From yesterday's 'Carbon Capture Journal'...

From yesterday's 'Carbon Capture Journal'

http://www.carboncapturejournal.com/displaynews.php?NewsID=985&PHPSESSID=1rkgdujo688fea9deepo87ifp6

ECN report supports business case for China carbon capture
Projects / Policy, July 22 2012 (Carbon Capture Journal)


- With carbon prices at rock bottom, it may be surprising to hear that research conducted by ECN indicates that a business case for CCS in China is still within reach.

Dutch sustainable energy research organisation ECN, with the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, The Chinese Academy of Sciences and consultancy firm Azure International have collaborated on a project to assess the potential of capturing CO2 from non-power industrial installations in the Shaanxi province of China. The CO2 can in turn be used to improve oil production in local oil fields whilst simultaneously trapping thousands of tonnes of CO2 that would have otherwise be released into the atmosphere.


Sponsored by the British Embassy Beijing as part of the China Prosperity SPF Programme, the project has identified a number of possible carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects which combine low-cost industrial CO2 capture and utilization of the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). If implemented in accordance with international best practice on site characterization and monitoring, between 90-95% of the CO2 injected for EOR can be stored safely for geological timeframes.


The third largest fossil fuel producing province in China, Shaanxi is an important refining and chemical production hub for the nation. The project team identified 22 high-purity (>95% CO2) CO2 sources within the methanol, ammonia, hydrogen and ethylene production industries, which together release almost 65MtCO2 per year. Nine of these sources are within 150km of a suitable location for EOR, with the storage capacity in the region estimated at 200MtCO2.


"Two methanol plants were identified that each produce over 6Mt of high-purity CO2 per year," explained Tom Mikunda, who led the project for ECN. "Including the revenues of the incremental oil produced, these projects could be realised with costs as low as 5$ per tonne of CO2.” Even with carbon prices at rock bottom, given policy support and a suitable regulatory framework, this initial research indicates that a business case for CCUS in China is still within reach."