Role of Carbon Capture for Net Zero Environment

Global energy demand continues to increase rapidly to meet the needs of the developing economies, enable new technologies, and support people’s lifestyles across the world. There have been significant recent advances in capturing renewable and sustainable energy sources, and they have been paired with more energy-efficient grids, buildings, and products, including electrification of transportation. However, even with all these innovations, it’s still most likely that energy from traditional hydrocarbon sources (oil, gas, coal) will continue to play a major role in meeting global demand for at least a few decades to come. So what should be the road ahead?

Meeting energy needs while reducing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions to zero requires a coordinated approach that involves Societies [Consumer Demand], Governments [Policy Change] and Technology. Among the three, technology must play a pivotal role. Green technologies made economical through innovation and with the support of government actions will accelerate their adoption by the consumer marketplace.

This shift towards sustainable energy and products will need to coincide with initiatives to remove carbon from the atmosphere to balance the remaining emissions.

The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2021 Emissions Gap Reporti estimates the world is likely on course for a temperature rise of at least 2.7°C by 2100ii—almost twice the Paris Agreement target. It also says that current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will not be enough to reduce predicted 2030 emissions, falling short of the Paris goal by around 48%.

For the world to remain within the 1.5°C by 2050, much more needs to be done from a technology standpoint to address the problem from both directions.

Net-Zero Environment
Simply put, net zero is a scenario where there is a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases. Various efforts to achieve net zero include carbon-removal methods (carbon capture and storage & afforestation), decarbonisation (renewables and alternate fuels), and electrification.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Carbon capture and storage is an essential approach to tackle climate change and achieve a net-zero economy. While CCS itself relies on proven technology, and there are already some facilities globally for carbon storage, existing facilities are nowhere near the size or number required to meet climate targets. In addition, innovation to reduce costs and meet transportation needs is also required.

CCS Process
- Capture: the CO2 is separated from other gases produced in industrial processes, such as those at coal and natural-gas-fired power generation plants or steel or cement factories.
- Transport: the CO2 is then compressed and transported via pipelines, road transport or ships to a site for storage.
- Storage: finally, the CO2 is injected into rock formations deep underground for permanent storage or can be converted into intermediate compounds that would entrap carbon at atmospheric conditions.

Why Capture and Storage - Alternative Perspective?
Carbon Capture
- Initial carbon footprint measurement
- Strategic greenhouse-gas-emission reduction initiatives
- Implementation of renewable energy solutions
- Carbon offsetting
- Sold on an arbitrary average carbon footprint basis, as opposed to a quantified footprint (LCOE)

Storage/Sequestration
- Soil can hold three times as much carbon as the atmosphere
    » Improve soil quality
    » Food production or rainwater absorption
    » Afforestation, reforestation and conservation
- Subsea storage (below 1 km from land surface)

Retrofit Vs New Plant Option for existing Power Plants
The fate of existing coal and gas power plants must be considered—while the cost of renewables comes down and their contribution to supply increases, it may not be feasible to simply decommission the plant and still meet demand. This leaves a choice between retrofitting and building a new plant with CCS. The biggest driver in choosing between a retrofit and replacement with a CCS plant is the investment lifetime in a retrofit project. A good metric to use is the apparent differences in Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE). While it is not as big of a problem in countries adopting newer fossil plants, the lifetime still plays a role in ‘developed’ nations that engage older coal-powered plants. Energy expenditure for retrofitted plants can be primarily lessened through integrated capture options.

Benefits of CCS
Carbon capture benefits the economy by:
- Recycling infrastructure use and deferring decommissioning costs.
- Achieving deep decarbonisation in hard-to-abate industries.
- Enabling the production of low-carbon hydrogen at scale, and finally,
- CCS provides the foundation for technology-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions, including bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC).

Conclusion
The world needs to do as much as possible to continue to foster economic development while limiting the impact of emissions on our environment. For truly achieving ‘net zero’, significant effort is needed in both “Reducing” and “Recapturing” carbon emissions. Carbon Capture and Sequestration is one such approach to create an economically viable solution for the energy industry. By leveraging proven technology to significantly reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from hydrocarbon plants, CCS is key in achieving net zero in the target timeframes without causing massive supply disruptions. And who doesn’t want the prosperity of economic development on a planet with a climate no longer threatened by human energy consumption?

- Mike Buck, Strategic Business Leader, Energy, QuEST Global