CO2 than existing power resource because of its higher efficiency, but still exhausts some amount of CO2 gas. To achieve decarbonized society, further reduction of CO2 emission for fuel cell system will be required. Therefore, we focused on CO2 separation membrane as a fuel regenerator which has high selectivity for both H2O and CO2. In previous work, we performed DC-power generation of 75.5%LHV by connecting membrane module as the fuel regenerator of the two-stage SOFC system. CO2 recovery rate from membrane reached to about 40%. To improve the CO2 recovery rate, we invent the new system as figure 1. The new system recycles regenerated anode off-gas which was removed H2O and CO2 by CO2 separation membrane. The membrane has high selectivity of H2O and CO2. In addition, a separation at the membrane was driven on the differential pressure by decompressing without sweep gas. As a result, high concentration of CO2 was recovered. In ideal situation, the new system will be operated under Uf of 100% and recovered CO2 of 100%. In this study, we demonstrated this system as shown in figure 1. Membrane was put in fuel cell module. It was operated at a total Uf of 97.1%, and power generation efficiency reached DC 77.3%LHV at power output of 5.65 kW under the thermal self-sustainable condition without the electric heater. Assuming the efficiencies of the auxiliary machines and the power conditioner to be respectively 94% and 95%, the estimated AC-power generation efficiency of the hot module was 69.0%LHV and CO2 emission factor reached to 294 g-CO2/kWh. At the same time, CO2 recovery rate was 85%. We achieved high efficiency and low in this system. In the future, we have to discuss about the use of recovery CO2. Figure 1

Leveraging scale economies and policy incentives: Carbon capture, utilization & storage in Gulf clusters

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) represents a set of technologies essential to meeting ambitious mid-to late-century decarbonization goals. Yet deployment of CCUS has been slow, with fewer than 20 large-scale facilities operating worldwide in 2019. We estimate the total and marginal cost of constructing and operating new CCUS facilities and associated infrastructure to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from current and planned industrial facilities on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. We compare these cost estimates to scheduled CCUS tax incentives through 2026 under section 45Q of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code to quantify cost-effective emissions abatement. Our analysis measures the cost-reducing potential of economies of scale in regional CO2 pipeline networks. We also compare CCUS costs to one measure of the benefits of carbon capture, the social cost of carbon. Results suggest that U.S. federal tax incentives currently in place through 2026 could justify between 3.3 million and 77.6 million tons of annual CCUS in the Gulf region, depending on the choice of storage technology and the degree of pipeline network coordination. Finally, we highlight several potential policy barriers that may explain low adoption of CCUS in the Gulf Region and elsewhere.

CCUS As a second-best choice for China's carbon neutrality: an institutional analysis

ABSTRACT The climate emergency calls for decisive actions to achieve CO2 emissions reductions globally and in China. Although China has made substantial progress in renewable energy deployment and has promised to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, the increasing CO2 emissions reflect a paradox in China's energy revolution, suggesting that second-best choices are necessary. Large-scale deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) can avoid stranding assets in existing fossil energy industries and thus incur less resistance from incumbents. With an estimated storage capacity of 3120 GtCO2, China has great potential to deploy CCUS. The more quickly CCUS scales up, the less the cost of mitigation in the future. Although China has issued many policies to promote CCUS development and achieved significant progress through demonstration projects, barriers still exist for its large-scale deployment. Barriers include the lack of CCUS-specific legal and regulatory models, relatively high investment requirements, and low public perception and acceptance towards CCUS. To effectively promote this second-best choice, institutional reforms are critical, including enabling climate change legislation, carbon tax policy, risk avoidance and risk sharing measures, compensation, and strengthened public engagement. Key policy insights Large-scale deployment of Negative Emission Technologies will be needed in China and beyond to address the climate emergency. Market distortions impede renewable energy development in China, making large-scale deployment of CCUS an essential second-best choice. Detailed legal and regulatory rule changes can reduce market uncertainties and provide a legal foundation and mandate for CCUS development. Particularly when source control measures – such as renewable energy deployment, industrial restructuring and energy efficiency improvements – face bottlenecks, the scaling up of negative emission technologies is essential. International cooperation on CCUS technologies and deployment should be strengthened to share experience, technology, and deployment modes.

The optimization and thermodynamic and economic estimation analysis for CO2 compression-liquefaction process of CCUS system using LNG cold energy

Compression and liquefaction of carbon dioxide are important parts of the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) process. A CCUS project with an actual workload of 1 million tons/year of China is simulated and analyzed in this paper. A new process scheme of compressed liquefaction of CO2 in the CCUS project by using liquid natural gas (LNG) cold energy through CO2 pipeline transportation is proposed to save energy and reduce consumption. The CO2 hydrate prediction models were compared. Based on the thermodynamic path of the CO2 compression liquefaction process, the energy consumption of four process models is compared. The relevant factors, which affect the economy of the new process are investigated, and the technical and economic model is optimized for the new technology scheme of CO2 pipeline. The total cost of the new process of economic is evaluated and the effective quantitative distances for energy saving are obtained. The results show that when the moisture content of CO2 is below 500ppmMol, the new technology will not cause hydrate blockage. The economic viability of the new process (Three stage compression with compressor + liquefaction by using cold energy + pump) is significantly affected by the distance between the LNG receiving station and thermal power plant, and the total cost will be reduced by 30%, 23%, and 8% at a distance of 25, 50 and 100 km, respectively. The distance between LNG receiving station and gas power plant is 125 km, the application of new technology can bring about energy saving and consumption reduction. Through the sensitivity analysis based on NPV and IRR of the new process, the results are economically feasible, and CO2 profit is the most sensitive factor.

CO2 mobility control improvement using N2-foam at high pressure and high temperature conditions

The high mobility of CO2 in porous media is an issue in most subsurface CO2 projects worldwide, demonstrated by uncontrolled and rapid migration through the reservoir, early well breakthroughs and poor sweep efficiency. Improved mobility control of CO2 is needed to accelerate and improve the value-creation from subsurface CO2 projects, both in terms of energy produced and volumes of CO2 stored. Field-proven conformance and mobility control techniques, such as foam, provide a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to overcome geological and process constraints observed with CO2 flow in reservoirs.In this laboratory study, we have investigated CO2 mobility control by foam in sandstone core samples at typical North Sea reservoir conditions, 220 barg and 100°C, respectively. Two important aspects related to any field application of foam have been evaluated and discussed: I) Can strong CO2-foams be generated at reservoir conditions using AOS surfactant? If not, II) can relatively simple modifications to the foam system be made to improve foam properties and CO2 mobility control?Our results show that only high-mobility CO2-foams with low degree of CO2 mobility reduction are obtained at 220 barg and 100°C. An easy way to improve the foam properties at reservoir conditions is suggested by changing the gas-phase in foam to nitrogen (N2). The N2-foams display improved foam generation performance, larger mobility control in terms of mobility reduction factors (MRF) and ability to block subsequent CO2 injection.An alternative strategy for applying foam for CO2 conformance and mobility control in subsurface CO2 projects, which emerges from this study, is to initiate the foam treatment with nitrogen followed by subsequent CO2 injection to change the main direction of CO2 flow to enhance the displacement area or reduce uncontrolled CO2 production between the injecting and producing wells (as illustrated in the graphical abstract). The possible mechanisms explaining the observed differences in foam properties using CO2 versus N2, including implications that could be helpful for future studies and CO2 field applications are discussed further in more detail.The efficiency and limitations of miscible CO2 flooding to recover oil and simultaneously store CO2 after extensive water flooding are also demonstrated in this article, which are relevant to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and subsequent CO2 storage applications, known as the Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS).

Comparative Environmental, Economic, and Jobs Impacts in the USA of Renewable Energy Compared to Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

This paper assesses the relative economic and jobs benefits of retrofitting an 847 MW USA coal power plant with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology compared to replacing the plant with renewable (RE) energy and battery storage. The research had two major objectives: 1) Estimate the relative environmental, economic, and jobs impacts of CCUS retrofit of the coal plant compared to its replacement by the RE scenario; 2) develop metrics that can be used to compare the jobs impacts of coal fueled power plants to those of renewable energy. The hypotheses tested are: 1) The RE option will reduce CO2 emissions more than the CCUS option. We reject this hypothesis: We found that the CCUS option will reduce CO2 emissions more than the RE option. 2) The RE option will generate greater economic benefits than the CCUS option. We reject this hypothesis: We found that the CCUS option will create greater economic and jobs benefits than the RE option. 3) The RE option will create more jobs per MW than the CCUS option. We reject this hypothesis: We found that the CCUS option will create more jobs per MW more than the RE option. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Synthesis of Sustainable Carbon Negative Eco-Industrial Parks

Growing climate change concerns in recent years have led to an increased need for carbon dioxide emission reduction. This can be achieved by implementing the concept of circular economy, which promotes the practice of resource conservation, emission minimization, and the maintenance of sustainable revenue streams. A considerable amount of carbon dioxide emissions is a consequence of stationary sources from industrial processes. These emissions can be reduced using carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) or reduced at source by using emission free renewable resources. The method developed within this work uses mixed integer linear programming (MILP) to design sustainable clusters that convert seawater (including waste brine), air, and waste carbon dioxide emissions to value-added products with sunlight as the main energy source. In this way, circular economy is employed to minimize fresh resource consumption and maximize material reuse. The potential of this work is demonstrated through a case study, which shows that an industrial park may be profitable while adhering to strict emission and material constraints.

Experimental study and kinetics on CO2 mineral sequestration by the direct aqueous carbonation of pepper stalk ash

While carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is recognized as a highly promising technology for large-scale CO2 reduction from power and chemical industries, there have not been many investigative efforts on CCUS using biomass feedstock such as pepper stalk ash (PSA). Therefore, in this study, the direct carbonation of incinerated PSA via an aqueous route was studied under low-medium pressure conditions in an autoclave reactor. To optimize the reaction conditions in order to achieve the maximum carbonation efficiency, the complex effects of various operating parameters, such as the reaction temperature, liquid–solid (L/S) ratio, reaction time, pressure, and reaction gas, on the CO2 sequestration characteristics were systematically investigated. Under the theoretical framework of the shrinking core model (SCM) and assuming that the diffusion coefficient is a function of time, a new kinetic equation was proposed to provide a more precise fit to the experimental data of the heterogeneous direct carbonation. In addition to solid carbonates, PSA carbonation yielded dry residues from liquid products, which included 58.03 wt% potassium oxide and hence can potentially be used as feedstock for potassium fertilizers.

How public cognition influences public acceptance of CCUS in China: Based on the ABC (affect, behavior, and cognition) model of attitudes

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is regarded as a promising approach to mitigate global warming. Public acceptance plays a key role in the decision whether it could be adopted widely. The study develops a behavior model to predict the public acceptance of CCUS based on the ABC (Affect, Behavior, and Cognition) model of attitudes. A survey of public in China shows that public cognition has a significant effect on public acceptance. Perceived benefits have a higher indirect effect than perceived risks. Meanwhile, trust moderates the relationship between public cognition and perceived risks/benefits. And the relationship between perceived benefits and acceptance is intensified when the fairness is high. This study explores the internal mechanism between public cognition and public acceptance, such knowledge would allow policymakers to develop more targeted interventions aimed at enhancing public acceptance of CCUS.

Biologically-mediated carbon capture and utilization by microalgae towards sustainable CO2 biofixation and biomass valorization – A review

The continuously rising emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a universal hazard which urgently requires collaborative action between policymakers and scientists. International treaties such as the Paris Agreement (with 196 signatories) reflect the importance of anthropogenic climate change as a truly global public concern. Towards the aim of climate recovery, the most broadly utilized CO2 reduction strategies, including carbon capture and storage (CCS); carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) are reviewed herein. Of these methods, CCU shows the greatest potential by recycling captured CO2 and harnessing it as a resource to generate emissions-neutral or -negative value-added products (VAPs). Within CCU methodologies, biologically-mediated CCU (bio-CCU) by microalgae is a promising biotechnology to drastically reduce CO2 emissions. This review therefore details the mechanisms of photosynthesis to sequester CO2 and incorporate it into valuable biomolecules. Microalgal cells utilize CO2 as precursors of macromolecules, including lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and pigments; all of which are discussed within the frame of industrial relevance and market value. The biofixation potential of microalgae is clearly demonstrated by the carbon content of the myriad VAPs they produce. Moreover, pathways towards decreasing carbon footprint (via carbon capture prior to emission to the atmosphere) and increasing carbon handprint (reducing carbon emissions by consuming CO2-neutral or -negative products) related to bio-CCU are presented herein. Finally, existing challenges and knowledge gaps are acknowledged and described, and future research needs are recommended.

Regulations for carbon capture, utilization and storage: Comparative analysis of development in Europe, China and the Middle East

The development of the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) supply chain will require the establishment of a regulatory and legal regime, both at the international and domestic level, to manage risks at various parts of the supply chain and to support technology investment. Within this regulatory and legal framework, the regional and domestic regime has been identified as a crucial factor that could facilitate or inhibit the creation of a CCUS supply chain at a larger scale. According to the relevant literature, policy backing for CCUS has been supported in several countries and jurisdictions which represent both the source and sink of carbon dioxide. To evaluate the legal and regulatory developments which underpin the global matching of CO2 sources and sinks, this article reviews and critically analyzes the legal and regulatory systems to address various challenges facing the CCUS development in Europe, China and the Middle East, because these jurisdictions have good representations, as sinks and sources of CO2, in developing the CCUS supply chain. These challenges include ensuring regulatory clarity to support CCUS development, integration of CCUS in the portfolio of climate change mitigation to create an enabling environment to improve the financial viability of CCUS, and ensuring consistency with international law. The findings of this article suggest that the regulatory systems in the three regions face various challenges and this article proposes some regulatory changes that are necessary for facilitating the CCUS supply chain at the domestic and regional level.

Improvement of Methanol Production from Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen by a Sorption Enhanced Reaction Process

Climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions is one of the most concerning problems worldwide. CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technologies are not enough to achieve climatic goals, so there is the need to embrace new processes, like CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage). Hydrogenation of CO2 to produce methanol is one of the most feasible ways, however, the conversion rates are small. It could be solved by a SERP process (Sorption Enhanced Reaction Process), displacing the reaction equilibrium through the adsorption of the products, water and methanol. There is scarce information of the adsorption of these compounds, especially methanol, at the reaction temperature (200-300 oC). In this work, adsorption equilibrium and diffusional parameters for water and methanol are obtained for the design of a SERP process. 3A zeolite, silica gel and silica-alumina have been studied at temperatures of 200-300oC by a chromatographic method. The performance of these adsorbents in a PSA reactor for CO2 hydrogenation with a commercial catalyst (Cu/ZnO/Al2O3) is compared by simulation.

Microseismic monitoring for reliable CO2 injection and storage — Geophysical modeling challenges and opportunities

Recently, the oil and gas industry started to experience a major evolution that could impact the geophysical community for decades. The effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more renewable energy and less fossil fuel consumption. In parallel, the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) business is expected to develop rapidly. However, reliably injecting massive amounts of CO2 underground is more challenging than producing hydrocarbons from a known reservoir. Site integrity monitoring and CO2 leak detection are among the biggest challenges. Capabilities to address these challenges will be requested by regulators and the public for acceptance. This surveillance requires technologies such as microseismic monitoring either from the surface or borehole. Each CCUS project will need a preinjection feasibility study in order to design the best sensor network architecture and to set performance expectancies. Acquisition will be performed over long periods of time. Data harvesting and processing will be performed permanently in automated workflows. For these objectives, site operators must demonstrate their expertise through permanent benchmarks based on a common modeling and simulating platform. Microseismic monitoring is not fully mature and presents additional unsolved challenges for large-scale projects such as CCUS. Using a common and public geologic model to generate synthetic data is a solution to gain more credibility. Limitations can be mitigated after analyzing and quantifying gaps such as localization uncertainties. The model is complex due to the nature of CO2 injection and will evolve over time. A public consortium, such as the SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Corporation, that gathers expertise to generate a common model and synthetic data sets will give the credibility and openness necessary to progress in scientific knowledge. It will also provide the necessary transparency for regulatory approval and public acceptance. A new common CCUS modeling platform offers opportunities to work more efficiently within different disciplines.

Polarization of CO2 for improved CO2 adsorption by MgO and Mg(OH)2

Low cost MgO has an attractive theoretical CO2 capture capacity of 1090 mg/g when it is in equilibrium with MgCO3, but only ~ 1–10% of this predicted absorption limit is realized experimentally. Changes in structure that dominate the experimental carbon capture process remain unclear. Here, we simulate the CO2 adsorption on comparative MgO and Mg(OH)2 surfaces, using a combined theory and experimental approach. Subsequently, the role of H2O molecules to carbon adsorption on MgO and Mg(OH) surfaces, as well as the effect of dehydration defect in Mg(OH)2, were investigated via DFT calculations. We found (1) H2O molecules significantly facilitate CO2 capture on MgO but not on Mg(OH)2, (2) formation of dehydration defects on Mg(OH)2 dramatically increases the CO2 absorption energy from −0.045 eV to −1.647 eV, (3) three electronic mechanisms, i.e., electron transfer to CO2, electron localization within CO2, and uneven electron distribution in two O atoms of CO2, were identified that are responsible for the calculated increase in CO2 adsorption energy. These results enable a novel design of composite MgO/Mg(OH)2 adsorbents that controls the formation of dehydration defects, consequently, offering exciting possibilities in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) applications and room temperature carbon mineralization.

Calcium Carbonate Cement: A Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Technique.

A novel calcium carbonate cement system that mimics the naturally occurring mineralization process of carbon dioxide to biogenic or geologic calcium carbonate deposits was developed utilizing carbon dioxide-containing flue gas and high-calcium industrial solid waste as raw materials. The calcium carbonate cement reaction is based on the polymorphic transformation from metastable vaterite to aragonite and can achieve >40 MPa compressive strength. Due to its unique properties, the calcium carbonate cement is well suited for building materials applications with controlled factory manufacturing processes that can take advantage of its rapid curing at elevated temperatures and lower density for competitive advantages. Examples of suitable applications are lightweight fiber cement board and aerated concrete. The new cement system described is an environmentally sustainable alternative cement that can be carbon negative, meaning more carbon dioxide is captured during its manufacture than is emitted.

A framework for assessing economics of blue hydrogen production from steam methane reforming using carbon capture storage & utilisation

Hydrogen (H2) generation using Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) is at present the most economical and preferred pathway for commercial H2 generation. This process, however, emits a considerable amount of CO2, ultimately negating the benefit of using H2 as a clean industrial feedstock and energy carrier. That has prompted growing interest in enabling CO2 capture from SMR for either storage or utilisation and producing zero-emission “blue H2”. In this paper, we propose a spatial techno-economic framework for assessing blue hydrogen production SMR hubs with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), using Australia as a case study. Australia offers a unique opportunity for developing such ‘blue H2’ hubs given its extensive natural gas resources, availability of known carbon storage reservoirs and an ambitious government target to produce clean/zero-emission H2 at the cost of <A$2 kg−1 by 2030. Our results highlight that the H2 production costs are unsurprisingly dominated by natural gas, with the additional capital requirement of carbon capture and storage (CCS) also playing a critical role. These outcomes are especially pertinent for eastern Australian states, as they are experiencing high natural gas costs and would generally require extensive CO2 transport and storage infrastructure to tap potential storage reservoirs, ultimately resulting in a higher cost of producing H2 (>A$2.7 kgH2−1). On the other hand, Western Australia offers lower gas pricing and relatively lesser storage costs, which would lead to more economically favourable hydrogen production (<A$2.2 kgH2−1). We further explore the possibility of utilising the emissions captured at blue SMR hubs by converting them into formic acid through CO2 electroreduction, yielding revenue that will decrease the cost of blue H2 and reduce the reliance on CO2 storage. Our analysis reveals that formic acid production utilising a 10 MW CO2 electrolyser can potentially reduce H2 production costs by between 4 and 9%. Further cost reduction is possible by scaling the CO2 electrolyser capacity to convert a larger portion of the emissions captured, albeit at the cost of higher capital investment, electricity consumption and saturating the market for formic acid. Thus, carbon utilisation for a range of products with high market demand represents a more promising approach to replacing the need for costly carbon storage. Overall, our modelling framework can be adapted for global application, particularly for regions interested in generating blue H2 and extended to include other CO2 utilisation opportunities and evaluate other hydrogen production technologies.