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The Future Potential for Carbon Capture and Storage in Climate Change Mitigation – An overview from perspectives of technology, economy and risk
... Table 7 provides strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats identified for CCSU integration at the community level. Those factors are categorized under political and legal, economical, social, technological, and environmental aspects [73,[109][110][111]. ...
... Furthermore, certain points of CCSU value chain have already achieved its technology maturity. For example MEA based carbon separation and EOR [109]. ...
... The findings from the macro-environmental analysis for CCSU integration highlights the importance of a stronger and refined set of policies to create a pathway to decarbonize communities via encouraging investment in CCSU markets [66]. Table 8 provides recommendations to overcome the above identified weaknesses and threats [108,109,118,119]. ...
Carbon-dioxide (CO 2) is a critical heat trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) that results in global warming. Thus, many countries across the world including Canada have agreed for national level emission reduction targets. A significant fraction of the anthropogenic CO 2 is emitted from fossil fuel-based energy generation. Carbon-dioxide capture, storage, and utilization (CCSU) technologies are currently the sole means of capturing CO 2 emissions generated by such energy systems. However, only a limited amount of research has been done on CCSU integration in community energy systems. This review aims at exploring the prospects of CCSU integration in community energy systems to achieve zero-emission communities. A systematic literature review was conducted to critically analyze the feasibility of community level carbon capturing. A particular focus was given to the techno-economic aspects of carbon capture integration in community energy systems. The drivers and barriers to CCSU implementation in Canadian communities were discussed under techno-economic, socio-political, legal, and environmental themes in the form of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Recommendations for overcoming the above barriers were provided from the findings of the review. Finally, a road map aimed towards assessing the suitability of CCSU integration in Canadian communities was defined. The knowledge compiled through this study will aid investors and decision-makers to make informed decisions when planning zero-emission communities.
... The present global annual carbon emission is estimated to be more than 30 billion tons (Tang et al. 2014;Abas et al. 2015;Klimenko et al. 2015;Akhtar and Sarmah 2018;Cao et al. 2020; Fig. 1). Owing to this, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has been proposed and recommended as a technologically proven mitigation option to reduce concentrations of CO 2 in the atmosphere (Pacala and Socolow 2004;IPCC 2005;Praetorius and Schumacher 2009;Wennersten et al. 2015; Editorial responsibility: Jing Chen. industrial sectors (GCCSI 2011;Aminu et al. 2017), CCS alone is expected to provide about a 20% reduction in emissions by 2050, and excluding CCS from the equation might result in a 70% rise in the worldwide cost of meeting emission reduction objectives (DECC, 2012). ...
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major component of greenhouse gases and a driver of climate change and associated challenges like global warming, drought, flooding, etc. There is, therefore, an urgent need, to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it to deplete its concentration and consequently, mitigate its adverse effects on the environment. Geological formations have huge potential for underground CO2 storage and therefore, present viable options for storing CO2 and reduction of greenhouse gases in general and CO2 in particular. This review outlines the various techniques, strengths and pitfalls associated with the various techniques applied to the three major geological formations used for carbon sequestration. The advantages of the various techniques are enormous and generally vary from one geological formation to the other. The applicability of these techniques, which is based on data from various sources including laboratory studies, numerical modelling, pilot field testing and commercial carbon capture projects have been documented in key literature for various regions of the world. Despite the immense advantages of carbon capture and utilization, Sub-Saharan Africa is still lagging and is yet to fully delve into this trajectory of research owing to a lack of interest, dearth of research funding and expertise. This review will highlight the various perspectives of carbon capture and storage that may help solve some of the problems burgeoning the energy industry as well as mitigate climate change problems, thus triggering the required thrust for research in the area.
... Two of the six biggest polluters, China and India, are currently undergoing rapid economic development, fueled by cheap fossil fuels. Their abundant coal resources guarantee that their CO2 emissions will rise considerably in the coming years to decades (Wennersten et al, 2014), further exacerbated by exponential population growth. ...
Predictions for future carbon dioxide emission reductions largely rely on power generation shifts to renewable energy sources and passenger vehicle electrification, while emissions from on-road freight shipping using heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) are expected to increase significantly over the coming decades. Mobile carbon capture (MCC) using porous solid adsorbents is a yet unexplored decarbonization strategy, the evaluation of which requires a study of the ideal materials and conditions for capture as well as the environmental, economic, and social implications of a global mobile carbon capture program for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVCC). While many porous materials are researched as carbon capture adsorbents, their carbon dioxide storage capacity at higher temperatures, in the range of 40°C to 75ºC and representative of vehicle exhaust streams, is critical to assess performance under realistic conditions. To quantify the impact on uptake capacity of elevated temperatures characteristic of vehicle exhaust, pressure swing isotherms were conducted on eight commercially available porous adsorbents at temperatures from 25°C to 100ºC. The materials tested included two activated carbons, two zeolite molecular sieves, and four metal-organic framework (MOF) adsorbents. An average decrease of 25% in the CO2 adsorption capacity was observed for zeolites, activated carbons, and MOFs at 101 kPa pressure for each 15ºC stepwise increase in the measured isotherm. Isosteric heats of adsorption are obtained for each material using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and are in good agreement with adsorption enthalpies reported for these materials at similar temperatures. Among the materials considered, the reduction in CO2 adsorption capacity with increasing temperature is least pronounced for zeolites 5A and 13X, which correspondingly have the largest heats of adsorption for carbon dioxide. Candidate materials for HDVCC were then examined through a series of adsorption tests using dynamic flow of representative exhaust gas blends containing CO2, CO, NO, and H2O at temperatures and pressures characteristic of tailpipe exhaust. Of the materials tested, Zeolite 5A is a prime candidate for MCC, capturing approximately 11 weight % from representative wet diesel exhaust. Uptake can be further enhanced by cooling or removing water vapor from the exhaust gas; adding a high surface area heat exchanger prior to the adsorption bed accomplishes both, increasing capture to 15 weight %. After establishing the technical feasibility of capturing carbon from HDV, we then explore if HDVCC is a viable and sustainable decarbonization strategy for the transportation sector. Publications addressing MCC claim it is cost-prohibitive because of high mass requirements, often offering direct air capture as a better means of indirectly reducing vehicle emissions. In the economic evaluation, we show that the hypothetical carbon abatement cost of HDVCC is competitive with both stationary carbon capture and battery electric vehicles at ~$100/tCO2 avoided. The environmental impact of HDVCC was explored using an open-source simple climate model, the primary result of which is a range of warming (0.12°C – 0.15°C) that could be avoided if HDVCC is implemented between 2025 and 2040. Finally, a framework for the design of emerging technology was adapted to build an evaluation tool for consumers to compare HDVCC against traditional and electric HDV (using overhead catenary lines). The science and sustainability components encompass a comprehensive assessment of HDVCC, which is found to be a practical, cost-effective, and sustainable approach to mitigating carbon emissions from on-road sources and would ideally be implemented and integrated alongside stationary carbon capture.
... Furthermore, the classification of Eucalyptus clones aims to contribute with to the implantation of more productive energy forests and, consequently, to collaborate with the sustainability of the charcoal and bioenergy production. The use of renewable energies allows the mitigation of problems associated with the high emissions of greenhouse intensifier gases [60], costs reduction, and improvement of energy efficiency [10,61,62]. In 2010, Brazil inaugurated the "Sectorial Plan for Reduction of Emissions from Charcoal Steel Industry" (Steel Industry Plan) with three main objectives: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; avoid the deforestation of native forests, and increase the Brazilian competitiveness of the iron and steel industry in the global context of low carbon economy [63]. ...
Charcoal productivity in brick kilns is controlled by factors such as, the pyrolysis process and kind of raw material, which impose a challenge for the selection of the best clones. This study investigates the tree growth characteristics as a parameter for the improvement of selection and classification of Eucalyptus clones, with the quality and availability required by the steel industry, in addition to the properties of wood and charcoal. Parameters as the diameter at breast height (DBH), total height, and wood basic density (WBD) of fourteen clones were measured. Wood specimens were converted to charcoal in laboratory conditions and the carbonization yields, charcoal properties, and the volume of wood required to produce 1 t of charcoal (specific consumption) were evaluated. Eucalyptus clones with DBH ≥15.1 cm, WBD ≥560 kg/m3, and gravimetric yield ≥35% provided low specific consumption (<5.1 m³/t), increased brick kilns productivity, and resulted in denser charcoals (380 kg/m3). Clones with WBD ≤500 kg/m3 are not recommended for steel charcoal production. The E. urophylla x E. camaldulensis hybrid (clone 1004), E. urophylla (clone 1009), and E. grandis hybrid (clone 1039) highlighted due to the productivity, bioreducer quality, and specific consumption (<5.2 m³/t).
... Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is potentially a powerful climate change mitigation tool, but it is difficult to find company strategies about carbon capture (Wennersten et al., 2015). This could be because taking decisions about carbon management, such as investing in carbon capture at industrial facilities, is a multifaceted challenge for companies requiring a structured decisionmaking approach (Campbell-Arvai et al., 2019). ...
Sweden and Finland have national goals to reach net negative greenhouse gas emissions before mid-century. Achieving these ambitious goals could employ negative emission technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, but it is unclear how this technology could be realized in an energy transition. Sweden and Finland stand out for having a large share of substantial point source emissions of biogenic carbon dioxide, in the production of pulp, heat and power. In the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, Sweden and Finland reported 64% and 51% biogenic emissions, respectively, in facilities emitting over 100 kt of carbon dioxide in 2017, while the corresponding collective figure for all European states in the database is 6%. This qualitative study highlights company actors’ perspectives on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage within a Nordic regional context and explores their perspective on emerging tensions in the energy transition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 of the 24 companies with the largest point sources of biogenic emissions. The results are framed around four emerging tensions regarding bioenergy with carbon capture and storage from companies’ perspectives in this study: (1) absence of reliable long-term policies; (2) limits to companies’ climate change responsibility; (3) technical trade-offs of carbon capture; and (4) lack of customer demands for negative emissions. According to most of the companies, it is technically feasible to capture carbon dioxide, but it could be a challenge to determine who is responsible to create a financially viable business case, to enact supporting policies, and to build transport and storage infrastructure. Company representatives argue that they already contribute to a sustainable society, therefore bioenergy with carbon capture and storage is not their priority without government collaboration. However, they are willing to contribute more and could have an increasing role towards an energy transition in an international context.
... A technological breakdown or the deployment of technologies that capture carbon would be crucial in controlling climate change (Wennersten et al., 2015). ...
A concern with the mitigation of climate change cuts a transversal line across economic agents, epitomized by two contradictory viewpoints. Some defend that green growth can be achieved without harming economic growth; others argue that it is not possible to respect sustainability if intensive consumption of goods continues to foster economic growth. Our research aims to analyze the role that sustainable technology transfer and sustainable innovations play in green growth and ascertain the impact of green growth on economic growth. We use aggregated country-level data provided by the OECD, including national accounts, population, and environment statistics (including patents) between 1990 and 2013 for 32 countries, corresponding to an unbalanced panel of 591 observations. We estimate econometric models based on dynamic panel methodologies to capture differences that exist over time. The results show that sustainable technology transfer and sustainable innovation promote green growth, which in turn positively impacts economic growth. We contribute new insight to the green growth versus economic growth debate and provide several political and management implications.
... On the other hand, there is no wide public acceptance for CCS technology, which increases the difficulty of applying CCS technology at a large scale. 30 There were only 17 large-scale CCS facilities globally in 2018 and they can capture up to 30 mt of CO 2 emissions per year (about 0.08% of global annual emissions). These CCS facilities have already accrued costs of $28 billion during the time period from 2007 to 2017. ...
Cities, contributing more than 75% of global carbon emissions, are at the heart of climate change mitigation. Given cities' heterogeneity, they need specific low-carbon roadmaps instead of one-size-fits-all approaches. Here, we present the most detailed and up-to-date accounts of CO2 emissions for 294 cities in China and examine the extent to which their economic growth was decoupled from emissions. Results show that from 2005 to 2015, only 11% of cities exhibited strong decoupling, whereas 65.6% showed weak decoupling, and 23.4% showed no decoupling. We attribute the economic-emission decoupling in cities to several socioeconomic factors (i.e., structure and size of the economy, emission intensity, and population size) and find that the decline in emission intensity via improvement in production and carbon efficiency (e.g., decarbonizing the energy mix via building a renewable energy system) is the most important one. The experience and status quo of carbon emissions and emission-GDP (gross domestic product) decoupling in Chinese cities may have implications for other developing economies to design low-carbon development pathways.
... Anthropogenic climate change and global warming attributed to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption are becoming more serious and require more urgent actions. 1 Development of adequate control strategies and economically efficient technologies to reduce the emission of CO 2 is a strong requirement if permanent damage to the climate system is to be avoided. Chemical absorption by amine solvents is a robust, matured, and feasible technique that is considered to be the most selective and promising approach among various technologies for CO 2 removal. 2 However, high energy demand for solvent regeneration is a major drawback associated with conventional amine absorbents. ...
... While searching for the most compatible adsorbate to be paired up with activated carbon generated from waste biomass, our previous investigations guide us towards carbon dioxide (Anupam et al. 2011). Although CO 2 is conspicuously responsible for about 77% of greenhouse gas emission with a global mean concentration close to 400 ppm according to the recent IPCC reports (Wennersten et al. 2015), storage limitation of CCS technology has opened up the sustainable routes for its equitable utilization (Rahman et al. 2017). On environmental front, it is a least harmful gas bearing with zero ozone layer depletion potential and negligible global warming potential. ...
The notable environmental concerns of the halogen-containing obnoxious conventional refrigerants have grounded to devise the environmentally benign and efficient cooling system. In view of this alarming issue, an experimental model cooling system based on pressure swing adsorption–desorption (PSAD) mechanism has been contrived for its performance assessment and analysis of isotherm modeling. The physicochemical properties of the wood apple (Limonia acidissima) shell-derived carbonized char are enhanced by multi-stage activation to obtain two activated carbon granular adsorbents viz. PCACG and ACG towards their application in the proposed system. The performance indicative microporous characteristics of the adsorbents are investigated, and it is observed that the indigenously prepared activated carbon possesses high surface area, i.e., 1065 m² gm⁻¹ and 1023 m² gm ⁻¹ for PCACG and ACG, respectively. Carbon dioxide and bio-precursor–based adsorbents are used as adsorbent–adsorbate pair in the developed single-bed cooling system. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the cooling system are computed to be 4.93 and 2.79 utilizing PCACG and ACG, respectively while the cooling effects are quantified as 146.26 J s ⁻¹ and 128.48 J s⁻¹.Besides, the CO2 gas adsorption mechanism onto solid adsorbent surfaces has been interpreted by Langmuir, Dubinin-Raduskevich (D-R), and Dubinin-Astakhov (D-A) isotherm models. Among them, D-A isotherm has accurately predicted the adsorption mechanism of carbon dioxide on to adsorbent. Importantly, the cost estimation of preparing PCACG and ACG exhibited the cost-effectiveness for their successful application. Based on their comparative characteristics, it is observed that the PCACG adsorbent is more energy efficient than ACG in the long run.
... Increasing demand for energy and concerns about the environment stimulate the growth in renewable energy [1]. According to the IRENA's statistics [2], the world's total installed capacity of renewable energy increased from 1136 GW in 2009 to 2351 GW in 2018. ...
High uncertainty and large fluctuation of variable renewable energy create enormous challenges to planning and operation of integrated energy systems. To overcome these problems, this paper proposed an improved min-max dispatching method. In the meantime, a control algorithm for short-term power dispatching was proposed and implemented to smoothen the power dispatching between two neighboring dispatching intervals. The improved min-max dispatching method was applied to a 1 kW experimental PV system with real-time data. The optimal capacity of the battery energy storage system obtained by the improved min-max method is 40% smaller than the volume obtained by the modified min-max method. Regarding the operation of the BESS, the average depth of discharge is 0.5988, which is 7.06% higher than the operation performance with the alternative dispatching method. The results clearly indicate that improved min-max dispatching method is a very effective approach for managing grid-connected integrated energy systems and promoting penetration of variable renewable energies.
... Keller [21] mentioned that up to 90% of domestic productivity growth for most countries is supplied from foreign sources through technology transfer. Using the technological advances or technologies that absorb carbon dioxide is necessary for controlling climate changes [22,23]. Grosman and Kreuger [24] studied the relationship between air pollution and economic growth empirically. ...
Sustainable economic growth and identifying factors affecting it are among the important issues which have always received attention from researchers of different countries. Accordingly, one of the factors affecting economic growth, which has received attention from researchers in the developed countries over recent years, is the issue of environmental technologies that enter the economic cycle of other countries after being patented through technology transfer. The current research investigated the role of the environment-related patents and the effects of the patented technological innovations compatible with climate change mitigation on the economic growth and development in the Middle East countries within a specific time period. The required data were gathered from the valid global databases, including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank and have been analyzed using multi-linear regression methods and econometric models with Eviews 10 software. The obtained results with 95% confidence level show that the environmental patents (β = 0.02) and environment management (β = 0.04) and technologies related to the climate change mitigation (β = 0.02) have a significant positive impact on the sustainable economic development and growth rate in the studied countries. Such a study helps innovators and policymakers in policy decisions related to sustainable development programs from the perspective of environmentally friendly technologies by demonstrating the role of patents in three important environmental areas, namely environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation, as one of the factors influencing sustainable economic growth.
... Based on Table 1, the stakeholder perceptions on CCS technology deployment, by and large, converge to an almost similar focus, related to the consequential outcomes of the technology with respect to economic, environmental, social, legislative, and technological issues. To further elaborate on some of the issues highlighted in Table 1, Wennersten et al. [36] stressed the importance of the economic and social aspects of the technology. As an example, a CCS project in Western Finland was suspended due to insufficient financial support [37]. ...
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology deployment in developing Asian countries largely depends on public acceptance, which is highly dependent on the stakeholders involved in CCS. This paper illuminates how stakeholder issues could be strategically managed in the deployment of CCS, in a manner customized to such developing countries. Based on the input from 28 stakeholders of various interests and nationalities (i.e., from China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia), this study applies Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and MICMAC analysis, in order to develop a management model to address stakeholder issues regarding the deployment of CCS. Our findings revealed eight legislative issues, four social issues, three economic issues, five technological issues, and five environmental management issues. The model revealed that legislative issues, such as those relating to CO2 definition, licensing, land acquisition framework, and expertise, should be managed prior to other issues, that is, in the early stage of CCS deployment. Addressing environmental issues related to promoting public awareness and perception of CCS benefits are among the key drivers in deploying CCS. The study may serve as a reference for CCS deployment in developing Asian countries.
... CCS could serve as an emergent solution to reduce emissions in the near future as we transit towards more efficient energy systems and more sustainable energy sources. In the longer term, we could transform our societal metabolism towards greater resource efficiency, where renewables can play a more important role (Wennersten et al., 2015). ...
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the key technologies and measures for the energy transition towards achieving the climate targets. Accounting for the high uncertainty, risks, and irreversibility of CCS projects, a growing number of studies apply the real options (RO) approaches which allow flexibility in the valuation of uncertain investment. Various RO models and valuation techniques are adopted and the critical analysis of the research trends and research hotspots in RO designs in CCS investments has not been made yet. This study employs a bibliometric analysis to examine the features of CCS literature including the research focus and trends as well RO uncertainty and models, types of options, and valuation techniques. The results present a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art which provides researchers a concrete basis for future research and directions for further development. This further provides energy and environmental policymakers and CCS project planners with valuable insights on various aspects of CCS policy and project design.
... This technology is needed to turn the grey hydrogen in to blue one by capturing the resulting CO 2 and thus preventing its emission into atmosphere. However, CCS comes with its own socio-ethical background of safety risks (Wennersten et al. 2015) and social resistance to these risks (L'Orange Seigo et al. 2014). Additionally, for countries that do not have large in house fossil fuels resources, the price of the main resource is projected to rise in the coming decades. ...
Traditional approaches to conflict are oriented towards establishing (or re-establishing) consensus, either in the form of a resolution of the conflict or in the form of an 'agree-to-disagree' standstill between the stakeholders. In this paper, we criticize these traditional approaches, each for specific reasons, and we propose and develop the agonistic approach to conflict. Based on Chantal Mouffe's agonistic democratic theory, the agonistic approach to conflict is more welcoming of dissensus, replacing discussion stoppers with discussion starters and replacing standstills with contestation. We illustrate such replacements and develop this approach, we analyse technological conflicts in a concrete R&D setting: the global hydrogen economy. From this context, we focus on the conflict between the proponents of blue hydrogen (drawn from fossil fuels) and those of green hydrogen (created through electrolysis). We conclude by highlighting the advantage of the agonistic approach but also drawing attention to its own specific risk, namely, antagonism.
... Latest global CO2 level recorded 411.35 ppm on May 2019 with an average yearly increase approximately 3 ppm/year compared to May 2018 was at 408.72 ppm [1]. These levels of atmospheric CO2 concentration are far from recommended CO2 level of 350 ppm [2]. Thus, the necessity of technologies in CO2 capture to adsorb, regenerate and utilize the abundance carbon source by converting to precious materials such as methane and hydrogen gases. ...
Surface modification of Fe2O3 by adding BeO was synthesized and calcined at different temperatures of 200-600 °C. The adsorbents were characterized by using XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm prior to performing CO2 adsorption and desorption studies. The CO2 adsorption data were analyzed using adsorption isotherm models such as Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich. BeO/Fe2O3-300 that calcined at 300 °C showed the most efficient adsorbent with physisorption and chemisorption were measured at 5.85 and 45.88 mg/g respectively. The CO2 adsorption notably best fitted with Freundlich isotherm with R 2 = 0.9897 and calculated adsorption capacity closest to experimental data. This implies the CO2 adsorption process was governed by multilayer adsorption on the heterogeneous surface of the adsorbent. The mean free energy of adsorption (E=3.536 kJ/mol) from Dubinin-Radushkevich and heat of adsorption (bT=3.219 kJ/mol) from the Temkin model support that the adsorption process is physical phenomena.
... Hence the environmental problems will become more serious. If the emission of CO 2 remains uncontrolled, the concentration of CO 2 may reach 500 ppm and 800 ppm by 2050 and 2100, respectively (Wennersten et al., 2015). To overcome this intractable problem, reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is a priority. ...
Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is the technology with the greatest potential to decrease the content of CO2 in the atmosphere, which is the main contributor to global warming and can result in a significant number of environmental problems. The transportation of CO2 is the most important node in the CCUS chain and a pipeline is an economical and efficient means of transportation. In the process of CO2 pipeline building, a certain amount of venting devices should be installed to prevent overpressure of the main pipeline and allow for overhaul of the main pipeline. Hence it is necessary to obtain the characteristics of CO2 inside the venting pipe during the venting process in order to maintain the safety of both the venting pipe and the main pipeline during release. In this study, two 2 m long venting pipes were connected by valves and installed on an industrial-scale pipeline. Two group venting experiments were carried out with two different openings of the valve. Industrial-scale experiment apparatus was used to obtain crucial data and get results closer to an actual industrial setting. During the experiments the evolution of the temperature and the pressure of the CO2 were measured. Based on the pressure and temperature data, the differences of the phase transition of the CO2 in the two experiments were compared. No dry ice was generated inside the pipe during the experiments. A throttling effect was generated in one group experiment but not in the other. In addition, the evolution trend of the Joule–Thomson coefficient was discussed. During the whole venting process, the wall temperature was obtained and the Nusselt number was selected as a parameter to discuss the process of heat transfer between the CO2 and the pipeline wall.
... These factor can be grouped into follows: 1) clear and accepted definitions of technical features (e.g., open or closed boundary conditions, well fields and well structure, pressure buildup management technologies, site operating strategy, geological setting, and others); 2) detail levels of site characterization and data quality (data types and resolution) used; 3) recognition and proper use of trapping mechanisms at specific temporal and spatial scales; 4) consistent methodologies with consistent storage efficiency coefficients; 5) algorithms and analysis tools integrating data of site characterization; 6) capacity at various spatial and temporal scales, such as country, basin, and site scales, and various temporal scales such as different period of site operating, post-closure, long-term fate of thousands of years (Szulczewski et al., 2012); 7) capacity with economic characteristics (Eccles et al., 2009); 8) applicable capacity satisfying regulation and legislation constraints, such as maximum pressure for CO 2 injection, coverage of minerals in various geological formations, and area of interest, which is the areal coverage of the subsurface volume permitted by the administrative system for CO 2 injection; 9) recognition that storage capacity estimates vary with the emergence of new available data and technologies, contradictions with any commodity, and economic, regulatory and legislative conditions, thereby affecting the uncertainty information Gorecki et al., 2009c;Wennersten et al., 2015;Höller and Viebahn, 2016). Furthermore, affordable, applicable or actual capacity depends not only on the subsurface geological characteristics but also on important geographic and non-geological factors, such as technical schemes, legislative and regulatory requirements, social and economic factors, the proximity of source and sink, incentive policies, and other supportive policies (Gorecki et al., 2009a;Szulczewski et al., 2012;Bachu, 2015). ...
Carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in deep saline aquifers is a vital option for CO2 mitigation at a large scale. Determining storage capacity is one of the crucial steps toward large-scale deployment of CO2 storage. Results of capacity assessments tend toward a consensus that sufficient resources are available in saline aquifers in many parts of the world. However, current CO2 capacity assessments involve significant inconsistencies and uncertainties caused by various technical assumptions, storage mechanisms considered, algorithms, and data types and resolutions. Furthermore, other constraint factors (such as techno-economic features, site suitability, risk, regulation, social-economic situation, and policies) significantly affect the storage capacity assessment results. Consequently, a consensus capacity classification system and assessment method should be capable of classifying the capacity type or even more related uncertainties. We present a hierarchical framework of CO2 capacity to define the capacity types based on the various factors, algorithms, and datasets. Finally, a review of onshore CO2 aquifer storage capacity assessments in China is presented as examples to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed hierarchical framework.
... In the last ten years, carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) has been among the most important measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate warming (Wennersten et al., 2015). Pipeline transportation is cost-effective and does not limit environmental protection. ...
During the transportation of high-pressure liquefied CO2, the CO2 may be in a gas-liquid equilibrium state (GLE) in the pipeline due to the harsh environment or the sudden opening and closing of the source valve. Research on the transient decompression characteristics of CO2 under various conditions is helpful to improve the prediction accuracy of pipeline cracks and the establishment of far-field models of CO2 leakage to improve accurate boundary conditions. In this paper, a nonequilibrium liquid-gas phase transition decompression model is established, and the Span-Wagner equation of state (S-W EoS) and Lee model are embedded to accurately predict the thermophysical properties of CO2. Then, the simulation results obtained by the decompression model established in this paper are compared with the experimental data and the prediction results of decompression models used by other scholars for verification. The results showed that the predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental data. Finally, the effects of the initial flow velocity and phase slip on CO2 decompression characteristics are studied. The phase slip has a minor effect on the CO2 transient behaviours, but the initial flow velocity has significant effects on the CO2 decompression characteristics inside and outside the pipeline. In addition, it was found that the decompression wave speed in downstream pipeline was relatively faster, and the pressure plateau value was lower.
... Increasing demand for energy and concerns about climate change stimulate the growth in renewable energy [1]. According to the IRENA's statistics [2], the world's total installed capacity of renewable energy increased from 1,223,533 MW in 2010 to 2,532,866 MW in 2019, and over 80% of the world's electricity could be supplied by renewable sources by 2050. ...
Given the urgency of climate change mitigation, it is crucial to increase the practical utilization of renewable energy. However, high uncertainty and large fluctuation of variable renewable energy create enormous challenges to increasing the penetration of renewable energy. Various energy storage technologies have been applied to renewable energy to handle the fluctuation and uncertainty problem. To enrich the knowledge about the effects of energy storage technologies, this paper performs a comprehensive overview of the applications of various energy storage technologies and evaluates their capabilities of mitigating the fluctuation and uncertainty of renewable energy. The main techno-economic characteristics of the energy storage technologies, including: super-conducting magnetic energy storage, flywheel energy storage, redox flow batteries, compressed air energy storage, pump hydro storage and lithium-ion batteries, are analyzed. Moreover, supercapacitor storage, sodium‑sulfur batteries, lead-acid batteries and nickel‑cadmium batteries are also discussed in this study.
... To obtain clean energy from coal fired thermal plants, CCT (which improves the efficiency of plant thereby; less carbon is burnt per MW) is adopted together with CCS whereby most of the CO 2 is not released to the atmosphere. The techno economics of CCT [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] is well understood because the capital outlay on CCT is directly linked with increased generation per ton of carbon burnt. ...
This paper gives insight into the different technological and economical factors playing a role in the development of clean energy from coal based thermal power plants. Although, the world is slowly transiting towards the renewable energy format from the conventional fossil-fuel format, existing thermal power plants are still dependent on the supply of coal for fuelling them. Clean coal technologies have been incorporated to reduce the carbon footprint of these power plants. This study assumes significance for the reason that economics plays a major role in the technological evolution of the coal based thermal power plants.
... The 2015 Paris Agreement set the path for the world to reduce anthropogenic CO 2 emissions to try to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 • C (IPCC, 2018;UNFCCC, 2015). This goal cannot be achieved without the capture and subsequent storage of CO 2 (Carbon Capture and Storage: CCS) from fossil fuel-fired power stations and industrial sources, such as steel manufacturing, cement works and petrochemical refineries, or the unlikely short-term cessation of these activities Bui et al., 2018;Haszeldine et al., 2018;Wennersten et al., 2015). Additionally, other low-carbon technologies that can assist in reducing CO 2 emissions, such as the generation and storage of hydrogen, direct air capture or bioenergy with CCS, rely on safe permanent CO 2 storage (Alcalde et al., 2018c;Heinemann et al., 2019;Mander et al., 2017;Sanz-Pérez et al., 2016). ...
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is an essential tool in the fight against climate change. Any prospective storage site must meet various criteria that ensure the effectiveness, safety and economic viability of the storage operations. Finding the most suitable site for the storage of the captured CO2 is an essential part of the CCS chain of activity. This work addresses the site selection of a second site for the Acorn CCS project, a project designed to develop a scalable, full-chain CCS project in the North Sea (offshore northeast Scotland). This secondary site has been designed to serve as a backup and upscaling option for the Acorn Site, and has to satisfy pivotal project requirements such as low cost and high storage potential. The methodology followed included the filtering of 113 input sites from the UK CO2Stored database, according to general and project-specific criteria in a multi-staged approach. This criteria-driven workflow allowed for an early filtering out of the less suitable sites, followed by a more comprehensive comparison and ranking of the 15 most suitable sites. A due diligence assessment was conducted of the top six shortlisted sites to produce detailed assessment of their storage properties and suitability, including new geological interpretation and capacity calculations for each site. With the new knowledge generated during this process, a critical comparison of the sites led to selection of East Mey as the most suitable site, due to its outstanding storage characteristics and long-lasting hydrocarbon-production history, that ensure excellent data availability to risk-assess storage structures. A workshop session was held to present methods and results to independent stakeholders; feedback informed the final selection criteria. This paper provides an example of a criteria-driven approach to site selection that can be applied elsewhere.
... Carbon tax and limit were also included in Wennersten et al. (2015) supply chain, and a responsible structure was built to limit overall carbon emissions. Multiple-delivery strategy was explored by Rickards et al. (2014) instead of prior fixed carbon costs. ...
As a response to the topic of how financial stability might be used to effectively finance for the mitigation of climate change and climate risks, it is important to look at the carbon risk that is still present in G-5 nations. The goal of our research is to determine the impact of financial stability on climate risk in order to effectively manage climate mitigation efforts. A technique called GMM is used to achieve this goal. Climate change mitigation was found to be substantial at 18 percent, while financial stability and carbon hazards were found significant at 21 percent, according to the conclusions of the study. Furthermore, the G-5 countries’ 19.5% correlation between financial stability and emissions drift, which raises climate change concerns, is noteworthy. In order to implement green economic recovery methods, one of the most strongly regarded approaches to mitigating climate change and ensuring long-term financial potential at the national scale, a country’s financial stability is required. The research on green economic expansion also offers the associated stakeholders with detailed policy implications on this relevance.
... Success of a CCS project is also linked to public perception of its capability to become a potential instrument to decrease carbon emissions at an industrial scale (IPCC, 2014; IEA, 2013). Alongside economic and regulatory criteria, public acceptance of CCS is an important precondition for its implementation (RCUK, 2010;Wennersten et al., 2015;van Alphen et al., 2007). Public concerns about CCS do not usually discriminate between types of geological CO 2 storage, yet it is important to understand and address successfully the concerns at an early stage at each specific site. ...
Capture and subsurface storage of CO2 is widely viewed as being a necessary component of any strategy to minimise and control the continued increase in average global temperatures. Existing oil and gas reservoirs can be re-used for carbon storage, providing a substantial fraction of the vast amounts of subsurface storage space that will be required for the implementation of carbon storage at an industrial scale. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) in depleted reservoirs aims to ensure subsurface containment, both to satisfy safety considerations, and to provide confidence that the containment will continue over the necessary timescales. Other technical issues that need to be addressed include the risk of unintended subsurface events, such as induced seismicity. Minimisation of these risks is key to building confidence in CCS technology, both in relation to financing/liability, and the development and maintenance of public acceptance. These factors may be of particular importance with regard to CCS projects involving depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, where the mechanical effects of production activities must also be considered. Given the importance of caprock behaviour in this context, several previously published geomechanical caprock studies of depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs are identified and reviewed, comprising experimental and numerical studies of fourteen CCS pilot sites in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, in seven countries (Algeria, Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, UK). Particular emphasis is placed on the amount and types of data collected, the mathematical methods and codes used to conduct geomechanical analysis, and the relationship between geomechanical aspects and public perception. Sound geomechanical assessment, acting to help minimise operational and financial/liability risks, and the careful recognition of the impact of public perception are two key factors that can contribute to the development of a successful CCS project in a depleted hydrocarbon reservoir.
... (2) The model p-value for CO 2 removal efficiency, CO 2 loading, and N CO 2 were less than 0.05 and that points all three models are significant. And also, the model F-value for these three absorption performances were 12.80, 1193.38, and 96.62, respectively, and it indicates only less than 0.01% probability that this large amount of Fvalue may occur because of noise. ...
The present work evaluates and optimizes CO2 absorption in a bubble column for the Pz-H2O–CO2 system. We analyzed the impact of the different operating conditions on the hydrodynamic and mass-transfer performance. For the optimization of the process, variable conditions were used in the multivariate statistical method of response surface methodology. The central composite design is used to characterize the operating condition to fit the models by the least-squares method. The experimental data were fitted to quadratic equations using multiple regressions and analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). An approved experiment was carried out to analyze the correctness of the optimization method, and a maximum CO2 removal efficiency of 97.9%, an absorption rate of 3.12 g/min, an NCO2 of 0.0164 mol/m²·s, and a CO2 loading of 0.258 mol/mol were obtained under the optimized conditions. Our results suggest that Pz concentration, solution flow rate, CO2 flow rate, and speed of stirrer were obtained to be 0.162 M, 0.502 l/h, 2.199 l/min, and 68.89 rpm, respectively, based on the optimal conditions. The p-value for all dependent variables was less than 0.05, and that points that all three models were remarkable. In addition, the experiment values acquired for the CO2 capture were found to agree satisfactorily with the model values (R² = 0.944–0.999).
... A major consequence of fossil fuels combustion is that the generated greenhouse gases (GHGs), especially carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), would trap heat in the atmosphere, causing the rise of global temperature and climate change. It is reported that CO 2 concentration in atmosphere has reached up to 409 ppm in 2019 and this increasing trend will continue and rise to 450 ppm in 2035 (Ahmed et al., 2020); however, the general consensus among researchers is that the CO 2 concentration should be below 350 ppm to keep a safe level (Wennersten et al., 2015). ...
Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is widely recognized as a promising mitigation technology that would significantly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. This study develops an optimization-based framework for the deployment of CCUS supply chain with economic and environmental concerns. The overall supply chain is optimized based on superstructure method over a 20 years’ time horizon to provide the location and scale of capture and sequestration sites as well as the most efficient CO2 transport routes capable of meeting the reduction target. The resulting problem is a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem, whose objectives include minimizing total annual cost and environmental impact. The environmental impact is measured by Global Warming Potential (GWP) imposed by the supply chain operation and quantified according to the principles of Life cycle assessment (LCA). ε-constraint method is implemented to solve the resultant multi-objective model. A realistic case study that addresses the optimal design of the CCUS supply chain needed to meet the reduction target in Northeast China is studied to demonstrate the application of the proposed model. Results obtained provides valuable insights into the addressed problem and guides the decision-maker to adopt more sustainable alternatives in the deployment of CCUS.
The structure of photoreactors plays a key role in the photocatalysis by affecting the catalyst loading, mass and light transport properties. Nowadays it has become increasingly important to investigate the hydrodynamic and photocatalytic performances of photoreactors by computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method, thanks to its less cost and more steerable conditions. However, only a limited number of reports about CFD modeling of the packing bed photoreactors were presented because the unstructured substrates are difficult to reconstruct. In this paper, the bed generation technology and relevant hydrodynamic model, reaction kinetic model, and irradiation transport model of packing bed photoreactors are systematically reviewed and analyzed. The deficiency and the required modification of different CFD coupling strategies with the simulations of packing bed photoreactors are presented. The effects of temperature and local light intensity on the kinetic models and modified kinetic equations are summarized. This work may bridge the knowledge gap between the unstructured geometry generation technologies and the CFD simulations of packing bed photoreactors to promote the development/commercialization of the photocatalysis radically.
To address the uneven demand and supply of energy, renewable sources of energy and effective conversion/storage technologies are adopted. For instance, technologies like thermal energy storage (TES) are important in energy storage for impending utilization. The application of stored thermal energy spans from providing thermal coziness, enhancing energy conservation, increasing electronic operations, and so on. Waste heat from burning fuel can be captured and would involve a change of the industrial infrastructures. Moreover, the accessibility of solar irradiation, a sustainable source of thermal energy is unpredictable as it is dependent on the latitude and the local incident of solar radiation. To remedy such situations, the TES system is used during off-hours. TES in the form of latent heat storage (LHS) depend on storing heat at a constant temperature during phase change. This requires the use of organic phase change materials (PCM) and since they change from solid to liquid state. These materials need containers to be protected against loss, corrosion, and reaction with the surroundings. PCM materials are encapsulated in solar energy absorbents for protection and photothermal conversion.
The present work is based on the fabrication of graphene oxide (GO) modified microPCMs for photothermal conversion and storage using a sustainable Pickering emulsion templating technique. As the efficiency of microPCMs is anchored on its reliability, which is predominantly based on thermal stability and leakage prevention among other properties, there is a need to improve and maintain this via encapsulation. Therefore, we applied GO and regenerated chitin (RCh) as Pickering emulsion stabilizers to fabricate thermal stable GO modified microPCMs with efficient photothermal conversion performance and thermal storage.
In the first part of the study, Pickering emulsion technique was used to synthesize thermal stable microPCMs with GO as the colloidal stabilizer, paraffin (n-eicosane) as the PCM and Polyurea (PUA) as the shell. Accordingly, GO modified microPCM (GO@PUA mPCM) were prepared at different GO emulsion concentrations (1, 2, 4 and 8 g/L) via in situ polymerization. These microcapsules exhibited good thermal properties with high thermal storage of up to 70% that of pure paraffin (180 J/g), had leakage prevention ability at higher GO content, good thermal reliability after 100 heating and cooling cycles, and high solar harvesting capacity with efficient photothermal conversion performance. These properties improved with an increase in GO concentration, and 8 g/L GO concentration gave rise to the best microPCMs.
In the second part, subsequent effort to yield super high energy storage microPCMs was realized via the use of bio-derived and sustainable regenerated Chitin (RCh) from shrimp shell as an excellent Pickering stabilizer and GO as the photon captor. By using 0.1% w/w RCh as the Pickering emulsifier and 0.1% w/w GO to modify the microPCM, a 92.3% encapsulation/energy storage efficiency was achieved. The microPCM stored up to 234.7 J/g heat energy, was leak-proof, thermally reliable over 50 heating and cooling cycles with efficient photothermal conversion performance. Therefore, this versatile green process can be embraced to fabricate highly efficient and reliable PCM microcapsules for diverse applications including solar energy harvesting.
KEYWORDS: Pickering emulsion, Graphene oxide, Regenerated chitin, MicroPCM, Photothermal conversion
Glutamate was identified as a compatible solute for Sulfurovum lithotrophicum 42BKTT, which is a marine chemolithoautotrophic bacterium and performs CO2 fixation through the reductive tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. In a medium of 20 g/L or higher concentration of NaCl, sufficient to induce osmotic stress, the intracellular level of glutamate rapidly increased on exposure to high levels of NaHCO3. Correlation of the glutamate accumulation with the level of NaHCO3 was determined and compared to that with the level of NaCl. Glutamate synthesis driven by NaHCO3 was measured at 1.29 mg Glu/mg protein/(Osmol/L), and 18.4 times higher than that driven by NaCl (0.07 mg Glu/mg protein/(Osmol/L)). Thus, the synthesis of glutamate from 2-oxoglutarate, which is the first product of CO2 assimilation in the reductive TCA cycle, was triggered at the exposure to the high level of NaHCO3 and appeared to support S. lithotrophicum 42BKTT via resistance to osmotic stress and CO2 toxicity.
The rising level of greenhouse gases emissions which has contributed to the global climate change is one of the major concerns of environmental advocates. In this regard, developing adsorbents from low cost and renewable resources is an attractive strategy. On the other hand, the high capacity of production rate of municipal solid waste, beside a large amount of methane emissions, is the origin of several eco‐systemic challenges. In this study, the combination of two environmental problems has been considered by introducing the derived compost from a mechanical biological treatment of municipal solid wastes as a low cost source of adsorbent for CO2 capture. The obtained compost was thermally (at 400 0C and 800 0C) and chemically (with sulfuric acid) activated. Then, the CO2 adsorption capacities of prepared samples were evaluated at 40 0C and 1‐5 bar. The results showed the samples prepared sequentially with sulfuric acid and heated at 800 ºC (CMSW‐S‐800) and reverse order (CMSW‐800‐S) have the highest uptake capacities and comparable with the available commercial adsorbents. After that, the statistical analysis of obtained results with these samples was performed by central composite design of response surface methodology.
The energy supply sector is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. A good understanding of energy systems from existing research will provide multidimensional insights for appropriate actions against global warming. This study conducts a systematic review of the literature covering 1,184 articles on energy issues dealing with climate change mitigation. Using a novel hand-coding typology analysis, we characterize the body of knowledge and identify possible research gaps according to the heterogeneity of the energy process, time scale, geographic location, energy technology, and concerned end-use sector. We find that research interest mainly focuses on the energy supply (496 papers) and the end-use process (359 papers). Energy storage and the energy–water–land nexus are two emerging areas. Biomass, solar, wind, and nuclear energy are the technologies that attract the most attention, while interest in hydrogen energy production and waste-to-energy has grown very recently. The cost-benefit and mitigation potential of renewable generation are the most studied topics, followed by the impacts of climate change on electricity production. In contrast, little attention is paid to research on traditional oil and gas exploration. Regarding the end-use sector, residents and transport are the most evident sectors studied. China, the United States, and Europe are the most featured regions while very few studies focus on Africa, South America, and Small Island Developing States. Current research topics concentrate on how to maximize the co-benefit of greenhouse gas mitigation and eco-environment protection via cost-benefit reinventions of energy systems. Discussions of technological innovation are grounded in optimal technology portfolio deployment and cost reduction potential, along with financial and political incentives.
Two new entangled Cu(II)-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been synthesized, namely [Cu(BDC)(BPDB)0.5]n (PNU-25) and [Cu(NH2-BDC)(BPDB)0.5]n (PNU-25-NH2), using a H2O-MeOH solvent mixture. Both the PNU-25 and PNU-25-NH2 MOF materials were characterized by various analytical techniques and their catalytic potential of CO2 fixation into cyclic carbonates at an atmospheric pressure, a low reaction temperature, and in the neat conditions were demonstrated. The amine-functionalized PNU-25-NH2 exhibited a significant high conversion of epichlorohydrin (ECH) at the 1 bar of CO2 pressure, at 55 °C, and a moderate catalyst amount (1 mol%), with over 99% selectivity toward the corresponding cyclic carbonate of ECH. The superior catalytic activity of PNU-25-NH2 may be attributed to its high amount of acidic-basic sites and large BET surface area in comparison with the PNU-25. The PNU-25-NH2 catalyst could be reused up to four cycles without compromising its structural integrity and the ECH conversion. The reaction mechanism of CO2 and ECH cycloaddition reaction mediated by the PNU-25-NH2 was investigated in detail based on the experimental inferences and periodic calculations of density functional theory (DFT). The energy barrier of the rate-determining step of the PNU-25-NH2/TBAB-catalyzed reaction was significantly lower than those of the rate-determining steps of un-catalyzed and TBAB-catalyzed reactions.
Penggunaan batubara sebagai bahan bakar pembangkit energi listrik menimbulkan masalah berupa emisi gas CO2. Peningkatan konsentrasi CO2 di atmosfer mengalami peningkatan yang cukup signifikan dalam 10 tahun terakhir dan berdampak pada perubahan iklim. Teknologi Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) merupakan salah satu teknologi yang dapat digunakan dalam upaya mengurangi emisi gas buang CO2. Secara garis besar terdapat tiga proses dari teknologi CCS, yaitu proses penangkapan CO2 yang dihasilkan oleh industri, proses pengangkutan ke lokasi penyimpanan, dan proses penyimpanan. Lokasi yang mungkin dijadikan tempat untuk menyimpan CO2 adalah di bawah permukaan bumi dan di lautan dalam. Gas CO2 diinjeksikan di bawah lapisan batu yang padat di bawah permukaan bumi sehingga CO2 dapat disimpan dalam jangka waktu yang lama dan tidak kembali ke atmosfer. Teknologi CCS dapat menyerap CO2 hingga 95%. Namun terdapat beberapa kendala dalam penerapan teknologi CCS pada skala besar, yaitu tidak ekonomis karena biaya untuk menghasilkan listrik meningkat hingga 91% dan kurangnya dukungan dari publik karena belum ditemukan solusi yang memuaskan untuk mengatasi kebocoran CO2 yang mungkin terjadi.
Climate change has become one of the main challenges of 21st century, and the rising level of CO2 is considered as the main source of this problem. Although greenhouse gases such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons have a much greater effect than CO2, the latter is still responsible for 70% of global warming. In this way, carbon capture and storage technology has emerged as a combination of several processes to manage this problem and reduce the CO2 emissions. In this way, several adsorbents have been considered for CO2 capture, while every one of these sorbents has different benefits and some drawbacks; carbon-based materials, due to their hydrophobicity character and easy to handle, are among the most popular ones. On the other hand, biomass-derived activated carbons owing to their low-cost of synthesis, high uptake capacity, hydrophobicity character, and abundant resources have attracted much attention, in recent years.
The chapter is about Carbon sequestration process and its mechanism in microalgae and its use in biofuel production and lipid generation.
To limit global warming, the use of carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) is considered to be of major importance. In addition to the technical–economic, ecological and political aspects, the question of social acceptance is a decisive factor for the implementation of such low-carbon technologies. This study is the first literature review addressing the acceptance of industrial CCS (iCCS). In contrast to electricity generation, the technical options for large-scale reduction of CO2 emissions in the energy-intensive industry sector are not sufficient to achieve the targeted GHG neutrality in the industrial sector without the use of CCS. Therefore, it will be crucial to determine which factors influence the acceptance of iCCS and how these findings can be used for policy and industry decision-making processes. The results show that there has been limited research on the acceptance of iCCS. In addition, the study highlights some important differences between the acceptance of iCCS and CCS. Due to the technical diversity of future iCCS applications, future acceptance research must be able to better address the complexity of the research subject.
In the last few years, greenhouse gases (GHGs) have accumulated in the atmosphere at an alarming rate due to frequent industrial and manufacturing activities. As a result, global warming is being aggravated and hugely undermining the sustainable development of many societies. Technologies to mitigate climate change have spurred in recent years. In this chapter, the sequestration processes of GHGs are reviewed, in which the postcombustion capture and chemical looping systems are highlighted. The captured GHGs exhibit great potential for conversion into bioproducts with high market/economic value. The chemistry of GHG mitigation is also discussed along with the role of inorganic compounds and metals in mitigating GHG emissions. The importance of naturally occurring, low-cost materials and nanomaterials for reducing GHG emissions was elaborated. Besides, the model developed for GHG mitigation is presented. Future work on GHG mitigation is discussed in detail as well as possible current challenges such as economic analysis.
Diatoms are among the opaquest photosynthetic microorganism found in oceans, rivers, and freshwaters. They play a major role in reducing global warming as they fix more than 25% of atmospheric carbon di oxide (CO2). They are a reservoir of untapped potential with the multifaceted application including CO2 mitigation, play a vital role in the aquatic food web as primary producers, and wastewater remediation by quenching pollutants originating from diverse sources such as industries, agricultural, and human sources. Despite their abundance and diversity in nature, only a few species are currently used for biotechnological applications. Diatom biorefinery has gained importance in recent years as more and more algae are identified and explored as a source for lipids, pigments, and other biomolecules. In this chapter, the role of diatom biorefinery has been elaborated extensively displaying the potential of diatoms in carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation, lipid production for biofuel, nutraceutical potential, and development of new-age drug molecules for therapeutic applications.
The transformation of carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuels and chemicals is an interesting topic, which has been paid much attention in recent years. The materials with specific functionalities are highly required for CO2 capture and conversion, which have been widely investigated. As an emerging material platform, porous organic polymers (POPs) have attracted considerable scientific interest due to their distinctive properties such as tailorable functionalization, large surface areas, adjustable porosity, versatile polymerizations, good physicochemical and thermal stability. Our group focuses on designing and synthesizing POPs via introducing CO2-philic groups and organic ligands into the skeletons of the polymers and immoblizing metal active species onto their surface, and a series of POPs with functional groups, such as azo, Tröger's base, fluorine, phenolic –OH, etc, have been prepared for CO2 transformation. In this review article, we mainly introduce our recent work on design of POPs-based catalysts for CO2 transformation, which include POPs-based catalysts for cycloaddition reactions of epoxides and propargylic alcohols with CO2, for reductive transformation of CO2 with H2, and for photocatalytic reduction of CO2. In addition, the perspectives of the POP-based catalysts for CO2 transformation will be discussed as well.
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.
The power sector is increasingly relying on variable renewable energy sources (VRE) whose share in energy production is expected to further increase. A key challenge for adopting these energy sources is their high integration costs. Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and data-intensive technologies are already used in different parts of the electricity value chain and, due to the growing complexity and data generation potential of the future smart grid, have the potential to create significant value in the system. However, different uncertainties or lack of understanding about its impact often hinder the commitment of decision makers to invest in AI and data intensive technologies, also in the energy sector. While previous work has outlined a number of ways AI solutions can be used in the power sector, the goal of this article is to consider the value creation potential of AI in terms of managing VRE integration costs. We use an economic model of variable renewable integration cost from the literature to present a systematic review of how AI can decrease substantial integration costs. We review a number of use cases and discuss challenges estimating the value creation of AI solutions in the power sector.
As a common CO2 separation membrane material, polyethylene glycol (PEG) with ether oxygen groups shows high dissolution selectivity to CO2. However, high molecular weight PEG has strong crystallinity, resulting in low gas flux, while the low molecular weight PEG has poor mechanical properties. Block copolymers containing PEG segments can address this challenge but are difficult to synthesize. In this work, a series of polyether sulfone (PES) comb-like copolymer with PEG side chains were prepared by the polycondensation followed by the thiol-ene click chemistry. By manipulating the density and length of PEG side chains (Mn=550, 1000, 2000) to adjust the fine structure of the micro-phase separation, the gas separation performance of the PES-g-PEG membrane was optimized. The PES-g-PEG polymers have two glass transition temperatures (Tg), which are attributed to the PES main chain and PEG side chains. The Tg-PEG and Tg-PES difference (ΔTg) is highly correlated with the PEG side chain density and can be used to interpret the phase separation degree. The copolymer membrane with shorter PEG side chains achieved higher chain density and more developed micro-phase separation, which was facilitated by thermal annealing. As a result, PES A-g-PEG550 membrane shows the best gas separation performance with the CO2 permeability of 26.8 Barrer and the CO2/N2 selectivity of 27.6. The permeability variation with the microstructure of PES-g-PEG mostly relies on the side chain density rather than volume fraction or side chain molecular weight. We believe this study of the gas separation performance of the comb-like copolymer material is meaningful for the further application of membrane technology in CO2 capture and separation.
Greenhouse effect, largely caused by CO2 emission, has become a major concern for global climate change. Post-combustion CO2 capture is one of the critical strategies to mitigate this issue. Membrane technology for carbon capture has drawn significant attention because of the cost and energy efficiency and scalability. Many membranes for CO2 capture are limited by the trade-off between CO2 permeability and CO2/N2 selectivity and the long-term stability under practical operating conditions. Facilitated transport membranes with efficient CO2 carriers have demonstrated potential to surpass the permeability-selectivity trade-off, but these carriers are often lost under operational conditions. Herein, we designed and fabricated a polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) stabilized polyethylenimine (PEI) membrane by a facile and scalable spray-coating method. The deposited defect-free selective layer, in which the amine carriers in PEI can be stabilized electrostatically by PSS, exhibited superior CO2 separation performance with good long-term stability under practical operating conditions. The separation performance was optimized by spray-coating cycles, CNT network loading, and PSS loading. Our membrane showed CO2 permeance ranging from 820 to 1,770 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity varying from 395 to 460 under vacuum operation mode in the temperature range between 80 and 90 °C. Furthermore, the membrane was successfully scaled up to 200 cm² with good uniformity. These results might suggest a novel membrane structure and a scalable approach for fabrication of highly efficient CO2 separation membranes.
A series of hydroxyl functionalized phosphonium salts were studied as bifunctional catalysts for the conversion of CO2 with epoxides under mild and solvent‐free conditions. The reaction in the presence of a phenol‐based phosphonium iodide proceeded via a first order rection kinetic with respect to the substrate. Notably, in contrast to the aliphatic analogue the phenol‐based catalyst showed no product inhibition. The temperature dependence of the reaction rate was investigated and the activation energy for the model reaction was determined from an Arrhenius‐plot (Ea = 39.6 kJ mol–1). The substrate scope was also evaluated. Under the optimized reaction conditions, 20 terminal epoxides were converted at room temperature to the corresponding cyclic carbonates which were isolated in yields up to 99%. The reaction is easily scalable and was performed on a scale up to 50 g substrate. Moreover, this method was applied in the synthesis of the antitussive agent dropropizine starting from epichlorohydrin and phenylpiperazine. Furthermore, DFT calculations were performed to rationalize the mechanism and the high efficiency of the phenol‐based phosphonium iodide catalyst. The calculation confirmed the activation of the epoxide via hydrogen bonding for the iodide salt which facilitates the ring‐opening step. Notably, the effective Gibbs energy barrier regarding this step is 97 kJ·mol–1 for the bromide and 72 kJ·mol–1 for the iodide salt which explains the difference in activity.
As one of the main plastic resin types, polycarbonate-based plastics play an important role in manufacturing and wide applications. However, with increasing awareness of environmental challenges related to petroleum-based polycarbonates, demand for production of bio-based polycarbonates from carbon dioxide (CO2) and renewable feedstocks has attracted significant attention in view of green chemistry and sustainable development. This present review highlights recent advances in the efficient conversion of CO2 and bio-based feedstocks to value-added bio-based polycarbonates with attractive properties. Specifically, an emphasis has been put to renewable bio-based feedstocks that provide bio-based epoxides with long chains, resulting in “soft” bio-polycarbonate materials via innovative and efficient synthetic pathways. These bio-based feedstocks, including plant oils, industrial byproducts (crude glycerol) and pure fatty acids as the comparison, trigger new platform to fully take advantage of CO2 and agricultural or industrial byproducts to bio-degradable polycarbonate plastics. But, some challenges regarding comparable mechanical properties and scale-up do exist. A comprehensive overview of epoxide properties, synthetic mechanism, and state of the art of bio-based polycarbonates from designed bio-based feedstocks are discussed in details. Additionally, an outlook of further engineering consideration has been touched providing insights and forecasts for developing value-added bio-products from CO2 and bio-based feedstocks.
Using the concepts of metabolism and metabolic rift as a framework, this paper examines carbon geoengineering technologies as a solution to climate change and explores if it is possible to mend an ecological metabolic rift without fundamental changes in the social metabolic order. Carbon geoengineering technologies have become a key component of scenarios to limit the extent of global warming and are being discussed as a means to sequester carbon and, therefore, mend the carbon cycle. However, most applications of carbon geoengineering thus far do not result in net negative emissions. Strategies to make operations profitable result in neutral or positive, rather than negative, emissions. While these strategies have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations, the current social order constrains their use and effectiveness. Instead of being applied as part of the solution to climate change, carbon geoengineering is being strategically promoted by the fossil fuel industry in ways that serve to reproduce and maintain the current social order.
We suggest CCS risk assessment should extend beyond the primary container to address a wide range of safety, economic, social, political and engineering issues. In New Zealand, for example, past experiences of large engineering projects suggests that failure to gain public support or to allocate appropriate resources to navigate through legislative process could provide significant barriers to successful CCS implementation. We have developed a modularized and probabilistic based logic tree which encompasses the main components of CCS (capture, transport, injection and storage) and is built upon the five issues mentioned above. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
We offer a comparative study of public attitudes in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Japan towards key questions of energy and the environment, with particular emphasis on attitudes towards carbon capture and storage (CCS). We find low levels of awareness, recognition or understanding of CCS and mixed views of how CCS might fit within a broader portfolio of energy technologies or as part of a national climate change policy. The results are a first effort to elicit public views and will need to be extended to other key countries and repeated at regular intervals.
Sustainable development of energy systems requires consideration of all three sustainability dimensions: environmental, economic and social. Current work presents a new decision-support framework for facilitating this. Taking a life cycle approach, the framework integrates the three sustainability dimensions to enable assessments at both technology and systems levels. The framework comprises scenario analysis, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, social sustainability assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis, which are used to assess and identify the most sustainable energy options. The application of the framework is illustrated on the example of future electricity supply in Mexico. Eleven scenarios up to 2050 have been developed considering different technologies, electricity mixes and climate change targets. The results show that, based on the 17 sustainability criteria used in this work, the business-as-usual scenario, mostly based on fossil fuels, is unsustainable regardless of the preferences for different sustainability criteria. This is mainly due to the high costs and environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels. Overall, the most sustainable scenarios are those with higher penetration of renewables (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass) and nuclear power. These electricity pathways would enable meeting the national greenhouse gas emission targets by 2050 in a more sustainable way than envisaged by the current policy. However, some trade-offs among the sustainability criteria are needed, particularly with respect to the social impacts. These trade-offs can be explored easily within the decision-support framework to reveal how different stakeholder preferences affect the outcomes of sustainability assessment, thus contributing to more informed decision and policy making.
In order to meet stringent temperature targets, active removal of CO2 from the atmosphere may be required in the long run. Such negative emissions can be materialized when well-performing bioenergy systems are combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Here, we develop an integrated global energy system and climate model to evaluate the role of BECCS in reaching ambitious temperature targets. We present emission, concentration and temperature pathways towards 1.5 and 2 ° C targets. Our model results demonstrate that BECCS makes it feasible to reach temperature targets that are otherwise out of reach, provided that a temporary overshoot of the target is accepted. Additionally, stringent temperature targets can be met at considerably lower cost if BECCS is available. However, the economic benefit of BECCS nearly vanishes if an overshoot of the temperature target is not allowed. Finally, the least-cost emission pathway over the next 50 years towards a 1.5 ° C overshoot target with BECCS is almost identical to a pathway leading to a 2 ° C ceiling target.
Preventing dangerous climate change will involve limiting both the rate and magnitude of climate change over the next century to levels that natural and human systems can tolerate without significant damage. This report shows the implications for overall fossil fuel use, in the form of a 'carbon budget', over the next century if the global community is to prevent dangerous climate change. It is demonstrated that it is only possible to burn a small fraction of the total oil, coal and gas that has already been discovered, if such dangerous changes are to be avoided. Even the reserves of fossil fuels that are considered economic to recover now, with no advances in technology, are far greater than the total allowable 'carbon budget'.
European forests are seen as a clear example of vegetation rebound in the Northern Hemisphere; recovering in area and growing stock since the 1950s, after centuries of stock decline and deforestation. These regrowing forests have shown to be a persistent carbon sink, projected to continue for decades, however, there are early signs of saturation. Forest policies and management strategies need revision if we want to sustain the sink.
Human development has led humankind to idealise the elements of its own habitat and environment and the possibilities of interaction between them. In spite of confused perceptions about the notion of vulnerability, this expression has helped clarify the concepts of risk and disaster. For a long time, these two concepts were associated with a single cause: an inevitable and uncontrollable physical phenomenon However, the conceptual framework of vulnerability was borne out of human experience under situations in which it was often very difficult to differentia te normal day-to-day life from disaster. Vulnerability may be defined as an internal risk factor of the subject or system that is exposed to a hazard and corresponds to its intrinsic predisposition to be affected, or to be susceptible to damage. In other words, vulnerability represents the physical, economic, political or social susceptibility or predispositio n of a community to damage in the case a destabilizing phenomenon of natural or anthropogenic origin. A series of extreme, and often permanent, conditions exist that make livelihood activities extremely fragile for certain social groups. The existence of these conditions depends on the level of development attained, as well as the success of development planning. In this context, development has begun to be understood as a process that involves harmony between humankind and the environment, and vulnerability in social groups could thus be understood as the reduced capacity to 'adapt to', or adjust to, a determined set of environmental circumstances.
For the actual implementation of new technologies such as CO2 capture and storage the development of social support can be crucial. Earlier research, however, showed that the majority of the general public is hardly aware of the possibility of CCS. To date however, few studies have repeated measures, in order to study how public awareness of CCS develops. This study therefore aims to investigate the development over time of public awareness of CCS, as well as the development over time of public knowledge and understanding of energy and climate and the relationship between these concepts. Our first survey of awareness and knowledge among the general Dutch public took place in 2004, the fourth in 2008. Overall, public awareness of CCS was found to be quite low. The knowledge tests revealed a very substantial part of the general Dutch public does not understand the relationship between current energy use and climate change. Knowledge levels on this topic did not increase between 2004 and 2008. Only awareness of CCS increased statistically significant, though not much. Almost half of the Dutch seemed to be still unaware of CCS by the end of 2008, despite the media’s attention for CCS and despite the plans for storage in Barendrecht being public for more than a year at this point in time.
Public support can be crucial to the success of CO2 mitigation policy, as recently demonstrated by the public’s reaction to a planned CCS project in the Netherlands. It is therefore imperative to gain better understanding of the public view on CCS and adjust communication efforts accordingly. The present study aims to (1) enhance insight into currently held beliefs and misconceptions among the general public about CCS and CO2; (2) study the interaction between balanced expert information and lay people beliefs; (3) investigate the impact of media use and exposure to news about CCS. To meet aim (1), we interviewed 15 respondents to identify commonly held beliefs. Next, we investigated the prevalence of these beliefs by questionnaire among 401 respondents. To meet aim (2), we administered an information-choice questionnaire (ICQ) about CCS among 134 respondents and interviewed the respondents afterwards to allow for elicitation of remaining, unaddressed beliefs as well as responses to the expert information. To meet aim (3), all respondents to this research received questions about their media use and exposure to recent media events about CCS. Results indicate that (1) Several misperceptions can be identified about CCS, but also about CO2 and electricity production, that strongly relate to people’s overall attitude towards CCS; (2) After reading expert information, remaining concerns are mainly about the safety of CO2 storage; and (3) of all media involved in the research, time spent on reading national newspapers has the strongest and most consistent relation with awareness of and attitude towards CCS. We conclude that (1) the presence of particular knowledge about CCS and topics related to CCS cannot be assumed in an audience of laypeople, and (2) that the type of beliefs held by people as well as how these beliefs affect their overall opinion of a technology are difficult to foresee and may be difficult to understand by experts. These conclusions are crucial to keep in mind when drafting a CCS communication strategy.
In October 2009, the International Energy Agency’s CCS Technology Roadmap was launched at the Carbon Sequestration Leadership forum (CSLF) Ministerial Meeting in London. The Roadmap builds on the IEA BLUE Map scenario that leads to the stabilisation of CO2 emissions at 450 ppm by 2050. Achieving this scenario will require an energy technology revolution involving a portfolio of solutions: greater energy efficiency, increased renewable energy technologies and nuclear power, and the near decarbonisation of fossil fuel-based power generation via carbon capture and storage (CCS). In this scenario CCS contributes almost 20% to the total emissions reductions required in 2050. Recommendations are made in the IEA CCS Roadmap on what is required to achieve this level of deployment not only technically, but also from a financial and regulatory point of view as well as in terms of public engagement and international collaboration, including the sharing of knowledge. This paper looks at progress made against these recommendations in the 12 months since the release of the roadmap.
A briefing document was prepared two years ago as the basis for dialogue with regulators with responsibilities in the area of CCS. Risk assessment was discussed under a number of headings, in particular assessment timeframes, acceptable leakage rates, risk assessment methodologies, modelling and uncertainty, monitoring, and the role of natural and industrial analogues. These topics are re-visited, taking into account developments that have occurred since the original document was prepared. In addition, developments in regulatory activities and how they are responding to the growth of CO2 storage projects, both pilot and large-scale, are examined.
This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report provides information for policymakers, scientists and engineers in the field of climate change and reduction of COâ emissions. It describes sources, capture, transport, and storage of COâ. It also discusses the costs, economic potential, and societal issues of the technology, including public perception and regulatory aspects. Storage options evaluated include geological storage, ocean storage, and mineral carbonation. Notably, the report places COâ capture and storage in the context of other climate change mitigation options, such as fuel switch, energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear energy. This report shows that the potential of COâ capture and storage is considerable, and the costs for mitigating climate change can be decreased compared to strategies where only other climate change mitigation options are considered. The importance of future capture and storage of COâ for mitigating climate change will depend on a number of factors, including financial incentives provided for deployment, and whether the risks of storage can be successfully managed. The volume includes a Summary for Policymakers approved by governments represented in the IPCC, and a Technical Summary. 5 annexes.
Numerous websites, blogs and articles in the media have claimed that the climate is no longer warming, and is now cooling. Here we show that periods of no trend or even cooling of the globally averaged surface air temperature are found in the last 34 years of the observed record, and in climate model simulations of the 20th and 21st century forced with increasing greenhouse gases. We show that the climate over the 21st century can and likely will produce periods of a decade or two where the globally averaged surface air temperature shows no trend or even slight cooling in the presence of longer-term warming.
Temperate and boreal forests in the Northern Hemisphere cover an area of about 2 × 107 square kilometres and act as a substantial carbon sink (0.6-0.7 petagrams of carbon per year). Although forest expansion following agricultural abandonment is certainly responsible for an important fraction of this carbon sink activity, the additional effects on the carbon balance of established forests of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing temperatures, changes in management practices and nitrogen deposition are difficult to disentangle, despite an extensive network of measurement stations. The relevance of this measurement effort has also been questioned, because spot measurements fail to take into account the role of disturbances, either natural (fire, pests, windstorms) or anthropogenic (forest harvesting). Here we show that the temporal dynamics following stand-replacing disturbances do indeed account for a very large fraction of the overall variability in forest carbon sequestration. After the confounding effects of disturbance have been factored out, however, forest net carbon sequestration is found to be overwhelmingly driven by nitrogen deposition, largely the result of anthropogenic activities. The effect is always positive over the range of nitrogen deposition covered by currently available data sets, casting doubts on the risk of widespread ecosystem nitrogen saturation under natural conditions. The results demonstrate that mankind is ultimately controlling the carbon balance of temperate and boreal forests, either directly (through forest management) or indirectly (through nitrogen deposition).
There is growing recognition that microalgae are among the most productive biological systems for generating biomass and capturing carbon. Further efficiencies are gained by harvesting 100% of the biomass, much more than is possible in terrestrial biomass production systems. Microalgae's ability to transport bicarbonate into cells makes them well suited to capture carbon. Carbon dioxide— or bicarbonate-capturing efficiencies as high as 90% have been reported in open ponds. The scale of microalgal production facilities necessary to capture carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from stationary point sources such as power stations and cement kilns is also manageable; thus, microalgae can potentially be exploited for CO2 capture and sequestration. In this article, I discuss possible strategies using microalgae to sequester CO2 with reduced environmental consequences.
In this study, an Information-Choice Questionnaire (ICQ) was used to find out how a representative sample of the Dutch public (n =971) would evaluate and choose between seven mitigation options after having been thoroughly informed. The results suggest that due to the comparison with other mitigation options, people are less positive about CCS options. Still, only few respondents firmly reject the CCS options.
In Part 1, we presented the findings of the EU ACCSEPT project (2006–2007) with regards to scientific, technical, legal and economic issues. In Part 2, we present the analysis of social acceptability on the part of both the lay public and stakeholders. We examine the acceptability of CO2 capture and geological storage (CCS) within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The debate over the inclusion of CCS within the CDM is caught-up in a set of complex debates that are partly technical and partly political and, therefore, difficult, and time-consuming, to resolve. We explore concerns that support for CCS will detract from support for other low-carbon energy sources. We can find no evidence that support for CCS is currently detracting from support for renewable energy sources, though it is probably too early to detect such an effect. Efforts at understanding, engaging with, and communicating to, the lay public and wider stakeholder community (not just business) in Europe are currently weak and inadequate, despite well-meaning statements from governments and industry.
This paper offers a broad summary of the most common risk assessment methodologies for the geologic storage of carbon dioxide. We believe it is valuable to compare these methodologies, particularly in the areas where they lead to similar conclusions. The objective of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the current similarities and differences of these proposed methodologies.Since CCS was proposed as a mitigation option for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions, several attempts have been made to study the potential risks of long-term storage of CO2 in geological formations. Various worldwide projects have tried different industrial methods adapted to GSC. In spite of these efforts, currently there is no standardised method or set of methods for evaluating risk and/or uncertainty for GSC projects. Application or adaptation of advanced industrial quantitative risk assessment methods seems not convenient at this point because of lack of specific data. The development of frameworks and qualitative methods looks the most trustable for current projects.
Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis is the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of past, present and future climate change. The report: • Analyses an enormous body of observations of all parts of the climate system. • Catalogues increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. • Assesses our understanding of the processes and feedbacks which govern the climate system. • Projects scenarios of future climate change using a wide range of models of future emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. • Makes a detailed study of whether a human influence on climate can be identified. • Suggests gaps in information and understanding that remain in our knowledge of climate change and how these might be addressed. Simply put, this latest assessment of the IPCC will again form the standard scientific reference for all those concerned with climate change and its consequences, including students and researchers in environmental science, meteorology, climatology, biology, ecology and atmospheric chemistry, and policymakers in governments and industry worldwide.
Identifying and quantifying planetary boundaries that must not be transgressed could help prevent human activities from causing unacceptable environmental change, argue Johan Rockström and colleagues.
Global efforts to mitigate climate change are guided by projections of future temperatures. But the eventual equilibrium global mean temperature associated with a given stabilization level of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations remains uncertain, complicating the setting of stabilization targets to avoid potentially dangerous levels of global warming. Similar problems apply to the carbon cycle: observations currently provide only a weak constraint on the response to future emissions. Here we use ensemble simulations of simple climate-carbon-cycle models constrained by observations and projections from more comprehensive models to simulate the temperature response to a broad range of carbon dioxide emission pathways. We find that the peak warming caused by a given cumulative carbon dioxide emission is better constrained than the warming response to a stabilization scenario. Furthermore, the relationship between cumulative emissions and peak warming is remarkably insensitive to the emission pathway (timing of emissions or peak emission rate). Hence policy targets based on limiting cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide are likely to be more robust to scientific uncertainty than emission-rate or concentration targets. Total anthropogenic emissions of one trillion tonnes of carbon (3.67 trillion tonnes of CO(2)), about half of which has already been emitted since industrialization began, results in a most likely peak carbon-dioxide-induced warming of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, with a 5-95% confidence interval of 1.3-3.9 degrees C.
More than 100 countries have adopted a global warming limit of 2 degrees C or below (relative to pre-industrial levels) as a guiding principle for mitigation efforts to reduce climate change risks, impacts and damages. However, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions corresponding to a specified maximum warming are poorly known owing to uncertainties in the carbon cycle and the climate response. Here we provide a comprehensive probabilistic analysis aimed at quantifying GHG emission budgets for the 2000-50 period that would limit warming throughout the twenty-first century to below 2 degrees C, based on a combination of published distributions of climate system properties and observational constraints. We show that, for the chosen class of emission scenarios, both cumulative emissions up to 2050 and emission levels in 2050 are robust indicators of the probability that twenty-first century warming will not exceed 2 degrees C relative to pre-industrial temperatures. Limiting cumulative CO(2) emissions over 2000-50 to 1,000 Gt CO(2) yields a 25% probability of warming exceeding 2 degrees C-and a limit of 1,440 Gt CO(2) yields a 50% probability-given a representative estimate of the distribution of climate system properties. As known 2000-06 CO(2) emissions were approximately 234 Gt CO(2), less than half the proven economically recoverable oil, gas and coal reserves can still be emitted up to 2050 to achieve such a goal. Recent G8 Communiqués envisage halved global GHG emissions by 2050, for which we estimate a 12-45% probability of exceeding 2 degrees C-assuming 1990 as emission base year and a range of published climate sensitivity distributions. Emissions levels in 2020 are a less robust indicator, but for the scenarios considered, the probability of exceeding 2 degrees C rises to 53-87% if global GHG emissions are still more than 25% above 2000 levels in 2020.
A halving of global greenhouse gas emissions is needed between now and 2050. This will require an energy technology revolution. All options must be used: energy efficiency, CO 2-free fuels and CO2 capture and storage. The power sector will be especially affected and the global average carbon intensity of electricity needs to be reduced by one order of magnitude. A mix of renewables, nuclear and fossil fuels with CCS will be needed to achieve this goal. This development will affect gas turbine sales and their development.
Over the past decade, the United States (US) has demonstrated strong and evolving interest in the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), an emerging set of technologies with potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. Given the many technical, economic, and environmental uncertainties about the future of CCS, the political salience of this technology is high. In the US, states make key decisions about deploying energy technology projects, but variation in state-level energy context (both technical and socio-political) is substantial. This research assesses variation in the state-level energy context for CCS development by exploring energy policy stakeholders' perceptions of CCS in four geographically and demographically diverse states. Policy stakeholders have different degrees of familiarity with CCS, and the goal of this research is to understand and compare the perceptions of CCS among stakeholders who shape state-level energy policy. Semi-structured interviews with 84 energy policy stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations active in four different states (Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana and Texas) were analyzed to compare perceptions of CCS risks and benefits. Negative associations of CCS were mentioned more frequently than positive attributes in each state, and technical, political and economic risks are more dominant than environmental or health and safety risks. Content analysis of the interviews provides insight on emerging sub-national discourse regarding CCS, on state-level variation in familiarity with CCS, and on sub-national variation in the socio-political context for energy technologies. The variation in state and stakeholder energy priorities and perceptions revealed in this study highlights challenges in the development and implementation of national-level energy policy and also specific challenges in the deployment of CCS.
CCS is a R&D priority for China, covering all capture options, transport and storage. With regard to progression beyond research, there are some very significant large industrial scale trials that are being funded and implemented by various Chinese power generation, coal and oil companies. From a technical perspective, China is well positioned to move forward from these trials towards demonstrations of various CO2 capture and utilisation/storage options. While the primary focus will be on the power sector, the prospect of establishing CCS on coal to chemicals gasification units in certain regions of China offers the prospect of some early opportunities for demonstration. The attraction of demonstrating CCS on such gasifiers is that the results would be applicable to the overall development of the technology for many coal using sectors, and projects could be undertaken at significantly lower costs compared to operations on a coal fired power plant. This is because the CO2 is already produced as a concentrated stream and so the CCS marginal costs are essentially those of CO2 compression, transport and injection. Depending on the size and number of gasifiers in operation, the annual quantity of CO2 released at a site ranges from about 0.5 Mt to well over 2 Mt. Equally importantly, many of these individual gasification projects are located quite close to one another within industrial zones. This offers the prospect of establishing a CCS network, which would comprise a shared or interconnected system for transporting CO2 from multiple capture sources to one or more underground injection sites. Such networks should offer economies of scale and hence lower overall transport and (potentially lower) storage costs compared to an unintegrated single-source–single-storage project.
If carbon dioxide is to be stored in geological strata other than depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs (e.g. in saline aquifers), relatively little information will typically be available about the potential reservoirs. Significant risk associated with such projects therefore derives from uncertainty in reservoir evaluation. This paper describes a risk elicitation exercise carried out during geological reservoir evaluation for two exemplar carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. A project-specific Features, Events and Processes (FEPs) register was developed through a structured elicitation process and discussions with experts. The register was used to elicit experts’ perception of risk early in each project and thereafter at regular intervals, finding that the risk was moderate or low for the majority of FEPs. Where FEPs were perceived as high risk, lack of information and uncertainty tended to be the most influential factor. The results of the risk assessments were instrumental in identifying key project activities aimed at reducing uncertainty and addressing the highest areas of risk. Using the relatively inexpensive techniques of reprocessing legacy seismic data and conducting a hydrogeological study of the region around the storage site, uncertainty was reduced and the experts’ perception of risk was lowered by the new information. However the risk assessment results also showed changes occurring in the absence of new information and where experts declared no change to their perception of risk. It is therefore vital to understand the uncertainty in the risk assessment results which can clearly be affected by factors other than information related to the storage formations.
A geomechanical risk assessment methodology for CO2 storage has been developed which analyses the connectivity of networks created by fractures in the caprock prior to and post injection. Emphasis is placed on assimilating into the results the uncertainty in the fracture properties at a particular site. The methodology utilises percolation theory and involves modelling large numbers of realisations of the possible distribution of fractures in the caprock and testing whether these realisations contain a network of connected fractures spanning the model region. In addition, shear and tensile failure criteria are applied probabilistically so as to honour the uncertainties present in measurements and models. The results of failure analysis are then used to investigate changes in the caprock fracture network connectivity post injection. The procedures of modifying fracture properties according to a failure analysis and modelling the connectivity of fracture networks are demonstrated with an example study and compared to a deterministic formulation.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is an emerging technology to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. In the wake of a rapidly changing German energy system, CCS can play an important role. By means of an online survey among 130 university students in Dresden, this paper investigates the level and influencing factors of social acceptance of CCS. Furthermore, the individual willingness to pay for CCS and renewable power delivery is measured and compared through a choice model. The survey results reveal that the attitude towards CCS is neutral. Moreover, it is shown that acceptance of CCS is an important factor for the willingness to pay. The level of willingness to pay for CCS technology is much lower than for renewable energy.
This paper presents the results from a survey on experts’ attitudes towards the development of CCS technologies in Spain. This is the first study carried out in Spain intending to report an empirical analysis of stakeholder perceptions on the risks, challenges and barriers facing CCS deployment. Results show a positive attitude towards CCS implementation in Spain. Experts are concerned about the suitability of storage sites, safety and capture costs. They tend to support CCS as a bridging solution to climate change, and have a general low level of perceived risk from CCS. Experts’ risk perception is influenced, to some extent, by general values and beliefs as well as by sociodemographics and, to a lesser extent, by group membership.
Science plays a major part in environmental conflict. How that role is defined is determined by the human actors engaged in the conflict and the legal and institutional constructs that structure discourse. This article begins by tracing the authority invested in science to ideological assumptions about scientific methodology. Then, four common roles for science in environmental conflict (discoverer, mechanism of accountability, shield, and tool of persuasion), are described. These roles are increasingly unproductive in resolving environmental conflict, partly due to the misfit between the actual conduct of science and its ideal. This article proposes that a new role, one that is more consistent with a social constructionist view of science, has been crafted as a byproduct of decision-making innovations that prescribe explicit negotiations among representatives of groups engaged in an environmental dispute. As a tool of facilitation, science may be used more constructively to resolve environmental disputes.
The question is investigated of whether or not charcoal, produced in the classical way, could be a definite sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) escaping into the atmosphere. For this, charcoal will be produced on a large scale and in a capital-lean manner from the wood of short rotation energy crops and has to be stored forever.Such a mutual strategy between the industrialized countries (being the main source of the anthropogenic CO2) and developing countries (acting as a sink for it) whereby capital flows from the former to the latter, may exhibit favourable CO2-avoidance costs on a least-cost basis and may be economically beneficial for both partners.
This book presents a disciplined, qualitative exploration of case study methods by drawing from naturalistic, holistic, ethnographic, phenomenological and biographic research methods. Robert E. Stake uses and annotates an actual case study to answer such questions as: How is the case selected? How do you select the case which will maximize what can be learned? How can what is learned from one case be applied to another? How can what is learned from a case be interpreted? In addition, the book covers: the differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches; data-gathering including document review; coding, sorting and pattern analysis; the roles of the researcher; triangulation; and reporting.
