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This report shows that the potential of CO2 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 CO2
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.
The IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage provides invaluable information for researchers in environmental science, geology, engineering and the oil and gas sector,
policymakers in governments and environmental organizations, and scientists and engineers in
industry.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established jointly by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Panel
provides authoritative international assessments of scientific information on climate change.
This report was produced by the IPCC on the invitation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE AND STORAGE

his Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report provides information
for policymakers, scientists and engineers in the field of climate change and reduction of
CO2 emissions. It describes sources, capture, transport, and storage of CO2. 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 CO2 capture and storage in the context of other
climate change mitigation options, such as fuel switch, energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear
energy.

CARBON DIOXIDE
CAPTURE
AND STORAGE

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

C ARBON D IOXIDE C APTURE AND S TORAGE

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 CO2 emissions. It describes sources,
capture, transport, and storage of CO2. 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 CO2 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 CO2 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 CO2 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.
The IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage provides invaluable information for
researchers in environmental science, geology, engineering and the oil and gas sector, policymakers in governments
and environmental organizations, and scientists and engineers in industry.

IPCC Special Report on

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

Edited by
Bert Metz

Ogunlade Davidson
Manuela Loos

Heleen de Coninck

Leo Meyer

Prepared by Working Group III of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Published for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, So Paulo

Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2005
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First published 2005
Printed in Canada
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
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ISBN-10 0-521-68551-6 paperback
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Please use the following reference to the whole report:
IPCC, 2005: IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. Prepared by
Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Metz, B.,
O. Davidson, H. C. de Coninck, M. Loos, and L. A. Meyer (eds.)]. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 442 pp.
Cover image: Schematic of geological storage options (Courtesy CO2CRC).

Contents
Foreword

................................................................................................................................................................................... vii

Preface

.................................................................................................................................................................................... ix

Summary for Policymakers............................................................................................................................................................. 1

Technical Summary........................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Introduction................................................................................................................................................................ 51
Sources of CO2.......................................................................................................................................................... 75
Capture of CO2........................................................................................................................................................ 105
Transport of CO2. .................................................................................................................................................... 179
Underground geological storage.............................................................................................................................. 195
Ocean storage........................................................................................................................................................... 277
Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide..................................................................................... 319
Costs and economic potential.................................................................................................................................. 339
Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting..................... 363

Annexes
Annex I
Annex II
Annex III
Annex IV
Annex V

Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels............................................................................................................... 383

Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations.................................................................................................................... 401
Units......................................................................................................................................................................... 415
Authors and reviewers............................................................................................................................................. 417
List of major IPCC reports...................................................................................................................................... 429

Foreword
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was
jointly established by the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) in 1988. Its terms of reference include: (i) to assess
available scientific and socio-economic information on climate
change and its impacts and on the options for mitigating
climate change and adapting to it and (ii) to provide, on
request, scientific/technical/socio-economic advice to the
Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). From
1990, the IPCC has produced a series of Assessment Reports,
Special Reports, Technical Papers, methodologies and other
products that have become standard works of reference,
widely used by policymakers, scientists and other experts.
At COP7, a draft decision was taken to invite the IPCC
to write a technical paper on geological storage of carbon
dioxidea. In response to that, at its 20th Session in 2003 in
Paris, France, the IPCC agreed on the development of the
Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage.
This volume, the Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture
and Storage, has been produced by Working Group III of
the IPCC and focuses on carbon dioxide capture and storage
(CCS) as an option for mitigation of climate change. It
consists of 9 chapters covering sources of CO2, the technical
specifics of capturing, transporting and storing it in geological
formations, the ocean, or minerals, or utilizing it in industrial
processes. It also assesses the costs and potential of CCS, the
environmental impacts, risks and safety, its implications for
greenhouse gas inventories and accounting, public perception,
and legal issues.

Michel Jarraud
Secretary-General,
World Meteorological Organization

As is usual in the IPCC, success in producing this report has

depended first and foremost on the knowledge, enthusiasm
and cooperation of many hundreds of experts worldwide,
in many related but different disciplines. We would like to
express our gratitude to all the Coordinating Lead Authors,
Lead Authors, Contributing Authors, Review Editors and
Expert Reviewers. These individuals have devoted enormous
time and effort to produce this report and we are extremely
grateful for their commitment to the IPCC process. We would
like to thank the staff of the Working Group III Technical
Support Unit and the IPCC Secretariat for their dedication in
coordinating the production of another successful IPCC report.
We are also grateful to the governments, who have supported
their scientists participation in the IPCC process and who
have contributed to the IPCC Trust Fund to provide for the
essential participation of experts from developing countries
and countries with economies in transition. We would like
to express our appreciation to the governments of Norway,
Australia, Brazil and Spain, who hosted drafting sessions in
their countries, and especially the government of Canada,
that hosted a workshop on this subject as well as the 8th
session of Working Group III for official consideration and
acceptance of the report in Montreal, and to the government of
The Netherlands, who funds the Working Group III Technical
Support Unit.
We would particularly like to thank Dr. Rajendra Pachauri,
Chairman of the IPCC, for his direction and guidance of
the IPCC, Dr. Renate Christ, the Secretary of the IPCC and
her staff for the support provided, and Professor Ogunlade
Davidson and Dr. Bert Metz, the Co-Chairmen of Working
Group III, for their leadership of Working Group III through
the production of this report.

Klaus Tpfer
Executive Director,
United Nations Environment Programme and
Director-General,
United Nations Office in Nairobi

See http://unfccc.int, Report of COP7, document FCCC/CP/2001/13/Add.1, Decision 9/CP.7 (Art. 3.14 of the Kyoto Protocol), Draft decision -/CMP.1, para 7,
page 50: Invites the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in cooperation with other relevant organisations, to prepare a technical paper on geological
carbon storage technologies, covering current information, and report on it for the consideration of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol at its second session.

viii

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Preface
This Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and
Storage (SRCCS) has been prepared under the auspices of
Working Group III (Mitigation of Climate Change) of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The
report has been developed in response to an invitation of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) at its seventh Conference of Parties (COP7) in
2001. In April 2002, at its 19th Session in Geneva, the IPCC
decided to hold a workshop, which took place in November
2002 in Regina, Canada. The results of this workshop were a
first assessment of literature on CO2 capture and storage, and
a proposal for a Special Report. At its 20th Session in 2003
in Paris, France, the IPCC endorsed this proposal and agreed
on the outline and timetableb. Working Group III was charged
to assess the scientific, technical, environmental, economic,
and social aspects of capture and storage of CO2. The
mandate of the report therefore included the assessment of the
technological maturity, the technical and economic potential
to contribute to mitigation of climate change, and the costs. It
also included legal and regulatory issues, public perception,
environmental impacts and safety as well as issues related
to inventories and accounting of greenhouse gas emission
reductions.
This report primarily assesses literature published after the
Third Assessment Report (2001) on CO2 sources, capture
systems, transport and various storage mechanisms. It does
not cover biological carbon sequestration by land use, land use
change and forestry, or by fertilization of oceans. The report
builds upon the contribution of Working Group III to the Third
Assessment Report Climate Change 2001 (Mitigation), and
on the Special Report on Emission Scenarios of 2000, with
respect to CO2 capture and storage in a portfolio of mitigation
options. It identifies those gaps in knowledge that would need
to be addressed in order to facilitate large-scale deployment.
The structure of the report follows the components of a CO2
capture and storage system. An introductory chapter outlines
the general framework for the assessment and provides a
brief overview of CCS systems. Chapter 2 characterizes the
major sources of CO2 that are technically and economically
suitable for capture, in order to assess the feasibility of CCS
on a global scale. Technological options for CO2 capture are
discussed extensively in Chapter 3, while Chapter 4 focuses on

See: http://www.ipcc.ch/meet/session20/finalreport20.pdf

methods of CO2 transport. In the next three chapters, each of

the major storage options is then addressed: geological storage
(chapter 5), ocean storage (chapter 6), and mineral carbonation
and industrial uses (chapter 7). The overall costs and economic
potential of CCS are discussed in Chapter 8, followed by an
examination of the implications of CCS for greenhouse gas
inventories and emissions accounting (chapter 9).
The report has been written by almost 100 Lead and
Coordinating Lead Authors and 25 Contributing Authors, all
of whom have expended a great deal of time and effort. They
came from industrialized countries, developing countries,
countries with economies in transition and international
organizations. The report has been reviewed by more than
200 people (both individual experts and representatives of
governments) from around the world. The review process
was overseen by 19 Review Editors, who ensured that all
comments received the proper attention.
In accordance with IPCC Procedures, the Summary for
Policymakers of this report has been approved line-by-line
by governments at the IPCC Working Group III Session in
Montreal, Canada, from September 22-24, 2005. During the
approval process the Lead Authors confirmed that the agreed
text of the Summary for Policymakers is fully consistent with
the underlying full report and technical summary, both of
which have been accepted by governments, but remain the full
responsibility of the authors.
We wish to express our gratitude to the governments that
provided financial and in-kind support for the hosting of the
various meetings that were essential to complete this report.
We are particularly are grateful to the Canadian Government
for hosting both the Workshop in Regina, November 18-22,
2002, as well as the Working Group III approval session in
Montreal, September 22-24, 2005. The writing team of this
report met four times to draft the report and discuss the results
of the two consecutive formal IPCC review rounds. The
meetings were kindly hosted by the government of Norway
(Oslo, July 2003), Australia (Canberra, December 2003),
Brazil (Salvador, August 2004) and Spain (Oviedo, April
2005), respectively. In addition, many individual meetings,
teleconferences and interactions with governments have
contributed to the successful completion of this report.

We endorse the words of gratitude expressed in the Foreword

by the SecretaryGeneral of the WMO and the Executive
Director of UNEP to the writing team, Review Editors and
Expert Reviewers.
We would like to thank the staff of the Technical Support
Unit of Working Group III for their work in preparing this
report, in particular Heleen de Coninck for her outstanding
and efficient coordination of the report, Manuela Loos
and Cora Blankendaal for their technical, logistical and
secretarial support, and Leo Meyer (head of TSU) for his
leadership. We also express our gratitude to Anita Meier for
her general support, to Dave Thomas, Pete Thomas, Tony
Cunningham, Fran Aitkens, Ann Jenks, and Ruth de Wijs for
the copy-editing of the document and to Wout Niezen, Martin
Middelburg, Henk Stakelbeek, Albert van Staa, Eva Stam and
Tim Huliselan for preparing the final layout and the graphics
of the report. A special word of thanks goes to Lee-Anne

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Shepherd of CO2CRC for skillfully preparing the figures in
the Summary for Policymakers. Last but not least, we would
like to express our appreciation to Renate Christ and her staff
and to Francis Hayes of WMO for their hard work in support
of the process.
We, as co-chairs of Working Group III, together with the
other members of the Bureau of Working Group III, the Lead
Authors and the Technical Support Unit, hope that this report
will assist decision-makers in governments and the private
sector as well as other interested readers in the academic
community and the general public in becoming better
informed about CO2 capture and storage as a climate change
mitigation option.

Ogunlade Davidson and Bert Metz

Co-Chairs IPCC Working Group III on Mitigation of
Climate Change

IPCC Special Report

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

Summary for Policymakers

A Special Report of Working Group III

of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

This summary, approved in detail at the Eighth Session of IPCC Working Group III
(Montreal, Canada, 22-24 September 2005), represents the formally agreed statement of
the IPCC concerning current understanding of carbon dioxide capture and storage.

Based on a draft by:

Juan Carlos Abanades (Spain), Makoto Akai (Japan), Sally Benson (United States), Ken Caldeira
(United States), Heleen de Coninck (Netherlands), Peter Cook (Australia), Ogunlade Davidson
(Sierra Leone), Richard Doctor (United States), James Dooley (United States), Paul Freund (United
Kingdom), John Gale (United Kingdom), Wolfgang Heidug (Germany), Howard Herzog (United States),
David Keith (Canada), Marco Mazzotti (Italy and Switzerland), Bert Metz (Netherlands), Leo Meyer
(Netherlands), Balgis Osman-Elasha (Sudan), Andrew Palmer (United Kingdom), Riitta Pipatti (Finland),
Edward Rubin (United States), Koen Smekens (Belgium), Mohammad Soltanieh (Iran), Kelly (Kailai)
Thambimuthu (Australia and Canada)

Summary for Policymakers

Contents
What is CO2 capture and storage and how could it contribute to mitigating climate change?......................................................... 3
What are the characteristics of CCS?............................................................................................................................................... 5
What is the current status of CCS technology?................................................................................................................................ 5
What is the geographical relationship between the sources and storage opportunities for CO2?..................................................... 8
What are the costs for CCS and what is the technical and economic potential?............................................................................ 10
What are the local health, safety and environment risks of CCS?................................................................................................. 12
Will physical leakage of stored CO2 compromise CCS as a climate change mitigation option?................................................... 14
What are the legal and regulatory issues for implementing CO2 storage?..................................................................................... 15
What are the implications of CCS for emission inventories and accounting?............................................................................... 15
What are the gaps in knowledge?................................................................................................................................................... 15

Summary for Policymakers

What is CO2 capture and storage and how could it
contribute to mitigating climate change?
1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) is a
process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial
and energy-related sources, transport to a storage location
and long-term isolation from the atmosphere. This report
considers CCS as an option in the portfolio of mitigation
actions for stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas
concentrations.
Other mitigation options include energy efficiency
improvements, the switch to less carbon-intensive fuels,
nuclear power, renewable energy sources, enhancement of
biological sinks, and reduction of non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions. CCS has the potential to reduce overall mitigation
costs and increase flexibility in achieving greenhouse gas
emission reductions. The widespread application of CCS
would depend on technical maturity, costs, overall potential,
diffusion and transfer of the technology to developing
countries and their capacity to apply the technology, regulatory
aspects, environmental issues and public perception (Sections
1.1.1, 1.3, 1.7, 8.3.3.4).
2. The Third Assessment Report (TAR) indicates that no
single technology option will provide all of the emission
reductions needed to achieve stabilization, but a portfolio
of mitigation measures will be needed.

Most scenarios project that the supply of primary energy

will continue to be dominated by fossil fuels until at least
the middle of the century. As discussed in the TAR, most
models also indicate that known technological options could
achieve a broad range of atmospheric stabilization levels
but that implementation would require socio-economic and
institutional changes. In this context, the availability of
CCS in the portfolio of options could facilitate achieving
stabilization goals (Sections 1.1, 1.3).
What are the characteristics of CCS?
3. Capture of CO2 can be applied to large point sources.
The CO2 would then be compressed and transported for
storage in geological formations, in the ocean, in mineral
carbonates, or for use in industrial processes.
Large point sources of CO2 include large fossil fuel or
biomass energy facilities, major CO2-emitting industries,
natural gas production, synthetic fuel plants and fossil
fuel-based hydrogen production plants (see Table SPM.1).
Potential technical storage methods are: geological storage (in
geological formations, such as oil and gas fields, unminable
coal beds and deep saline formations), ocean storage (direct
release into the ocean water column or onto the deep seafloor)
and industrial fixation of CO2 into inorganic carbonates.
This report also discusses industrial uses of CO2, but this
is not expected to contribute much to the reduction of CO2

Table SPM.1. Profile by process or industrial activity of worldwide large stationary CO2 sources with emissions of more than 0.1 million
tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) per year.
Process

Number of sources

Emissions
(MtCO2 yr-1)

Fossil fuels
Power

4,942

10,539

Cement production
Refineries
Iron and steel industry

1,175
638
269

932
798
646

Oil and gas processing

Not available

Petrochemical industry

Other sources

Biomass

Bioethanol and bioenergy

Total

470

379

90

33

303

91

7,887

50

13,466

Known technological options refer to technologies that exist in operation or in the pilot plant stage at the present time, as referenced in the mitigation scenarios
discussed in the TAR. It does not include any new technologies that.will require profound technological breakthroughs. Known technological options are
explained in the TAR and several mitigation scenarios include CCS
2
Storage of CO2 as mineral carbonates does not cover deep geological carbonation or ocean storage with enhanced carbonate neutralization as discussed in
Chapter 6 (Section 7.2).
3
Saline formations are sedimentary rocks saturated with formation waters containing high concentrations of dissolved salts. They are widespread and contain
enormous quantities of water that are unsuitable for agriculture or human consumption. Because the use of geothermal energy is likely to increase, potential
geothermal areas may not be suitable for CO2 storage (see Section 5.3.3).
1

Summary for Policymakers

Figure SPM.1. Schematic diagram of possible CCS systems showing the sources for which CCS might be relevant, transport of CO2 and
storage options (Courtesy of CO2CRC).

emissions (see Figure SPM.1) (Sections 1.2, 1.4, 2.2, Table

2.3).
4. The net reduction of emissions to the atmosphere through
CCS depends on the fraction of CO2 captured, the
increased CO2 production resulting from loss in overall
efficiency of power plants or industrial processes due to
the additional energy required for capture, transport and
storage, any leakage from transport and the fraction of
CO2 retained in storage over the long term.
Available technology captures about 8595% of the CO2
processed in a capture plant. A power plant equipped with
a CCS system (with access to geological or ocean storage)
would need roughly 1040% more energy than a plant of
equivalent output without CCS, of which most is for capture
and compression. For secure storage, the net result is that a
power plant with CCS could reduce CO2 emissions to the
atmosphere by approximately 8090% compared to a plant
without CCS (see Figure SPM.2). To the extent that leakage
might occur from a storage reservoir, the fraction retained is
defined as the fraction of the cumulative amount of injected
CO2 that is retained over a specified period of time. CCS
systems with storage as mineral carbonates would need 60
4

Emitted
Captured

Reference
Plant
CO2 avoided
CO2 captured

Plant
with CCS

CO2 produced (kg/kWh)

Figure SPM.2. CO2 capture and storage from power plants.

The increased CO2 production resulting from the loss in overall
efficiency of power plants due to the additional energy required for
capture,
and storage and any leakage from transport result
Figuurtransport
8.2
in a larger amount of CO2 produced per unit of product (lower
bar) relative to the reference plant (upper bar) without capture
(Figure 8.2).

The range reflects three types of power plants: for Natural Gas Combined Cycle plants, the range is 1122%, for Pulverized Coal plants, 2440% and for
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plants, 1425%.

Summary for Policymakers

180% more energy than a plant of equivalent output without
CCS. (Sections 1.5.1, 1.6.3, 3.6.1.3, 7.2.7).
What is the current status of CCS technology?
5. There are different types of CO2 capture systems: postcombustion, pre-combustion and oxyfuel combustion
(Figure SPM.3). The concentration of CO2 in the gas
stream, the pressure of the gas stream and the fuel type
(solid or gas) are important factors in selecting the
capture system.
Post-combustion capture of CO2 in power plants is
economically feasible under specific conditions. It is used
to capture CO2 from part of the flue gases from a number
of existing power plants. Separation of CO2 in the natural
gas processing industry, which uses similar technology,
operates in a mature market. The technology required
for pre-combustion capture is widely applied in fertilizer
manufacturing and in hydrogen production. Although the
initial fuel conversion steps of pre-combustion are more
elaborate and costly, the higher concentrations of CO2 in the

gas stream and the higher pressure make the separation easier.
Oxyfuel combustion is in the demonstration phase and uses
high purity oxygen. This results in high CO2 concentrations
in the gas stream and, hence, in easier separation of CO2 and
in increased energy requirements in the separation of oxygen
from air (Sections 3.3, 3.4, 3.5).
6. Pipelines are preferred for transporting large amounts of
CO2 for distances up to around 1,000 km. For amounts
smaller than a few million tonnes of CO2 per year or
for larger distances overseas, the use of ships, where
applicable, could be economically more attractive.
Pipeline transport of CO2 operates as a mature market
technology (in the USA, over 2,500 km of pipelines
transport more than 40 MtCO2 per year). In most gas
pipelines, compressors at the upstream end drive the flow,
but some pipelines need intermediate compressor stations.
Dry CO2 is not corrosive to pipelines, even if the CO2
contains contaminants. Where the CO2 contains moisture, it
is removed from the CO2 stream to prevent corrosion and
to avoid the costs of constructing pipelines of corrosion-

Figure SPM.3. Schematic representation of capture systems. Fuels and products are indicated for oxyfuel combustion, pre-combustion
(including hydrogen and fertilizer production), post-combustion and industrial sources of CO2 (including natural gas processing facilities and
steel and cement production) (based on Figure 3.1) (Courtesy CO2CRC).
Economically feasible under specific conditions means that the technology is well understood and used in selected commercial applications, such as in a
favourable tax regime or a niche market, processing at least 0.1 MtCO2 yr-1 , with few (less than 5) replications of the technology.
6
Mature market means that the technology is now in operation with multiple replications of the commercial-scale technology worldwide.
7
Demonstration phase means that the technology has been built and operated at the scale of a pilot plant but that further development is required before the
technology is ready for the design and construction of a full-scale system.
5

Summary for Policymakers

Figure SPM.4. Overview of geological storage options (based on Figure 5.3) (Courtesy CO2CRC).

resistant material. Shipping of CO2, analogous to shipping

of liquefied petroleum gases, is economically feasible under
specific conditions but is currently carried out on a small scale
due to limited demand. CO2 can also be carried by rail and
road tankers, but it is unlikely that these could be attractive
options for large-scale CO2 transportation (Sections 4.2.1,
4.2.2, 4.3.2, Figure 4.5, 4.6).
7. Storage of CO2 in deep, onshore or offshore geological
formations uses many of the same technologies that
have been developed by the oil and gas industry and has
been proven to be economically feasible under specific
conditions for oil and gas fields and saline formations,
but not yet for storage in unminable coal beds (see
Figure SPM.4).

If CO2 is injected into suitable saline formations or oil or

gas fields, at depths below 800 m, various physical and
geochemical trapping mechanisms would prevent it from
migrating to the surface. In general, an essential physical
trapping mechanism is the presence of a caprock10. Coal bed
storage may take place at shallower depths and relies on the
adsorption of CO2 on the coal, but the technical feasibility
largely depends on the permeability of the coal bed. The
combination of CO2 storage with Enhanced Oil Recovery
(EOR11) or, potentially, Enhanced Coal Bed Methane recovery
(ECBM) could lead to additional revenues from the oil or
gas recovery. Well-drilling technology, injection technology,
computer simulation of storage reservoir performance and
monitoring methods from existing applications are being

coal bed that is unlikely to ever be mined because it is too deep or too thin may be potentially used for CO2 storage. If subsequently mined, the stored CO2
A
would be released. Enhanced Coal Bed Methane (ECBM) recovery could potentially increase methane production from coals while simultaneously storing CO2.
The produced methane would be used and not released to the atmosphere (Section 5.3.4).
9
At depths below 8001,000 m, CO2 becomes supercritical and has a liquid-like density (about 500800 kg m-3) that provides the potential for efficient utilization
of underground storage space and improves storage security (Section 5.1.1).
10
Rock of very low permeability that acts as an upper seal to prevent fluid flow out of a reservoir.
11
For the purposes of this report, EOR means CO2-driven Enhanced Oil Recovery.
8

Summary for Policymakers

Figure SPM.5. Overview of ocean storage concepts. In dissolution type ocean storage, the CO2 rapidly dissolves in the ocean water,
whereas in lake type ocean storage, the CO2 is initially a liquid on the sea floor (Courtesy CO2CRC).

developed further for utilization in the design and operation

of geological storage projects.
Three industrial-scale12 storage projects are in operation:
the Sleipner project in an offshore saline formation in Norway,
the Weyburn EOR project in Canada, and the In Salah project
in a gas field in Algeria. Others are planned (Sections 5.1.1,
5.2.2, 5.3, 5.6, 5.9.4, Boxes 5.1, 5.2, 5.3).
8. Ocean storage potentially could be done in two ways:
by injecting and dissolving CO2 into the water column
(typically below 1,000 meters) via a fixed pipeline or a
moving ship, or by depositing it via a fixed pipeline or
an offshore platform onto the sea floor at depths below
3,000 m, where CO2 is denser than water and is expected
to form a lake that would delay dissolution of CO2 into
the surrounding environment (see Figure SPM.5). Ocean
storage and its ecological impacts are still in the research
phase13.
12
13

The dissolved and dispersed CO2 would become part of the

global carbon cycle and eventually equilibrate with the CO2
in the atmosphere. In laboratory experiments, small-scale
ocean experiments and model simulations, the technologies
and associated physical and chemical phenomena, which
include, notably, increases in acidity (lower pH) and their
effect on marine ecosystems, have been studied for a range
of ocean storage options (Sections 6.1.2, 6.2.1, 6.5, 6.7).
9. The reaction of CO2 with metal oxides, which are
abundant in silicate minerals and available in small
quantities in waste streams, produces stable carbonates.
The technology is currently in the research stage, but
certain applications in using waste streams are in the
demonstration phase.
The natural reaction is very slow and has to be enhanced by
pre-treatment of the minerals, which at present is very energy
intensive (Sections 7.2.1, 7.2.3, 7.2.4, Box 7.1).

Industrial-scale here means on the order of 1 MtCO2 per year.

Research phase means that while the basic science is understood, the technology is currently in the stage of conceptual design or testing at the laboratory or
bench scale and has not been demonstrated in a pilot plant.

Summary for Policymakers

10. Industrial uses14 of captured CO2 as a gas or liquid or as

a feedstock in chemical processes that produce valuable
carbon-containing products are possible, but are not
expected to contribute to significant abatement of CO2
emissions.
The potential for industrial uses of CO2 is small, while the
CO2 is generally retained for short periods (usually months
or years). Processes using captured CO2 as feedstock instead
of fossil hydrocarbons do not always achieve net lifecycle
emission reductions (Sections 7.3.1, 7.3.4).
11. Components of CCS are in various stages of development
(see Table SPM.2). Complete CCS systems can be
assembled from existing technologies that are mature or
economically feasible under specific conditions, although
the state of development of the overall system may be less
than some of its separate components.

There is relatively little experience in combining CO2 capture,

transport and storage into a fully integrated CCS system. The
utilization of CCS for large-scale power plants (the potential
application of major interest) still remains to be implemented
(Sections 1.4.4, 3.8, 5.1).
What is the geographical relationship between the
sources and storage opportunities for CO2?
12. Large point sources of CO2 are concentrated in proximity
to major industrial and urban areas. Many such sources
are within 300 km of areas that potentially hold formations
suitable for geological storage (see Figure SPM.6).
Preliminary research suggests that, globally, a small
proportion of large point sources is close to potential
ocean storage locations.

Post-combustion

Pre-combustion

Oxyfuel combustion
Transportation
Geological storage

Ocean storage
Mineral carbonation
Industrial uses of CO2

Industrial separation (natural gas processing, ammonia production)

Pipeline

Shipping

X
X

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

Gas or oil fields

Saline formations

Enhanced Coal Bed Methane recovery (ECBM)

Direct injection (dissolution type)

Natural silicate minerals

Direct injection (lake type)

Waste materials

Mature market 6

Capture

Economically feasible
under specific conditions 5

CCS technology

Demonstration phase 7

CCS component

Research phase 13

Table SPM.2. Current maturity of CCS system components. The Xs indicate the highest level of maturity for each component. For most
components, less mature technologies also exist.

X
Xa

X
X

CO2 injection for EOR is a mature market technology, but when this technology is used for CO2 storage, it is only economically feasible under specific conditions

14

Industrial uses of CO2 refer to those uses that do not include EOR, which is discussed in paragraph 7.

Summary for Policymakers

Figure SPM.6a. Global distribution of large stationary sources of CO2 (Figure 2.3) (based on a compilation of publicly available information
on global emission sources; IEA GHG 2002)

Figure SPM.6b. Prospective areas in sedimentary basins where suitable saline formations, oil or gas fields or coal beds may be found. Locations
for storage in coal beds are only partly included. Prospectivity is a qualitative assessment of the likelihood that a suitable storage location
is present in a given area based on the available information. This figure should be taken as a guide only because it is based on partial data,
the quality of which may vary from region to region and which may change over time and with new information (Figure 2.4) (Courtesy of
Geoscience Australia).

Currently available literature regarding the matches between

large CO2 point sources with suitable geological storage
formations is limited. Detailed regional assessments may be
necessary to improve information (see Figure SPM.6b).
Scenario studies indicate that the number of large point
sources is projected to increase in the future, and that, by
2050, given expected technical limitations, around 2040% of
global fossil fuel CO2 emissions could be technically suitable
for capture, including 3060% of the CO2 emissions from

electricity generation and 3040% of those from industry.

Emissions from large-scale biomass conversion facilities
could also be technically suitable for capture. The proximity
of future large point sources to potential storage sites has not
been studied (Sections 2.3, 2.4.3).
13. CCS enables the control of the CO2 emissions from fossil
fuel-based production of electricity or hydrogen, which
in the longer term could reduce part of the dispersed CO2

10

Summary for Policymakers

emissions from transport and distributed energy supply

systems.
Electricity could be used in vehicles, and hydrogen could
be used in fuel cells, including in the transport sector. Gas
and coal conversion with integrated CO2 separation (without
storage) is currently the dominant option for the production
of hydrogen. More fossil fuel or biomass-based hydrogen or
electricity production would result in an increased number of
large CO2 sources that are technically suitable for capture and
storage. At present, it is difficult to project the likely number,
location and size of such sources (Sections 2.5.1).
What are the costs15 for CCS and what is
the technical and economic potential?
14. Application of CCS to electricity production, under 2002
conditions, is estimated to increase electricity generation
costs by about 0.010.05 US dollars16 per kilowatt
hour (US$/kWh), depending on the fuel, the specific
technology, the location and the national circumstances.
Inclusion of the benefits of EOR would reduce additional
electricity production costs due to CCS by around 0.01
0.02 US$/kWh17 (see Table SPM.3 for absolute electricity
production costs and Table SPM.4 for costs in US$/tCO2
avoided). Increases in market prices of fuels used for
power generation would generally tend to increase the
cost of CCS. The quantitative impact of oil price on CCS is
uncertain. However, revenue from EOR would generally
be higher with higher oil prices. While applying CCS to
biomass-based power production at the current small
scale would add substantially to the electricity costs, cofiring of biomass in a larger coal-fired power plant with
CCS would be more cost-effective.

Costs vary considerably in both absolute and relative terms

from country to country. Since neither Natural Gas Combined
Cycle, Pulverized Coal nor Integrated Gasification Combined
Cycle systems have yet been built at a full scale with CCS,
the costs of these systems cannot be stated with a high degree
of confidence at this time. In the future, the costs of CCS
could be reduced by research and technological development
and economies of scale. Economies of scale could also
considerably bring down the cost of biomass-based CCS
systems over time. The application of CCS to biomassfuelled or co-fired conversion facilities would lead to lower
or negative18 CO2 emissions, which could reduce the costs for
this option, depending on the market value of CO2 emission
reductions (Sections 2.5.3, 3.7.1, 3.7.13, 8.2.4).
15. Retrofitting existing plants with CO2 capture is expected
to lead to higher costs and significantly reduced overall
efficiencies than for newly built power plants with capture.
The cost disadvantages of retrofitting may be reduced
in the case of some relatively new and highly efficient
existing plants or where a plant is substantially upgraded
or rebuilt.
The costs of retrofitting CCS to existing installations vary.
Industrial sources of CO2 can more easily be retrofitted
with CO2 separation, while integrated power plant systems
would need more profound adjustment. In order to reduce
future retrofit costs, new plant designs could take future CCS
application into account (Sections 3.1.4, 3.7.5).
16. In most CCS systems, the cost of capture (including
compression) is the largest cost component.
Costs for the various components of a CCS system vary
widely, depending on the reference plant and the wide range

Table SPM.3. Costs of CCS: production costs of electricity for different types of generation, without capture and for the CCS system as a
whole. The cost of a full CCS system for electricity generation from a newly built, large-scale fossil fuel-based power plant depends on a
number of factors, including the characteristics of both the power plant and the capture system, the specifics of the storage site, the amount of
CO2 and the required transport distance. The numbers assume experience with a large-scale plant. Gas prices are assumed to be 2.8-4.4 US$ per
gigajoule (GJ), and coal prices 1-1.5 US$ GJ-1 (based on Tables 8.3 and 8.4).
Power plant system

Without capture (reference plant)

With capture and geological storage

With capture and EOR

17

Natural Gas Combined Cycle

(US$/kWh)

Pulverized Coal
(US$/kWh)

0.03 - 0.05

0.04 - 0.05

0.04 - 0.08

0.04 - 0.07

0.06 - 0.10

0.05 - 0.08

Integrated Gasification Combined

Cycle
(US$/kWh)
0.04 - 0.06

0.05 - 0.09

0.04 - 0.07

s used in this report, costs refer only to market prices but do not include external costs such as environmental damages and broader societal costs that may
A
be associated with the use of CCS. To date, little has been done to assess and quantify such external costs.
16
All costs in this report are expressed in 2002 US$.
17
Based on oil prices of 1520 US$ per barrel, as used in the available literature.
18
If, for example, the biomass is harvested at an unsustainable rate (that is, faster than the annual re-growth), the net CO2 emissions of the activity might not be
negative.
15

Summary for Policymakers

11

Table SPM.4. CO2 avoidance costs for the complete CCS system for electricity generation, for different combinations of reference power plants
without CCS and power plants with CCS (geological and EOR). The amount of CO2 avoided is the difference between the emissions of the
reference plant and the emissions of the power plant with CCS. Gas prices are assumed to be 2.8-4.4 US$ GJ-1, and coal prices 1-1.5 US$ GJ-1
(based on Tables 8.3a and 8.4).
Type of power plant with CCS

Power plant with capture and geological storage

Natural Gas Combined Cycle

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle

40 - 90

40 - 220

70 - 270

Pulverized Coal reference plant

US$/tCO2 avoided

20 - 60

20 - 70

30 - 70

17

Natural Gas Combined Cycle

Pulverized Coal

Pulverized Coal

Power plant with capture and EOR

Natural Gas Combined Cycle reference plant

US$/tCO2 avoided

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle

20 - 70

50 - 240
20 - 190

0 - 30

10 - 40
0 - 40

Table SPM.5. 2002 Cost ranges for the components of a CCS system as applied to a given type of power plant or industrial source. The costs
of the separate components cannot simply be summed to calculate the costs of the whole CCS system in US$/CO2 avoided. All numbers are
representative of the costs for large-scale, new installations, with natural gas prices assumed to be 2.8-4.4 US$ GJ-1 and coal prices 1-1.5 US$
GJ-1 (Sections 5.9.5, 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3, Tables 8.1 and 8.2).
CCS system components

Cost range

Remarks

Capture from hydrogen and

ammonia production or gas
processing

5-55 US$/tCO2 net captured

Applies to high-purity sources requiring simple drying and

compression.

Transportation

1-8 US$/tCO2 transported

Geological storagea

0.5-8 US$/tCO2 net injected

Ocean storage

5-30 US$/tCO2 net injected

Mineral carbonation

50-100 US$/tCO2 net mineralized

Capture from a coal- or gas-fired

power plant

15-75 US$/tCO2 net captured

Net costs of captured CO2, compared to the same plant

without capture.

Capture from other industrial sources 25-115 US$/tCO2 net captured

Geological storage: monitoring and

verification

Range reflects use of a number of different technologies and

fuels.

Per 250 km pipeline or shipping for mass flow rates of 5

(high end) to 40 (low end) MtCO2 yr-1.
Excluding potential revenues from EOR or ECBM.

0.1-0.3 US$/tCO2 injected

This covers pre-injection, injection, and post-injection

monitoring, and depends on the regulatory requirements.

Including offshore transportation of 100-500 km, excluding

monitoring and verification.
Range for the best case studied. Includes additional energy
use for carbonation.

Over the long term, there may be additional costs for remediation and liabilities.

in CO2 source, transport and storage situations (see Table

SPM.5). Over the next decade, the cost of capture could be
reduced by 2030%, and more should be achievable by new
technologies that are still in the research or demonstration
phase. The costs of transport and storage of CO2 could
decrease slowly as the technology matures further and the
scale increases (Sections 1.5.3, 3.7.13, 8.2).
17. Energy and economic models indicate that the CCS
systems major contribution to climate change mitigation
would come from deployment in the electricity sector. Most

modelling as assessed in this report suggests that CCS

systems begin to deploy at a significant level when CO2
prices begin to reach approximately 2530 US$/tCO2.
Low-cost capture possibilities (in gas processing and in
hydrogen and ammonia manufacture, where separation of
CO2 is already done) in combination with short (<50 km)
transport distances and storage options that generate revenues
(such as EOR) can lead to the limited storage of CO2 (up to
360 MtCO2 yr-1) under circumstances of low or no incentives
(Sections 2.2.1.3, 2.3, 2.4, 8.3.2.1)

12

Summary for Policymakers

18. Available evidence suggests that, worldwide, it is likely19

that there is a technical potential20 of at least about
2,000 GtCO2 (545 GtC) of storage capacity in geological
formations21.
There could be a much larger potential for geological storage
in saline formations, but the upper limit estimates are uncertain
due to lack of information and an agreed methodology. The
capacity of oil and gas reservoirs is better known. Technical
storage capacity in coal beds is much smaller and less well
known.
Model calculations for the capacity to store CO2 in the
oceans indicate that this capacity could be on the order of
thousands of GtCO2, depending on the assumed stabilization
level in the atmosphere22 and on environmental constraints
such as ocean pH change. The extent to which mineral
carbonation may be used can currently not be determined,
since it depends on the unknown amount of silicate reserves
that can be technically exploited and on environmental issues
such as the volume of product disposal (Sections 5.3, 6.3.1,
7.2.3, Table 5.2).
19. In most scenarios for stabilization of atmospheric
greenhouse gas concentrations between 450 and 750 ppmv
CO2 and in a least-cost portfolio of mitigation options,
the economic potential23 of CCS would amount to 220
2,200 GtCO2 (60600 GtC) cumulatively, which would
mean that CCS contributes 1555% to the cumulative
mitigation effort worldwide until 2100, averaged over a
range of baseline scenarios. It is likely20 that the technical
potential21 for geological storage is sufficient to cover the
high end of the economic potential range, but for specific
regions, this may not be true.
Uncertainties in these economic potential estimates are
significant. For CCS to achieve such an economic potential,
several hundreds to thousands of CO2 capture systems would
need to be installed over the coming century, each capturing
some 15 MtCO2 per year. The actual implementation of
CCS, as for other mitigation options, is likely to be lower than
the economic potential due to factors such as environmental
impacts, risks of leakage and the lack of a clear legal
framework or public acceptance (Sections 1.4.4, 5.3.7, 8.3.1,
8.3.3, 8.3.3.4).

20.In most scenario studies, the role of CCS in mitigation

portfolios increases over the course of the century, and
the inclusion of CCS in a mitigation portfolio is found
to reduce the costs of stabilizing CO2 concentrations by
30% or more.
One aspect of the cost competitiveness of CCS systems is
that CCS technologies are compatible with most current
energy infrastructures.
The global potential contribution of CCS as part of a
mitigation portfolio is illustrated by the examples given in
Figure SPM.7. The present extent of analyses in this field is
limited, and further assessments may be necessary to improve
information (Sections 1.5, 8.3.3, 8.3.3.4, Box 8.3).
What are the local health, safety and
environment risks of CCS?
21. The local risks24 associated with CO2 pipeline transport
could be similar to or lower than those posed by
hydrocarbon pipelines already in operation.
For existing CO2 pipelines, mostly in areas of low population
density, accident numbers reported per kilometre pipeline
are very low and are comparable to those for hydrocarbon
pipelines. A sudden and large release of CO2 would pose
immediate dangers to human life and health, if there were
exposure to concentrations of CO2 greater than 710% by
volume in air. Pipeline transport of CO2 through populated
areas requires attention to route selection, overpressure
protection, leak detection and other design factors. No major
obstacles to pipeline design for CCS are foreseen (Sections
4.4.2, AI.2.3.1).
22. With appropriate site selection based on available
subsurface information, a monitoring programme to detect
problems, a regulatory system and the appropriate use of
remediation methods to stop or control CO2 releases if
they arise, the local health, safety and environment risks
of geological storage would be comparable to the risks of
current activities such as natural gas storage, EOR and
deep underground disposal of acid gas.
Natural CO2 reservoirs contribute to the understanding of the
behaviour of CO2 underground. Features of storage sites with
a low probability of leakage include highly impermeable
caprocks, geological stability, absence of leakage paths

Likely is a probability between 66 and 90%.

Technical potential as defined in the TAR is the amount by which it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by implementing a technology or practice
that already has been demonstrated
21
This statement is based on the expert judgment of the authors of the available literature. It reflects the uncertainty about the storage capacity estimates (Section
5.3.7)
22
This approach takes into account that the CO2 injected in the ocean will after some time reach equilibrium with the atmosphere.
23
Economic potential is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions reductions from a specific option that could be achieved cost-effectively, given prevailing
.
circumstances (i.e. a market value of CO2 reductions and costs of other options).
24
In discussing the risks, we assume that risk is the product of the probability that an event will occur and the consequences of the event if it does occur.
19
20

Summary for Policymakers

Primary energy use (EJ yr-1)

1.400

1.200

1.200

1.000

1.000

800

800

600

600

400

400

200

200

MESSAGE

Solar/Wind
Hydro
Biomass
Nuclear
Oil
Gas CCS
Gas (Vented)
Coal CCS
Coal (Vented)

2005
90.000
80.000
Emissions (MtCO2 yr-1)

1.400

MiniCAM

13

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2005

2095

2035

2050

2065

2080

2095

90.000

MiniCAM

2020

MESSAGE

80.000

Conservation and
Energy Efficiency

70.000

70.000

Renewable Energy

60.000

60.000

Nuclear

50.000

50.000

Coal to Gas
Substitution

40.000

40.000

CCS

30.000

30.000

20.000

20.000

Emissions to the
atmosphere

10.000

Emissions to the
atmosphere

10.000

2005

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2095

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2095

180
Marginal price of CO2
(2002 US$/tCO2)

2005

160

MiniCAM

140

MESSAGE

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2005 2020 2035 2050 2065 2080 2095

Figure SPM.7. These figures are an illustrative example of the global potential contribution of CCS as part of a mitigation portfolio. They are
based on two alternative integrated assessment models (MESSAGE and MiniCAM) while adopt the same assumptions for the main emissions
drivers. The results would vary considerably on regional scales. This example is based on a single scenario and, therefore, does not convey the
full range of uncertainties. Panels a and b show global primary energy use, including the deployment of CCS. Panels c and d show the global
CO2 emissions in grey and corresponding contributions of main emissions reduction measures in colour. Panel e shows the calculated marginal
price of CO2 reductions (Section 8.3.3, Box 8.3).

and effective trapping mechanisms. There are two different

types of leakage scenarios: (1) abrupt leakage, through
injection well failure or leakage up an abandoned well, and
(2) gradual leakage, through undetected faults, fractures or
wells. Impacts of elevated CO2 concentrations in the shallow
subsurface could include lethal effects on plants and subsoil
animals and the contamination of groundwater. High fluxes
in conjunction with stable atmospheric conditions could lead

to local high CO2 concentrations in the air that could harm

animals or people. Pressure build-up caused by CO2 injection
could trigger small seismic events.
While there is limited experience with geological storage,
closely related industrial experience and scientific knowledge
could serve as a basis for appropriate risk management,
including remediation. The effectiveness of the available
risk management methods still needs to be demonstrated

14

Summary for Policymakers

for use with CO2 storage. If leakage occurs at a storage site,

remediation to stop the leakage could involve standard well
repair techniques or the interception and extraction of the
CO2 before it would leak into a shallow groundwater aquifer.
Given the long timeframes associated with geological storage
of CO2, site monitoring may be required for very long periods
(Sections 5.6, 5.7, Tables 5.4, 5.7, Figure 5.25).
23. Adding CO2 to the ocean or forming pools of liquid
CO2 on the ocean floor at industrial scales will alter the
local chemical environment. Experiments have shown
that sustained high concentrations of CO2 would cause
mortality of ocean organisms. CO2 effects on marine
organisms will have ecosystem consequences. The
chronic effects of direct CO2 injection into the ocean on
ecosystems over large ocean areas and long time scales
have not yet been studied.
Model simulations, assuming a release from seven locations
at an ocean depth of 3,000 m, where ocean storage provides
10% of the mitigation effort for stabilization at 550 ppmv
CO2, resulted in acidity increases (pH decrease >0.4) over
approximately 1% of the ocean volume. For comparison
purposes: in such a stabilization case without ocean storage,
a pH decrease >0.25 relative to pre-industrial levels at
the entire ocean surface can be expected. A 0.2 to 0.4 pH
decrease is significantly greater than pre-industrial variations
in average ocean acidity. At these levels of pH change, some
effects have been found in organisms that live near the
oceans surface, but chronic effects have not yet been studied.
A better understanding of these impacts is required before a
comprehensive risk assessment can be accomplished. There
is no known mechanism for the sudden or catastrophic release
of stored CO2 from the ocean to the atmosphere. Gradual
release is discussed in SPM paragraph 26. Conversion of
molecular CO2 to bicarbonates or hydrates before or during
CO2 release would reduce the pH effects and enhance the
retention of CO2 in the ocean, but this would also increase the
costs and other environmental impacts (Section 6.7).
24. Environmental impacts of large-scale mineral carbonation
would be a consequence of the required mining and
disposal of resulting products that have no practical use.
Industrial fixation of one tonne of CO2 requires between
1.6 and 3.7 tonnes of silicate rock. The impacts of mineral
carbonation are similar to those of large-scale surface mines.
They include land-clearing, decreased local air quality and
affected water and vegetation as a result of drilling, moving
of earth and the grading and leaching of metals from mining
residues, all of which indirectly may also result in habitat
degradation. Most products of mineral carbonation need to

25

Very likely is a probability between 90 and 99%.

be disposed of, which would require landfills and additional

transport (Sections 7.2.4, 7.2.6).
Will physical leakage of stored CO2 compromise
CCS as a climate change mitigation option?
25. Observations from engineered and natural analogues
as well as models suggest that the fraction retained
in appropriately selected and managed geological
reservoirs is very likely25 to exceed 99% over 100 years
and is likely20 to exceed 99% over 1,000 years.
For well-selected, designed and managed geological
storage sites, the vast majority of the CO2 will gradually be
immobilized by various trapping mechanisms and, in that
case, could be retained for up to millions of years. Because of
these mechanisms, storage could become more secure over
longer timeframes (Sections 1.6.3, 5.2.2, 5.7.3.4, Table 5.5).
26. Release of CO2 from ocean storage would be gradual
over hundreds of years.
Ocean tracer data and model calculations indicate that, in the
case of ocean storage, depending on the depth of injection
and the location, the fraction retained is 65100% after 100
years and 3085% after 500 years (a lower percentage for
injection at a depth of 1,000 m, a higher percentage at 3,000
m) (Sections 1.6.3, 6.3.3, 6.3.4, Table 6.2)
27. In the case of mineral carbonation, the CO2 stored would
not be released to the atmosphere (Sections 1.6.3, 7.2.7).
28. If continuous leakage of CO2 occurs, it could, at least
in part, offset the benefits of CCS for mitigating climate
change. Assessments of the implications of leakage for
climate change mitigation depend on the framework
chosen for decision-making and on the information
available on the fractions retained for geological or
ocean storage as presented in paragraphs 25 and 26.
Studies conducted to address the question of how to deal with
non-permanent storage are based on different approaches:
the value of delaying emissions, cost minimization of a
specified mitigation scenario or allowable future emissions
in the context of an assumed stabilization of atmospheric
greenhouse gas concentrations. Some of these studies allow
future leakage to be compensated by additional reductions
in emissions; the results depend on assumptions regarding
the future cost of reductions, discount rates, the amount of
CO2 stored and the atmospheric concentration stabilization
level assumed. In other studies, compensation is not seen as
an option because of political and institutional uncertainties,
and the analysis focuses on limitations set by the assumed

Summary for Policymakers

stabilization level and the amount stored. While specific
results of the range of studies vary with the methods and
assumptions made, all studies imply that, if CCS is to be
acceptable as a mitigation measure, there must be an upper
limit to the amount of leakage that can take place (Sections
1.6.4, 8.4).
What are the legal and regulatory issues for
implementing CO2 storage?
29. Some regulations for operations in the subsurface do exist
that may be relevant or, in some cases, directly applicable
to geological storage, but few countries have specifically
developed legal or regulatory frameworks for long-term
CO2 storage.
Existing laws and regulations regarding inter alia mining,
oil and gas operations, pollution control, waste disposal,
drinking water, treatment of high-pressure gases and
subsurface property rights may be relevant to geological
CO2 storage. Long-term liability issues associated with the
leakage of CO2 to the atmosphere and local environmental
impacts are generally unresolved. Some States take on longterm responsibility in situations comparable to CO2 storage,
such as underground mining operations (Sections 5.8.2,
5.8.3, 5.8.4).
30. No formal interpretations so far have been agreed upon
with respect to whether or under what conditions CO2
injection into the geological sub-seabed or the ocean is
compatible.
There are currently several treaties (notably the London26 and
OSPAR27 Conventions) that potentially apply to the injection
of CO2 into the geological sub-seabed or the ocean. All of
these treaties have been drafted without specific consideration
of CO2 storage (Sections 5.8.1, 6.8.1).

15

National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Specific methods may

be required for the net capture and storage of CO2, physical
leakage, fugitive emissions and negative emissions associated
with biomass applications of CCS systems (Sections 9.2.1,
9.2.2).
32. The few current CCS projects all involve geological
storage, and there is therefore limited experience with the
monitoring, verification and reporting of actual physical
leakage rates and associated uncertainties.
Several techniques are available or under development for
monitoring and verification of CO2 emissions from CCS, but
these vary in applicability, site specificity, detection limits
and uncertainties (Sections 9.2.3, 5.6, 6.6.2).
33. CO2 might be captured in one country and stored in
another with different commitments. Issues associated
with accounting for cross-border storage are not unique
to CCS.
Rules and methods for accounting may have to be adjusted
accordingly. Possible physical leakage from a storage site in
the future would have to be accounted for (Section 9.3).
What are the gaps in knowledge?
34. There are gaps in currently available knowledge
regarding some aspects of CCS. Increasing knowledge
and experience would reduce uncertainties and thus
facilitate decision-making with respect to the deployment
of CCS for climate change mitigation (Section TS.10).

What are the implications of CCS for emission

inventories and accounting?
31. The current IPCC Guidelines28 do not include methods
specific to estimating emissions associated with CCS.
The general guidance provided by the IPCC can be applied
to CCS. A few countries currently do so, in combination with
their national methods for estimating emissions. The IPCC
guidelines themselves do not yet provide specific methods
for estimating emissions associated with CCS. These are
expected to be provided in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for
onvention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (1972), and its London Protocol (1996), which has not yet entered
C
into force.
27
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, which was adopted in Paris (1992). OSPAR is an abbreviation of
Oslo-Paris.
28
Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and Good Practice Guidance Reports; Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty
Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry
26

16

Summary for Policymakers

Technical Summary

IPCC Special Report

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

Technical Summary

Coordinating Lead Authors

Edward Rubin (United States), Leo Meyer (Netherlands), Heleen de Coninck (Netherlands)

Lead Authors

Juan Carlos Abanades (Spain), Makoto Akai (Japan), Sally Benson (United States), Ken
Caldeira (United States), Peter Cook (Australia), Ogunlade Davidson (Sierra Leone), Richard
Doctor (United States), James Dooley (United States), Paul Freund (United Kingdom), John
Gale (United Kingdom), Wolfgang Heidug (Germany), Howard Herzog (United States),
David Keith (Canada), Marco Mazzotti (Italy and Switzerland), Bert Metz (Netherlands),
Balgis Osman-Elasha (Sudan), Andrew Palmer (United Kingdom), Riitta Pipatti (Finland),
Koen Smekens (Belgium), Mohammad Soltanieh (Iran), Kelly (Kailai) Thambimuthu
(Australia and Canada), Bob van der Zwaan (Netherlands)

Review Editor

Ismail El Gizouli (Sudan)

17

18

Technical Summary

Contents
1. Introduction and framework of this report . ..........................................................................................................................19
2. Sources of CO2 .......................................................................................................................................................................22
3. Capture of CO2 .......................................................................................................................................................................24
4. Transport of CO2 ....................................................................................................................................................................29
5. Geological storage ............................................................................................................................................................... .31
6. Ocean storage ........................................................................................................................................................................37
7. Mineral carbonation and industrial uses .............................................................................................................................. 39
8. Costs and economic potential .............................................................................................................................................. 41
9. Emission inventories and accounting ....................................................................................................................................46
10. Gaps in knowledge ................................................................................................................................................................48

Technical Summary
1.

Introduction and framework of this report

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), the subject of this

Special Report, is considered as one of the options for reducing
atmospheric emissions of CO2 from human activities. The
purpose of this Special Report is to assess the current state of
knowledge regarding the technical, scientific, environmental,
economic and societal dimensions of CCS and to place CCS
in the context of other options in the portfolio of potential
climate change mitigation measures.
The structure of this Technical Summary follows that of
the Special Report. This introductory section presents the
general framework for the assessment together with a brief
overview of CCS systems. Section 2 then describes the major
sources of CO2, a step needed to assess the feasibility of CCS
on a global scale. Technological options for CO2 capture
are then discussed in Section 3, while Section 4 focuses
on methods of CO2 transport. Following this, each of the
storage options is addressed. Section 5 focuses on geological
storage, Section 6 on ocean storage, and Section 7 on mineral
carbonation and industrial uses of CO2. The overall costs and
economic potential of CCS are then discussed in Section 8,
followed by an examination in Section 9 of the implications
of CCS for greenhouse gas emissions inventories and
accounting. The Technical Summary concludes with a
discussion of gaps in knowledge, especially those critical for
policy considerations.
Overview of CO2 capture and storage
CO2 is emitted principally from the burning of fossil fuels,
both in large combustion units such as those used for electric
power generation and in smaller, distributed sources such
as automobile engines and furnaces used in residential and
commercial buildings. CO2 emissions also result from some
industrial and resource extraction processes, as well as from
the burning of forests during land clearance. CCS would
most likely be applied to large point sources of CO2, such
as power plants or large industrial processes. Some of these
sources could supply decarbonized fuel such as hydrogen to
the transportation, industrial and building sectors, and thus
reduce emissions from those distributed sources.
CCS involves the use of technology, first to collect and
concentrate the CO2 produced in industrial and energyrelated sources, transport it to a suitable storage location,
and then store it away from the atmosphere for a long period
of time. CCS would thus allow fossil fuels to be used with
low emissions of greenhouse gases. Application of CCS to
biomass energy sources could result in the net removal of
CO2 from the atmosphere (often referred to as negative
1

In this report, EOR means enhanced oil recovery using CO2

19

emissions) by capturing and storing the atmospheric CO2

taken up by the biomass, provided the biomass is not
harvested at an unsustainable rate.
Figure TS.1 illustrates the three main components of the CCS
process: capture, transport and storage. All three components
are found in industrial operations today, although mostly not
for the purpose of CO2 storage. The capture step involves
separating CO2 from other gaseous products. For fuelburning processes such as those in power plants, separation
technologies can be used to capture CO2 after combustion
or to decarbonize the fuel before combustion. The transport
step may be required to carry captured CO2 to a suitable
storage site located at a distance from the CO2 source. To
facilitate both transport and storage, the captured CO2 gas is
typically compressed to a high density at the capture facility.
Potential storage methods include injection into underground
geological formations, injection into the deep ocean, or
industrial fixation in inorganic carbonates. Some industrial
processes also might utilize and store small amounts of
captured CO2 in manufactured products.
The technical maturity of specific CCS system components
varies greatly. Some technologies are extensively deployed
in mature markets, primarily in the oil and gas industry, while
others are still in the research, development or demonstration
phase. Table TS.1 provides an overview of the current status
of all CCS components. As of mid-2005, there have been
three commercial projects linking CO2 capture and geological
storage: the offshore Sleipner natural gas processing project
in Norway, the Weyburn Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
project in Canada (which stores CO2 captured in the United
States) and the In Salah natural gas project in Algeria. Each
captures and stores 12 MtCO2 per year. It should be noted,
however, that CCS has not yet been applied at a large (e.g.,
500 MW) fossil-fuel power plant, and that the overall system
may not be as mature as some of its components.

20

Technical Summary

Figure TS.1. Schematic diagram of possible CCS systems. It shows the sources for which CCS might be relevant, as well as CO2 transport
and storage options (Courtesy CO2CRC).

Why the interest in CO2 capture and storage?

In 1992, international concern about climate change led to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). The ultimate objective of that Convention is
the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system. From this perspective,
the context for considering CCS (and other mitigation
options) is that of a world constrained in CO2 emissions,
consistent with the international goal of stabilizing
atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Most scenarios
for global energy use project a substantial increase of CO2
emissions throughout this century in the absence of specific
actions to mitigate climate change. They also suggest that
the supply of primary energy will continue to be dominated
by fossil fuels until at least the middle of the century (see
Section 8). The magnitude of the emissions reduction needed
to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of CO2 will depend
on both the level of future emissions (the baseline) and the
2
3

desired target for long-term CO2 concentration: the lower

the stabilization target and the higher the baseline emissions,
the larger the required reduction in CO2 emissions. IPCCs
Third Assessment Report (TAR) states that, depending on
the scenario considered, cumulative emissions of hundreds
or even thousands of gigatonnes of CO2 would need to
be prevented during this century to stabilize the CO2
concentration at 450 to 750 ppmv. The TAR also finds
that, most model results indicate that known technological
options could achieve a broad range of atmospheric CO2
stabilization levels, but that no single technology option
will provide all of the emissions reductions needed. Rather,
a combination of mitigation measures will be needed to
achieve stabilization. These known technological options are
available for stabilization, although the TAR cautions that,
implementation would require associated socio-economic
and institutional changes.

ppmv is parts per million by volume.

Known technological options refer to technologies that are currently at the operation or pilot-plant stages, as referred to in the mitigation scenarios discussed
in IPCCs Third Assessment Report. The term does not include any new technologies that will require drastic technological breakthroughs. It can be considered
to represent a conservative estimate given the length of the scenario period.

21

Technical Summary

Capture

Post-combustion

Geological storage

X
X

Industrial separation (natural gas processing, ammonia production)

Pipeline

Shipping

Saline formations

Mineral carbonation
Industrial uses of CO2

Enhanced Coal Bed Methane recovery (ECBM)

Direct injection (dissolution type)

Natural silicate minerals

Direct injection (lake type)

Waste materials

X
X

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

Gas or oil fields

Ocean storage

Mature market d

Pre-combustion

Oxyfuel combustion
Transportation

Economically feasible
under specific conditions c

CCS technology

Research phase a

CCS component

Demonstration phase b

Table TS.1. Current maturity of CCS system components. An X indicates the highest level of maturity for each component. There are also
less mature technologies for most components.

X
Xe

X
X

Research phase means that the basic science is understood, but the technology is currently in the stage of conceptual design or testing at the laboratory or
bench scale, and has not been demonstrated in a pilot plant.
b
Demonstration phase means that the technology has been built and operated at the scale of a pilot plant, but further development is required before the
technology is required before the technology is ready for the design and construction of a full-scale system.
c
Economically feasible under specific conditions means that the technology is well understood and used in selected commercial applications, for instance if
there is a favourable tax regime or a niche market, or processing on in the order of 0.1 MtCO2 yr-1, with few (less than 5) replications of the technology.
d
Mature market means that the technology is now in operation with multiple replications of the technology worldwide.
e
CO2 injection for EOR is a mature market technology, but when used for CO2 storage, it is only economically feasible under specific conditions.
f
ECBM is the use of CO2 to enhance the recovery of the methane present in unminable coal beds through the preferential adsorption of CO2 on coal.
Unminable coal beds are unlikely to ever be mined, because they are too deep or too thin. If subsequently mined, the stored CO2 would be released.
a

In this context, the availability of CCS in the portfolio of

options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions could facilitate
the achievement of stabilization goals. Other technological
options, which have been examined more extensively in
previous IPCC assessments, include: (1) reducing energy
demand by increasing the efficiency of energy conversion
and/or utilization devices; (2) decarbonizing energy supplies
(either by switching to less carbon-intensive fuels (coal to
natural gas, for example), and/or by increasing the use of
renewable energy sources and/or nuclear energy (each of
which, on balance, emit little or no CO2); (3) sequestering
CO2 through the enhancement of natural sinks by biological
fixation; and (4) reducing non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

Model results presented later in this report suggest that use of

CCS in conjunction with other measures could significantly
reduce the cost of achieving stabilization and would increase
flexibility in achieving these reductions . The heavy worldwide
reliance on fossil fuels today (approximately 80% of global
energy use), the potential for CCS to reduce CO2 emissions
over the next century, and the compatibility of CCS systems
with current energy infrastructures explain the interest in this
technology.

22

Technical Summary

Major issues for this assessment

There are a number of issues that need to be addressed in
trying to understand the role that CCS could play in mitigating
climate change. Questions that arise, and that are addressed
in different sections of this Technical Summary, include the
following:
What is the current status of CCS technology?
What is the potential for capturing and storing CO2?
What are the costs of implementation?
How long should CO2 be stored in order to achieve
significant climate change mitigation?
What are the health, safety and environment risks of
CCS?
What can be said about the public perception of CCS?
What are the legal issues for implementing CO2 storage?
What are the implications for emission inventories and
accounting?
What is the potential for the diffusion and transfer of CCS
technology?
When analyzing CCS as an option for climate change
mitigation, it is of central importance that all resulting
emissions from the system, especially emissions of CO2, be
identified and assessed in a transparent way. The importance
of taking a systems view of CCS is therefore stressed, as
the selection of an appropriate system boundary is essential
for proper analysis. Given the energy requirements associated
with capture and some storage and utilization options, and the
possibility of leaking storage reservoirs, it is vital to assess
the CCS chain as a whole.
From the perspectives of both atmospheric stabilization
and long-term sustainable development, CO2 storage must
extend over time scales that are long enough to contribute
significantly to climate change mitigation. This report
expresses the duration of CO2 storage in terms of thefraction
retained, defined as the fraction of the cumulative mass
of CO2 injected that is retained in a storage reservoir over
a specified period of time. Estimates of such fractions for
different time periods and storage options are presented later.
Questions arise not only about how long CO2 will remain
stored, but also what constitutes acceptable amounts of slow,
continuous leakage from storage. Different approaches to
this question are discussed in Section 8.
CCS would be an option for countries that have significant
sources of CO2 suitable for capture, that have access to storage
sites and experience with oil or gas operations, and that need to
satisfy their development aspirations in a carbon-constrained
environment. Literature assessed in the IPCC Special Report
Methodological and Technological Issues and Technology
4

Transfer indicates that there are many potential barriers

that could inhibit deployment in developing countries, even
of technologies that are mature in industrialized countries.
Addressing these barriers and creating conditions that would
facilitate diffusion of the technology to developing countries
would be a major issue for the adoption of CCS worldwide.
2. Sources of CO2
This section describes the major current anthropogenic
sources of CO2 emissions and their relation to potential
storage sites. As noted earlier, CO2 emissions from human
activity arise from a number of different sources, mainly
from the combustion of fossil fuels used in power generation,
transportation, industrial processes, and residential and
commercial buildings. CO2 is also emitted during certain
industrial processes like cement manufacture or hydrogen
production and during the combustion of biomass. Future
emissions are also discussed in this section.
Current CO2 sources and characteristics
To assess the potential of CCS as an option for reducing global
CO2 emissions, the current global geographical relationship
between large stationary CO2 emission sources and their
proximity to potential storage sites has been examined. CO2
emissions in the residential, commerical and transportation
sectors have not been considered in this analysis because
these emission sources are individually small and often
mobile, and therefore unsuitable for capture and storage. The
discussion here also includes an analysis of potential future
sources of CO2 based on several scenarios of future global
energy use and emissions over the next century.
Globally, emissions of CO2 from fossil-fuel use in the year
2000 totalled about 23.5 GtCO2 yr-1 (6 GtC yr-1). Of this, close
to 60% was attributed to large (>0.1 MtCO2 yr-1) stationary
emission sources (see Table TS.2). However, not all of these
sources are amenable to CO2 capture. Although the sources
evaluated are distributed throughout the world, the database
reveals four particular clusters of emissions: North America
(midwest and eastern USA), Europe (northwest region),
East Asia (eastern coast of China) and South Asia (Indian
subcontinent). By contrast, large-scale biomass sources are
much smaller in number and less globally distributed.
Currently, the vast majority of large emission sources
have CO2 concentrations of less than 15% (in some cases,
substantially less). However, a small portion (less than
2%) of the fossil fuel-based industrial sources have CO2
concentrations in excess of 95%. The high-concentration
sources are potential candidates for the early implementation

With respect to CO2 storage, leakage is defined as the escape of injected fluid from storage. This is the most common meaning used in this Summary. If used
in the context of trading of carbon dioxide emission reductions, it may signify the change in anthropogenic emissions by sources or removals by sinks which
occurs outside the project boundary.

Technical Summary

23

Table TS.2. Profile by process or industrial activity of worldwide large stationary CO2 sources with emissions of more than 0.1 MtCO2 per
year.
Process

Number of sources

Emissions (MtCO2 yr-1)

4,942

10,539

638

798

Fossil fuels
Power

Cement production

Refineries

Iron and steel industry

Petrochemical industry

Oil and gas processing

Other sources

Biomass

Bioethanol and bioenergy

Total

of CCS because only dehydration and compression would

be required at the capture stage (see Section 3). An analysis
of these high-purity sources that are within 50 km of storage
formations and that have the potential to generate revenues
(via the use of CO2 for enhanced hydrocarbon production
through ECBM or EOR) indicates that such sources
currently emit approximately 360 MtCO2 per year. Some
biomass sources like bioethanol production also generate
high-concentration CO2 sources which could also be used in
similar applications.
The distance between an emission location and a storage
site can have a significant bearing on whether or not CCS
can play a significant role in reducing CO2 emissions. Figure

1,175
269

932

646

470

379

90

33

303

91

N/A

7,887

50

13,466

TS.2a depicts the major CO2 emission sources (indicated

by dots), and Figure TS.2b shows the sedimentary basins
with geological storage prospectivity (shown in different
shades of grey). In broad terms, these figures indicate that
there is potentially good correlation between major sources
and prospective sedimentary basins, with many sources
lying either directly above, or within reasonable distances
(less than 300 km) from areas with potential for geological
storage. The basins shown in Figure TS.2b have not been
identified or evaluated as suitable storage reservoirs; more
detailed geological analysis on a regional level is required to
confirm the suitability of these potential storage sites.

Figure TS.2a. Global distribution of large stationary sources of CO2 (based on a compilation of publicly available information on global
emission sources, IEA GHG 2002)

24

Technical Summary

Figure TS.2b. Prospective areas in sedimentary basins where suitable saline formations, oil or gas fields, or coal beds may be found. Locations
for storage in coal beds are only partly included. Prospectivity is a qualitative assessment of the likelihood that a suitable storage location
is present in a given area based on the available information. This figure should be taken as a guide only, because it is based on partial data,
the quality of which may vary from region to region, and which may change over time and with new information (Courtesy of Geoscience
Australia).

Future emission sources

In the IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES),
the future emissions of CO2 are projected on the basis of six
illustrative scenarios in which global CO2 emissions range
from 29 to 44 GtCO2 (812 GtC) per year in 2020, and from
23 to 84 GtCO2 (623 GtC) per year in 2050. It is projected
that the number of CO2 emission sources from the electric
power and industrial sectors will increase significantly
until 2050, mainly in South and East Asia. By contrast, the
number of such sources in Europe may decrease slightly. The
proportion of sources with high and low CO2 content will
be a function of the size and rate of introduction of plants
employing gasification or liquefaction of fossil fuels to
produce hydrogen, or other liquid and gaseous products. The
greater the number of these plants, the greater the number of
sources with high CO2 concentrations technically suitable for
capture.
The projected potential of CO2 capture associated with the
above emission ranges has been estimated at an annual 2.6 to
4.9 GtCO2 by 2020 (0.71.3 GtC) and 4.7 to 37.5 GtCO2 by
2050 (1.310 GtC). These numbers correspond to 912%,
and 2145% of global CO2 emissions in 2020 and 2050,
respectively. The emission and capture ranges reflect the
inherent uncertainties of scenario and modelling analyses, and
the technical limitations of applying CCS. These scenarios
only take into account CO2 capture from fossil fuels, and
not from biomass sources. However, emissions from large-

scale biomass conversion facilities could also be technically

suitable for capture.
The potential development of low-carbon energy carriers
is relevant to the future number and size of large, stationary
CO2 sources with high concentrations. Scenarios also suggest
that large-scale production of low-carbon energy carriers
such as electricity or hydrogen could, within several decades,
begin displacing the fossil fuels currently used by small,
distributed sources in residential and commercial buildings
and in the transportation sector (see Section 8). These energy
carriers could be produced from fossil fuels and/or biomass
in large plants that would generate large point sources of CO2
(power plants or plants similar to current plants producing
hydrogen from natural gas). These sources would be suitable
for CO2 capture. Such applications of CCS could reduce
dispersed CO2 emissions from transport and from distributed
energy supply systems. At present, however, it is difficult to
project the likely number, size, or geographical distribution
of the sources associated with such developments.
3. Capture of CO2
This section examines CCS capture technology. As shown
in Section 2, power plants and other large-scale industrial
processes are the primary candidates for capture and the
main focus of this section.

Technical Summary
Capture technology options and applications
The purpose of CO2 capture is to produce a concentrated
stream of CO2 at high pressure that can readily be transported
to a storage site. Although, in principle, the entire gas stream
containing low concentrations of CO2 could be transported
and injected underground, energy costs and other associated
costs generally make this approach impractical. It is
therefore necessary to produce a nearly pure CO2 stream for
transport and storage. Applications separating CO2 in large
industrial plants, including natural gas treatment plants and
ammonia production facilities, are already in operation today.
Currently, CO2 is typically removed to purify other industrial
gas streams. Removal has been used for storage purposes in
only a few cases; in most cases, the CO2 is emitted to the
atmosphere. Capture processes also have been used to obtain
commercially useful amounts of CO2 from flue gas streams
generated by the combustion of coal or natural gas. To date,
however, there have been no applications of CO2 capture at
large (e.g., 500 MW) power plants.
Depending on the process or power plant application in
question, there are three main approaches to capturing the
CO2 generated from a primary fossil fuel (coal, natural gas or
oil), biomass, or mixtures of these fuels:
Post-combustion systems separate CO2 from the flue
gases produced by the combustion of the primary fuel in air.
These systems normally use a liquid solvent to capture the
small fraction of CO2 (typically 315% by volume) present
in a flue gas stream in which the main constituent is nitrogen
(from air). For a modern pulverized coal (PC) power plant or
a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, current
post-combustion capture systems would typically employ an
organic solvent such as monoethanolamine (MEA).
Pre-combustion systems process the primary fuel in a
reactor with steam and air or oxygen to produce a mixture
consisting mainly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen
(synthesis gas). Additional hydrogen, together with CO2,
is produced by reacting the carbon monoxide with steam in
a second reactor (a shift reactor). The resulting mixture
of hydrogen and CO2 can then be separated into a CO2
gas stream, and a stream of hydrogen. If the CO2 is stored,
the hydrogen is a carbon-free energy carrier that can be
combusted to generate power and/or heat. Although the initial
fuel conversion steps are more elaborate and costly than in
post-combustion systems, the high concentrations of CO2
produced by the shift reactor (typically 15 to 60% by volume
on a dry basis) and the high pressures often encountered in
these applications are more favourable for CO2 separation.
Pre-combustion would be used at power plants that employ
integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology.
Oxyfuel combustion systems use oxygen instead of air for
combustion of the primary fuel to produce a flue gas that is
mainly water vapour and CO2. This results in a flue gas with

25

high CO2 concentrations (greater than 80% by volume). The

water vapour is then removed by cooling and compressing
the gas stream. Oxyfuel combustion requires the upstream
separation of oxygen from air, with a purity of 9599%
oxygen assumed in most current designs. Further treatment of
the flue gas may be needed to remove air pollutants and noncondensed gases (such as nitrogen) from the flue gas before
the CO2 is sent to storage. As a method of CO2 capture in
boilers, oxyfuel combustion systems are in the demonstration
phase (see Table TS.1). Oxyfuel systems are also being
studied in gas turbine systems, but conceptual designs for
such applications are still in the research phase.
Figure TS.3 shows a schematic diagram of the main
capture processes and systems. All require a step involving
the separation of CO2, H2 or O2 from a bulk gas stream
(such as flue gas, synthesis gas, air or raw natural gas).
These separation steps can be accomplished by means of
physical or chemical solvents, membranes, solid sorbents,
or by cryogenic separation. The choice of a specific capture
technology is determined largely by the process conditions
under which it must operate. Current post-combustion and
pre-combustion systems for power plants could capture
8595% of the CO2 that is produced. Higher capture
efficiencies are possible, although separation devices become
considerably larger, more energy intensive and more costly.
Capture and compression need roughly 1040% more energy
than the equivalent plant without capture, depending on the
type of system. Due to the associated CO2 emissions, the net
amount of CO2 captured is approximately 8090%. Oxyfuel
combustion systems are, in principle, able to capture nearly
all of the CO2 produced. However, the need for additional gas
treatment systems to remove pollutants such as sulphur and
nitrogen oxides lowers the level of CO2 captured to slightly
more than 90%.
As noted in Section 1, CO2 capture is already used in
several industrial applications (see Figure TS.4). The same
technologies as would be used for pre-combustion capture are
employed for the large-scale production of hydrogen (which is
used mainly for ammonia and fertilizer manufacture, and for
petroleum refinery operations). The separation of CO2 from
raw natural gas (which typically contains significant amounts
of CO2) is also practised on a large scale, using technologies
similar to those used for post-combustion capture. Although
commercial systems are also available for large-scale oxygen
separation, oxyfuel combustion for CO2 capture is currently
in the demonstration phase. In addition, research is being
conducted to achieve higher levels of system integration,
increased efficiency and reduced cost for all types of capture
systems.

26

Technical Summary

Figure TS.3. Overview of CO2 capture processes and systems.

Figure TS.4. (a) CO2 post-combustion capture at a plant in Malaysia. This plant employs a chemical absorption process to separate 0.2 MtCO2
per year from the flue gas stream of a gas-fired power plant for urea production (Courtesy of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries). (b) CO2 precombustion capture at a coal gasification plant in North Dakota, USA. This plant employs a physical solvent process to separate 3.3 MtCO2 per
year from a gas stream to produce synthetic natural gas. Part of the captured CO2 is used for an EOR project in Canada.

Technical Summary
CO2 capture: risks, energy and the environment
The monitoring, risk and legal implications of CO2 capture
systems do not appear to present fundamentally new
challenges, as they are all elements of regular health, safety
and environmental control practices in industry. However,
CO2 capture systems require significant amounts of energy
for their operation. This reduces net plant efficiency, so power
plants require more fuel to generate each kilowatt-hour of
electricity produced. Based on a review of the literature, the
increase in fuel consumption per kWh for plants capturing
90% CO2 using best current technology ranges from 2440%
for new supercritical PC plants, 1122% for NGCC plants,
and 1425% for coal-based IGCC systems compared to
similar plants without CCS. The increased fuel requirement
results in an increase in most other environmental emissions
per kWh generated relative to new state-of-the-art plants
without CO2 capture and, in the case of coal, proportionally
larger amounts of solid wastes. In addition, there is an
increase in the consumption of chemicals such as ammonia
and limestone used by PC plants for nitrogen oxide and
sulphur dioxide emissions control. Advanced plant designs
that further reduce CCS energy requirements will also reduce
overall environmental impacts as well as cost. Compared to
many older existing plants, more efficient new or rebuilt
plants with CCS may actually yield net reductions in plantlevel environmental emissions.
Costs of CO2 capture
The estimated costs of CO2 capture at large power plants
are based on engineering design studies of technologies in
commercial use today (though often in different applications
and/or at smaller scales than those assumed in the literature),
as well as on design studies for concepts currently in
the research and development (R&D) stage. Table TS.3
summarizes the results for new supercritical PC, NGCC and
IGCC plants based on current technology with and without
CO2 capture. Capture systems for all three designs reduce
CO2 emissions per kWh by approximately 8090%, taking
into account the energy requirements for capture. All data
for PC and IGCC plants in Table TS.3 are for bituminous
coals only. The capture costs include the cost of compressing
CO2 (typically to about 1114 MPa) but do not include the
additional costs of CO2 transport and storage (see Sections
47).
The cost ranges for each of the three systems reflect
differences in the technical, economic and operating
assumptions employed in different studies. While some
differences in reported costs can be attributed to differences
in the design of CO2 capture systems, the major sources of
5

27

variability are differences in the assumed design, operation

and financing of the reference plant to which the capture
technology is applied (factors such as plant size, location,
efficiency, fuel type, fuel cost, capacity factor and cost of
capital). No single set of assumptions applies to all situations
or all parts of the world, so a range of costs is given.
For the studies listed in Table TS.3, CO2 capture increases
the cost of electricity production by 3570% (0.01 to 0.02
US$/kWh) for an NGCC plant, 4085% (0.02 to 0.03 US$/
kWh) for a supercritical PC plant, and 2055% (0.01 to
0.02 US$/kWh) for an IGCC plant. Overall, the electricity
production costs for fossil fuel plants with capture (excluding
CO2 transport and storage costs) ranges from 0.040.09 US$/
kWh, as compared to 0.030.06 US$/kWh for similar plants
without capture. In most studies to date, NGCC systems have
typically been found to have lower electricity production
costs than new PC and IGCC plants (with or without capture)
in the case of large base-load plants with high capacity factors
(75% or more) and natural gas prices between 2.6 and 4.4
US$ GJ-1 over the life of the plant. However, in the case of
higher gas prices and/or lower capacity factors, NGCC plants
often have higher electricity production costs than coal-based
plants, with or without capture. Recent studies also found that
IGCC plants were on average slightly more costly without
capture and slightly less costly with capture than similarlysized PC plants. However, the difference in cost between
PC and IGCC plants with or without CO2 capture can vary
significantly according to coal type and other local factors,
such as the cost of capital for each plant type. Since full-scale
NGCC, PC and IGCC systems have not yet been built with
CCS, the absolute or relative costs of these systems cannot be
stated with a high degree of confidence at this time.
The costs of retrofitting existing power plants with CO2
capture have not been extensively studied. A limited number
of reports indicate that retrofitting an amine scrubber to an
existing plant results in greater efficiency loss and higher
costs than those shown in Table TS.3. Limited studies also
indicate that a more cost-effective option is to combine
a capture system retrofit with rebuilding the boiler and
turbine to increase plant efficiency and output. For some
existing plants, studies indicate that similar benefits could be
achieved by repowering with an IGCC system that includes
CO2 capture technology. The feasibility and cost of all these
options is highly dependent on site-specific factors, including
the size, age and efficiency of the plant, and the availability
of additional space.

The cost of electricity production should not be confused with the price of electricity to customers.

28

Technical Summary

Table TS.3. Summary of CO2 capture costs for new power plants based on current technology. Because these costs do not include the costs (or

credits) for CO2 transport and storage, this table should not be used to assess or compare total plant costs for different systems with capture. The full costs of
CCS plants are reported in Section 8.

Performance and cost measures

Emission rate without capture (kgCO2/kWh)

Emission rate with capture (kgCO2/kWh)

Percentage CO2 reduction per kWh (%)

Plant efficiency with capture, LHV basis (% )

Capture energy requirement (% increase input/
kWh)
Total capital requirement without capture
(US$/kW)
Total capital requirement with capture
(US$/kW)

Percent increase in capital cost with capture

(%)
COE without capture (US$/kWh)

COE with capture only (US$/kWh)

Increase in COE with capture (US$/kWh)

Percent increase in COE with capture (%)

Cost of net CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)

Capture cost confidence level (see Table 3.6)

New NGCC plant

Low

Range

Rep.

High

value

0.040 - 0.066

0.052

0.344 - 0.379
83 - 88

47 - 50

New PC plant

Range

Low

High

value

0.092 - 0.145

0.112

0.367

0.736 - 0.811

86

81 - 88

48

Rep.

30 - 35

New IGCC plant

Range

Low

High

value

0.065 - 0.152

0.108

0.762

0.682 - 0.846

85

81 - 91

33

Rep.

31 - 40

0.773
86

35

11 - 22

16

24 - 40

31

14 - 25

19

515 - 724

568

1161 - 1486

1286

1169 - 1565

1326

909 - 1261

998

1894 - 2578

2096

1414 - 2270

1825

64 - 100

76

44 - 74

63

19 - 66

37

0.031 - 0.050

0.037

0.043 - 0.052

0.046

0.041 - 0.061

0.047

0.043 - 0.072

0.054

0.062 - 0.086

0.073

0.054 - 0.079

0.062

37 - 69

46

42 - 66

57

20 - 55

33

0.012 - 0.024
37 - 74

moderate

0.017
53

0.018 - 0.034
29 - 51

moderate

0.027
41

0.009 - 0.022
13 - 37

moderate

0.016
23

Abbreviations: Representative value is based on the average of the values in the different studies. COE=cost of electricity production; LHV=lower heating
value. See Section 3.6.1 for calculation of energy requirement for capture plants.
Notes: Ranges and representative values are based on data from Special Report Tables 3.7, 3.9 and 3.10. All PC and IGCC data are for bituminous coals only
at costs of 1.0-1.5 US$ GJ-1 (LHV); all PC plants are supercritical units. NGCC data based on natural gas prices of 2.8-4.4 US$ GJ-1 (LHV basis). Cost are
stated in constant US$2002. Power plant sizes range from approximately 400-800 MW without capture and 300-700 MW with capture. Capacity factors vary
from 65-85% for coal plants and 50-95% for gas plants (average for each=80%). Fixed charge factors vary from 11-16%. All costs include CO2 compression
but not additional CO2 transport and storage costs.

Table TS.4 illustrates the cost of CO2 capture in the

production of hydrogen. Here, the cost of CO2 capture
is mainly due to the cost of CO2 drying and compression,
since CO2 separation is already carried out as part of the
hydrogen production process. The cost of CO2 capture
adds approximately 5% to 30% to the cost of the hydrogen
produced.
CCS also can be applied to systems that use biomass
fuels or feedstock, either alone or in combination with fossil
fuels. A limited number of studies have looked at the costs of
such systems combining capture, transport and storage. The
capturing of 0.19 MtCO2 yr-1 in a 24 MWe biomass IGCC
plant is estimated to be about 80 US$/tCO2 net captured (300

US$/tC), which corresponds to an increase in electricity

production costs of about 0.08 US$/kWh. There are relatively
few studies of CO2 capture for other industrial processes
using fossil fuels and they are typically limited to capture
costs reported only as a cost per tonne of CO2 captured or
avoided. In general, the CO2 produced in different processes
varies widely in pressure and concentration (see Section 2).
As a result, the cost of capture in different processes (cement
and steel plants, refineries), ranges widely from about 25115
US$/tCO2 net captured. The unit cost of capture is generally
lower for processes where a relatively pure CO2 stream is
produced (e.g. natural gas processing, hydrogen production
and ammonia production), as seen for the hydrogen plants

Technical Summary

29

Table TS.4. Summary of CO2 capture costs for new hydrogen plants based on current technology
Performance and cost measures

New hydrogen plant

Range

Low

Emission rate without capture (kgCO2 GJ-1)

Emission rate with capture (kgCO2 GJ )

High

Representative value

78 - 174

137

72 - 96

86

7 - 28

-1

Percent CO2 reduction per GJ (%)

Plant efficiency with capture, LHV basis (%)

17

52 - 68

60

Cost of hydrogen without capture (US$ GJ-1)

6.5 - 10.0

7.8

Increase in H2 cost with capture (US$ GJ )

0.3 - 3.3

1.3

2 - 56

15

Capture energy requirement (% more input GJ )

-1

Cost of hydrogen with capture (US$ GJ-1)

-1

Percent increase in H2 cost with capture (%)

Cost of net CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)

Capture cost confidence level

4 - 22

7.5 - 13.3

9.1

5 - 33

15

moderate to high

Notes: Ranges and representative values are based on data from Table 3.11. All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2
transport and storage. Costs are in constant US$2002. Hydrogen plant feedstocks are natural gas (4.7-5.3 US$ GJ-1) or coal (0.9-1.3 US$ GJ-1); some plants
in dataset produce electricity in addition to hydrogen. Fixed charge factors vary from 13-20%. All costs include CO2 compression but not additional CO2
transport and storage costs (see Section 8 for full CCS costs).

in Table TS.4, where costs vary from 256 US$/tCO2 net

captured.
New or improved methods of CO2 capture, combined
with advanced power systems and industrial process designs,
could reduce CO2 capture costs and energy requirements.
While costs for first-of-a-kind commercial plants often
exceed initial cost estimates, the cost of subsequent plants
typically declines as a result of learning-by-doing and other
factors. Although there is considerable uncertainty about
the magnitude and timing of future cost reductions, the
literature suggests that, provided R&D efforts are sustained,
improvements to commercial technologies can reduce current
CO2 capture costs by at least 2030% over approximately the
next ten years, while new technologies under development
could achieve more substantial cost reductions. Future cost
reductions will depend on the deployment and adoption
of commercial technologies in the marketplace as well as
sustained R&D.
4. Transport of CO2
Except when plants are located directly above a geological
storage site, captured CO2 must be transported from the point
of capture to a storage site. This section reviews the principal

methods of CO2 transport and assesses the health, safety and

environment aspects, and costs.
Methods of CO2 transport
Pipelines today operate as a mature market technology and are
the most common method for transporting CO2. Gaseous CO2
is typically compressed to a pressure above 8 MPa in order
to avoid two-phase flow regimes and increase the density of
the CO2, thereby making it easier and less costly to transport.
CO2 also can be transported as a liquid in ships, road or rail
tankers that carry CO2 in insulated tanks at a temperature
well below ambient, and at much lower pressures.
The first long-distance CO2 pipeline came into operation
in the early 1970s. In the United States, over 2,500 km of
pipeline transports more than 40 MtCO2 per year from natural
and anthropogenic sources, mainly to sites in Texas, where
the CO2 is used for EOR.These pipelines operate in the dense
phase mode (in which there is a continuous progression from
gas to liquid, without a distinct phase change), and at ambient
temperature and high pressure. In most of these pipelines, the
flow is driven by compressors at the upstream end, although
some pipelines have intermediate (booster) compressor
stations.

Technical Summary

In some situations or locations, transport of CO2 by ship

may be economically more attractive, particularly when
the CO2 has to be moved over large distances or overseas.
Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG, principally propane and
butane) are transported on a large commercial scale by
marine tankers. CO2 can be transported by ship in much the
same way (typically at 0.7 MPa pressure), but this currently
takes place on a small scale because of limited demand. The
properties of liquefied CO2 are similar to those of LPG, and
the technology could be scaled up to large CO2 carriers if a
demand for such systems were to materialize.
Road and rail tankers also are technically feasible options.
These systems transport CO2 at a temperature of -20C and at
2 MPa pressure. However, they are uneconomical compared
to pipelines and ships, except on a very small scale, and are
unlikely to be relevant to large-scale CCS.
Environment, safety and risk aspects
Just as there are standards for natural gas admitted to
pipelines, so minimum standards for pipeline quality CO2
should emerge as the CO2 pipeline infrastructure develops
further. Current standards, developed largely in the context
of EOR applications, are not necessarily identical to what
would be required for CCS. A low-nitrogen content is
important for EOR, but would not be so significant for CCS.
However, a CO2 pipeline through populated areas might need
a lower specified maximum H2S content. Pipeline transport
of CO2 through populated areas also requires detailed route
selection, over-pressure protection, leak detection and other
design factors. However, no major obstacles to pipeline
design for CCS are foreseen.
CO2 could leak to the atmosphere during transport,
although leakage losses from pipelines are very small. Dry
(moisture-free) CO2 is not corrosive to the carbon-manganese
steels customarily used for pipelines, even if the CO2 contains
contaminants such as oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, and sulphur
or nitrogen oxides. Moisture-laden CO2, on the other hand, is
highly corrosive, so a CO2 pipeline in this case would have
to be made from a corrosion-resistant alloy, or be internally
clad with an alloy or a continuous polymer coating. Some
pipelines are made from corrosion-resistant alloys, although
the cost of materials is several times larger than carbonmanganese steels. For ships, the total loss to the atmosphere
is between 3 and 4% per 1000 km, counting both boil-off and
the exhaust from ship engines. Boil-off could be reduced by
capture and liquefaction, and recapture would reduce the loss
to 1 to 2% per 1000 km.
Accidents can also occur. In the case of existing CO2
pipelines, which are mostly in areas of low population
density, there have been fewer than one reported incident per
year (0.0003 per km-year) and no injuries or fatalities. This
is consistent with experience with hydrocarbon pipelines,

and the impact would probably not be more severe than for
natural gas accidents. In marine transportation, hydrocarbon
gas tankers are potentially dangerous, but the recognized
hazard has led to standards for design, construction and
operation, and serious incidents are rare.
Cost of CO2 transport
Costs have been estimated for both pipeline and marine
transportation of CO2. In every case the costs depend strongly
on the distance and the quantity transported. In the case of
pipelines, the costs depend on whether the pipeline is onshore
or offshore, whether the area is heavily congested, and
whether there are mountains, large rivers, or frozen ground
on the route. All these factors could double the cost per unit
length, with even larger increases for pipelines in populated
areas. Any additional costs for recompression (booster pump
stations) that may be needed for longer pipelines would be
counted as part of transport costs. Such costs are relatively
small and not included in the estimates presented here.
Figure TS.5 shows the cost of pipeline transport for a
nominal distance of 250 km. This is typically 18 US$/tCO2
(430 US$/tC). The figure also shows how pipeline cost
depends on the CO2 mass flow rate. Steel cost accounts for a
significant fraction of the cost of a pipeline, so fluctuations
in such cost (such as the doubling in the years from 2003 to
2005) could affect overall pipeline economics.
In ship transport, the tanker volume and the characteristics
of the loading and unloading systems are some of the key
factors determining the overall transport cost.

6.0

Costs (US$/tCO2/250km)

30

5.0
4.0
offshore
3.0
2.0
onshore

1.0
0.0

10

15

20

25

30

35

Mass flow rate (MtCO2 yr-1)

Figure TS.5. Transport costs for onshore pipelines and offshore

Figuur 4.5
pipelines, in US$ per tCO2 per 250 km as a function of the CO2
mass flow rate. The graph shows high estimates (dotted lines) and
low estimates (solid lines).

Technical Summary
Existing CO2 storage projects

Transport costs (US$/tCO2)

offshore pipeline

onshore pipeline

ship costs

31

$ISTANCE KM

Figure TS.6. Costs, plotted as US$/tCO2 transported against

distance,
for onshore pipelines, offshore pipelines and ship transport.
Figuur 4.6
Pipeline costs are given for a mass flow of 6 MtCO2 yr-1. Ship costs
include intermediate storage facilities, harbour fees, fuel costs, and
loading and unloading activities. Costs include also additional costs
for liquefaction compared to compression.

The costs associated with CO2 compression and liquefaction

are accounted for in the capture costs presented earlier. Figure
TS.6 compares pipeline and marine transportation costs,
and shows the break-even distance. If the marine option is
available, it is typically cheaper than pipelines for distances
greater than approximately 1000 km and for amounts smaller
than a few million tonnes of CO2 per year. In ocean storage
the most suitable transport system depends on the injection
method: from a stationary floating vessel, a moving ship, or
a pipeline from shore.
5. Geological storage
This section examines three types of geological formations
that have received extensive consideration for the geological
storage of CO2: oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline formations
and unminable coal beds (Figure TS.7). In each case,
geological storage of CO2 is accomplished by injecting it in
dense form into a rock formation below the earths surface.
Porous rock formations that hold or (as in the case of
depleted oil and gas reservoirs) have previously held fluids,
such as natural gas, oil or brines, are potential candidates for
CO2 storage. Suitable storage formations can occur in both
onshore and offshore sedimentary basins (natural large-scale
depressions in the earths crust that are filled with sediments).
Coal beds also may be used for storage of CO2 (see Figure
TS.7) where it is unlikely that the coal will later be mined and
provided that permeability is sufficient. The option of storing
CO2 in coal beds and enhancing methane production is still
in the demonstration phase (see Table TS.1).

Geological storage of CO2 is ongoing in three industrialscale projects (projects in the order of 1 MtCO2 yr-1 or more):
the Sleipner project in the North Sea, the Weyburn project
in Canada and the In Salah project in Algeria. About 34
MtCO2 that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere
is captured and stored annually in geological formations.
Additional projects are listed in Table TS.5.
In addition to the CCS projects currently in place, 30
MtCO2 is injected annually for EOR, mostly in Texas, USA,
where EOR commenced in the early 1970s. Most of this CO2
is obtained from natural CO2 reservoirs found in western
regions of the US, with some coming from anthropogenic
sources such as natural gas processing. Much of the CO2
injected for EOR is produced with the oil, from which it is
separated and then reinjected. At the end of the oil recovery,
the CO2 can be retained for the purpose of climate change
mitigation, rather than vented to the atmosphere. This is
planned for the Weyburn project.
Storage technology and mechanisms
The injection of CO2 in deep geological formations involves
many of the same technologies that have been developed
in the oil and gas exploration and production industry.
Well-drilling technology, injection technology, computer
simulation of storage reservoir dynamics and monitoring
methods from existing applications are being developed
further for design and operation of geological storage.
Other underground injection practices also provide relevant
operational experience. In particular, natural gas storage,
the deep injection of liquid wastes, and acid gas disposal
(mixtures of CO2 and H2S) have been conducted in Canada
and the U.S. since 1990, also at the megatonne scale.
CO2 storage in hydrocarbon reservoirs or deep saline
formations is generally expected to take place at depths below
800 m, where the ambient pressures and temperatures will
usually result in CO2 being in a liquid or supercritical state.
Under these conditions, the density of CO2 will range from
50 to 80% of the density of water. This is close to the density
of some crude oils, resulting in buoyant forces that tend to
drive CO2 upwards. Consequently, a well-sealed cap rock over
the selected storage reservoir is important to ensure that CO2
remains trapped underground. When injected underground, the
CO2 compresses and fills the pore space by partially displacing
the fluids that are already present (the in situ fluids). In
oil and gas reservoirs, the displacement of in situ fluids by
injected CO2 can result in most of the pore volume being
available for CO2 storage. In saline formations, estimates of
potential storage volume are lower, ranging from as low as a
few percent to over 30% of the total rock volume.

32

Technical Summary

Figure TS.7. Methods for storing CO2 in deep underground geological formations. Two methods may be combined with the recovery
of hydrocarbons: EOR (2) and ECBM (4). See text for explanation of these methods (Courtesy CO2CRC).

Once injected into the storage formation, the fraction

retained depends on a combination of physical and
geochemical trapping mechanisms. Physical trapping to
block upward migration of CO2 is provided by a layer
of shale and clay rock above the storage formation. This
impermeable layer is known as the cap rock. Additional
physical trapping can be provided by capillary forces that
retain CO2 in the pore spaces of the formation. In many cases,
however, one or more sides of the formation remain open,
allowing for lateral migration of CO2 beneath the cap rock.
In these cases, additional mechanisms are important for the
long-term entrapment of the injected CO2.
The mechanism known as geochemical trapping occurs
as the CO2 reacts with the in situ fluids and host rock. First,
CO2 dissolves in the in situ water. Once this occurs (over time
scales of hundreds of years to thousands of years), the CO2laden water becomes more dense and therefore sinks down
into the formation (rather than rising toward the surface).

Next, chemical reactions between the dissolved CO2 and

rock minerals form ionic species, so that a fraction of the
injected CO2 will be converted to solid carbonate minerals
over millions of years.
Yet another type of trapping occurs when CO2 is
preferentially adsorbed onto coal or organic-rich shales
replacing gases such as methane. In these cases, CO2 will
remain trapped as long as pressures and temperatures
remain stable. These processes would normally take place at
shallower depths than CO2 storage in hydrocarbon reservoirs
and saline formations.
Geographical distribution and capacity of storage sites
As shown earlier in Section 2 (Figure TS.2b), regions with
sedimentary basins that are potentially suitable for CO2
storage exist around the globe, both onshore and offshore.
This report focuses on oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline

Technical Summary

33

Table TS.5. Sites where CO2 storage has been done, is currently in progress or is planned, varying from small pilots to large-scale
commercial applications.
Project name

Country

Injection start
(year)

Approximate average
daily injection rate
(tCO2 day-1)

Total (planned)
storage
(tCO2)

Weyburn
In Salah
Sleipner
K12B

Canada
Algeria
Norway
Netherlands

2000
2004
1996
2004

20,000,000
17,000,000
20,000,000
8,000,000

U.S.A
Canada
China
Japan
Poland
Australia
Norway

2004
1998
2003
2004
2003
~2009
2006

3,000-5,000
3,000-4,000
3,000
100
(1,000 planned for 2006+)
177
50
30
10
1
10,000
2,000

Frio
Fenn Big Valley
Qinshui Basin
Yubari
Recopol
Gorgon (planned)
Snhvit (planned)

formations and unminable coal beds. Other possible

geological formations or structures (such as basalts, oil or gas
shales, salt caverns and abandoned mines) represent niche
opportunities, or have been insufficiently studied at this time
to assess their potential.
The estimates of the technical potential for different
geological storage options are summarized in Table TS.6. The
estimates and levels of confidence are based on an assessment
of the literature, both of regional bottom-up, and global
top-down estimates. No probabilistic approach to assessing
capacity estimates exists in the literature, and this would be
required to quantify levels of uncertainty reliably. Overall
estimates, particularly of the upper limit of the potential, vary
widely and involve a high degree of uncertainty, reflecting
conflicting methodologies in the literature and the fact
that our knowledge of saline formations is quite limited in
most parts of the world. For oil and gas reservoirs, better
estimates are available which are based on the replacement of
hydrocarbon volumes with CO2 volumes. It should be noted
that, with the exception of EOR, these reservoirs will not be
available for CO2 storage until the hydrocarbons are depleted,
and that pressure changes and geomechanical effects due to
hydrocarbon production in the reservoir may reduce actual
capacity.
Another way of looking at storage potential, however, is
to ask whether it is likely to be adequate for the amounts of
CO2 that would need to be avoided using CCS under different

1600
200
150
200
10
unknown
unknown

Storage reservoir
type
EOR
Gas field
Saline formation
Enhanced gas
recovery
Saline formation
ECBM
ECBM
ECBM
ECBM
Saline formation
Saline formation

greenhouse gas stabilization scenarios and assumptions about

the deployment of other mitigation options. As discussed
later in Section 8, the estimated range of economic potential
for CCS over the next century is roughly 200 to 2,000 GtCO2.
The lower limits in Table TS.6 suggest that, worldwide, it
is virtually certain that there is 200 GtCO2 of geological
storage capacity, and likely that there is at least about 2,000
GtCO2.
Site selection criteria and methods
Site characterization, selection and performance prediction
are crucial for successful geological storage. Before selecting
a site, the geological setting must be characterized to
determine if the overlying cap rock will provide an effective
seal, if there is a sufficiently voluminous and permeable
storage formation, and whether any abandoned or active
wells will compromise the integrity of the seal.
Techniques developed for the exploration of oil and
gas reservoirs, natural gas storage sites and liquid waste
disposal sites are suitable for characterizing geological
storage sites for CO2. Examples include seismic imaging,
pumping tests for evaluating storage formations and seals,
and cement integrity logs. Computer programmes that
model underground CO2 movement are used to support site
characterization and selection activities. These programmes
were initially developed for applications such as oil and

Technical potential is the amount by which it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by implementing a technology or practice that already has been
demonstrated.
7
Economic potential is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions reductions from a specific option that could be achieved cost-effectively, given prevailing
circumstances (the price of CO2 reductions and costs of other options).
8
Virtually certain is a probability of 99% or more.
9
Likely is a probability of 66 to 90%.
6

34

Technical Summary

Table TS.6. Storage capacity for several geological storage options. The storage capacity includes storage options that are not economical.
Reservoir type

Lower estimate of storage capacity

(GtCO2)

Upper estimate of storage capacity

(GtCO2)

675a

900a

1,000

Uncertain, but possibly 104

Oil and gas fields

Unminable coal seams (ECBM)

Deep saline formations
a

200

These numbers would increase by 25% if undiscovered oil and gas fields were included in this assessment.

gas reservoir engineering and groundwater resources

investigations. Although they include many of the physical,
chemical and geomechanical processes needed to predict
both short-term and long-term performance of CO2 storage,
more experience is needed to establish confidence in their
effectiveness in predicting long-term performance when
adapted for CO2 storage. Moreover, the availability of good
site characterization data is critical for the reliability of
models.
Risk assessment and environmental impact
The risks due to leakage from storage of CO2 in geological
reservoirs fall into two broad categories: global risks and
local risks. Global risks involve the release of CO2 that
may contribute significantly to climate change if some
fraction leaks from the storage formation to the atmosphere.
In addition, if CO2 leaks out of a storage formation, local
hazards may exist for humans, ecosystems and groundwater.
These are the local risks.
With regard to global risks, based on observations
and analysis of current CO2 storage sites, natural systems,
engineering systems and models, the fraction retained in
appropriately selected and managed reservoirs is very likely10
to exceed 99% over 100 years, and is likely to exceed 99%
over 1000 years. Similar fractions retained are likely for even
longer periods of time, as the risk of leakage is expected to
decrease over time as other mechanisms provide additional
trapping. The question of whether these fractions retained
would be sufficient to make impermanent storage valuable
for climate change mitigation is discussed in Section 8.
With regard to local risks, there are two types of scenarios
in which leakage may occur. In the first case, injection well
failures or leakage up abandoned wells could create a sudden
and rapid release of CO2. This type of release is likely to
be detected quickly and stopped using techniques that are
available today for containing well blow-outs. Hazards
associated with this type of release primarily affect workers in
the vicinity of the release at the time it occurs, or those called
in to control the blow-out. A concentration of CO2 greater
10

3-15

Very likely is a probability of 90 to 99%.

than 710% in air would cause immediate dangers to human

life and health. Containing these kinds of releases may take
hours to days and the overall amount of CO2 released is likely
to be very small compared to the total amount injected. These
types of hazards are managed effectively on a regular basis in
the oil and gas industry using engineering and administrative
controls.
In the second scenario, leakage could occur through
undetected faults, fractures or through leaking wells where
the release to the surface is more gradual and diffuse. In this
case, hazards primarily affect drinking-water aquifers and
ecosystems where CO2 accumulates in the zone between the
surface and the top of the water table. Groundwater can be
affected both by CO2 leaking directly into an aquifer and by
brines that enter the aquifer as a result of being displaced
by CO2 during the injection process. There may also be
acidification of soils and displacement of oxygen in soils
in this scenario. Additionally, if leakage to the atmosphere
were to occur in low-lying areas with little wind, or in sumps
and basements overlying these diffuse leaks, humans and
animals would be harmed if a leak were to go undetected.
Humans would be less affected by leakage from offshore
storage locations than from onshore storage locations.
Leakage routes can be identified by several techniques and
by characterization of the reservoir. Figure TS.8 shows some
of the potential leakage paths for a saline formation. When
the potential leakage routes are known, the monitoring and
remediation strategy can be adapted to address the potential
leakage.
Careful storage system design and siting, together with
methods for early detection of leakage (preferably long before
CO2 reaches the land surface), are effective ways of reducing
hazards associated with diffuse leakage. The available
monitoring methods are promising, but more experience is
needed to establish detection levels and resolution. Once
leakages are detected, some remediation techniques are
available to stop or control them. Depending on the type
of leakage, these techniques could involve standard well
repair techniques, or the extraction of CO2 by intercepting its
leak into a shallow groundwater aquifer (see Figure TS.8).

Technical Summary

35

Figure TS.8. Potential leakage routes and remediation techniques for CO2 injected into saline formations. The remediation technique would
depend on the potential leakage routes identified in a reservoir (Courtesy CO2CRC).

Techniques to remove CO2 from soils and groundwater are

also available, but they are likely to be costly. Experience
will be needed to demonstrate the effectiveness, and ascertain
the costs, of these techniques for use in CO2 storage.
Monitoring and verification
Monitoring is a very important part of the overall risk
management strategy for geological storage projects. Standard
procedures or protocols have not been developed yet but they
are expected to evolve as technology improves, depending on
local risks and regulations. However, it is expected that some
parameters such as injection rate and injection well pressure
will be measured routinely. Repeated seismic surveys have
been shown to be useful for tracking the underground
migration of CO2. Newer techniques such as gravity and
electrical measurements may also be useful. The sampling
of groundwater and the soil between the surface and water
table may be useful for directly detecting CO2 leakage. CO2
sensors with alarms can be located at the injection wells for
ensuring worker safety and to detect leakage. Surface-based
techniques may also be used for detecting and quantifying
surface releases. High-quality baseline data improve the

reliability and resolution of all measurements and will be

essential for detecting small rates of leakage.
Since all of these monitoring techniques have been
adapted from other applications, they need to be tested and
assessed with regard to reliability, resolution and sensitivity
in the context of geological storage. All of the existing
industrial-scale projects and pilot projects have programmes
to develop and test these and other monitoring techniques.
Methods also may be necessary or desirable to monitor the
amount of CO2 stored underground in the context of emission
reporting and monitoring requirements in the UNFCCC (see
Section 9). Given the long-term nature of CO2 storage, site
monitoring may be required for very long periods.
Legal issues
At present, few countries have specifically developed
legal and regulatory frameworks for onshore CO2 storage.
Relevant legislation include petroleum-related legislation,
drinking-water legislation and mining regulations. In
many cases, there are laws applying to some, if not most,
of the issues related to CO2 storage. Specifically, long-term
liability issues, such as global issues associated with the

36

Technical Summary

leakage of CO2 to the atmosphere, as well as local concerns

about environmental impact, have not yet been addressed.
Monitoring and verification regimes and risks of leakage
may play an important role in determining liability, and viceversa. There are also considerations such as the longevity
of institutions, ongoing monitoring and transferability
of institutional knowledge. The long-term perspective is
essential to a legal framework for CCS as storage times
extend over many generations as does the climate change
problem. In some countries, notably the US, the property
rights of all those affected must be considered in legal terms
as pore space is owned by surface property owners.
According to the general principles of customary
international law, States can exercise their sovereignty in
their territories and could therefore engage in activities
such as the storage of CO2 (both geological and ocean) in
those areas under their jurisdiction. However, if storage has
a transboundary impact, States have the responsibility to
ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do
not cause damage to the environment of other States or of
areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
Currently, there are several treaties (notably the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the London11 and
OSPAR12 Conventions) that could apply to the offshore
injection of CO2 into marine environments (both into the
ocean and the geological sub-seabed). All these treaties have
been drafted without specific consideration of CO2 storage.
An assessment undertaken by the Jurists and Linguists Group
to the OSPAR Convention (relating to the northeast Atlantic
region), for example, found that, depending on the method and
purpose of injection, CO2 injection into the geological subseabed and the ocean could be compatible with the treaty in
some cases, such as when the CO2 is transported via a pipeline
from land. A similar assessment is now being conducted by
Parties to the London Convention. Furthermore, papers by
legal commentators have concluded that CO2 captured from
an oil or natural gas extraction operation and stored offshore
in a geological formation (like the Sleipner operation) would
not be considered dumping under, and would not therefore
be prohibited by, the London Convention.
Public perception
Assessing public perception of CCS is challenging because
of the relatively technical and remote nature of this issue
at the present time. Results of the very few studies conducted
to date about the public perception of CCS indicate that
the public is generally not well informed about CCS. If

information is given alongside information about other

climate change mitigation options, the handful of studies
carried out so far indicate that CCS is generally regarded as
less favourable than other options, such as improvements in
energy efficiency and the use of non-fossil energy sources.
Acceptance of CCS, where it occurs, is characterized as
reluctant rather than enthusiastic. In some cases, this
reflects the perception that CCS might be required because
of a failure to reduce CO2 emissions in other ways. There
are indications that geological storage could be viewed
favourably if it is adopted in conjunction with more desirable
measures. Although public perception is likely to change in
the future, the limited research to date indicates that at least
two conditions may have to be met before CO2 capture and
storage is considered by the public as a credible technology,
alongside other better known options: (1) anthropogenic
global climate change has to be regarded as a relatively
serious problem; (2) there must be acceptance of the need
for large reductions in CO2 emissions to reduce the threat of
global climate change.
Cost of geological storage
The technologies and equipment used for geological storage
are widely used in the oil and gas industries so cost estimates
for this option have a relatively high degree of confidence
for storage capacity in the lower range of technical potential.
However, there is a significant range and variability of costs
due to site-specific factors such as onshore versus offshore,
reservoir depth and geological characteristics of the storage
formation (e.g., permeability and formation thickness).
Representative estimates of the cost for storage in saline
formations and depleted oil and gas fields are typically
between 0.58 US$/tCO2 injected. Monitoring costs of
0.10.3 US$/tCO2 are additional. The lowest storage costs
are for onshore, shallow, high permeability reservoirs, and/or
storage sites where wells and infrastructure from existing oil
and gas fields may be re-used.
When storage is combined with EOR, ECBM or (potentially)
Enhanced Gas Recovery (EGR), the economic value of CO2
can reduce the total cost of CCS. Based on data and oil prices
prior to 2003, enhanced oil production for onshore EOR with
CO2 storage could yield net benefits of 1016 US$/tCO2 (37
59 US$/tC) (including the costs of geological storage). For
EGR and ECBM, which are still under development, there is
no reliable cost information based on actual experience. In all
cases, however, the economic benefit of enhanced production

Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (1972), and its London Protocol (1996), which has not yet entered
into force.
12
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, which was adopted in Paris (1992). OSPAR is an abbreviation of
Oslo-Paris.
11

Technical Summary
depends strongly on oil and gas prices. In this regard, the
literature basis for this report does not take into account the
rise in world oil and gas prices since 2003 and assumes oil
prices of 1520 US$ per barrel. Should higher prices be
sustained over the life of a CCS project, the economic value
of CO2 could be higher than that reported here.
6. Ocean storage
A potential CO2 storage option is to inject captured CO2
directly into the deep ocean (at depths greater than 1,000
m), where most of it would be isolated from the atmosphere
for centuries. This can be achieved by transporting CO2 via
pipelines or ships to an ocean storage site, where it is injected
into the water column of the ocean or at the sea floor. The
dissolved and dispersed CO2 would subsequently become
part of the global carbon cycle. Figure TS.9 shows some of
the main methods that could be employed. Ocean storage has
not yet been deployed or demonstrated at a pilot scale, and is
still in the research phase. However, there have been smallscale field experiments and 25 years of theoretical, laboratory
and modelling studies of intentional ocean storage of CO2.

Storage mechanisms and technology

Oceans cover over 70% of the earths surface and their
average depth is 3,800 m. Because carbon dioxide is soluble
in water, there are natural exchanges of CO2 between the
atmosphere and waters at the ocean surface that occur until
equilibrium is reached. If the atmospheric concentration of
CO2 increases, the ocean gradually takes up additional CO2.
In this way, the oceans have taken up about 500 GtCO2 (140
GtC) of the total 1,300 GtCO2 (350 GtC) of anthropogenic
emissions released to the atmosphere over the past 200 years.
As a result of the increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations
from human activities relative to pre-industrial levels, the
oceans are currently taking up CO2 at a rate of about 7 GtCO2
yr-1 (2 GtC yr-1).
Most of this carbon dioxide now resides in the upper
ocean and thus far has resulted in a decrease in pH of about
0.1 at the ocean surface because of the acidic nature of CO2 in
water. To date, however, there has been virtually no change
in pH in the deep ocean. Models predict that over the next
several centuries the oceans will eventually take up most of
the CO2 released to the atmosphere as CO2 is dissolved at
the ocean surface and subsequently mixed with deep ocean
waters.

CO2 /CaCO3
reactor
Flue gas

Dispersal of CO2 by ship

Dispersal of
CO2 /CaCO3
mixture

Captured and
compressed CO2

Refilling ship

Rising CO2 plume

m

3k
Sinking CO2 plume

CO2 lake
CO2 lake

Figure TS.9. Methods of ocean storage.

Figuur TS.9

37

38

Technical Summary

There is no practical physical limit to the amount of

anthropogenic CO2 that could be stored in the ocean.
However, on a millennial time scale, the amount stored
will depend on oceanic equilibration with the atmosphere.
Stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentrations between 350
ppmv and 1000 ppmv would imply that between 2,000 and
12,000 GtCO2 would eventually reside in the ocean if there is
no intentional CO2 injection. This range therefore represents
the upper limit for the capacity of the ocean to store CO2
through active injection. The capacity would also be affected
by environmental factors, such as a maximum allowable pH
change.
Analysis of ocean observations and models both indicate
that injected CO2 will be isolated from the atmosphere for
at least several hundreds of years, and that the fraction
retained tends to be higher with deeper injection (see Table
TS.7). Ideas for increasing the fraction retained include
forming solid CO2 hydrates and/or liquid CO2 lakes on the
sea floor, and dissolving alkaline minerals such as limestone
to neutralize the acidic CO2. Dissolving mineral carbonates,
if practical, could extend the storage time scale to roughly
10,000 years, while minimizing changes in ocean pH and
CO2 partial pressure. However, large amounts of limestone
and energy for materials handling would be required for
this approach (roughly the same order of magnitude as the
amounts per tonne of CO2 injected that are needed for mineral
carbonation; see Section 7).
Ecological and environmental impacts and risks
The injection of a few GtCO2 would produce a measurable
change in ocean chemistry in the region of injection, whereas
the injection of hundreds of GtCO2 would produce larger
changes in the region of injection and eventually produce
measurable changes over the entire ocean volume. Model
simulations that assume a release from seven locations
at 3,000 m depth and ocean storage providing 10% of the
mitigation effort for stabilization at 550 ppmv CO2 projected
acidity changes (pH changes) of more than 0.4 over
approximately 1% of the ocean volume. By comparison, in

a 550 ppmv stabilization case without ocean storage, a pH

change of more than 0.25 at the ocean surface was estimated
due to equilibration with the elevated CO2 concentrations in
the atmosphere. In either case, a pH change of 0.2 to 0.4 is
significantly greater than pre-industrial variations in ocean
acidity. Over centuries, ocean mixing will result in the
loss of isolation of injected CO2. As more CO2 reaches the
ocean surface waters, releases into the atmosphere would
occur gradually from large regions of the ocean. There are
no known mechanisms for sudden or catastrophic release of
injected CO2 from the ocean into the atmosphere.
Experiments show that adding CO2 can harm marine
organisms. Effects of elevated CO2 levels have mostly
been studied on time scales up to several months in
individual organisms that live near the ocean surface.
Observed phenomena include reduced rates of calcification,
reproduction, growth, circulatory oxygen supply and mobility,
as well as increased mortality over time. In some organisms
these effects are seen in response to small additions of CO2.
Immediate mortality is expected close to injection points or
CO2 lakes. The chronic effects of direct CO2 injection into
the ocean on ocean organisms or ecosystems over large ocean
areas and long time scales have not yet been studied.
No controlled ecosystem experiments have been
performed in the deep ocean, so only a preliminary
assessment of potential ecosystem effects can be given. It
is expected that ecosystem consequences will increase with
increasing CO2 concentrations and decreasing pH, but the
nature of such consequences is currently not understood,
and no environmental criteria have as yet been identified to
avoid adverse effects. At present, it is also unclear how or
whether species and ecosystems would adapt to the sustained
chemical changes.
Costs of ocean storage
Although there is no experience with ocean storage, some
attempts have been made to estimate the costs of CO2 storage
projects that release CO2 on the sea floor or in the deep ocean.
The costs of CO2 capture and transport to the shoreline (e.g

Table TS.7. Fraction of CO2 retained for ocean storage as simulated by seven ocean models for 100 years of continuous injection at three
different depths starting in the year 2000.

Year

2100
2200

2300
2400

2500

800 m

Injection depth
1500 m

3000 m

0.78 0.06

0.91 0.05

0.36 0.06

0.60 0.08

0.87 0.10

0.23 0.07

0.42 0.09

0.71 0.14

0.50 0.06

0.28 0.07

0.74 0.07

0.49 0.09

0.99 0.01

0.94 0.06

0.79 0.12

Technical Summary

39

Table TS.8. Costs for ocean storage at depths deeper than 3,000 m.
Ocean storage method
Fixed pipeline

100 km offshore

500 km offshore

12-14

13-16

Moving ship/platform

Costs (US$/tCO2 net injected)

31

The costs for the moving ship option are for injection depths of 2,000-2,500 m.

via pipelines) are not included in the cost of ocean storage.

However, the costs of offshore pipelines or ships, plus any
additional energy costs, are included in the ocean storage
cost. The costs of ocean storage are summarized in Table
TS.8. These numbers indicate that, for short distances, the
fixed pipeline option would be cheaper. For larger distances,
either the moving ship or the transport by ship to a platform
with subsequent injection would be more attractive.
Legal aspects and public perception
The global and regional treaties on the law of the sea and
marine environment, such as the OSPAR and the London
Convention discussed earlier in Section 5 for geological
storage sites, also affect ocean storage, as they concern the
maritime area. Both Conventions distinguish between the
storage method employed and the purpose of storage to
determine the legal status of ocean storage of CO2. As yet,
however, no decision has been made about the legal status of
intentional ocean storage.
The very small number of public perception studies that
have looked at the ocean storage of CO2 indicate that there
is very little public awareness or knowledge of this subject.
In the few studies conducted thus far, however, the public
has expressed greater reservations about ocean storage
than geological storage. These studies also indicate that the
perception of ocean storage changed when more information
was provided; in one study this led to increased acceptance of
ocean storage, while in another study it led to less acceptance.
The literature also notes that significant opposition
developed around a proposed CO2 release experiment in the
Pacific Ocean.
7.

Mineral carbonation and industrial uses

This section deals with two rather different options for CO2
storage. The first is mineral carbonation, which involves
converting CO2 to solid inorganic carbonates using chemical
reactions. The second option is the industrial use of CO2,
either directly or as feedstock for production of various
carbon-containing chemicals.

Mineral carbonation: technology, impacts and costs

Mineral carbonation refers to the fixation of CO2 using
alkaline and alkaline-earth oxides, such as magnesium
oxide (MgO) and calcium oxide (CaO), which are present
in naturally occurring silicate rocks such as serpentine and
olivine. Chemical reactions between these materials and CO2
produces compounds such as magnesium carbonate (MgCO3)
and calcium carbonate (CaCO3, commonly known as
limestone). The quantity of metal oxides in the silicate rocks
that can be found in the earths crust exceeds the amounts
needed to fix all the CO2 that would be produced by the
combustion of all available fossil fuel reserves. These oxides
are also present in small quantities in some industrial wastes,
such as stainless steel slags and ashes. Mineral carbonation
produces silica and carbonates that are stable over long
time scales and can therefore be disposed of in areas such
as silicate mines, or re-used for construction purposes (see
Figure TS.10), although such re-use is likely to be small
relative to the amounts produced. After carbonation, CO2
would not be released to the atmosphere. As a consequence,
there would be little need to monitor the disposal sites and
the associated risks would be very low. The storage potential
is difficult to estimate at this early phase of development.
It would be limited by the fraction of silicate reserves that
can be technically exploited, by environmental issues such
as the volume of product disposal, and by legal and societal
constraints at the storage location.
The process of mineral carbonation occurs naturally, where
it is known as weathering. In nature, the process occurs very
slowly; it must therefore be accelerated considerably to be a
viable storage method for CO2 captured from anthropogenic
sources. Research in the field of mineral carbonation therefore
focuses on finding process routes that can achieve reaction
rates viable for industrial purposes and make the reaction
more energy-efficient. Mineral carbonation technology using
natural silicates is in the research phase but some processes
using industrial wastes are in the demonstration phase.
A commercial process would require mining, crushing
and milling of the mineral-bearing ores and their transport to
a processing plant receiving a concentrated CO2 stream from
a capture plant (see Figure TS.10). The carbonation process

40

Technical Summary

Figure TS.10. Material fluxes and process steps associated with the mineral carbonation of silicate rocks or industrial residues
(Courtesy ECN).

energy required would be 30 to 50% of the capture plant

output. Considering the additional energy requirements for
the capture of CO2, a CCS system with mineral carbonation
would require 60 to 180% more energy input per kilowatthour than a reference electricity plant without capture
or mineral carbonation. These energy requirements raise
the cost per tonne of CO2 avoided for the overall system
significantly (see Section 8). The best case studied so far is
the wet carbonation of natural silicate olivine. The estimated
cost of this process is approximately 50100 US$/tCO2 net
mineralized (in addition to CO2 capture and transport costs,
but taking into account the additional energy requirements).
The mineral carbonation process would require 1.6 to 3.7
tonnes of silicates per tonne of CO2to be mined, and produce
2.6 to 4.7 tonnes of materials to be disposed per tonne of
CO2 stored as carbonates. This would therefore be a large
operation, with an environmental impact similar to that of
current large-scale surface mining operations. Serpentine
also often contains chrysotile, a natural form of asbestos.
Its presence therefore demands monitoring and mitigation
measures of the kind available in the mining industry. On the
other hand, the products of mineral carbonation are chrysotile-

free, since this is the most reactive component of the rock and
therefore the first substance converted to carbonates.
A number of issues still need to be clarified before any
estimates of the storage potential of mineral carbonation can
be given. The issues include assessments of the technical
feasibility and corresponding energy requirements at large
scales, but also the fraction of silicate reserves that can be
technically and economically exploited for CO2 storage. The
environmental impact of mining, waste disposal and product
storage could also limit potential. The extent to which
mineral carbonation may be used cannot be determined at
this time, since it depends on the unknown amount of silicate
reserves that can be technically exploited, and environmental
issuessuch as those noted above.
Industrial uses
Industrial uses of CO2 include chemical and biological
processes where CO2 is a reactant, such as those used in urea
and methanol production, as well as various technological
applications that use CO2 directly, for example in the
horticulture industry, refrigeration, food packaging, welding,

Technical Summary
beverages and fire extinguishers. Currently, CO2 is used at
a rate of approximately 120 MtCO2 per year (30 MtC yr-1)
worldwide, excluding use for EOR (discussed in Section 5).
Most (two thirds of the total) is used to produce urea, which
is used in the manufacture of fertilizers and other products.
Some of the CO2 is extracted from natural wells, and some
originates from industrial sources mainly high-concentration
sources such as ammonia and hydrogen production plants
that capture CO2 as part of the production process.
Industrial uses of CO2 can, in principle, contribute
to keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere by storing it in the
carbon chemical pool (i.e., the stock of carbon-bearing
manufactured products). However, as a measure for mitigating
climate change, this option is meaningful only if the quantity
and duration of CO2 stored are significant, and if there is a
real net reduction of CO2 emissions. The typical lifetime of
most of the CO2 currently used by industrial processes has
storage times of only days to months. The stored carbon is
then degraded to CO2 and again emitted to the atmosphere.
Such short time scales do not contribute meaningfully to
climate change mitigation. In addition, the total industrial use
figure of 120 MtCO2 yr-1 is small compared to emissions from
major anthropogenic sources (see Table TS.2). While some
industrial processes store a small proportion of CO2 (totalling
roughly 20 MtCO2 yr-1) for up to several decades, the total
amount of long-term (century-scale) storage is presently in
the order of 1 MtCO2 yr-1 or less, with no prospects for major
increases.
Another important question is whether industrial uses of
CO2 can result in an overall net reduction of CO2 emissions
by substitution for other industrial processes or products.
This can be evaluated correctly only by considering proper
system boundaries for the energy and material balances of
the CO2 utilization processes, and by carrying out a detailed
life-cycle analysis of the proposed use of CO2. The literature
in this area is limited but it shows that precise figures are
difficult to estimate and that in many cases industrial uses
could lead to an increase in overall emissions rather than a
net reduction. In view of the low fraction of CO2 retained, the
small volumes used and the possibility that substitution may
lead to increases in CO2 emissions, it can be concluded that
the contribution of industrial uses of captured CO2 to climate
change mitigation is expected to be small.
8. Costs and economic potential
The stringency of future requirements for the control of
greenhouse gas emissions and the expected costs of CCS
systems will determine, to a large extent, the future deployment
of CCS technologies relative to other greenhouse gas
mitigation options. This section first summarizes the overall
cost of CCS for the main options and process applications
considered in previous sections. As used in this summary

41

and the report, costs refer only to market prices but do not
include external costs such as environmental damages and
broader societal costs that may be associated with the use
of CCS. To date, little has been done to assess and quantify
such external costs. Finally CCS is examined in the context
of alternative options for global greenhouse gas reductions.
Cost of CCS systems
As noted earlier, there is still relatively little experience with
the combination of CO2 capture, transport and storage in a fully
integrated CCS system. And while some CCS components
are already deployed in mature markets for certain industrial
applications, CCS has still not been used in large-scale power
plants (the application with most potential).
The literature reports a fairly wide range of costs for CCS
components (see Sections 37). The range is due primarily to
the variability of site-specific factors, especially the design,
operating and financing characteristics of the power plants or
industrial facilities in which CCS is used; the type and costs
of fuel used; the required distances, terrains and quantities
involved in CO2 transport; and the type and characteristics of
the CO2 storage. In addition, uncertainty still remains about the
performance and cost of current and future CCS technology
components and integrated systems. The literature reflects
a widely-held belief, however, that the cost of building and
operating CO2 capture systems will decline over time as a
result of learning-by-doing (from technology deployment)
and sustained R&D. Historical evidence also suggests that
costs for first-of-a-kind capture plants could exceed current
estimates before costs subsequently decline. In most CCS
systems, the cost of capture (including compression) is the
largest cost component. Costs of electricity and fuel vary
considerably from country to country, and these factors also
influence the economic viability of CCS options.
Table TS.9 summarizes the costs of CO2 capture,
transport and storage reported in Sections 3 to 7. Monitoring
costs are also reflected. In Table TS.10, the component costs
are combined to show the total costs of CCS and electricity
generation for three power systems with pipeline transport
and two geological storage options.
For the plants with geological storage and no EOR
credit, the cost of CCS ranges from 0.020.05 US$/kWh
for PC plants and 0.010.03 US$/kWh for NGCC plants
(both employing post-combustion capture). For IGCC plants
(using pre-combustion capture), the CCS cost ranges from
0.010.03 US$/kWh relative to a similar plant without CCS.
For all electricity systems, the cost of CCS can be reduced
by about 0.010.02 US$/kWh when using EOR with CO2
storage because the EOR revenues partly compensate for
the CCS costs. The largest cost reductions are seen for coalbased plants, which capture the largest amounts of CO2. In a
few cases, the low end of the CCS cost range can be negative,

42

Technical Summary

Table TS.9. 2002 Cost ranges for the components of a CCS system as applied to a given type of power plant or industrial source. The costs
of the separate components cannot simply be summed to calculate the costs of the whole CCS system in US$/CO2 avoided. All numbers are
representative of the costs for large-scale, new installations, with natural gas prices assumed to be 2.8-4.4 US$ GJ-1 and coal prices 1-1.5 US$
GJ-1.
CCS system components

Cost range

Remarks

Capture from hydrogen and

ammonia production or gas
processing

5-55 US$/tCO2 net captured

Applies to high-purity sources requiring simple drying and

compression.

Transportation

1-8 US$/tCO2 transported

Geological storagea

0.5-8 US$/tCO2 net injected

Ocean storage

5-30 US$/tCO2 net injected

Mineral carbonation

50-100 US$/tCO2 net mineralized

Capture from a coal- or gas-fired

power plant

15-75 US$/tCO2 net captured

Capture from other industrial sources 25-115 US$/tCO2 net captured

Geological storage: monitoring and

verification

0.1-0.3 US$/tCO2 injected

Range reflects use of a number of different technologies and

fuels.

Per 250 km pipeline or shipping for mass flow rates of 5

(high end) to 40 (low end) MtCO2 yr-1.
Excluding potential revenues from EOR or ECBM.

This covers pre-injection, injection, and post-injection

monitoring, and depends on the regulatory requirements.

Including offshore transportation of 100-500 km, excluding

monitoring and verification.
Range for the best case studied. Includes additional energy
use for carbonation.

Over the long term, there may be additional costs for remediation and liabilities.

indicating that the assumed credit for EOR over the life of the
plant is greater than the lowest reported cost of CO2 capture
for that system. This might also apply in a few instances of
low-cost capture from industrial processes.
In addition to fossil fuel-based energy conversion
processes, CO2 could also be captured in power plants fueled
with biomass, or fossil-fuel plants with biomass co-firing.
At present, biomass plants are small in scale (less than 100
MWe). This means that the resulting costs of production
with and without CCS are relatively high compared to fossil
alternatives. Full CCS costs for biomass could amount to 110
US$/tCO2 avoided. Applying CCS to biomass-fuelled or cofired conversion facilities would lead to lower or negative13
CO2 emissions, which could reduce the costs for this option,
depending on the market value of CO2 emission reductions.
Similarly, CO2 could be captured in biomass-fueled H2
plants. The cost is reported to be 2225 US$/tCO2 (8092
US$/tC) avoided in a plant producing 1 million Nm3 day-1 of
H2, and corresponds to an increase in the H2 product costs of
about 2.7 US$ GJ-1. Significantly larger biomass plants could
potentially benefit from economies of scale, bringing down
costs of the CCS systems to levels broadly similar to coal
plants. However, to date, there has been little experience with
large-scale biomass plants, so their feasibility has not been
proven yet, and costs and potential are difficult to estimate.
13

Net costs of captured CO2, compared to the same plant

without capture.

The cost of CCS has not been studied in the same depth
for non-power applications. Because these sources are very
diverse in terms of CO2 concentration and gas stream pressure,
the available cost studies show a very broad range. The lowest
costs were found for processes that already separate CO2 as
part of the production process, such as hydrogen production
(the cost of capture for hydrogen production was reported
earlier in Table TS.4). The full CCS cost, including transport
and storage, raises the cost of hydrogen production by 0.4 to
4.4 US$ GJ-1 in the case of geological storage, and by -2.0
to 2.8 US$ GJ-1 in the case of EOR, based on the same cost
assumptions as for Table TS.10.
Cost of CO2 avoided
Table TS.10 also shows the ranges of costs for CO2 avoided.
CCS energy requirements push up the amount of fuel input
(and therefore CO2 emissions) per unit of net power output.
As a result, the amount of CO2 produced per unit of product
(a kWh of electricity) is greater for the power plant with
CCS than the reference plant, as shown in Figure TS.11.
To determine the CO2 reductions one can attribute to CCS,
one needs to compare CO2 emissions per kWh of the plant
with capture to that of a reference plant without capture. The
difference is referred to as the avoided emissions.

If for example the biomass is harvested at an unsustainable rate (that is, faster than the annual re-growth), the net CO2 emissions of the activity might not be
negative.

Technical Summary

43

Table TS.10. Range of total costs for CO2 capture, transport and geological storage based on current technology for new power plants using
bituminous coal or natural gas
Power plant performance and cost parametersa

Pulverized coal
power plant

Natural gas
combined cycle
power plant

Integrated coal
gasification combined
cycle power plant

0.043-0.052

0.031-0.050

0.041-0.061

Reference plant without CCS

Cost of electricity (US$/kWh)

Power plant with capture

Increased fuel requirement (%)

24-40

CO2 captured (kg/kWh)

CO2 avoided (kg/kWh)

Power plant with capture and geological storage

14-25

0.36-0.41

0.67-0.94

81-88

83-88

81-91

0.62-0.70

% CO2 avoided

11-22

0.82-0.97

0.30-0.32

0.59-0.73

Cost of electricity (US$/kWh)

0.063-0.099

0.043-0.077

0.055-0.091

% increase in cost of electricity

43-91

37-85

21-78

Cost of CCS (US$/kWh)

Mitigation cost

(US$/tCO2 avoided)
(US$/tC avoided)

0.019-0.047
30-71

0.012-0.029
38-91

0.010-0.032
14-53

110-260

140-330

51-200

Cost of electricity (US$/kWh)

0.049-0.081

0.037-0.070

0.040-0.075

% increase in cost of electricity

12-57

19-63

Power plant with capture and enhanced oil

recoveryc
Cost of CCS (US$/kWh)
Mitigation cost

(US$/tCO2 avoided)

(US$/tC avoided)

0.005-0.029
9-44

31-160

0.006-0.022

(-0.005)-0.019

19-68

(-7)-31

71-250

(-10)-46

(-25)-120

All changes are relative to a similar (reference) plant without CCS. See Table TS.3 for details of assumptions underlying reported cost ranges.
Capture costs based on ranges from Table TS.3; transport costs range from 0-5 US$/tCO2; geological storage cost ranges from 0.6-8.3 US$/tCO2.
c
Same capture and transport costs as above; Net storage costs for EOR range from -10 to -16 US$/tCO2 (based on pre-2003 oil prices of 15-20 US$ per
a

barrel).

Introducing CCS to power plants may influence the

decision about which type of plant to install and which fuel to
use. In some situations therefore, it can be useful to calculate
a cost per tonne of CO2 avoided based on a reference plant
different from the CCS plant. Table TS.10 displays the cost
and emission factors for the three reference plants and the
corresponding CCS plants for the case of geological storage.
Table TS.11 summarizes the range of estimated costs for
different combinations of CCS plants and the lowest-cost
reference plants of potential interest. It shows, for instance,
that where a PC plant is planned initially, using CCS in that
plant may lead to a higher CO2 avoidance cost than if an
NGCC plant with CCS is selected, provided natural gas is
available. Another option with lower avoidance cost could
be to build an IGCC plant with capture instead of equipping
a PC plant with capture.

Economic potential of CCS for climate change mitigation

Assessments of the economic potential of CCS are based
on energy and economic models that study future CCS
deployment and costs in the context of scenarios that achieve
economically efficient, least-cost paths to the stabilization of
atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
While there are significant uncertainties in the quantitative
results from these models (see discussion below), all models
indicate that CCS systems are unlikely to be deployed
on a large scale in the absence of an explicit policy that
substantially limits greenhouse gas emissions to the
atmosphere. With greenhouse gas emission limits imposed,
many integrated assessments foresee the deployment of
CCS systems on a large scale within a few decades from the
start of any significant climate change mitigation regime.
Energy and economic models indicate that CCS systems

44

Technical Summary

Emitted
Captured

Reference
Plant
CO2 avoided
CO2 captured

Plant
with CCS

CO2 produced (kg/kWh)

Figure TS.11. CO2 capture and storage from power plants. The
increased CO2 production resulting from loss in overall efficiency
ofFiguur
power8.2
plants due to the additional energy required for capture,
transport and storage, and any leakage from transport result in a
larger amount of CO2 produced per unit of product (lower bar)
relative to the reference plant (upper bar) without capture.

are unlikely to contribute significantly to the mitigation of

climate change unless deployed in the power sector. For this

to happen, the price of carbon dioxide reductions would have

to exceed 2530 US$/tCO2, or an equivalent limit on CO2
emissions would have to be mandated. The literature and
current industrial experience indicate that, in the absence of
measures for limiting CO2 emissions, there are only small,
niche opportunities for CCS technologies to deploy. These
early opportunities involve CO2 captured from a high-purity,
low-cost source, the transport of CO2 over distances of less
than 50 km, coupled with CO2 storage in a value-added
application such as EOR. The potential of such niche options
is about 360 MtCO2 per year (see Section 2).
Models also indicate that CCS systems will be
competitive with other large-scale mitigation options such
as nuclear power and renewable energy technologies. These
studies show that including CCS in a mitigation portfolio
could reduce the cost of stabilizing CO2 concentrations by
30% or more. One aspect of the cost competitiveness of CCS
technologies is that they are compatible with most current
energy infrastructures.
In most scenarios, emissions abatement becomes
progressively more constraining over time. Most analyses
indicate that notwithstanding significant penetration of
CCS systems by 2050, the majority of CCS deployment
will occur in the second half of this century. The earliest
CCS deployments are typically foreseen in the industrialized
nations, with deployment eventually spreading worldwide.
While results for different scenarios and models differ (often

Table TS.11. Mitigation cost ranges for different combinations of reference and CCS plants based on current technology for new power
plants. Currently, in many regions, common practice would be either a PC plant or an NGCC plant4. EOR benefits are based on oil prices of
15 - 20 US$ per barrel. Gas prices are assumed to be 2.8 -4.4 US$/GJ-1, coal prices 1-1.5 US$/GJ-1 (based on Table 8.3a).

CCS plant type

Power plant with capture and geological storage
NGCC
PC
IGCC
Power plant with capture and EOR
NGCC

PC
IGCC
14

NGCC reference plant

PC reference plant

40 - 90
(140 - 330)

20 - 60
(80 - 220)

US$/tCO2 avoided
(US$/tC avoided)

US$/tCO2 avoided
(US$/tC avoided)

70 - 270
(260 - 980)

30 - 70
(110 - 260)

20 - 70
(70 - 250)

0 - 30
(0 - 120)

40 - 220
(150 - 790)

50 - 240
(180 - 890)
20 - 190
(80 - 710)

20 - 70
(80 - 260)

10 - 40
(30 - 160)
0 - 40
(0 - 160)

IGCC is not included as a reference power plant that would be built today since this technology is not yet widely deployed in the electricity sector and is usually
slightly more costly than a PC plant.

Technical Summary
significantly) in the specific mix and quantities of different
measures needed to achieve a particular emissions constraint
(see Figure TS.12), the consensus of the literature shows that
CCS could be an important component of the broad portfolio
of energy technologies and emission reduction approaches.
The actual use of CCS is likely to be lower than the
estimates of economic potential indicated by these energy
and economic models. As noted earlier, the results are
typically based on an optimized least-cost analysis that does

Primary energy use (EJ yr-1)

1.400

not adequately account for real-world barriers to technology

development and deployment, such as environmental impact,
lack of a clear legal or regulatory framework, the perceived
investment risks of different technologies, and uncertainty
as to how quickly the cost of CCS will be reduced through
R&D and learning-by-doing. Models typically employ
simplified assumptions regarding the costs of CCS for
different applications and the rates at which future costs will
be reduced.

1.400

MiniCAM

1.200

1.200

1.000

1.000

800

800

600

600

400

400

200

200

b
MESSAGE

Solar/Wind
Hydro
Biomass
Nuclear
Oil
Gas CCS
Gas (Vented)
Coal CCS
Coal (Vented)

2005
90.000
80.000
Emissions (MtCO2 yr-1)

45

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2005

2095

90.000

MiniCAM

80.000

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2095

d
MESSAGE

Conservation and
Energy Efficiency

70.000

70.000

Renewable Energy

60.000

60.000

Nuclear

50.000

50.000

Coal to Gas
Substitution

40.000

40.000

CCS

30.000

30.000

20.000

20.000

Emissions to the
atmosphere

10.000

Emissions to the
atmosphere

10.000

2005

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2095

2020

2035

2050

2065

2080

2095

180
Marginal price of CO2
(2002 US$/tCO2)

2005

160

MiniCAM

140

MESSAGE

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2005 2020 2035 2050 2065 2080 2095

Figure TS.12. These figures are an illustrative example of the global potential contribution of CCS as part of a mitigation portfolio. They are
based on two alternative integrated assessment models (MESSAGE and MiniCAM) adopting the same assumptions for the main emissions
drivers. The results would vary considerably on regional scales. This example is based on a single scenario and therefore does not convey the
full range of uncertainties. Panels a) and b) show global primary energy use, including the deployment of CCS. Panels c) and d) show the global
CO2 emissions in grey and corresponding contributions of main emissions reduction measures in colour. Panel e) shows the calculated marginal
price of CO2 reductions.

46

Technical Summary

For CO2 stabilization scenarios between 450 and 750

ppmv, published estimates of the cumulative amount of
CO2 potentially stored globally over the course of this
century (in geological formations and/or the oceans) span a
wide range, from very small contributions to thousands of
gigatonnes of CO2. To a large extent, this wide range is due to
the uncertainty of long-term socio-economic, demographic
and, in particular, technological changes, which are the main
drivers of future CO2 emissions. However, it is important to
note that the majority of results for stabilization scenarios of
450750 ppmv CO2 tend to cluster in a range of 2202,200
GtCO2 (60600 GtC) for the cumulative deployment of CCS.
For CCS to achieve this economic potential, several hundreds
or thousands of CCS systems would be required worldwide
over the next century, each capturing some 15 MtCO2 per
year. As indicated in Section 5, it is likely that the technical
potential for geological storage alone is sufficient to cover
the high end of the economic potential range for CCS.
Perspectives on CO2 leakage from storage
The policy implications of slow leakage from storage depend
on assumptions in the analysis. Studies conducted to address
the question of how to deal with impermanent storage are based
on different approaches: the value of delaying emissions, cost
minimization of a specified mitigation scenario, or allowable
future emissions in the context of an assumed stabilization
of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Some of
these studies allow future releases to be compensated by
additional reductions in emissions; the results depend on
assumptions regarding the future cost of reductions, discount
rates, the amount of CO2 stored, and the assumed level of
stabilization for atmospheric concentrations. In other studies,
compensation is not seen as an option because of political
and institutional uncertainties and the analysis focuses on
limitations set by the assumed stabilization level and the
amount stored.
While specific results of the range of studies vary with
the methods and assumptions made, the outcomes suggest
that a fraction retained on the order of 9099% for 100 years
or 6095% for 500 years could still make such impermanent
storage valuable for the mitigation of climate change. All
studies imply that, if CCS is to be acceptable as a mitigation
measure, there must be an upper limit to the amount of
leakage that can take place.

15

9.

Emission inventories and accounting

An important aspect of CO2 capture and storage is the

development and application of methods to estimate and
report the quantities in which emissions of CO2 (and associated
emissions of methane or nitrous oxides) are reduced,
avoided, or removed from the atmosphere. The two elements
involved here are (1) the actual estimation and reporting of
emissions for national greenhouse gas inventories, and (2)
accounting for CCS under international agreements to limit
net emissions.15
Current framework
Under the UNFCCC, national greenhouse gas emission
inventories have traditionally reported emissions for a specific
year, and have been prepared on an annual basis or another
periodic basis. The IPCC Guidelines (IPCC 1996) and Good
Practice Guidance Reports (IPCC 2000; 2003) describe
detailed approaches for preparing national inventories
that are complete, transparent, documented, assessed for
uncertainties, consistent over time, and comparable across
countries. The IPCC documents now in use do not specifically
include CO2 capture and storage options. However, the IPCC
Guidelines are currently undergoing revisions that should
provide some guidance when the revisions are published in
2006. The framework that already has been accepted could
be applied to CCS systems, although some issues might need
revision or expansion.
Issues relevant to accounting and reporting
In the absence of prevailing international agreements, it is not
clear whether the various forms of CO2 capture and storage
will be treated as reductions in emissions or as removals from
the atmosphere. In either case, CCS results in new pools of
CO2 that may be subject to physical leakage at some time in
the future. Currently, there are no methods available within
the UNFCCC framework for monitoring, measuring or
accounting for physical leakage from storage sites. However,
leakage from well-managed geological storage sites is likely
to be small in magnitude and distant in time.
Consideration may be given to the creation of a specific
category for CCS in the emissions reporting framework
but this is not strictly necessary since the quantities of CO2
captured and stored could be reflected in the sector in which
the CO2 was produced. CO2 storage in a given location
could include CO2 from many different source categories,
and even from sources in many different countries. Fugitive

In this context, estimation is the process of calculating greenhouse gas emissions and reporting is the process of providing the estimates to the UNFCCC.
Accounting refers to the rules for comparing emissions and removals as reported with commitments (IPCC 2003).

Technical Summary
emissions from the capture, transport and injection of CO2 to
storage can largely be estimated within the existing reporting
methods, and emissions associated with the added energy
required to operate the CCS systems can be measured and
reported within the existing inventory frameworks. Specific
consideration may also be required for CCS applied to
biomass systems as that application would result in reporting
negative emissions, for which there is currently no provision
in the reporting framework.
Issues relevant to international agreements
Quantified commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions
and the use of emissions trading, Joint Implementation (JI)
or the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) require clear
rules and methods to account for emissions and removals.
Because CCS has the potential to move CO2 across traditional
accounting boundaries (e.g. CO2 might be captured in one
country and stored in another, or captured in one year and
partly released from storage in a later year), the rules and
methods for accounting may be different than those used in
traditional emissions inventories.
To date, most of the scientific, technical and political
discussions on accounting for stored CO2 have focused on
sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere. The history of these
negotiations may provide some guidance for the development
of accounting methods for CCS. Recognizing the potential

47

impermanence of CO2 stored in the terrestrial biosphere,

the UNFCCC accepted the idea that net emissions can be
reduced through biological sinks, but has imposed complex
rules for such accounting. CCS is markedly different in many
ways from CO2 sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere (see
Table TS.12), and the different forms of CCS are markedly
different from one another. However, the main goal of
accounting is to ensure that CCS activities produce real
and quantifiable reductions in net emissions. One tonne of
CO2 permanently stored has the same benefit in terms of
atmospheric CO2 concentrations as one tonne of CO2 not
emitted, but one tonne of CO2 temporarily stored has less
benefit. It is generally accepted that this difference should be
reflected in any system of accounting for reductions in net
greenhouse gas emissions.
The IPCC Guidelines (IPCC 1996) and Good Practice
Guidance Reports (IPCC 2000; 2003) also contain guidelines
for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions. It is not known
whether the revised guidelines of the IPCC for CCS can
be satisfied by using monitoring techniques, particularly
for geological and ocean storage. Several techniques are
available for the monitoring and verification of CO2 emissions
from geological storage, but they vary in applicability,
detection limits and uncertainties. Currently, monitoring for
geological storage can take place quantitatively at injection
and qualitatively in the reservoir and by measuring surface
fluxes of CO2. Ocean storage monitoring can take place by

Table TS.12. Differences in the forms of CCS and biological sinks that might influence the way accounting is conducted.
Property

Terrestrial biosphere

Deep ocean

Geological reservoirs

CO2 sequestered or stored

Stock changes can be monitored

over time.

Injected carbon can be

measured.

Injected carbon can be measured.

Ownership

Stocks will be mobile and may

reside in international waters.

Management decisions

Stocks will have a discrete

location and can be associated
with an identifiable owner.

Storage will be subject to

continuing decisions about landuse priorities.

Once injected there are no

further human decisions about
maintenance once injection has
taken place.

Monitoring

Changes in stocks can be

monitored.

Changes in stocks will be

modelled.

Release of CO2 can be detected by

physical monitoring.

Losses will assuredly occur

as an eventual consequence of
marine circulation and equilibration with the atmosphere.

Losses are unlikely except in the

case of disruption of the reservoir or
the existence of initially undetected
leakage pathways.

Expected retention time

Physical leakage

Liability

Decades, depending on
management decisions.

Centuries, depending on depth

and location of injection.

A discrete land-owner can be

identified with the stock of
sequestered carbon.

Multiple parties may contribute

to the same stock of stored
CO2 and the CO2 may reside in
international waters.

Losses might occur due to

disturbance, climate change, or
land-use decisions.

Stocks may reside in reservoirs that

cross national or property boundaries
and differ from surface boundaries.

Once injection has taken place,

human decisions about continued
storage involve minimal
maintenance, unless storage
interferes with resource recovery.

Essentially permanent, barring

physical disruption of the reservoir.

Multiple parties may contribute to

the same stock of stored CO2 that
may lie under multiple countries.

48

Technical Summary

detecting the CO2 plume, but not by measuring ocean surface

release to the atmosphere. Experiences from monitoring
existing CCS projects are still too limited to serve as a
basis for conclusions about the physical leakage rates and
associated uncertainties.
The Kyoto Protocol creates different units of accounting
for greenhouse gas emissions, emissions reductions,
and emissions sequestered under different compliance
mechanisms. Assigned amount units (AAUs) describe
emissions commitments and apply to emissions trading,
certified emission reductions (CERs) are used under the
CDM, and emission reduction units (ERUs) are employed
under JI. To date, international negotiations have provided
little guidance about methods for calculating and accounting
for project-related CO2 reductions from CCS systems (only
CERs or ERUs), and it is therefore uncertain how such
reductions will be accommodated under the Kyoto Protocol.
Some guidance may be given by the methodologies for
biological-sink rules. Moreover, current agreements do not
deal with cross-border CCS projects. This is particularly
important when dealing with cross-border projects involving
CO2 capture in an Annex B country that is party to the
Kyoto Protocol but stored in a country that is not in Annex B
or is not bound by the Protocol.
Although methods currently available for national
emissions inventories can either accommodate CCS systems
or be revised to do so, accounting for stored CO2 raises
questions about the acceptance and transfer of responsibility
for stored emissions. Such issues may be addressed through
national and international political processes.
10. Gaps in knowledge
This summary of the gaps in knowledge covers aspects of
CCS where increasing knowledge, experience and reducing
uncertainty would be important to facilitate decision-making
about the large-scale deployment of CCS.
Technologies for capture and storage
Technologies for the capture of CO2 are relatively well
understood today based on industrial experience in a variety
of applications. Similarly, there are no major technical or
knowledge barriers to the adoption of pipeline transport,
or to the adoption of geological storage of captured CO2.
However, the integration of capture, transport and storage
in full-scale projects is needed to gain the knowledge and
experience required for a more widespread deployment
of CCS technologies. R&D is also needed to improve
knowledge of emerging concepts and enabling technologies
for CO2 capture that have the potential to significantly reduce
the costs of capture for new and existing facilities. More
specifically, there are knowledge gaps relating to large coal-

based and natural gas-based power plants with CO2 capture on

the order of several hundred megawatts (or several MtCO2).
Demonstration of CO2 capture on this scale is needed to
establish the reliability and environmental performance of
different types of power systems with capture, to reduce
the costs of CCS, and to improve confidence in the cost
estimates. In addition, large-scale implementation is needed
to obtain better estimates of the costs and performance of
CCS in industrial processes, such as the cement and steel
industries, that are significant sources of CO2 but have little
or no experience with CO2 capture.
With regard to mineral carbonation technology, a major
question is how to exploit the reaction heat in practical
designs that can reduce costs and net energy requirements.
Experimental facilities at pilot scales are needed to address
these gaps.
With regard to industrial uses of captured CO2, further
study of the net energy and CO2 balance of industrial
processes that use the captured CO2 could help to establish a
more complete picture of the potential of this option.
Geographical relationship between the sources and storage
opportunities of CO2
An improved picture of the proximity of major CO2 sources
to suitable storage sites (of all types), and the establishment
of cost curves for the capture, transport and storage of
CO2, would facilitate decision-making about large-scale
deployment of CCS. In this context, detailed regional
assessments are required to evaluate how well large CO2
emission sources (both current and future) match suitable
storage options that can store the volumes required.
Geological storage capacity and effectiveness
There is a need for improved storage capacity estimates at the
global, regional and local levels, and for a better understanding
of long-term storage, migration and leakage processes.
Addressing the latter issue will require an enhanced ability to
monitor and verify the behaviour of geologically stored CO2.
The implementation of more pilot and demonstration storage
projects in a range of geological, geographical and economic
settings would be important to improve our understanding of
these issues.
Impacts of ocean storage
Major knowledge gaps that should be filled before the risks
and potential for ocean storage can be assessed concern the
ecological impact of CO2 in the deep ocean. Studies are
needed of the response of biological systems in the deep sea
to added CO2, including studies that are longer in duration
and larger in scale than those that have been performed until

Technical Summary
now. Coupled with this is a need to develop techniques and
sensors to detect and monitor CO2 plumes and their biological
and geochemical consequences.
Legal and regulatory issues
Current knowledge about the legal and regulatory
requirements for implementing CCS on a larger scale is still
inadequate. There is no appropriate framework to facilitate the
implementation of geological storage and take into account
the associated long-term liabilities. Clarification is needed
regarding potential legal constraints on storage in the marine
environment (ocean or sub-seabed geological storage). Other
key knowledge gaps are related to the methodologies for
emissions inventories and accounting.
Global contribution of CCS to mitigating climate change
There are several other issues that would help future decisionmaking about CCS by further improving our understanding
of the potential contribution of CCS to the long-term global
mitigation and stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations.
These include the potential for transfer and diffusion of
CCS technologies, including opportunities for developing
countries to exploit CCS, its application to biomass sources
of CO2, and the potential interaction between investment in
CCS and other mitigation options. Further investigation is
warranted into the question of how long CO2 would need to
be stored. This issue is related to stabilization pathways and
intergenerational aspects.

49

50

Technical Summary

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

Coordinating Lead Author

Paul Freund (United Kingdom)
Lead Authors
Anthony Adegbulugbe (Nigeria), yvind Christophersen (Norway), Hisashi Ishitani (Japan),
William Moomaw (United States), Jose Moreira (Brazil)
Review Editors
Eduardo Calvo (Peru), Eberhard Jochem (Germany)

51

52

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

53

1.1
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.1.3
1.1.4

Background to the report

What is CO2 capture and storage?
Why a special report on CO2 capture and storage?
Preparations for this report
Purpose of this introduction

54
54
54
54
55

1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2
1.2.3
1.2.4

Context for considering CO2 capture and storage 55

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions
55
Sectoral CO2 emissions
56
Other greenhouse gas emissions
56
Scenarios of future emissions
56

1.3
1.3.1
1.3.2
1.3.3

Options for mitigating climate change

Improve energy efficiency
Switch to less carbon-intensive fossil fuels
Increased use of low- and near-zero-carbon energy
sources
Sequester CO2 through the enhancement of natural,
biological sinks
CO2 capture and storage
Potential for reducing CO2 emissions
Comparing mitigation options

1.3.4
1.3.5
1.3.6
1.3.7

1.4 Characteristics of CO2 capture and storage

1.4.1 Overview of the CO2 capture and storage concept
and its development
1.4.2 Systems for CO2 capture
1.4.3 Range of possible uses
1.4.4 Scale of the plant

57
57
57
58
58
58
58
59
59
59
60
60
61

1.5 Assessing CCS in terms of environmental

impact and cost
1.5.1 Establishing a system boundary
1.5.2 Application to the assessment of environmental and
resource impacts
1.5.3 Application to cost assessment
1.5.4 Other cost and environmental impact issues

61
62
62
62
63

1.6 Assessing CCS in terms of energy supply and CO2

storage
64
1.6.1 Fossil fuel availability
64
1.6.2 Is there sufficient storage capacity?
64
1.6.3 How long will the CO2 remain in storage?
65
1.6.4 How long does the CO2 need to remain in storage? 66
1.6.5 Time frame for the technology
67
1.6.6 Other effects of introducing CCS into scenarios
68
1.6.7 Societal requirements
69
1.7 Implications for technology transfer and sustainable
development
70
1.7.1 Equity and sustainable development
70
1.7.2 Technology transfer
70
1.8

Contents of this report

References

71
72

Chapter 1: Introduction
Executive Summary
According to IPCCs Third Assessment Report:
There is new and stronger evidence that most of the
warming observed over the past 50 years is attributable to
human activities.
Human influences are expected to continue to change
atmospheric composition throughout the 21st century.
The greenhouse gas making the largest contribution from
human activities is carbon dioxide (CO2). It is released by
burning fossil fuels and biomass as a fuel; from the burning,
for example, of forests during land clearance; and by certain
industrial and resource extraction processes.
Emissions of CO2 due to fossil fuel burning are virtually
certain to be the dominant influence on the trends in
atmospheric CO2 concentration during the 21st century.
Global average temperatures and sea level are projected to
rise under all () scenarios.
The ultimate objective of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change, which has been accepted by 189 nations, is
to achieve () stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous
anthropogenic interference with the climate system, although
a specific level has yet to be agreed.
Technological options for reducing net CO2 emissions to the
atmosphere include:
reducing energy consumption, for example by increasing the
efficiency of energy conversion and/or utilization (including
enhancing less energy-intensive economic activities);
switching to less carbon intensive fuels, for example natural
gas instead of coal;
increasing the use of renewable energy sources or nuclear
energy, each of which emits little or no net CO2;
sequestering CO2 by enhancing biological absorption
capacity in forests and soils;
capturing and storing CO2 chemically or physically.
The first four technological options were covered in earlier
IPCC reports; the fifth option, the subject of this report, is
Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS). In this approach,
CO2 arising from the combustion of fossil and/or renewable
fuels and from processing industries would be captured and
stored away from the atmosphere for a very long period of time.
This report analyzes the current state of knowledge about the
scientific and technical, economic and policy dimensions of this
option, in order to allow it to be considered in relation to other
options for mitigating climate change.
At present, the global concentration of CO2 in the
atmosphere is increasing. If recent trends in global CO2
emissions continue, the world will not be on a path towards
stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations. Between 1995
and 2001, average global CO2 emissions grew at a rate of 1.4%
per year, which is slower than the growth in use of primary
energy but higher than the growth in CO2 emissions in the

53
previous 5 years. Electric-power generation remains the single
largest source of CO2 emissions, emitting as much CO2 as the
rest of the industrial sector combined, while the transport sector
is the fastest-growing source of CO2 emissions. So meeting the
ultimate goal of the UNFCCC will require measures to reduce
emissions, including the further deployment of existing and
new technologies.
The extent of emissions reduction required will depend on
the rate of emissions and the atmospheric concentration target.
The lower the chosen stabilization concentration and the higher
the rate of emissions expected in the absence of mitigation
measures, the larger must be the reduction in emissions and
the earlier that it must occur. In many of the models that
IPCC has considered, stabilization at a level of 550 ppmv of
CO2 in the atmosphere would require a reduction in global
emissions by 2100 of 770% compared with current rates.
Lower concentrations would require even greater reductions.
Achieving this cost-effectively will be easier if we can choose
flexibly from a broad portfolio of technology options of the
kind described above.
The purpose of this report is to assess the characteristics
of CO2 capture and storage as part of a portfolio of this kind.
There are three main components of the process: capturing
CO2, for example by separating it from the flue gas stream of a
fuel combustion system and compressing it to a high pressure;
transporting it to the storage site; and storing it. CO2 storage
will need to be done in quantities of gigatonnes of CO2 per year
to make a significant contribution to the mitigation of climate
change, although the capture and storage of smaller amounts, at
costs similar to or lower than alternatives, would make a useful
contribution to lowering emissions. Several types of storage
reservoir may provide storage capacities of this magnitude. In
some cases, the injection of CO2 into oil and gas fields could
lead to the enhanced production of hydrocarbons, which would
help to offset the cost. CO2 capture technology could be applied
to electric-power generation facilities and other large industrial
sources of emissions; it could also be applied in the manufacture
of hydrogen as an energy carrier. Most stages of the process
build on known technology developed for other purposes.
There are many factors that must be considered when
deciding what role CO2 capture and storage could play in
mitigating climate change. These include the cost and capacity
of emission reduction relative to, or in combination with, other
options, the resulting increase in demand for primary energy
sources, the range of applicability, and the technical risk. Other
important factors are the social and environmental consequences,
the safety of the technology, the security of storage and ease of
monitoring and verification, and the extent of opportunities to
transfer the technology to developing countries. Many of these
features are interlinked. Some aspects are more amenable to
rigorous evaluation than others. For example, the literature
about the societal aspects of this new mitigation option is
limited. Public attitudes, which are influenced by many factors,
including how judgements are made about the technology, will
also exert an important influence on its application. All of these
aspects are discussed in this report.

54

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

1.1 Background to the report

IPCCs Third Assessment Report stated there is new and
stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over
the past 50 years is attributable to human activities. It went
on to point out that human influences will continue to change
atmospheric composition throughout the 21st century (IPCC,
2001c). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the greenhouse gas that makes
the largest contribution from human activities. It is released
into the atmosphere by: the combustion of fossil fuels such as
coal, oil or natural gas, and renewable fuels like biomass; by
the burning of, for example, forests during land clearance; and
from certain industrial and resource extraction processes. As a
result emissions of CO2 due to fossil fuel burning are virtually
certain to be the dominant influence on the trends in atmospheric
CO2 concentration during the 21st century and global average
temperatures and sea level are projected to rise under all
scenarios (IPCC, 2001c).
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), which has been ratified by 189 nations and has
now gone into force, asserts that the world should achieve an
atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that
would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the
climate system (UNFCCC, 1992), although the specific level
of atmospheric concentrations has not yet been quantified.
Technological options for reducing anthropogenic emissions of
CO2 include (1) reducing the use of fossil fuels (2) substituting
less carbon-intensive fossil fuels for more carbon-intensive fuels
(3) replacing fossil fuel technologies with near-zero-carbon
alternatives and (4) enhancing the absorption of atmospheric
CO2 by natural systems. In this report, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explores an additional option:
Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS). This report will
analyze the current state of knowledge in order to understand
the technical, economic and policy dimensions of this climate
change mitigation option and make it possible to consider it in
context with other options.
1.1.1

What is CO2 capture and storage?

CO2 capture and storage involves capturing the CO2 arising from
the combustion of fossil fuels, as in power generation, or from
the preparation of fossil fuels, as in natural-gas processing.
It can also be applied to the combustion of biomass-based
fuels and in certain industrial processes, such as the production
of hydrogen, ammonia, iron and steel, or cement. Capturing
CO2 involves separating the CO2 from some other gases. The
CO2 must then be transported to a storage site where it will be
In this report, the term emissions is taken to refer to emissions from
anthropogenic, rather than natural, sources.

CO2 capture and storage is sometimes referred to as carbon sequestration. In
this report, the term sequestration is reserved for the enhancement of natural
sinks of CO2, a mitigation option which is not examined in this report but in
IPCC 2000b.

For example, in the flue gas stream of a power plant, the other gases are mainly
nitrogen and water vapour.

stored away from the atmosphere for a very long time (IPCC,
2001a). In order to have a significant effect on atmospheric
concentrations of CO2, storage reservoirs would have to be
large relative to annual emissions.
1.1.2

Why a special report on CO2 capture and storage?

The capture and storage of carbon dioxide is a technically

feasible method of making deep reductions in CO2 emissions
from sources such as those mentioned above. Although it can be
implemented mainly by applying known technology developed
for other purposes, its potential role in tackling climate change
was not recognized as early as some other mitigation options.
Indeed, the topic received little attention in IPCCs Second and
Third Assessment Reports (IPCC 1996a, 2001b) the latter
contained a three-page review of technological progress, and
an overview of costs and the environmental risks of applying
such technology. In recent years, the technical literature on
this field has expanded rapidly. Recognizing the need for a
broad approach to assessing mitigation options, the potential
importance of issues relating to CO2 capture and storage and
the extensive literature on other options (due to their longer
history), IPCC decided to undertake a thorough assessment
of CO2 capture and storage. For these reasons it was thought
appropriate to prepare a Special Report on the subject. This
would constitute a source of information of comparable nature to
the information available on other, more established mitigation
options. In response to the invitation from the 7th Conference of
the Parties to the UNFCCC in Marrakech, the IPCC plenary
meeting in April 2002 decided to launch work on CO2 capture
and storage.
1.1.3

Preparations for this report

In preparation for this work, the 2002 Plenary decided that

IPCC should arrange a Workshop under the auspices of
Working Group III, with inputs from Working Groups I and II,
to recommend how to proceed. This workshop took place in
Regina, Canada, in November 2002 (IPCC, 2002). Three options
were considered at the workshop: the production of a Technical
Report, a Special Report, or the postponement of any action
until the Fourth Assessment Report. After extensive discussion,
the Workshop decided to advise IPCC to produce a Special
Report on CO2 capture and storage. At IPCCs Plenary Meeting
in February 2003, the Panel acknowledged the importance of
issues relating to CO2 capture and storage and decided that a
Special Report would be the most appropriate way of assessing
the technical, scientific and socio-economic implications of
capturing anthropogenic CO2 and storing it in natural reservoirs.
The Panel duly gave approval for work to begin on such a report
with 2005 as the target date for publication.
The decision of the 2002 Plenary Meeting required the
report to cover the following issues:
This draft decision called on IPCC to prepare a technical paper on geological
carbon storage technologies.

55

Chapter 1: Introduction

sources of CO2 and technologies for capturing CO2;

transport of CO2 from capture to storage;
CO2 storage options;
geographical potential of the technology;
possibility of re-using captured CO2 in industrial
applications;
costs and energy efficiency of capturing and storing CO2 in
comparison with other large-scale mitigation options;
implications of large-scale introduction, the environmental
impact, as well as risks and risk management during
capture, transport and storage;
permanence and safety of CO2 storage, including methods
of monitoring CO2 storage;
barriers to the implementation of storage, and the modelling
of CO2 capture and storage in energy and climate models;
implications for national and international emission
inventories, legal aspects and technology transfer.

Figure 1.1 World primary energy use by sector from 1971 to 2001
(IEA, 2003).

This report assesses information on all these topics in order to

facilitate discussion of the relative merits of this option and to
assist decision-making about whether and how the technology
should be used.
1.1.4

Purpose of this introduction

This chapter provides an introduction in three distinct ways: it

provides the background and context for the report; it provides
an introduction to CCS technology; and it provides a framework
for the CCS assessment methods used in later chapters.
Because this report is concerned with the physical capture,
transport and storage of CO2, the convention is adopted of using
physical quantities (i.e. tonnes) of CO2 rather than quantities
of C, as is normal in the general literature on climate change.
In order to make possible comparison of the results with other
literature, quantities in tonnes of C are given in parenthesis.
1.2 Context for considering CO2 Capture and
Storage
1.2.1

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions

CO2 continued an upward trend in the early years of the 21st

century (Figures 1.1, 1.2). Fossil fuels are the dominant form
of energy utilized in the world (86%), and account for about
75% of current anthropogenic CO2 emissions (IPCC, 2001c). In
2002, 149 Exajoules (EJ) of oil, 91 EJ of natural gas, and 101 EJ
of coal were consumed by the worlds economies (IEA, 2004).
Global primary energy consumption grew at an average rate of
1.4% annually between 1990 and 1995 (1.6% per year between
1995 and 2001); the growth rates were 0.3% per year (0.9%) in
the industrial sector, 2.1% per year (2.2%) in the transportation
sector, 2.7% per year (2.1%) in the buildings sector, and 2.4%
per year (0.8%) in the agricultural/other sector (IEA, 2003).

Figure 1.2 World CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use by sector, 1971
to 2001 (IEA, 2003).

Average global CO2 emissions increased by 1.0% per year

between 1990 and 1995 (1.4% between 1995 and 2001), a rate
slightly below that of energy consumption in both periods. In
individual sectors, there was no increase in emissions from
industry between 1990 and 1995 (0.9% per year from 1995 to
2001); there was an increase of 1.7% per year (2.0%) in the
transport sector, 2.3% per year (2.0%) in the buildings sector,
and a fall of 2.8% per year (1.0%) in the agricultural/other
sector (IEA, 2003).
Total emissions from fossil fuel consumption and flaring
of natural gas were 24 GtCO2 per year (6.6 GtC per year) in
2001 industrialized countries were responsible for 47% of
energy-related CO2 emissions (not including international
bunkers). The Economies in Transition accounted for 13%
of 2001 emissions; emissions from those countries have
been declining at an annual rate of 3.3% per year since 1990.
Developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region emitted 25%
of the global total of CO2; the rest of the developing countries
accounted for 13% of the total (IEA, 2003).
There are differences in published estimates of CO2 emissions for many
countries, as Marland et al. (1999) have shown using two ostensibly similar
sources of energy statistics.

Emissions from international bunkers amounted to 780 Mt CO2 (213 MtC) in
2001 (IEA, 2003).

56

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 1.1 Sources of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion (2001).

(MtCO2 yr )

Emissions

-1

Public electricity and heat production

8,236

Autoproducers

1,228

Transport

5,656

Manufacturing & construction

Other sectors

3,307

TOTAL

23,684

of which: Residential

Source: IEA, 2003.

The CO2 emissions from various sources worldwide have been

estimated by the IEA (2003). These are shown in Table 1.1,
which shows that power generation is the single largest source
of emissions. Other sectors where emissions arise from a few
large point sources are Other Energy Industries and parts of the
Manufacturing and Construction sector.
Emissions from transport, which is the second largest
sector (Table 1.1), have been growing faster than those from
energy and industry in the last few decades (IPCC, 2001a); a
key difference is that transport emissions are mainly from a
multiplicity of small, distributed sources. These differences
have implications for possible uses of CO2 capture and storage,
as will be seen later in this chapter.
1.2.3

Other greenhouse gas emissions

Anthropogenic climate change is mainly driven by emissions of

CO2 but other greenhouse gases (GHGs) also play a part. Since
some of the anthropogenic CO2 comes from industrial processes
and some from land use changes (mainly deforestation), the
contribution from fossil fuel combustion alone is about half of
the total from all GHGs.
In terms of impact on radiative forcing, methane is the
next most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after CO2
(currently accounting for 20% of the total impact) (IPCC,
2001b). The energy sector is an important source of methane
but agriculture and domestic waste disposal contribute more
to the global total (IPCC, 2001c). Nitrous oxide contributes
directly to climate change (currently 6% of the total impact
of all GHGs); the main source is agriculture but another is
The Other Energy Industries sector includes oil refineries, manufacture of
solid fuels, coal mining, oil and gas extraction, and other energy-producing
industries.

It is estimated that the global radiative forcing of anthropogenic CO2 is
approximately 60% of the total due to all anthropogenic GHGs (IPCC,
2001b).

263

336

4,294

of which: Road

Sectoral CO2 emissions

2,250

963

Other energy industries

1.2.2

(MtC yr-1)

1,173
4,208
1,902

1,545
903
6,470

1,150
520

the industrial production of some chemicals; other oxides of

nitrogen have an indirect effect. A number of other gases make
significant contributions (IPCC, 2001c).
1.2.4

Scenarios of future emissions

Future emissions may be simulated using scenarios which are:

alternative images of how the future might unfold and are ()
tools () to analyse how driving forces may influence future
emissions (.) and to assess the associated uncertainties. The
possibility that any single emissions path will occur as described
in scenarios is highly uncertain (IPCC, 2000a). In advance of
the Third Assessment Report, IPCC made an effort to identify
future GHG emission pathways. Using several assumptions,
IPCC built a set of scenarios of what might happen to emissions
up to the year 2100. Six groups of scenarios were published
(IPCC, 2000a): the SRES scenarios. None of these assume
any specific climate policy initiatives; in other words, they are
base cases which can be used for considering the effects of
mitigation options. An illustrative scenario was chosen for each
of the groups. The six groups were organized into four families
covering a wide range of key future characteristics such as
demographic change, economic development, and technological
change (IPCC, 2000a). Scenario families A1 and A2 emphasize
economic development, whilst B1 and B2 emphasize global
and local solutions for, respectively, economic, social and
environmental sustainability. In addition, two scenarios,
A1F1 and A1T, illustrate alternative developments in energy
technology in the A1 world (see Figure TS.1 in IPCC, 2001a).
Given the major role played by fossil fuels in supplying
energy to modern society, and the long periods of time involved
in changing energy systems (Marchetti and Nakicenovic, 1979),
the continued use of fossil fuels is arguably a good base-case
scenario. Further discussion of how CCS may affect scenarios
can be found in Chapter 8.
Most of these scenarios yield future emissions which are
significantly higher than todays levels. In 2100, these scenarios
show, on average, between 50% and 250% as much annual

57

Chapter 1: Introduction
CO2 emissions as current rates. Adding together all of the CO2
emissions projected for the 21st century, the cumulative totals
lie in the range of 3,480 to 8,050 GtCO2 (950 to 2,200 GtC)
depending on the selected scenario (IPCC, 2001e).
It should be noted that there is potential for confusion
about the term leakage since this is widely used in the climate
change literature in a spatial sense to refer to the displacement
of emissions from one source to another. This report does not
discuss leakage of this kind but it does look at the unintended
release of CO2 from storage (which may also be termed leakage).
The reader is advised to be aware of the possible ambiguity in
the use of the term leakage and to have regard to the context
where this word is used in order to clarify the meaning.
1.3

Options for mitigating climate change

As mentioned above, the UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change calls for the stabilization of the atmospheric
concentration of GHGs but, at present, there is no agreement on
what the specific level should be. However, it can be recognized
that stabilization of concentrations will only occur once the
rate of addition of GHGs to the atmosphere equals the rate at
which natural systems can remove them in other words, when
the rate of anthropogenic emissions is balanced by the rate of
uptake by natural processes such as atmospheric reactions, net
transfer to the oceans, or uptake by the biosphere.
In general, the lower the stabilization target and the higher
the level of baseline emissions, the larger the required reduction
in emissions below the baseline, and the earlier that it must
occur. For example, stabilization at 450 ppmv CO2 would
require emissions to be reduced earlier than stabilization at 650
ppmv, with very rapid emission reductions over the next 20 to
30 years (IPCC, 2000a); this could require the employment of
all cost-effective potential mitigation options (IPCC, 2001a).
Another conclusion, no less relevant than the previous one, is
that the range of baseline scenarios tells us that future economic
development policies may impact greenhouse gas emissions as
strongly as policies and technologies especially developed to
address climate change. Some have argued that climate change
is more an issue of economic development, for both developed
and developing countries, than it is an environmental issue
(Moomaw et al., 1999).
The Third Assessment Report (IPCC, 2001a) shows that, in
many of the models that IPCC considered, achieving stabilization
at a level of 550 ppmv would require global emissions to be
reduced by 770% by 2100 (depending upon the stabilization
profile) compared to the level of emissions in 2001. If the target
were to be lower (450 ppmv), even deeper reductions (5590%)
would be required. For the purposes of this discussion, we will
use the term deep reductions to imply net reductions of 80%
or more compared with what would otherwise be emitted by an
individual power plant or industrial facility.
In any particular scenario, it may be helpful to consider the
major factors influencing CO2 emissions from the supply and
use of energy using the following simple but useful identity
(after Kaya, 1995):

CO2 emissions =
Population x

GDP

x
Population

Energy

x
GDP

Emissions
Energy

This shows that the level of CO2 emissions can be understood to

depend directly on the size of the human population, on the level
of global wealth, on the energy intensity of the global economy,
and on the emissions arising from the production and use of
energy. At present, the population continues to rise and average
energy use is also rising, whilst the amount of energy required
per unit of GDP is falling in many countries, but only slowly
(IPCC, 2001d). So achieving deep reductions in emissions will,
all other aspects remaining constant, require major changes in
the third and fourth factors in this equation, the emissions from
energy technology. Meeting the challenge of the UNFCCCs
goal will therefore require sharp falls in emissions from energy
technology.
A wide variety of technological options have the potential
to reduce net CO2 emissions and/or CO2 atmospheric
concentrations, as will be discussed below, and there may be
further options developed in the future. The targets for emission
reduction will influence the extent to which each technique is
used. The extent of use will also depend on factors such as
cost, capacity, environmental impact, the rate at which the
technology can be introduced, and social factors such as public
acceptance.
1.3.1

Improve energy efficiency

Reductions in fossil fuel consumption can be achieved by

improving the efficiency of energy conversion, transport
and end-use, including enhancing less energy-intensive
economic activities. Energy conversion efficiencies have
been increased in the production of electricity, for example by
improved turbines; combined heating, cooling and electricpower generation systems reduce CO2 emissions further still.
Technological improvements have achieved gains of factors of
2 to 4 in the energy consumption of vehicles, of lighting and
many appliances since 1970; further improvements and wider
application are expected (IPCC, 2001a). Further significant
gains in both demand-side and supply-side efficiency can be
achieved in the near term and will continue to slow the growth
in emissions into the future; however, on their own, efficiency
gains are unlikely to be sufficient, or economically feasible, to
achieve deep reductions in emissions of GHGs (IPCC, 2001a).
1.3.2

Switch to less carbon-intensive fossil fuels

Switching from high-carbon to low-carbon fuels can be costeffective today where suitable supplies of natural gas are
available. A typical emission reduction is 420 kg CO2 MWh1
for the change from coal to gas in electricity generation; this is
about 50% (IPCC, 1996b). If coupled with the introduction of
the combined production of heat, cooling and electric power,
the reduction in emissions would be even greater. This would

58

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

make a substantial contribution to emissions reduction from a

particular plant but is restricted to plant where supplies of lower
carbon fuels are available.
1.3.3

Increased use of low- and near-zero-carbon energy

sources

Deep reductions in emissions from stationary sources could

be achieved by widespread switching to renewable energy or
nuclear power (IPCC, 2001a). The extent to which nuclear
power could be applied and the speed at which its use might
be increased will be determined by that industrys ability to
address concerns about cost, safety, long-term storage of nuclear
wastes, proliferation and terrorism. Its role is therefore likely to
be determined more by the political process and public opinion
than by technical factors (IPCC, 2001a).
There is a wide variety of renewable supplies potentially
available: commercial ones include wind, solar, biomass,
hydro, geothermal and tidal power, depending on geographic
location. Many of them could make significant contributions
to electricity generation, as well as to vehicle fuelling and
space heating or cooling, thereby displacing fossil fuels (IPCC,
2001a). Many of the renewable sources face constraints
related to cost, intermittency of supply, land use and other
environmental impacts. Between 1992 and 2002, installed wind
power generation capacity grew at a rate of about 30% per year,
reaching over 31 GWe by the end of 2002 (Gipe, 2004). Solar
electricity generation has increased rapidly (by about 30% per
year), achieving 1.1 GWe capacity in 2001, mainly in smallscale installations (World Energy Assessment, 2004). This has
occurred because of falling costs as well as promotional policies
in some countries. Liquid fuel derived from biomass has also
expanded considerably and is attracting the attention of several
countries, for example Brazil, due to its declining costs and
co-benefits in creation of jobs for rural populations. Biomass
used for electricity generation is growing at about 2.5% per
annum; capacity had reached 40 GWe in 2001. Biomass used
for heat was estimated to have capacity of 210 GWth in 2001.
Geothermal energy used for electricity is also growing in both
developed and developing countries, with capacity of 3 GWe
in 2001 (World Energy Assessment, 2004). There are therefore
many options which could make deep reductions by substituting
for fossil fuels, although the cost is significant for some and the
potential varies from place to place (IPCC, 2001a).
1.3.4

Sequester CO2 through the enhancement of

natural, biological sinks

Natural sinks for CO2 already play a significant role in

determining the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. They
may be enhanced to take up carbon from the atmosphere.
Examples of natural sinks that might be used for this purpose
include forests and soils (IPCC, 2000b). Enhancing these sinks
through agricultural and forestry practices could significantly
improve their storage capacity but this may be limited by land
use practice, and social or environmental factors. Carbon stored

biologically already includes large quantities of emitted CO2

but storage may not be permanent.
1.3.5

CO2 capture and storage

As explained above, this approach involves capturing CO2

generated by fuel combustion or released from industrial
processes, and then storing it away from the atmosphere for a
very long time. In the Third Assessment Report (IPCC, 2001a)
this option was analyzed on the basis of a few, documented
projects (e.g., the Sleipner Vest gas project in Norway, enhanced
oil recovery practices in Canada and USA, and enhanced
recovery of coal bed methane in New Mexico and Canada). That
analysis also discussed the large potential of fossil fuel reserves
and resources, as well as the large capacity for CO2 storage in
depleted oil and gas fields, deep saline formations, and in the
ocean. It also pointed out that CO2 capture and storage is more
appropriate for large sources such as central power stations,
refineries, ammonia, and iron and steel plants than for small,
dispersed emission sources.
The potential contribution of this technology will be
influenced by factors such as the cost relative to other options,
the time that CO2 will remain stored, the means of transport
to storage sites, environmental concerns, and the acceptability
of this approach. The CCS process requires additional fuel and
associated CO2 emissions compared with a similar plant without
capture.
Recently it has been recognized that biomass energy used
with CO2 capture and storage (BECS) can yield net removal of
CO2 from the atmosphere because the CO2 put into storage comes
from biomass which has absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere as
it grew (Mllersten et al., 2003; Azar et al., 2003). The overall
effect is referred to as negative net emissions. BECS is a new
concept that has received little analysis in technical literature
and policy discussions to date.
1.3.6

Potential for reducing CO2 emissions

It has been determined (IPCC, 2001a) that the worldwide

potential for GHG emission reduction by the use of technological
options such as those described above amounts to between
6,950 and 9,500 MtCO2 per year (1,900 to 2,600 MtC per year)
by 2010, equivalent to about 25 to 40% of global emissions
respectively. The potential rises to 13,200 to 18,500 MtCO2 per
year (3,600 to 5,050 MtC per year) by 2020. The evidence on
which these estimates are based is extensive but has several
limitations: for instance, the data used comes from the 1990s
and additional new technologies have since emerged. In
addition, no comprehensive worldwide study of technological
and economic potential has yet been performed; regional and
national studies have generally had different scopes and made
different assumptions about key parameters (IPCC, 2001a).
The Third Assessment Report found that the option for
reducing emissions with most potential in the short term (up to
2020) was energy efficiency improvement while the near-term
potential for CO2 capture and storage was considered modest,

59

Chapter 1: Introduction
amounting to 73 to 183 MtCO2 per year (20 to 50 MtC per year)
from coal and a similar amount from natural gas (see Table
TS.1 in IPCC, 2001a). Nevertheless, faced with the longer-term
climate challenge described above, and in view of the growing
interest in this option, it has become important to analyze the
potential of this technology in more depth.
As a result of the 2002 IPCC workshop on CO2 capture and
storage (IPCC, 2002), it is now recognized that the amount of
CO2 emissions which could potentially be captured and stored
may be higher than the value given in the Third Assessment
Report. Indeed, the emissions reduction may be very significant
compared with the values quoted above for the period after 2020.
Wider use of this option may tend to restrict the opportunity
to use other supply options. Nevertheless, such action might
still lead to an increase in emissions abatement because much
of the potential estimated previously (IPCC, 2001a) was from
the application of measures concerned with end uses of energy.
Some applications of CCS cost relatively little (for example,
storage of CO2 from gas processing as in the Sleipner project
(Baklid et al., 1996)) and this could allow them to be used at
a relatively early date. Certain large industrial sources could
present interesting low-cost opportunities for CCS, especially
if combined with storage opportunities which generate
compensating revenue, such as CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery
(IEA GHG, 2002). This is discussed in Chapter 2.
1.3.7

Comparing mitigation options

A variety of factors will need to be taken into account in any

comparison of mitigation options, not least who is making
the comparison and for what purpose. The remainder of this
chapter discusses various aspects of CCS in a context which
may be relevant to decision-makers. In addition, there are
broader issues, especially questions of comparison with other
mitigation measures. Answering such questions will depend
on many factors, including the potential of each option to
deliver emission reductions, the national resources available,
the accessibility of each technology for the country concerned,
national commitments to reduce emissions, the availability
of finance, public acceptance, likely infrastructural changes,
environmental side-effects, etc. Most aspects of this kind must
be considered both in relative terms (e.g., how does this compare
with other mitigation options?) and absolute terms (e.g., how
much does this cost?), some of which will change over time as
the technology advances.
The IPCC (2001a) found that improvements in energy
efficiency have the potential to reduce global CO2 emissions
by 30% below year-2000 levels using existing technologies
at a cost of less than 30 US$/tCO2 (100 US$/tC). Half of this
reduction could be achieved with existing technology at zero or
net negative costs. Wider use of renewable energy sources was
also found to have substantial potential. Carbon sequestration by
Meaning that the value of energy savings would exceed the technology capital
and operating costs within a defined period of time using appropriate discount
rates.

forests was considered a promising near-term mitigation option

(IPCC, 2000b), attracting commercial attention at prices of 0.8
to 1.1 US$/tCO2 (3-4 US$/tC). The costs quoted for mitigation
in most afforestation projects are presented on a different
basis from power generation options, making the afforestation
examples look more favourable (Freund and Davison, 2002).
Nevertheless, even after allowing for this, the cost of current
projects is low.
It is important, when comparing different mitigation
options, to consider not just costs but also the potential capacity
for emission reduction. A convenient way of doing this is to
use Marginal Abatement Cost curves (MACs) to describe the
potential capacity for mitigation; these are not yet available
for all mitigation options but they are being developed (see,
for example, IEA GHG, 2000b). Several other aspects of the
comparison of mitigation options are discussed later in this
chapter and in Chapter 8.
1.4

Characteristics of CO2 capture and storage

In order to help the reader understand how CO2 capture and

storage could be used as a mitigation option, some of the key
features of the technology are briefly introduced here.
1.4.1

Overview of the CO2 capture and storage concept

and its development

Capturing CO2 typically involves separating it from a gas stream.

Suitable techniques were developed 60 years ago in connection
with the production of town gas; these involved scrubbing the gas
stream with a chemical solvent (Siddique, 1990). Subsequently
they were adapted for related purposes, such as capturing CO2
from the flue gas streams of coal- or gas-burning plant for the
carbonation of drinks and brine, and for enhancing oil recovery.
These developments required improvements to the process so
as to inhibit the oxidation of the solvent in the flue gas stream.
Other types of solvent and other methods of separation have
been developed more recently. This technique is widely used
today for separating CO2 and other acid gases from natural gas
streams10. Horn and Steinberg (1982) and Hendriks et al. (1989)
were among the first to discuss the application of this type of
technology to mitigation of climate change, focusing initially
on electricity generation. CO2 removal is already used in the
production of hydrogen from fossil fuels; Audus et al. (1996)
discussed the application of capture and storage in this process
as a climate protection measure.
In order to transport CO2 to possible storage sites, it is
compressed to reduce its volume; in its dense phase, CO2
occupies around 0.2% of the volume of the gas at standard
temperature and pressure (see Appendix 1 for further information
The total number of installations is not known but is probably several
thousand. Kohl and Nielsen (1997) mention 334 installations using physical
solvent scrubbing; this source does not provide a total for the number of
chemical solvent plants but they do mention one survey which alone examined
294 amine scrubbing plants. There are also a number of membrane units and
other methods of acid gas treatment in use today.
10

60
about the properties of CO2). Several million tonnes per year of
CO2 are transported today by pipeline (Skovholt, 1993), by ship
and by road tanker.
In principle, there are many options available for the storage
of CO2. The first proposal of such a concept (Marchetti, 1977)
envisaged injection of CO2 into the ocean so that it was carried
into deep water where, it was thought, it would remain for
hundreds of years. In order to make a significant difference to
the atmospheric loading of greenhouse gases, the amount of
CO2 that would need to be stored in this way would have to be
significant compared to the amounts of CO2 currently emitted to
the atmosphere in other words gigatonnes of CO2 per year. The
only potential storage sites with capacity for such quantities are
natural reservoirs, such as geological formations (the capacity
of European formations was first assessed by Holloway et
al., 1996) or the deep ocean (Cole et al., 1993). Other storage
options have also been proposed, as discussed below.
Injection of CO2 underground would involve similar
technology to that employed by the oil and gas industry for
the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, and for
the underground injection of waste as practised in the USA.
Wells would be drilled into geological formations and CO2
would be injected in the same way as CO2 has been injected
for enhanced oil recovery11 since the 1970s (Blunt et al., 1993;
Stevens and Gale, 2000). In some cases, this could lead to the
enhanced production of hydrocarbons, which would help to
offset the cost. An extension of this idea involves injection into
saline formations (Koide et al., 1992) or into unminable coal
seams (Gunter et al., 1997); in the latter case, such injection
may sometimes result in the displacement of methane, which
could be used as a fuel. The worlds first commercial-scale
CO2 storage facility, which began operation in 1996, makes use
of a deep saline formation under the North Sea (Korbol and
Kaddour, 1995; Baklid et al., 1996).
Monitoring will be required both for purposes of managing
the storage site and verifying the extent of CO2 emissions
reduction which has been achieved. Techniques such as seismic
surveys, which have developed by the oil and gas industry, have
been shown to be adequate for observing CO2 underground
(Gale et al., 2001) and may form the basis for monitoring CO2
stored in such reservoirs.
Many alternatives to the storage of dense phase CO2 have
been proposed: for example, using the CO2 to make chemicals
or other products (Aresta, 1987), fixing it in mineral carbonates
for storage in a solid form (Seifritz, 1990; Dunsmore, 1992),
storing it as solid CO2 (dry ice) (Seifritz, 1992), as CO2
hydrate (Uchida et al., 1995), or as solid carbon (Steinberg,
1996). Another proposal is to capture the CO2 from flue gases
using micro-algae to make a product which can be turned into a
biofuel (Benemann, 1993).
The potential role of CO2 capture and storage as a mitigation
11
For example, there were 40 gas-processing plants in Canada in 2002 separating
CO2 and H2S from produced natural gas and injecting them into geological
reservoirs (see Chapter 5.2.4). There are also 76 Enhanced Oil Recovery
projects where CO2 is injected underground (Stevens and Gale, 2000).

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

option has to be examined using integrated energy system models
(early studies by Yamaji (1997) have since been followed by
many others). An assessment of the environmental impact of the
technology through life cycle analysis was reported by Audus
and Freund (1997) and other studies have since examined this
further.
The concept of CO2 capture and storage is therefore based
on a combination of known technologies applied to the new
purpose of mitigating climate change. The economic potential
of this technique to enable deep reductions in emissions was
examined by Edmonds et al. (2001), and is discussed in more
detail in Chapter 8. The scope for further improvement of the
technology and for development of new ideas is examined in
later chapters, each of which focuses on a specific part of the
system.
1.4.2

Systems for CO2 capture

Figure 1.3 illustrates how CO2 capture and storage may be

configured for use in electricity generation. A conventional
fossil fuel-fired power plant is shown schematically in Figure
1.3a. Here, the fuel (e.g., natural gas) and an oxidant (typically
air) are brought together in a combustion system; heat from this
is used to drive a turbine/generator which produces electricity.
The exhaust gases are released to atmosphere.
Figure 1.3b shows a plant of this kind modified to capture
CO2 from the flue gas stream, in other words after combustion.
Once it has been captured, the CO2 is compressed in order to
transport it to the storage site. Figure 1.3c shows another variant
where CO2 is removed before combustion (pre-combustion
decarbonization). Figure 1.3d represents an alternative where
nitrogen is extracted from air before combustion; in other words,
pure oxygen is supplied as the oxidant. This type of system is
commonly referred to as oxyfuel combustion. A necessary part
of this process is the recycling of CO2 or water to moderate the
combustion temperature.
1.4.3

Range of possible uses

The main application examined so far for CO2 capture and

storage has been its use in power generation. However, in other
large energy-intensive industries (e.g., cement manufacture, oil
refining, ammonia production, and iron and steel manufacture),
individual plants can also emit large amounts of CO2, so these
industries could also use this technology. In some cases, for
example in the production of ammonia or hydrogen, the nature
of the exhaust gases (being concentrated in CO2) would make
separation less expensive.
The main applications foreseen for this technology are
therefore in large, central facilities that produce significant
quantities of CO2. However, as indicated in Table 1.1, roughly
38% of emissions arise from dispersed sources such as buildings
and, in particular, vehicles. These are generally not considered
suitable for the direct application of CO2 capture because of the
economies of scale associated with the capture processes as well
as the difficulties and costs of transporting small amounts of

61

Chapter 1: Introduction

Figure 1.3 a) Schematic diagram of fossil-fuel-based power generation; b) Schematic diagram of post-combustion capture; c) Schematic
diagram of pre-combustion capture; d) Schematic diagram of oxyfuel combustion

CO2. An alternative approach would be to reduce the emissions

from dispersed sources by supplying them with an energy
carrier with zero net CO2 emissions from use, such as biofuels,
electricity or hydrogen (Johansson et al., 1993). Electricity
or hydrogen12 from fossil fuels could be produced with CO2
capture and this would avoid most of the CO2 emissions at the
production site (Audus et al., 1996). The cost, applicability and
environmental aspects of various applications are discussed
later in this report.
1.4.4

Scale of the plant

Some impression of the scale of the plant involved can be gained

from considering a coal-fired power plant generating 500MWe.
This would emit approximately 2.9 MtCO2 per year (0.8 MtC
per year) to atmosphere. A comparable plant with CO2 capture
and storage, producing a similar amount of electricity and
capturing 85% of the CO2 (after combustion) and compressing
it for transportation, would emit 0.6MtCO2 per year to the
atmosphere (0.16 MtC per year), in other words 80% less than
in the case without capture. The latter plant would also send
3.4 MtCO2 per year to storage (0.9 MtC per year). Because of
its larger size, the amount of CO2 generated by the plant with
capture and compression is more than the plant without capture
(in this example 38% more). This is a result of the energy
12
Hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels today in oil refineries and other
industrial processes.

requirements of the capture plant and of the CO2 compressor.

The proportion of CO2 captured (85%) is a level readily
achievable with current technology (this is discussed in Chapter
3); it is certainly feasible to capture a higher proportion and
designs will vary from case to case. These figures demonstrate
the scale of the operation of a CO2 capture plant and illustrate
that capturing CO2 could achieve deep reductions in emissions
from individual power plants and similar installations (IEA
GHG, 2000a).
Given a plant of this scale, a pipeline of 300400 mm
diameter could handle the quantities of CO2 over distances
of hundreds of kilometres without further compression; for
longer distances, extra compression might be required to
maintain pressure. Larger pipelines could carry the CO2 from
several plants over longer distances at lower unit cost. Storage
of CO2, for example by injection into a geological formation,
would likely involve several million tonnes of CO2 per year but
the precise amount will vary from site to site, as discussed in
Chapters 5 and 6.
1.5

Assessing CCS in terms of environmental impact

and cost

The purpose of this section and those that follow is to introduce

some of the other issues which are potentially of interest to
decision-makers when considering CCS. Answers to some
of the questions posed may be found in subsequent chapters,
although answers to others will depend on further work and

62

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

local information. When looking at the use of CCS, important

considerations will include the environmental and resource
implications, as well as the cost. A systematic process of
evaluation is needed which can examine all the stages of
the CCS system in these respects and can be used for this
and other mitigation options. A well-established method of
analyzing environmental impacts in a systematic manner is the
technique of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This is codified in the
International Standard ISO 14040 (ISO, 1997). The first step
required is the establishment of a system boundary, followed
by a comparison of the system with CCS and a base case
(reference system) without CCS. The difference will define the
environmental impact of CCS. A similar approach will allow a
systematic assessment of the resource and/or cost implications
of CCS.

Figure 1.4 System boundary for a plant or process emitting CO2

(such as a power plant, a hydrogen production plant or other
industrial process). The resource and environmental impacts of a CCS
system are measured by the changes in total system input and output
quantities needed to produce a unit of product.

1.5.1

Establishing a system boundary

A generic system boundary is shown in Figure 1.4, along with

the flows of materials into and out of the system. The key flow13
is the product stream, which may be an energy product (such
as electricity or heat), or another product with economic value
such as hydrogen, cement, chemicals, fuels or other goods. In
analyzing the environmental and resource implications of CCS,
the convention used throughout this report is to normalize all
of the system inputs and outputs to a unit quantity of product
(e.g., electricity). As explained later, this concept is essential for
establishing the effectiveness of this option: in this particular
case, the total amount of CO2 produced is increased due to
the additional equipment and operation of the CCS plant. In
contrast, a simple parameter such as the amount of CO2 captured
may be misleading.
Inputs to the process include the fossil fuels used to meet
process energy requirements, as well as other materials used
by the process (such as water, air, chemicals, or biomass used
as a feedstock or energy source). These may involve renewable
or non-renewable resources. Outputs to the environment
include the CO2 stored and emitted, plus any other gaseous,
liquid or solid emissions released to the atmosphere, water or
land. Changes in other emissions not just CO2 may also
13

Referred to as the elementary flow in life cycle analysis.

be important. Other aspects which may be relatively unique

to CCS include the ability to keep the CO2 separate from the
atmosphere and the possibility of unpredictable effects (the
consequences of climate change, for example) but these are not
quantifiable in an LCA.
Use of this procedure would enable a robust comparison of
different CCS options. In order to compare a power plant with
CCS with other ways of reducing CO2 emissions from electricity
production (the use of renewable energy, for example), a broader
system boundary may have to be considered.
1.5.2

Application to the assessment of environmental

and resource impacts

The three main components of the CO2 capture, transport and

storage system are illustrated in Figure 1.5 as sub-systems
within the overall system boundary for a power plant with CCS.
As a result of the additional requirements for operating the CCS
equipment, the quantity of fuel and other material inputs needed
to produce a unit of product (e.g., one MWh of electricity) is
higher than in the base case without CCS and there will also be
increases in some emissions and reductions in others. Specific
details of the CCS sub-systems illustrated in Figure 1.5 are
presented in Chapters 37, along with the quantification of CCS
energy requirements, resource requirements and emissions.
1.5.3

Application to cost assessment

The cost of CO2 capture and storage is typically built up from

three separate components: the cost of capture (including
compression), transport costs and the cost of storage (including
monitoring costs and, if necessary, remediation of any release).
Any income from EOR (if applicable) would help to partially
offset the costs, as would credits from an emissions trading
system or from avoiding a carbon tax if these were to be
introduced. The costs of individual components are discussed
in Chapters 3 to 7; the costs of whole systems and alternative
options are considered in Chapter 8. The confidence levels of
cost estimates for technologies at different stages of development
and commercialization are also discussed in those chapters.
There are various ways of expressing the cost data (Freund
and Davison, 2002). One convention is to express the costs in
terms of US$/tCO2 avoided, which has the important feature
of taking into account the additional energy (and emissions)
resulting from capturing the CO2. This is very important for
understanding the full effects on the particular plant of capturing
CO2, especially the increased use of energy. However, as a means
of comparing mitigation options, this can be confusing since the
answer depends on the base case chosen for the comparison
(i.e., what is being avoided). Hence, for comparisons with
other ways of supplying energy or services, the cost of systems
with and without capture are best presented in terms of a unit
of product such as the cost of generation (e.g., US$ MWh1)
coupled with the CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated
(e.g., tCO2 MWh1). Users can then choose the appropriate
base case best suited to their purposes. This is the approach

Chapter 1: Introduction

Figure 1.5 System components inside the boundary of Figure 1.4 for
the case of a power plant with CO2 capture and storage. Solid arrows
denote mass flows while dashed lines denote energy flows. The
magnitude of each flow depends upon the type and design of each
sub-system, so only some of the flows will be present or significant in
any particular case. To compare a plant with CCS to another system
with a similar product, for example a renewables-based power plant,
a broader system boundary may have to be used.

used in this report and it is consistent with the treatment of

environmental implications described above.
Expressing the cost of mitigation in terms of US$/tCO2
avoided is also the approach used when considering mitigation
options for a collection of plants (such as a national electricity
system). This approach is typically found in integrated
assessment modelling for policy-related purposes (see Chapter
8). The costs calculated in this way should not be compared
with the cost of CO2-avoided calculated for an individual power
plant of a particular design as described above because the base
case will not be the same. However, because the term avoided
is used in both cases, there can be misunderstanding if a clear
distinction is not made.
1.5.4

Other cost and environmental impact issues

Most of the published studies of specific projects look at

particular CO2 sources and particular storage reservoirs. They
are necessarily based on the costs for particular types of plants,
so that the quantities of CO2 involved are typically only a few
million tonnes per year. Although these are realistic quantities
for the first projects of this kind, they fail to reflect the potential
economies of scale which are likely if or when this technology is
widely used for mitigation of climate change, which would result
in the capture, transport and storage of much greater quantities
of CO2. As a consequence of this greater use, reductions can
be expected in costs as a result of both economies of scale and
increased experience with the manufacture and operation of
most stages of the CCS system. This will take place over a period
of several decades. Such effects of learning have been seen
in many technologies, including energy technologies, although
historically observed rates of improvement and cost reduction
are quite variable and have not been accurately predicted for any
specific technology (McDonald and Schrattenholzer, 2001).

63
The construction of any large plant will generate issues
relating to environmental impact, which is why impact analyses
are required in many countries before the approval of such
projects. There will probably be a requirement for gaining a
permit for the work. Chapters 3 to 7 discuss in more detail the
environmental issues and impacts associated with CO2 capture,
transport and storage. At a power plant, the impact will depend
largely on the type of capture system employed and the extra
energy required, with the latter increasing the flows of fuel and
chemical reagents and some of the emissions associated with
generating a megawatt hour of electricity. The construction and
operation of CO2 pipelines will have a similar impact on the
environment to that of the more familiar natural gas pipelines.
The large-scale transportation and storage of CO2 could also be
a potential hazard, if significant amounts were to escape (see
Annex I).
The different storage options may involve different
obligations in terms of monitoring and liability. The monitoring
of CO2 flows will take place in all parts of the system for
reasons of process control. It will also be necessary to monitor
the systems to ensure that storage is safe and secure, to provide
data for national inventories and to provide a basis for CO2
emissions trading.
In developing monitoring strategies, especially for reasons
of regulatory compliance and verification, a key question is
how long the monitoring must continue; clearly, monitoring
will be needed throughout the injection phase but the frequency
and extent of monitoring after injection has been completed still
needs to be determined, and the organization(s) responsible for
monitoring in the long term will have to be identified. In addition,
when CO2 is used, for example, in enhanced oil recovery, it will
be necessary to establish the net amount of CO2 stored. The
extent to which the guidelines for reporting emissions already
developed by IPCC need to be adapted for this new mitigation
option is discussed in Chapter 9.
In order to help understand the nature of the risks, a
distinction may usefully be drawn between the slow seepage
of CO2 and potentially hazardous, larger and unintended
releases caused by a rapid failure of some part of the system
(see Annex I for information about the dangers of CO2 in
certain circumstances). CO2 disperses readily in turbulent air
but seepage from stores under land might have noticeable
effects on local ecosystems depending on the amount released
and the size of the area affected. In the sea, marine currents
would quickly disperse any CO2 dissolved in seawater. CO2
seeping from a storage reservoir may intercept shallow aquifers
or surface water bodies; if these are sources of drinking water,
there could be direct consequences for human activity. There
is considerable uncertainty about the potential local ecosystem
damage that could arise from seepage of CO2 from underground
reservoirs: small seepages may produce no detectable impact
but it is known that relatively large releases from natural CO2
reservoirs can inflict measurable damage (Sorey et al., 1996).
However, if the cumulative amount released from purposeful
storage was significant, this could have an impact on the
climate. In that case, national inventories would need to take

64

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

this into account (as discussed in Chapter 9). The likely level
of seepage from geological storage reservoirs is the subject of
current research described in Chapter 5. Such environmental
considerations form the basis for some of the legal barriers to
storage of CO2 which are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6.
The environmental impact of CCS, as with any other energy
system, can be expressed as an external cost (IPCC, 2001d) but
relatively little has been done to apply this approach to CCS
and so it is not discussed further in this report. The results of an
application of this approach to CCS can be found in Audus and
Freund (1997).
1.6 Assessing CCS in terms of energy supply and CO2
storage
Some of the first questions to be raised when the subject of CO2
capture and storage is mentioned are:
Are there enough fossil fuels to make this worthwhile?
How long will the CO2 remain in store?
Is there sufficient storage capacity and how widely is it
available?
These questions are closely related to the minimum time it
is necessary to keep CO2 out of the atmosphere in order to
mitigate climate change, and therefore to a fourth, overall,
question: How long does the CO2 need to remain in store?
This section suggests an approach that can be used to answer
these questions, ending with a discussion of broader issues
relating to fossil fuels and other scenarios.
1.6.1

Fossil fuel availability

Fossil fuels are globally traded commodities that are available

to all countries. Although they may be used for much of the
21st century, the balance of the different fuels may change. CO2
capture and storage would enable countries, if they wish, to
continue to include fossil fuels in their energy mix, even in the
presence of severe restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
Whether fossil fuels will last long enough to justify the
development and large-scale deployment of CO2 capture and
storage depends on a number of factors, including their depletion
rate, cost, and the composition of the fossil fuel resources and
reserves.
1.6.1.1 Depletion rate and cost of use
Proven coal, oil and natural gas reserves are finite, so
consumption of these primary fuels can be expected to peak and
then decline at some time in the future (IPCC, 2001a). However,
predicting the pace at which use of fossil fuels will fall is far
from simple because of the many different factors involved.
Alternative sources of energy are being developed which will
compete with fossil fuels, thereby extending the life of the
reserves. Extracting fossil fuels from more difficult locations
will increase the cost of supply, as will the use of feedstocks that
require greater amounts of processing; the resultant increase in
cost will also tend to reduce demand. Restrictions on emissions,
whether by capping or tax, would also increase the cost of using

fossil fuels, as would the introduction of CCS. At the same time,

improved technology will reduce the cost of using these fuels.
All but the last of these factors will have the effect of extending
the life of the fossil fuel reserves, although the introduction of
CCS would tend to push up demand for them.
1.6.1.2 Fossil fuel reserves and resources
In addition to the known reserves, there are significant resources
that, through technological advances and the willingness of
society to pay more for them, may be converted into commercial
fuels in the future. Furthermore, there are thought to be large
amounts of non-conventional oil (e.g., heavy oil, tars sands,
shales) and gas (e.g., methane hydrates). A quantification of
these in the Third Assessment Report (IPCC, 2001a) showed
that fully exploiting the known oil and natural gas resources
(without any emission control), plus the use of non-conventional
resources, would cause atmospheric concentrations of CO2
to rise above 750 ppmv. In addition, coal resources are even
larger than those of oil and gas; consuming all of them would
enable the global economy to emit 5 times as much CO2 as
has been released since 1850 (5,200 GtCO2 or 1,500 GtC) (see
Chapter 3 in IPCC, 2001a). A scenario for achieving significant
reductions in emissions but without the use of CCS (Berk et
al., 2001) demonstrates the extent to which a shift away from
fossil fuels would be required to stabilize at 450 ppmv by 2100.
Thus, sufficient fossil fuels exist for continued use for decades
to come. This means that the availability of fossil fuels does not
limit the potential application of CO2 capture and storage; CCS
would provide a way of limiting the environmental impact of
the continued use of fossil fuels.
1.6.2

Is there sufficient storage capacity?

To achieve stabilization at 550 ppmv, the Third Assessment

Report (IPCC, 2001e) showed that, by 2100, the reduction in
emissions might have to be about 38 GtCO2 per year (10 GtC
per year)14 compared to scenarios with no mitigation action. If
CO2 capture and storage is to make a significant contribution
towards reducing emissions, several hundreds or thousands of
plants would need to be built, each capturing 1 to 5 MtCO2
per year (0.271.4 MtC per year). These figures are consistent
with the numbers of plants built and operated by electricity
companies and other manufacturing enterprises.
Initial estimates of the capacity of known storage reservoirs
(IEA GHG, 2001; IPCC, 2001a) indicate that it is comparable
to the amount of CO2 which would be produced for storage by
such plants. More recent estimates are given in Chapters 5 and 6,
although differences between the methods for estimating storage
capacity demonstrate the uncertainties in these estimates; these
issues are discussed in later chapters. Storage outside natural
reservoirs, for example in artificial stores or by changing CO2
into another form (Freund, 2001), does not generally provide
This is an indicative value calculated by averaging the figures across the
six SRES marker scenarios; this value varies considerably depending on the
scenario and the parameter values used in the climate model.
14

Chapter 1: Introduction
similar capacity for the abatement of emissions at low cost
(Audus and Oonk, 1997); Chapter 7 looks at some aspects of
this.
The extent to which these reservoirs are within reasonable,
cost-competitive distances from the sources of CO2 will
determine the potential for using this mitigation option.
1.6.3

How long will the CO2 remain in storage?

This seemingly simple question is, in fact, a surprisingly

complicated one to answer since the mechanisms and rates of
release are quite different for different options. In this report,
we use the term fraction retained to indicate how much CO2
remains in store for how long. The term is defined as follows:
Fraction retained is the fraction of the cumulative amount
of injected CO2 that is retained in the storage reservoir over a
specified period of time, for example a hundred or a million
years.
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 provide more information about particular
types of storage. Table AI.6 in Annex I provides the relation
between leakage of CO2 and the fraction retained. The above

65
definition makes no judgement about how the amount of CO2
retained in storage will evolve over time if there were to be an
escape of CO2, the rate may not be uniform.
The CO2 storage process and its relationship to concentrations
in the atmosphere can be understood by considering the stocks
of stored CO2 and the flows between reservoirs. Figure 1.6
contains a schematic diagram that shows the major stocks in
natural and potential engineered storage reservoirs, and the
flows to and from them. In the current pattern of fossil fuel use,
CO2 is released directly to the atmosphere from human sources.
The amount of CO2 released to the atmosphere by combustion
and industrial processes can be reduced by a combination of the
various mitigation measures described above. These flows are
shown as alternative pathways in Figure 1.6.
The flows marked CCS with a subscript are the net tons
of carbon dioxide per year that could be placed into each of
the three types of storage reservoir considered in this report.
Additional emissions associated with the capture and storage
process are not explicitly indicated but may be considered as
additional sources of CO2 emission to the atmosphere. The
potential release flows from the reservoirs to the atmosphere
are indicated by R, with a subscript indicating the appropriate
reservoir. In some storage options, the release flows can be very

Figure 1.6 Schematic diagram of stocks and flows of CO2 with net flows of captured CO2 to each reservoir indicated by the label CCS (these
flows exclude residual emissions associated with the process of capture and storage). The release flows from each of the storage reservoirs are
indicated by the labels R. The stock in the atmosphere depends upon the difference between the rates at which CO2 reaches the atmosphere and
at which it is removed. Flows to the atmosphere may be slowed by a combination of mitigation options, such as improving energy efficiency or
the use of alternatives to fossil fuels, by enhancing biological storage or by storing CCS in geological formations, in the oceans or in chemicals
or minerals.

66
small compared to the flows into those storage reservoirs.
The amount in storage at a particular time is determined by
the capacity of the reservoir and the past history of additions
to, and releases from, the reservoir. The change in stocks of
CO2 in a particular storage reservoir over a specified time is
determined by the current stock and the relative rates at which
the gas is added and released; in the case of ocean storage, the
level of CO2 in the atmosphere will also influence the net rate of
release15. As long as the input storage rate exceeds the release
rate, CO2 will accumulate in the reservoir, and a certain amount
will be stored away from the atmosphere. Analyses presented
in this report conclude that the time frames for different storage
options cover a wide range:
The terrestrial biosphere stores and releases both natural and
fossil fuel CO2 through the global carbon cycle. It is difficult
to provide a simple picture of the fraction retained because
of the dynamic nature of this process. Typically, however,
99% is stored for decades to centuries, although the average
lifetime will be towards the lower end of that range. The
terrestrial biosphere at present is a net sink for carbon
dioxide but some current biological sinks are becoming net
sources as temperatures rise. The annual storage flows and
total carbon storage capacity can be enhanced by forestry
and soil management practices. Terrestrial sequestration is
not explicitly considered in this report but it is covered in
IPCC, 2000b.
Oceans hold the largest amount of mobile CO2. They absorb
and release natural and fossil fuel CO2 according to the
dynamics of the global carbon cycle, and this process results
in changes in ocean chemistry. The fraction retained by ocean
storage at 3,000 m depth could be around 85% after 500
years. However, this process has not yet been demonstrated
at a significant scale for long periods. Injection at shallower
depths would result in shorter retention times. Chapter 6
discusses the storage capacity and fractions retained for
ocean storage.
In geological storage, a picture of the likely fraction retained
may be gained from the observation of natural systems
where CO2 has been in natural geological reservoirs for
millions of years. It may be possible to engineer storage
reservoirs that have comparable performance. The fraction
retained in appropriately selected and managed geological
reservoirs is likely to exceed 99% over 1000 years. However,
sudden gas releases from geological reservoirs could be
triggered by failure of the storage seal or the injection well,
earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, or if the reservoir were
accidentally punctured by subsequent drilling activity. Such
releases might have significant local effects. Experience
with engineered natural-gas-storage facilities and natural
CO2 reservoirs may be relevant to understanding whether
such releases might occur. The storage capacity and fraction
retained for the various geological storage options are
discussed in Chapter 5.
Mineral carbonation through chemical reactions would
For further discussion of this point, see Chapter 6.

15

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

provide a fraction retained of nearly 100% for exceptionally
long times in carbonate rock. However, this process has
not yet been demonstrated on a significant scale for long
periods and the energy balance may not be favourable. This
is discussed in Chapter 7.
Converting carbon dioxide into other, possibly useful,
chemicals may be limited by the energetics of such reactions,
the quantities of chemicals produced and their effective
lifetimes. In most cases this would result in very small net
storage of CO2. Ninety-nine per cent of the carbon will be
retained in the product for periods in the order of weeks
to months, depending on the product. This is discussed in
Chapter 7.
1.6.4

How long does the CO2 need to remain in storage?

In deciding whether a particular storage option meets mitigation

goals, it will be important to know both the net storage capacity
and the fraction retained over time. Alternative ways to frame
the question are to ask How long is enough to achieve a stated
policy goal? or What is the benefit of isolating a specific amount
of CO2 away from the atmosphere for a hundred or a million
years? Understanding the effectiveness of storage involves
the consideration of factors such as the maximum atmospheric
concentration of CO2 that is set as a policy goal, the timing of
that maximum, the anticipated duration of the fossil fuel era,
and available means of controlling the CO2 concentration in the
event of significant future releases.
The issue for policy is whether CO2 will be held in a particular
class of reservoirs long enough so that it will not increase the
difficulty of meeting future targets for CO2 concentration in
the atmosphere. For example, if 99% of the CO2 is stored for
periods that exceed the projected time span for the use of fossil
fuels, this should not to lead to concentrations higher than those
specified by the policy goal.
One may assess the implications of possible future
releases of CO2 from storage using simulations similar to
those developed for generating greenhouse gas stabilization
trajectories16. A framework of this kind can treat releases from
storage as delayed emissions. Some authors examined various
ways of assessing unintended releases from storage and found
that a delay in emissions in the order of a thousand years may
be almost as effective as perfect storage (IPCC, 2001b; Herzog
et al., 2003; Ha-Duong and Keith, 2003)17. This is true if
marginal carbon prices remain constant or if there is a backstop
technology that can cap abatement costs in the not too distant
Such a framework attempts to account for the intergenerational tradeoffs between climate impact and the cost of mitigation and aims to select an
emissions trajectory (modified by mitigation measures) that maximizes overall
welfare (Wigley et al., 1996; IPCC, 2001a).
17
For example, Herzog et al. (2003) calculated the effectiveness of an ocean
storage project relative to permanent storage using economic arguments; given
a constant carbon price, the project would be 97% effective at a 3% discount
rate; if the price of carbon were to increase at the same rate as the discount
rate for 100 years and remain constant thereafter, the project would be 80%
effective; for a similar rate of increase but over a 500 year period, effectiveness
would be 45%.
16

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Chapter 1: Introduction
future. However, if discount rates decline in the long term, then
releases of CO2 from storage must be lower in order to achieve
the same level of effectiveness.
Other authors suggest that the climate impact of CO2
released from imperfect storage will vary over time, so they
expect carbon prices to depend on the method of accounting for
the releases. Haugan and Joos (2004) found that there must be
an upper limit to the rate of loss from storage in order to avoid
temperatures and CO2 concentrations over the next millennium
becoming higher in scenarios with geological CCS than in those
without it18.
Dooley and Wise (2003) examined two hypothetical release
scenarios using a relatively short 100-year simulation. They
showed that relatively high rates of release from storage make it
impossible to achieve stabilization at levels such as 450 ppmv.
They imply that higher emissions trajectories are less sensitive
to such releases but, as stabilization is not achieved until later
under these circumstances, this result is inconclusive.
Pacala (2003) examined unintended releases using a
simulation over several hundred years, assuming that storage
security varies between the different reservoirs. Although
this seemed to suggest that quite high release rates could be
acceptable, the conclusion depends on extra CO2 being captured
and stored, and thereby accumulating in the more secure
reservoirs. This would imply that it is important for reservoirs
with low rates of release to be available.
Such perspectives omit potentially important issues such
as the political and economic risk that policies will not be
implemented perfectly, as well as the resulting ecological risk
due to the possibility of non-zero releases which may preclude
the future stabilization of CO2 concentrations (Baer, 2003).
Nevertheless, all methods imply that, if CO2 capture and storage
is to be acceptable as a mitigation measure, there must be an
upper limit to the amount of unintended releases.
The discussion above provides a framework for considering
the effectiveness of the retention of CO2 in storage and suggests
a potential context for considering the important policy question:
How long is long enough? Further discussion of these issues
can be found in Chapters 8 and 9.
1.6.5

3040 years; when refurbishment or re-powering is taken into

account, the generating station can be supplying electricity for
even longer still. Such lifetimes generate expectations which
are reflected in the design of the plant and in the rate of return
on the investment. The capture equipment could be built and
refurbished on a similar cycle, as could the CO2 transmission
system. The operational lifetime of the CO2 storage reservoir
will be determined by its capacity and the time frame over
which it can retain CO2, which cannot be so easily generalized.
However, it is likely that the phase of filling the reservoir will
be at least as long as the operational lifetime of a power plant19.
In terms of protecting the climate, we shall refer to this as the
medium term, in contrast to the short-term nature of measures
connected with decisions about operating and maintaining such
facilities.
In contrast, the mitigation of climate change is determined
by longer time scales: for example, the lifetime (or adjustment
time) of CO2 in the atmosphere is often said to be about 100
years (IPCC, 2001c). Expectations about the mitigation of
climate change typically assume that action will be needed
during many decades or centuries (see, for example, IPCC,
2000a). This will be referred to as the long term.
Even so, these descriptors are inadequate to describe the storage
of CO2 as a mitigation measure. As discussed above, it is
anticipated that CO2 levels in the atmosphere would rise, peak
and decline over a period of several hundred years in virtually
all scenarios; this is shown in Figure 1.7. If there is effective
action to mitigate climate change, the peak would occur sooner

Time frame for the technology

Discussions of CCS mention various time scales. In this

section, we propose some terminology as a basis for the later
discussion.
Energy systems, such as power plant and electricity
transmission networks, typically have operational lifetimes of
18
These authors calculated the effectiveness of a storage facility measured in
terms of the global warming avoided compared with perfect storage. For a store
which annually releases 0.001 of the amount stored, effectiveness is around
60% after 1000 years. This rate of release would be equivalent to a fraction
retained of 90% over 100 years or 60% over 500 years. It is likely that, in
practice, geological and mineral storage would have lower rates of release than
this (see chapters 5 and 7) and hence higher effectiveness for example, a
release rate of 0.01% per year would be equivalent to a fraction retained of 99%
over 100 years or 95% over 500 years.

Figure 1.7 The response of atmospheric CO2 concentrations due to emissions

to the atmosphere. Typical values for short term, medium term, long term
and very long term are years, decades, centuries, millennia, respectively.
In this example, cumulative emissions are limited to a maximum value and
concentrations stabilize at 550 ppmv (adapted from Kheshgi, 2003). This figure
is indicative and should not be read as prescribing specific values for any of
these periods. If the goal were to constrain concentrations in the atmosphere
to lower levels, such as 450 ppmv, greater reductions in emission rates would
be required.
It should be noted that there will not necessarily be a one-to-one correspondence
between a CO2-producing plant and storage reservoir. Given a suitable network
for the transport of CO2, the captured CO2 from one plant could be stored in
different locations during the lifetime of the producing plant.
19

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

(and be at a lower level) than if no action is taken. As suggested

above, most of the CO2 must be stored for much longer than the
time required to achieve stabilization. We consider this to be the
very long term, in other words periods of time lasting centuries
or millennia. Precisely how long is a subject of much debate at
present and this will be explored in later chapters.

The successful development and implementation of CCS on

a large scale might therefore be interpreted by society as a driver
for reinforcing socio-economic and behavioural trends that are
increasing total energy use, especially in developed countries
and within high-income groups in developing countries21
(IPCC, 2001a).

1.6.6

1.6.6.2 Effect of CCS on technological diversity

The fossil fuel energy system and its infrastructure can be
thought of as a technology cluster. Such a phenomenon can be
recognized as possibly presenting dangers as well as offering
benefits for society. It can lead to specialization as innovations
improve on dominant technologies, thereby generating further
innovations which help to retain market share. On the other
hand, innovations in technologies with small market shares are
less valuable and so there is less incentive to improve on those
technologies; a minor technology can therefore become trapped
by high costs and a small market share. This phenomenon leads
to path dependence or technology lock-in (Bulter and Hofkes,
2004; Unruh, 2000). Although CCS has not yet been examined
specifically in this respect, it may be that reinforcing the
position of the fossil fuel energy system may present barriers to
increased technological diversity (a key element in evolutionary
change; see Nelson and Winter, 1982).
It could be argued that increasing demand for some alternative
energy sources will bring significant additional benefits outside
the climate change arena such as rural sector jobs, or a large
labour force for maintenance (World Energy Assessment,
2004). It is not possible to forecast the full societal impacts of
such technology in its early days, especially as it seems likely
that stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 will require
the full slate of available technologies (including ones not
yet developed). The available information is not adequate for
predictions of the differences in job creation potential between
different mitigation options.
In view of the paucity of literature on these aspects of CCS,
this report cannot provide tools for a full quantitative judgment
of options; it merely flags some of the other issues that decisionmakers will wish to consider. This is further discussed in Chapter
8.

Other effects of introducing CCS into scenarios

In view of the economic importance of energy carriers (more

than 2 trillion dollars annually, World Energy Assessment,
2004) as well as fossil fuels contribution to climate forcing (50
to 60% of the total), the decision to invest economic resources
in the development of a technology such as CCS may have farreaching consequences, including implications for equity and
sustainable development (these are discussed in the following
section). This emphasizes the importance of considering the
wider ramifications of such investment.
The implementation of CCS would contribute to the
preservation of much of the energy infrastructure established
in the last century and may help restrain the cost of meeting
the target for emissions reduction. From another perspective,
its use may reduce the potential for application of alternative
energy sources (Edmonds et al., 2001). As noted in section
1.3, the mitigation of climate change is a complex issue and it
seems likely that any eventual solution will involve a portfolio
of methods20. Even so, there is concern in some quarters that the
CO2 capture and storage option could capture financial resources
and the attention of policymakers that would otherwise be
spent on alternative measures, although this issue has not been
extensively analyzed in the literature.
The possibility of obtaining net negative emissions when
coupling biomass energy and CCS may provide an opportunity
to reduce CO2 concentration in the atmosphere if this option is
available at a sufficiently large scale. In view of the uncertainty
about the safe concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, a
large-scale option providing net negative emissions could be
especially useful in the light of the precautionary principle.
1.6.6.1 Effect of CCS on energy supply and use
All of the SRES scenarios (IPCC, 2000a) show significant
consumption of fossil fuels for a long time into the future. One
of the consequences of deploying CCS would be a continued
use of fossil fuels in the energy mix but the minimization of
their effect on the climate system and environment. By enabling
countries to access a wider range of energy supplies than would
otherwise be the case, energy security will be improved. Such
aspects are important when considering climate change policy
and sustainable development: as indicated before, decisionmakers are likely to balance pure economic effectiveness
against other socially relevant issues.
The optimum portfolio of mitigation measures is likely to be different in
different places and at different times. Given the variety of measures available,
it seems likely that several will be used in a complementary fashion as part of
the portfolio, and that there will not be a single clear winner amongst them.

1.6.6.3 Financing of the projects

Compared to a similar plant that releases CO2 to the atmosphere,
a facility with capture and storage will cost more to build
and to operate and will be less efficient in its use of primary
energy. If regulations are adopted which cause the owners of
CO2-emitting plant to limit emissions, and they choose to use
CCS (or any other measure which increases their costs), they
will need to find ways to recover the extra costs or accept a
lower rate of return on their investment. In circumstances where
emissions trading is allowed, companies may, in some cases,
reduce the cost of meeting emission targets by buying or selling

20

For example, housing units in many countries are increasing in size, and the
intensity of electrical appliance use is increasing. The use of electrical office
equipment in commercial buildings is also rising rapidly.
21

69

Chapter 1: Introduction
credits. Where the project is located in another Annex I country,
it may be possible to fund this through Joint Implementation
(JI). The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) may provide
opportunities for developing countries to acquire technology for
emission reduction purposes, with some of the costs being borne
by external funders who can claim credit for these investments.
At the time of writing, it is uncertain whether CCS projects
would be covered by the CDM and there are many issues to
be considered. The current low value of Certified Emission
Reductions is a major barrier to such projects at present (IEA
GHG, 2004a). It is possible that some CO2-EOR projects could
be more attractive, especially if the project would also delay
the abandonment of a field or prevent job losses. The issue of
the longevity of storage has still to be resolved but the longer
retention time for geological formations may make it easier for
CCS to be accepted than was the case for natural sinks. A number
of countries have the potential to host CCS projects involving
geological storage under CDM (IEA GHG, 2004a) but the true
potential can only be assessed when the underground storage
resources have been mapped. The above discussion shows that
there are many questions to be answered about the financing of
such options, not least if proposed as a project under the flexible
mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.
1.6.7

Societal requirements

Even if CO2 capture and storage is cost-effective and can be

recognized as potentially fulfilling a useful role in energy supply
for a climate-constrained world, there will be other aspects that
must be addressed before it can be widely used. For example,
what are the legal issues that face this technology? What
framework needs to be put in place for long-term regulation?
Will CO2 capture and storage gain public acceptance?
1.6.7.1 Legal issues concerning CCS
Some legal questions about CCS can be identified and answered
relatively easily; for example, the legal issues relating to the
process of capturing CO2 seem likely to be similar to those facing
any large chemical plant. Transporting CO2 through pipelines
can probably be managed under current regulatory regimes for
domestic and international pipelines. The extent to which the
CO2 is contaminated with other substances, such as compounds
of sulphur (see Chapter 4), might alter its classification to that
of a hazardous substance, subjecting it to more restrictive
regulation. However, the storage of carbon dioxide is likely
to pose new legal challenges. What licensing procedure will
be required by national authorities for storage in underground
reservoirs onshore? It seems likely that factors to be considered
will include containment criteria, geological stability, potential
hazard, the possibility of interference with other underground
or surface activities and agreement on sub-surface property
rights, and controls on drilling or mining nearby.
Storage in geological formations below the sea floor will be
controlled by different rules from storage under land. The Law

of the Sea22, the London Convention and regional agreements

such as the OSPAR Convention23 will affect storage of CO2
under the sea but the precise implications have yet to be worked
out. This is discussed further in Chapter 5. Ocean storage raises
a similar set of questions about the Law of the Sea and the
London Convention but the different nature of the activity may
generate different responses. These are discussed in Chapter 6.
A further class of legal issues concerns the responsibility
for stored carbon dioxide. This is relevant because the CO2 will
have been the subject of a contract for storage, or a contract
for emissions reduction, and/or because of the possibility of
unintended release. Should society expect private companies to
be responsible over centuries for the storage of CO2? A judgement
may have to be made about a reasonable balance between the
costs and benefits to current and to future generations. In the
case of the very long-term storage of nuclear waste, states have
taken on the responsibility for managing storage; the companies
that generate the waste, and make a profit from using the nuclear
material, pay a fee to the government to take responsibility. In
other fields, the deep-well injection of hazardous materials is
sometimes the responsibility of governments and sometimes
the responsibility of the companies concerned under a licensing
system (IEA GHG, 2004b). Rules about insurance and about
liability (if there were to be a release of CO2) will need to be
developed so that, even if something happens in the distant
future, when the company that stored it is no longer in business,
there will be a means of ensuring another organization is capable
and willing to accept responsibility.
The information on legal issues presented in this report
reflects the best understanding at the time of writing but should
not be taken as definitive as the issues have not been tested.
1.6.7.2 Public acceptance
Only a few studies have been carried out of public attitudes
towards CCS. Such research presents challenges because the
public is not familiar with the technology, and may only have a
limited understanding of climate change and the possibilities for
mitigation. As a result the studies completed to date have had
to provide information on CCS (and on climate change) to their
subjects. This tends to limit the scale of the study which can be
carried out. This issue is examined in more detail in Chapter 5.
What form of public consultation will be needed before
approval of a CCS project? Will the public compare CCS with
other activities below ground such as the underground storage
of natural gas or will CCS be compared to nuclear waste
disposal? Will they have different concerns about different
forms of storage, such as geological or ocean storage of CO2?
Will the general attitude towards building pipelines affect the
development of CO2 pipelines? These and other issues are the
subject of current discussion and investigation.
When a CCS project is proposed, the public and governments
will want to be satisfied that storage of carbon dioxide is so
The full text of these conventions is accessible on the Internet.
Issues of interest for this report are at the time of writing being discussed in
the OSPAR convention that regulates the uses of the North East Atlantic.
22
23

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

secure that emissions will be reduced and also that there will be
no significant threat to human health or to ecosystems (Hawkins,
2003). Carbon dioxide transport and storage will have to be
monitored to ensure there is little or no release to the atmosphere
but monitoring issues are still being debated. For example, can
the anticipated low rates of CO2 release from geological storage
be detected by currently available monitoring techniques? Who
will do this monitoring (IEA GHG, 2004b)? How long should
monitoring continue after injection: for periods of decades or
centuries (IEA GHG, 2004c)?
1.7 Implications for technology transfer and
sustainable development
1.7.1

Equity and sustainable development

The climate change issue involves complex interactions between

climatic, environmental, economic, political, institutional,
social, scientific, and technological processes. It cannot be
addressed in isolation from broader societal goals, such as
equity or sustainable development (IPCC, 2001a), or other
existing or probable future sources of environmental, economic
or social stress. In keeping with this complexity, a multiplicity
of approaches has emerged to analyze climate change and
related challenges. Many of these incorporate concerns about
development, equity, and sustainability, albeit partially and
gradually (IPCC, 2001a).
Sustainable development is too complex a subject for a
simple summary; the study of this field aims to assess the benefits
and trade-offs involved in the pursuit of the multiple goals of
environmental conservation, social equity, economic growth,
and eradication of poverty (IPCC, 2001a, Chapter 1). Most of
the studies only make a first attempt to integrate a number of
important sustainable development indicators and only a few
have considered the implications for CCS (Turkenburg, 1997).
To date, studies have focused on short-term side-effects of
climate change mitigation policies (e.g., impact on local air
and water quality) but they have also suggested a number of
additional indicators to reflect development (e.g., job creation)
and social impact (e.g., income distribution). CCS also poses
issues relating to long-term liability for possible unintended
releases or contamination which may have inter-generational
and, in some cases, international consequences24. Further
studies will be needed to develop suitable answers about CCS.
In particular, long-term liability must be shown to be compatible
with sustainable development.
There are various viewpoints relating to climate policy:
one is based on cost-effectiveness, another on environmental
sustainability, and another on equity (Munasinghe and Swart,
Some legislation is already in place which will influence this: for example
both the London Convention (Article X) and its 1996 Protocol (Article 15)
contain provisions stating that liability is in accordance with the principles of
international law regarding a states responsibility for damage caused to the
environment of other states or to any other area of the environment. Similarly,
regional agreements such as the OSPAR Convention incorporate the polluter
pays principle (Article 2(b)).
24

2005). Most policies designed to achieve the mitigation of

climate change also have other important rationales. They can
be related to the objectives of development, sustainability and
equity. Conventional climate policy analyses have tended
to be driven (directly or indirectly) by the question: what is
the cost-effective means of mitigating climate change for the
global economy? Typically, these analyses start from a baseline
projection of greenhouse gas emissions and reflect a specific set
of socio-economic projections. Equity considerations are added
to the process, to broaden the discussion from global welfare
as a single subject to include the effects of climate change
and mitigation policies on existing inequalities, amongst and
within nations. The goal here goes beyond providing for basic
survival, extending to a standard of living that provides security
and dignity for all.
Ancillary effects of mitigation policies may include
reductions in local and regional air pollution, as well as indirect
effects on transportation, agriculture, land use practices,
biodiversity preservation, employment, fuel security, etc.
(Krupnick et al., 2000). The concept of co-benefits can be used
to capture dimensions of the response to mitigation policies
from the equity and sustainability perspectives in a way that
could modify the projections produced by those working from
the cost-effectiveness perspective. As yet, little analysis has
been reported of the option of CCS in these respects.
Will CO2 capture and storage favour the creation of
job opportunities for particular countries? Will it favour
technological and financial elitism or will it enhance equity by
reducing the cost of energy? In terms of sustainable development,
does the maintenance of the current market structures aid those
countries that traditionally market fossil fuels, relative to those
that import them? Is this something which mitigation policies
should be developed to assist? There are no simple answers to
these questions but policymakers may want to consider them.
However, no analysis of these aspects of CCS is yet available.
Furthermore, the mitigation options available will vary from
country to country; in each case, policymakers have to balance
such ancillary benefits with the direct benefits of the various
options in order to select the most appropriate strategy.
1.7.2

Technology transfer

Article 4.5 of the UNFCCC requires all Annex I countries to

take All practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance,
as appropriate, the transfer of, or access to, environmentally
sound technologies and know-how to other parties, particularly
developing countries, to enable them to implement provisions of
the convention. This applies to CCS as much as it does to any
other mitigation option. This was precisely stated in the declaration
issued at COP 7 (UNFCCC, 2001). Paragraph 8, item (d) states:
Cooperating in the development, diffusion and transfer () and/or
technologies relating to fossil fuels that capture and store GHGs,
and encouraging their wider use, and facilitating the participation
of the least developed countries and other Parties not included in
Annex I in this effort
In achieving these objectives of the Convention, several key

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Chapter 1: Introduction
elements will have to be considered (IPCC, 2001a). These are
discussed in the IPCC Special Report on Technology Transfer (IPCC,
2000c), which looked into all aspects of the processes affecting the
development, application and diffusion of technology. This looks at
technology transfer for the purposes of adapting to climate change
as well as for mitigation. It looks at processes within countries and
between countries, covering hardware, knowledge and practices.
Particularly important are the assessment of technology needs, the
provision of technology information, capacity building, the creation
of an enabling environment, and innovative financing to facilitate
technology transfer.
Although no academic examination of CCS in these respects
has yet been undertaken, some remarks can be made in general
about this mitigation option.
1.7.2.1 Potential barriers
Technology transfer faces several barriers, including intellectual
property rights, access to capital, etc. As with any new technology,
CCS opens opportunities for proprietary rights. As it will rely
on the development and/or integration of technologies, some of
which are not yet used for such purposes, there is considerable
scope for learning by doing. Several developing countries are
already taking an active interest in this option, where they
have national resources that would allow them to make use of
this technique. For example, Deshun et al. (1998) have been
looking at the related technique of CO2-EOR. Some of the key
technologies will be developed by particular companies (as is
occurring with wind power and solar photovoltaics) but will the
intellectual property for CCS be accumulated in the hands of a
few? CCS will involve both existing and future technologies,
some of which will be proprietary. Will the owners of these
rights to be willing to exploit their developments by licensing
others to use them? At present it appears to be too early to
answer these questions.
Given that the essential parts of CCS systems are based
on established technology, it can be expected that it will be
accessible to anyone who can afford it and wants to buy it.
Several companies currently offer competing methods of
capturing CO2; pipelines for CO2 and ships are constructed
today by companies specializing in this type of equipment; the
drilling of injection wells is standard practice in the oil and gas
industry, and is carried out by many companies around the world.
More specialist skills may be required to survey geological
reservoirs; indeed, monitoring of CO2 underground is a very
new application of seismic analysis. However, it is anticipated
that, within a short space of time, these will become as widely
available as other techniques derived from the international
oil and gas industry. Making these technologies available to
developing countries will pose similar challenges as those
encountered with other modern technological developments.
This shows the relevance of the UNFCCC declaration on
technology transfer quoted above to ensure that developing
countries have access to the option of CO2 capture and storage.
1.7.2.2 Potential users
CO2 emissions are rising rapidly in some developing countries; if

these countries wish to reduce the rate of increase of emissions,

they will want to have access to a range of mitigation options,
one of which could be CCS. Initially it seems likely that CCS
would be exploited by countries with relevant experience, such
as oil and gas production25, but this may not be the case in other
natural resource sectors. Will there be fewer opportunities for
the transfer of CCS technology than for other mitigation options
where technologies are in the hands of numerous companies?
Or will the knowledge and experience already available in
the energy sector in certain developing countries provide an
opportunity for them to exploit CCS technologies? Will CO2
capture and storage technologies attract more interest from
certain developing countries if applied to biomass sources26? If
there is a year-round supply of CO2 from the biomass processing
plant and good storage reservoirs within reasonable distance,
this could be an important opportunity for technology transfer.
As yet there are no answers to these questions.
1.8

Contents of this report

This report provides an assessment of CO2 capture and storage

as an option for the mitigation of climate change. The report
does not cover the use of natural sinks to sequester carbon since
this issue is covered in the Land Use, Land Use Change and
Forestry report (IPCC, 2000b) and in IPCCs Third Assessment
Report (IPCC, 2001a).
There are many technical approaches which could be used
for capturing CO2. They are examined in Chapter 3, with the
exception of biological processes for fixation of CO2 from flue
gases, which are not covered in this report. The main natural
reservoirs which could, in principle, hold CO2 are geological
formations and the deep ocean; they are discussed in Chapters
5 and 6 respectively. Other options for the storage and re-use of
CO2 are examined in Chapter 7.
Chapter 2 considers the geographical correspondence of
CO2 sources and potential storage reservoirs, a factor that will
determine the cost-effectiveness of moving CO2 from the place
where it is captured to the storage site. A separate chapter,
Chapter 4, is dedicated to transporting CO2 from capture to
storage sites.
The overall cost of this technology and the consequences of
including it in energy systems models are described in Chapter
8. Some of the other requirements outlined above, such as
legality, applicable standards, regulation and public acceptance,
are discussed in detail at the appropriate point in several of
the chapters. Governments might also wish to know how this
method of emission reduction would be taken into account in
national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions. This area is
discussed in Chapter 9. Government and industry alike will be
interested in the accessibility of the technology, in methods of
financing the plant and in whether assistance will be available
In 1999, there were 20 developing countries that were each producing more
than 1% of global oil production, 14 developing countries that were each
producing more than 1% of global gas production, and 7 developing countries
producing more than 1% of global coal production (BP, 2003).
26
For further discussion of using CCS with biomass, see Chapter 2.
25

72
from industry, government or supra-national bodies. At present,
it is too early in the exploitation of this technology to make
confident predictions about these matters. Three annexes
provide information about the properties of CO2 and carbonbased fuels, a glossary of terms and the units used in this report.
Gaps and areas for further work are discussed in the chapters
and in the Technical Summary to this report.

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Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

Sources of CO2

Coordinating Lead Author

John Gale (United Kingdom)
Lead Authors
John Bradshaw (Australia), Zhenlin Chen (China), Amit Garg (India), Dario Gomez (Argentina), HansHolger Rogner (Germany), Dale Simbeck (United States), Robert Williams (United States)
Contributing Authors
Ferenc Toth (Austria), Detlef van Vuuren (Netherlands)
Review Editors
Ismail El Gizouli (Sudan), Jrgen Friedrich Hake (Germany)

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

77

2.1

77

Sources of CO2

2.2. Characterization of CO2 emission sources

2.2.1 Present
2.2.2 Future

78
78
82

2.3 Geographical distribution of sources

2.3.1 Present
2.3.2 Future CO2 emissions and technical capture
potentials

83
83

2.4 Geographical relationship between sources and

storage opportunities
2.4.1 Global storage opportunities
2.4.2 Consideration of spatial and temporal relationships
2.4.3 Global geographical mapping of source/storage
locations

84
89
89
89
89

2.5 Alternative energy carriers and CO2 source

implications
2.5.1 Carbon-free energy carriers
2.5.2 Alternative energy carriers and CO2 source
implications
2.5.3 CO2 source implications of biomass energy
production

100

2.6

101

Gaps in knowledge

References

97
98
99

101

77

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

Executive Summary
Assessing CO2 capture and storage calls for a comprehensive
delineation of CO2 sources. The attractiveness of a particular
CO2 source for capture depends on its volume, concentration
and partial pressure, integrated system aspects, and its proximity
to a suitable reservoir. Emissions of CO2 arise from a number of
sources, mainly fossil fuel combustion in the power generation,
industrial, residential and transport sectors. In the power
generation and industrial sectors, many sources have large
emission volumes that make them amenable to the addition of
CO2 capture technology. Large numbers of small point sources
and, in the case of transport, mobile sources characterize the
other sectors, making them less amenable for capture at present.
Technological changes in the production and nature of transport
fuels, however, may eventually allow the capture of CO2 from
energy use in this sector.
Over 7,500 large CO2 emission sources (above 0.1 MtCO2
yr-1) have been identified. These sources are distributed
geographically around the world but four clusters of emissions
can be observed: in North America (the Midwest and the eastern
freeboard of the USA), North West Europe, South East Asia
(eastern coast) and Southern Asia (the Indian sub-continent).
Projections for the future (up to 2050) indicate that the number
of emission sources from the power and industry sectors is
likely to increase, predominantly in Southern and South East
Asia, while the number of emission sources suitable for capture
and storage in regions like Europe may decrease slightly.
Comparing the geographical distribution of the emission
sources with geological storage opportunities, it can be seen
that there is a good match between sources and opportunities. A
substantial proportion of the emission sources are either on top
of, or within 300 km from, a site with potential for geological
storage. Detailed studies are, however, needed to confirm the
suitability of such sites for CO2 storage. In the case of ocean
storage, related research suggests that only a small proportion of
large emission sources will be close to potential ocean storage
sites.
The majority of the emissions sources have concentrations
of CO2 that are typically lower than 15%. However, a small
proportion (less than 2%) have concentrations that exceed
95%, making them more suitable for CO2 capture. The highcontent sources open up the possibility of lower capture costs
compared to low-content sources because only dehydration
and compression are required. The future proportion of highand low-content CO2 sources will largely depend on the rate
of introduction of hydrogen, biofuels, and the gasification or
liquefaction of fossil fuels, as well as future developments in
plant sizes.
Technological changes, such as the centralized production
of liquid or gaseous energy carriers (e.g., methanol, ethanol or
hydrogen) from fossil sources or the centralized production of
those energy carriers or electricity from biomass, may allow
for CO2 capture and storage. Under these conditions, power
generation and industrial emission sources would largely remain
unaffected but CO2 emissions from transport and distributed

energy-supply systems would be replaced by additional point

sources that would be amenable to capture. The CO2 could
then be stored either in geological formations or in the oceans.
Given the scarcity of data, it is not possible to project the likely
numbers of such additional point sources, or their geographical
distribution, with confidence (estimates range from 0 to 1,400
GtCO2 (0380 GtC) for 2050).
According to six illustrative SRES scenarios, global CO2
emissions could range from 29.3 to 44.2 GtCO2 (812 GtC)
in 2020 and from 22.5 to 83.7 GtCO2 (623 GtC) in 2050.
The technical potential of CO2 capture associated with these
emission ranges has been estimated recently at 2.64.9 GtCO2
for 2020 (0.71.3 GtC) and 4.937.5 GtCO2 for 2050 (1.310
GtC). These emission and capture ranges reflect the inherent
uncertainties of scenario and modelling analyses. However,
there is one trend common to all of the six illustrative SRES
scenarios: the general increase of future CO2 emissions in the
developing countries relative to the industrialized countries.
2.1 Sources of CO2
This chapter aims to consider the emission sources of CO2 and
their suitability for capture and subsequent storage, both now
and in the future. In addition, it will look at alternative energy
carriers for fossil fuels and at how the future development of
this technology might affect the global emission sources of CO2
and the prospects for capturing these emissions.
Chapter 1 showed that the power and industry sectors
combined dominate current global CO2 emissions, accounting
for about 60% of total CO2 emissions (see Section 1.2.2).
Future projections indicate that the share of these sectoral
emissions will decline to around 50% of global CO2 emissions
by 2050 (IEA, 2002). The CO2 emissions in these sectors are
generated by boilers and furnaces burning fossil fuels and are
typically emitted from large exhaust stacks. These stacks can be
described as large stationary sources, to distinguish them from
mobile sources such as those in the transport sector and from
smaller stationary sources such as small heating boilers used
in the residential sector. The large stationary sources represent
potential opportunities for the addition of CO2 capture plants.
The volumes produced from these sources are usually large and
the plants can be equipped with a capture plant to produce a
source of high-purity CO2 for subsequent storage. Of course, not
all power generation and industrial sites produce their emissions
from a single point source. At large industrial complexes like
refineries there will be multiple exhaust stacks, which present
an additional technical challenge in terms of integrating an
exhaust-gas gathering system in an already congested complex,
undoubtedly adding to capture costs (Simmonds et al., 2003).
Coal is currently the dominant fuel in the power sector,
accounting for 38% of electricity generated in 2000, with hydro
power accounting for 17.5%, natural gas for 17.3%, nuclear for
16.8%, oil for 9%, and non-hydro renewables for 1.6%. Coal is
projected to remain the dominant fuel for power generation in
2020 (about 36%), whilst natural-gas generation will become
the second largest source, surpassing hydro. The use of biomass

78
as a fuel in the power sector is currently limited. Fuel selection in
the industrial sector is largely sector-specific. For example, the
use of blast furnaces dominates primary steel production in the
iron and steel sector, which primarily uses coal and coke (IEA
GHG, 2000b; IPCC, 2001). In the refining and chemical sectors,
oil and gas are the primary fuels. For industries like cement
manufacture, all fossil fuels are used, with coal dominating in
areas like the USA, China and India (IEA GHG, 1999), and oil
and gas in countries like Mexico (Sheinbaum and Ozawa, 1998).
However, the current trend in European cement manufacture is
to use non-fossil fuels: these consist principally of wastes like
tyres, sewage sludge and chemical-waste mixtures (IEA GHG,
1999). In global terms, biomass is not usually a significant
fuel source in the large manufacturing industries. However, in
certain regions of the world, like Scandinavia and Brazil, it is
acknowledged that biomass use can be significant (Mllersten
et al., 2003).
To reduce the CO2 emissions from the power and industry
sectors through the use of CO2 capture and storage, it is important
to understand where these emissions arise and what their
geographical relationship is with respect to potential storage
opportunities (Gale, 2002). If there is a good geographical
relationship between the large stationary emission sources
and potential geological storage sites then it is possible that a
significant proportion of the emissions from these sources can
be reduced using CO2 capture and storage. If, however, they are
not well matched geographically, then there will be implications
for the length and size of the transmission infrastructure that
is required, and this could impact significantly on the cost of
CO2 capture and storage, and on the potential to achieve deep
reductions in global CO2 emissions. It may be the case that
there are regions of the world that have greater potential for
the application of CO2 capture and storage than others given
their source/storage opportunity relationship. Understanding
the regional differences will be an important factor in assessing
how much of an impact CO2 capture and storage can have
on global emissions reduction and which of the portfolio of
mitigation options is most important in a regional context.
Other sectors of the economy, such as the residential
and transport sectors, contribute around 30% of global CO2
emissions and also produce a large number of point source
emissions. However, the emission volumes from the individual
sources in these sectors tend to be small in comparison to those
from the power and industry sectors and are much more widely
distributed, or even mobile rather than stationary. It is currently
not considered to be technically possible to capture emissions
from these other small stationary sources, because there are still
substantial technical and economic issues that need to be resolved
(IPCC, 2001). However, in the future, the use of low-carbon
energy carriers, such as electricity or hydrogen produced from
fossil fuels, may allow CO2 emissions to be captured from the
residential and transport sectors as well. Such fuels would most
probably be produced in large centralized plants and would be
accompanied by capture and storage of the CO2 co-product. The
distributed fuels could then be used for distributed generation in
either heaters or fuels cells and in vehicles in the transport sector.

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

In this scenario, power generation and industrial sources would
be unaffected but additional point sources would be generated
that would also require storage. In the medium to long term
therefore, the development and commercial deployment of such
technology, combined with an accelerated shift to low- or zerocarbon fuels in the transport sector, could lead to a significant
change in the geographical pattern of CO2 emissions compared
to that currently observed.
2.2

Characterization of CO2 emission sources

This section presents information on the characteristics of the

CO2 emission sources. It is considered necessary to review the
different CO2 contents and volumes of CO2 from these sources
as these factors can influence the technical suitability of these
emissions for storage, and the costs of capture and storage.
2.2.1

Present

2.2.1.1 Source types

The emission sources considered in this chapter include all
large stationary sources (>0.1 MtCO2 yr-1) involving fossil fuel
and biomass use. These sources are present in three main areas:
fuel combustion activities, industrial processes and naturalgas processing. The largest CO2 emissions by far result from
the oxidation of carbon when fossil fuels are burned. These
emissions are associated with fossil fuel combustion in power
plants, oil refineries and large industrial facilities.
For the purposes of this report, large stationary sources are
considered to be those emitting over 0.1 MtCO2 yr-1. This
threshold was selected because the sources emitting less than 0.1
MtCO2 yr-1 together account for less than 1% of the emissions
from all the stationary sources under consideration (see Table
2.1). However, this threshold does not exclude emissions
capture at smaller CO2 sources, even though this is more costly
and technically challenging.
Carbon dioxide not related to combustion is emitted from
a variety of industrial production processes which transform
materials chemically, physically or biologically. Such processes
include:
the use of fuels as feedstocks in petrochemical processes
(Chauvel and Lefebvre, 1989; Christensen and Primdahl,
1994);
the use of carbon as a reducing agent in the commercial
production of metals from ores (IEA GHG, 2000; IPCC,
2001);
the thermal decomposition (calcination) of limestone and
dolomite in cement or lime production (IEA GHG, 1999,
IPCC 2001);
the fermentation of biomass (e.g., to convert sugar to
alcohol).
In some instances these industrial-process emissions are
produced in combination with fuel combustion emissions,
a typical example being aluminium production (IEA GHG,
2000).

79

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

Table 2.1 Properties of candidate gas streams that can be inputted to a capture process (Sources: Campbell et al., 2000; Gielen and Moriguchi,
2003; Foster Wheeler, 1998; IEA GHG, 1999; IEA GHG, 2002a).
Source

CO2 concentration
% vol (dry)

Pressure of gas stream

MPaa

CO2 partial pressure

MPa

7 - 10
3-4
11 - 13
12 - 14
12 - 14

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

0.007 - 0.010
0.003 - 0.004
0.011 - 0.013
0.012 - 0.014
0.012 - 0.014

0.1

0.008

Blast furnace gas:

Before combustionc
After combustion

20
27

0.2 - 0.3
0.1

0.040 - 0.060
0.027

Cement kiln off-gas

14 - 33

0.1

0.014 - 0.033

8 - 20

2-7

0.16 - 1.4

CO2 from fuel combustion

Power station flue gas:
Natural gas fired boilers
Gas turbines
Oil fired boilers
Coal fired boilers
IGCCb: after combustion
Oil refinery and petrochemical plant fired heaters
CO2 from chemical transformations + fuel combustion

CO2 from chemical transformations before combustion

IGCC: synthesis gas after gasification

0.1 MPa = 1 bar.

b
IGCC: Integrated gasification combined cycle.
c
Blast furnace gas also contains significant amounts of carbon monoxide that could be converted to CO2 using the so-called shift reaction.
a

A third type of source occurs in natural-gas processing

installations. CO2 is a common impurity in natural gas, and it
must be removed to improve the heating value of the gas or to
meet pipeline specifications (Maddox and Morgan, 1998).
2.2.1.2 CO2 content
The properties of those streams that can be inputted to a CO2
capture process are discussed in this section. In CO2 capture, the
CO2 partial pressure of the gas stream to be treated is important
as well as the concentration of the stream. For practical purposes,
this partial pressure can be defined as the product of the total
pressure of the gas stream times the CO2 mole fraction. It is a
key variable in the selection of the separation method (this is
discussed further in Chapter 3). As a rule of thumb, it can be
said that the lower the CO2 partial pressure of a gas stream, the
more stringent the conditions for the separation process.
Typical CO2 concentrations and their corresponding partial
pressures for large stationary combustion sources are shown in
Table 2.1, which also includes the newer Integrated Gasification
Combined Cycle technology (IGCC). Typically, the majority
of emission sources from the power sector and from industrial
processes have low CO2 partial pressures; hence the focus of
the discussion in this section. Where emission sources with
high partial pressure are generated, for example in ammonia
or hydrogen production, these sources require only dehydration
and some compression, and therefore they have lower capture
costs.
Table 2.1 also provides a summary of the properties of
CO2 streams originating from cement and metal production in
which chemical transformations and combustion are combined.
Flue gases found in power plants, furnaces in industries, blast
furnaces and cement kilns are typically generated at atmospheric

pressure and temperatures ranging between 100C and 200C,

depending on the heat recovery conditions.
Carbon dioxide levels in flue gases vary depending on
the type of fuel used and the excess air level used for optimal
combustion conditions. Flue gas volumes also depend on these
two variables. Natural-gas-fired power generation plants are
typically combined cycle gas turbines which generate flue gases
with low CO2 concentrations, typically 34% by volume (IEA
GHG, 2002a). Coal for power generation is primarily burnt in
pulverized-fuel boilers producing an atmospheric pressure flue
gas stream with a CO2 content of up to 14% by volume (IEA
GHG, 2002a). The newer and potentially more efficient IGCC
technology has been developed for generating electricity from
coal, heavy fuel oil and process carbonaceous residues. In this
process the feedstock is first gasified to generate a synthesis gas
(often referred to as syngas), which is burnt in a gas turbine
after exhaustive gas cleaning (Campbell et al., 2000). Current
IGCC plants where the synthesis gas is directly combusted in
the turbine, like conventional thermal power plants, produce a
flue gas with low CO2 concentrations (up to 14% by volume).
At present, there are only fifteen coal- and oil-fired IGCC
plants, ranging in size from 40 to 550 MW. They were started
up in the 1980s and 1990s in Europe and the USA (Giuffrida et
al., 2003). It should be noted that there are conceptual designs
in which the CO2 can be removed before the synthesis gas is
combusted, producing a high-concentration, high-pressure CO2
exhaust gas stream that could be more suitable for storage (see
Chapter 3 for more details). However, no such plants have been
built or are under construction.
Fossil fuel consumption in boilers, furnaces and in process
operations in the manufacturing industry also typically produces
flue gases with low CO2 levels comparable to those in the power

80

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 2.2 Typical properties of gas streams that are already input to a capture process (Sources: Chauvel and Lefebvre, 1989; Maddox and
Morgan, 1998; IEA GHG, 2002a).
Source

CO2 concentration
% vol

Pressure of gas stream

MPaa

CO2 partial pressure

MPa

Ammonia productionb

18

2.8

0.5

Hydrogen productionb

15 - 20

2.2 - 2.7

0.3 - 0.5

2 - 65

0.9 - 8

0.05 - 4.4

Chemical reaction(s)
Ethylene oxide

Methanol productionb
Other processes

Natural gas processing

a
b

10

2.5
2.7

0.2

0.27

0.1 MPa = 1 bar

The concentration corresponds to high operating pressure for the steam methane reformer.

sector. CO2 concentrations in the flue gas from cement kilns

depend on the production process and type of cement produced
and are usually higher than in power generation processes (IEA
GHG, 1999). Existing cement kilns in developing countries
such as China and India are often relatively small. However,
the quantity of CO2 produced by a new large cement kiln can be
similar to that of a power station boiler. Integrated steel mills
globally account for over 80% of CO2 emissions from steel
production (IEA GHG, 2000b). About 70% of the carbon input
to an integrated steel mill is present in the blast furnace gas,
which is used as a fuel gas within the steel mill. CO2 could
be captured before or after combustion of this gas. The CO2
concentration after combustion in air would be about 27% by
volume, significantly higher than in the flue gas from power
stations. Other process streams within a steel mill may also be
suitable candidates for CO2 capture before or after combustion.
For example, the off-gas from an oxygen-steel furnace typically
contains 16% CO2 and 70% carbon monoxide.
The off-gases produced during the fermentation of sugars
to ethanol consist of almost pure CO2 with a few impurities.
This gas stream is generated at a rate of 0.76 kg CO2-1 and is
typically available at atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa) (Kheshgi
and Prince, 2005).
CO2 also occurs as an undesirable product that must be
removed in some petrochemical processes, particularly those
using synthesis gas as an intermediate or as an impurity in
natural gas. The properties of the raw gas streams from which
CO2 is customarily removed in some of these industries are
shown in Table 2.2. It can be seen from Table 2.1 that the CO2
partial pressures of flue gases are at least one order of magnitude
less than the CO2 partial pressures of the streams arising from
the processes listed in Table 2.2. This implies that CO2 recovery
from fuel combustion streams will be comparatively much more
difficult.
2.2.1.3 Scale of emissions
A specific detailed dataset has been developed for CO2 stationary
sources for 2000, giving their geographical distribution by
process type and country (IEA GHG, 2002a). The stationary
sources of CO2 in this database comprise power plants, oil

refineries, gas-processing plants, cement plants, iron and steel

plants and those industrial facilities where fossil fuels are used
as feedstock, namely ammonia, ethylene, ethylene oxide and
hydrogen. This global inventory contains over 14 thousand
emission sources with individual CO2 emissions ranging from
2.5 tCO2 yr-1 to 55.2 MtCO2 yr-1. The information for each single
source includes location (city, country and region), annual CO2
emissions and CO2 emission concentrations. The coordinates
(latitude/longitude) of 74% of the sources are also provided. The
total emissions from these 14 thousand sources amount to over
13 GtCO2 yr-1. Almost 7,900 stationary sources with individual
emissions greater than or equal to 0.1 MtCO2 per year have
been identified globally. These emissions included over 90% of
the total CO2 emissions from large point sources in 2000. Some
6,000 emission sources with emissions below 0.1 MtCO2 yr-1
were also identified, but they represent only a small fraction of
the total emissions volume and were therefore excluded from
further discussion in this chapter. There are also a number of
regional and country-specific CO2 emission estimates for large
sources covering China, Japan, India, North West Europe and
Australia (Hibino, 2003; Garg et al., 2002; Christensen et al.,
2001, Bradshaw et al., 2002) that can be drawn upon. Table
2.3 summarizes the information concerning large stationary
sources according to the type of emission generating process. In
the case of the petrochemical and gas-processing industries, the
CO2 concentration listed in this table refers to the stream leaving
the capture process. The largest amount of CO2 emitted from
large stationary sources originates from fossil fuel combustion
for power generation, with an average annual emission of 3.9
MtCO2 per source. Substantial amounts of CO2 arise in the oil
and gas processing industries while cement production is the
largest emitter from the industrial sector.
In the USA, 12 ethanol plants with a total productive capacity
of 5.3 billion litres yr-1 each produce CO2 at rates in excess of
0.1 MtCO2 yr-1 (Kheshgi and Prince, 2005); in Brazil, where
ethanol production totalled over 14 billion litres per year during
2003-2004, the average distillery productive capacity is 180
million litres yr-1. The corresponding average fermentation CO2
production rate is 0.14 MtCO2 yr-1, with the largest distillery
producing nearly 10 times the average.

81

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

Table 2.3 Profile of worldwide large CO2 stationary sources emitting more than 0.1 Mt CO2 per year (Source: IEA GHG, 2002a).
Process

CO2 concentration
in gas stream %
by vol.

Number of
sources

Emissions

Coal

12 to 15

2,025

Natural gas

7 to 10

743

CO2 from fossil fuels or minerals

Power

Natural gas

Fuel oil

Fuel oil

Other fuels

NA

Hydrogen

Natural-gas sweetening

NA

% of total CO2
emissions

Cumulative
total CO2
emissions (%)

Average
emissions/source
(MtCO2 per source)

7,984

59.69

59.69

3.94

752

5.62

70.99

1.01

(MtCO2)

985

515

593
79
2

759

654

326

5.68

4.89

2.43

65.37

75.88

78.31

61

0.45

78.77

0.02

78.79

0.77

1.27

0.55

0.77

1.27

NAb

NA

50c

0.37

79.16

20

1175

932

6.97

86.13

0.79

3 to 13

638

798

5.97

92.09

1.25

Other processes

15

NA

180

630d

4.71

96.81

3.50

Ethylene

12

240

258

1.93

98.85

1.08

19

0.04

99.73

0.26

Cement production
Combined

Refineries

Iron and steel industry

Integrated steel mills
d

Petrochemical industry
Ammonia: process

100

Ethylene oxide

100

Non-specified

NA

Ammonia: fuel
combustion

Other sources

CO2 from biomass

Bioenergy

Fermentation

89

194

17
90

16

113

0.12

0.84

96.92

99.70

0.17

0.58

0.02

99.75

0.15

33

0.25

100.00

0.37

7,584

13,375

213

73

100

1.76

3 to 8
100

90

17.6

0.34
0.2

Other gas, other oil, digester gas, landfill gas.

A relatively small fraction of these sources has a high concentration of CO2. In Canada, only two plants out of a total of 24 have high CO2 concentrations.
c
Based on an estimate that about half of the annual worldwide natural-gas production contains CO2 at concentrations of about 4% mol and that this CO2 content
is normally reduced from 4% to 2% mol (see Section 3.2.2).
d
This amount corresponds to the emissions of those sources that have been individually identified in the reference database. The worldwide CO2 emissions,
estimated by a top-down approach, are larger than this amount and exceed 1 Gt (Gielen and Moriguchi, 2003).
e
For North America and Brazil only. All numbers are for 2003, except for power generation from biomass and waste in North America, which is for 2000.
a

The top 25% of all large stationary CO2 emission sources

(those emitting more than 1 MtCO2 per year) listed in Table 2.3
account for over 85% of the cumulative emissions from these
types of sources. At the other end of the scale, the lowest 41%
(in the 0.1 to 0.5 MtCO2 range) contribute less than 10% (Figure
2.1). There are 330 sources with individual emissions above 10
MtCO2 per year. Of their cumulative emissions, 78% come from
power plants, 20% from gas processing and the remainder from
iron and steel plants (IEA GHG, 2000b). High-concentration/

high-partial-pressure sources (e.g., from ammonia/hydrogen

production and gas processing operations) contribute a relatively
low share (<2%) of the emissions from large stationary sources
(van Bergen et al., 2004). However, these high-concentration
sources could represent early prospects for the implementation
of CO2 capture and storage. The costs for capture are lower than
for low-concentration/low-partial-pressure sources. If these
sources can then be linked to enhanced production schemes in
the vicinity (<50km), like CO2-enhanced oil recovery, they could

82

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

be low-cost options for CO2 capture and storage (van Bergen et

al., 2004). Such sources emit 0.36 GtCO2 yr-1 (0.1 GtC yr-1),
which equates to 3% of emissions from point sources larger than
0.1 MtCO2 yr-1 (IEA GHG, 2002b). The geographical relationship
between these high-concentration sources and prospective
storage opportunities is discussed in Section 2.4.3. A small
number of source streams with high CO2 concentrations are
already used in CO2-EOR operations in the USA and Canada
(Stevens and Gale, 2000).
2.2.2

Future
Figure 2.2 Range of annual global CO2 emission in he SRES scenarios
(GtCO2) (Source: IPCC, 2000).

Figure 2.1 Relationship between large stationary source emissions

and number of emission sources (Source: IEA GHG, 2002a).

Future anthropogenic CO2 emissions will be the product of

different drivers such as demographic development, socioeconomic development, and technological changes (see
Chapter 1, Section 1.2.4). Because their future evolution is
inherently uncertain and because numerous combinations of
different rates of change are quite plausible, analysts resort
to scenarios as a way of describing internally consistent,
alternative images of how the future might unfold. The IPCC
developed a set of greenhouse gas emission scenarios for the
period until 2100 (IPCC, 2000). The scenarios show a wide
range of possible future worlds and CO2 emissions (see Figure
2.2), consistent with the full uncertainty range of the underlying
literature reported by Morita and Lee (1998). The scenarios
are important as they provide a backdrop for determining the
baseline for emission reductions that may be achieved with new
technologies, including CO2 capture and storage implemented
specially for such purposes.
Technology change is one of the key drivers in long-term
scenarios and plays a critical role in the SRES scenarios. Future
rates of innovation and diffusion are integral parts of, and vary
with, the story lines. Scenario-specific technology change
may differ in terms of technology clusters (i.e., the type of
technologies used) or rate of diffusion. In the fossil-intensive
A1FI scenario, innovation concentrates on the fossil sourceto-service chains stretching from exploration and resource

extraction to fuel upgrading/cleaning, transport, conversion

and end-use. Alternatively, innovation in the environmentallyoriented B1 scenario focuses on renewable and hydrogen
technologies.
The way in which technology change was included in the
SRES scenarios depended on the particular model used. Some
models applied autonomous performance improvements to
fuel utilization, while others included specific technologies
with detailed performance parameters. Even models with a
strong emphasis on technology reflected new technologies or
innovation in a rather generic manner. For example, advanced
coal technology could be either an integrated coal gasification
combined cycle (IGCC) plant, a pressurized fluidized bed
combustion facility or any other, as-yet-unidentified, technology.
The main characteristics of advanced coal technology are
attractive investment costs, high thermal efficiency, potential
multi-production integration and low pollution emissions
features that are prerequisites for any coal technology carrying
the advanced label.
In general, technological diversity remained a feature in all
scenarios, despite the fact that different clusters may dominate
more in different scenarios. The trend towards cleaner and
more convenient technologies, especially at the level of end-use
(including transport), is common to all scenarios. In addition,
transport fuels shift broadly towards supply schemes suitable
for pre-combustion decarbonization. Centralized non-fossil
technologies penetrate the power sector to various extents,
while decentralized and home-based renewable and hydrogenproduction infrastructures expand in all scenarios, but mostly
in the environmentally-conscious and technology-intensive
scenarios.
Despite the trend towards cleaner fuels, CO2 emissions are
projected to rise at different rates, at least until 2050. Emission
patterns then diverge. Scenario-specific rates of technology
change (performance improvements) and technology diffusion
lead to different technology mixes, fuel uses and unit sizes. As
regards fossil fuel use for power generation and industrial energy
supply, the number of large stationary emission sources generally
increases in the absence of restrictions on CO2 emissions and
a fundamental change in the characteristics of these emission

83

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

Table 2.4 Sectoral and regional distribution of energy-related CO2 emissions in 2000 (MtCO2) (Source: IEA, 2003).
Unallocated
autoproducers

Other
energy
industries

Manufacturing
industries and
construction

Transport

Commercial
and public
services

Residential

1,118.5

391.4

106.6

521.7

317.1

58.0

312.5

127.7

2,953.6

1,087.3

132.0

222.8

722.1

1,040.9

175.1

494.6

96.2

3,971.0

87.0

62.2

301.1

344.4

95.3

75.8

35.7

1,510.5

104.1

137.9

533.3

451.8

50.9

185.6

39.7

2,428.7

37.7

138.5

978.4

245.4

72.6

221.4

118.7

3,144.8

6.6

118.6

193.0

171.6

16.6

90.8

112.5

990.4

37.0

134.5

279.3

396.0

17.9

81.0

41.5

1,209.6

Public
electricity
and heat
production

1 Economies
in transition

2 OECD West
3 USA

4 OECD
Pacific

2,265.1
509.2

5 South/East
Asia
6 Centrally
Planned
Asia

7 Middle East
8 Africa

9 Latin
America

Sector total

925.5
1,332.2
280.6

276.3

222.3

8,016.9

134.9

15.9

946.5

272.4

40.2

1,233.7

657.9

137.7

Geographical distribution of sources

This section discusses the geographical locations of large point

sources discussed in the preceding sections. It is necessary to
understand how these sources are geographically distributed
across the world in order to assess their potential for subsequent
storage.
2.3.1

143.5

4,324.7

sources is unlikely to occur before 2050. In addition, the ratio

of low-concentration to high-concentration emission sources
remains relatively stable, with low-concentration sources
dominating the emission profile.
In some scenarios, low- or zero-carbon fuels such as
ethanol, methanol or hydrogen begin to dominate the transport
sector and make inroads into the industrial, residential and
commercial sectors after 2050. The centralized production of
such fuels could lead to a significant change in the number of
high-concentration emission sources and a change in the ratio
of low- to high-purity emission sources; this is discussed in
more detail in Section 2.5.2.
2.3

1,719.9

Present

A picture of the geographical distribution of the sources of

CO2 emissions and the potential storage reservoirs helps us
to understand the global cost of CO2 mitigation, particularly
those components associated with CO2 transport. Geographical
information about emission sources can be retrieved from a
number of data sets. Table 2.4 shows the sectoral and regional
distribution of energy-related CO2 emissions in 2000. As
mentioned earlier in this report, over 60% of global CO2 emissions
come from the power and industry sectors. Geographically,

4,830.6

225.5

5.0

716.8

371.4

44.5

1,877.5

Other
sectors

42.7

34.8

649.4

CO2 sectoral
approach
total

5,689.7

697.8

22,596.1

these power and industry emissions are dominated by four

regions which account for over 90% of the emissions. These
regions are: Asia (30%), North America (24%), the transitional
economies (13%), and OECD West (12%). All the other regions
account individually for less than 6% of the global emissions
from the power and industry sectors.
Figure 2.3 shows the known locations of stationary CO2
sources worldwide, as taken from the database referred to in
Section 2.2 (IEA GHG, 2002a). North America is the region
with the largest number of stationary sources (37%), followed
by Asia (24%) and OECD Europe (14%). Figure 2.3 shows
three large clusters of stationary sources located in the central
and eastern states of the US, in northwestern and central regions
of Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary,
Netherlands and UK) and in Asia (eastern China and Japan with
an additional smaller cluster in the Indian subcontinent).
The distribution of stationary CO2 emissions as a proportion
of the total stationary emissions for 2000 indicates that the
regions that are the largest emitters of CO2 from stationary
sources are: Asia at 41% (5.6 GtCO2 yr-1), North America at
20% (2.69 GtCO2 yr-1) and OECD Europe at 13% (1.75 GtCO2
yr-1). All other regions emitted less than 10% of the total CO2
emission from stationary sources in 2000.
A comparison of the estimates of CO2 emissions from the
IEA and IEA GHG databases showed that the two sets produced
Note: OECD West refers to the following countries: Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey, United Kingdom.

OECD Europe includes the OECD West countries listed above, plus the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Switzerland
and Turkey.

84

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 2.3 G
lobal distribution of large stationary CO2 sources (based on a compilation of publicly available information on global emission
sources, IEA GHG 2002).

similar estimates for the total of global emissions but that results
differed significantly for many countries. Regional differences
of this kind have also been noted for other CO2 emission
databases (Marland et al., 1999).
2.3.2

Future CO2 emissions and technical capture

potentials

The total CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the SRES
scenarios provide the upper limit for potential CO2 capture for
this assessment. In fact, the theoretical maximum is even higher
because of the possibility of CO2 capture from biomass. These
emissions are also included in the tables of CO2 emissions and
they are therefore potentially available for capture. Obviously,
the capture potential that is practical in technical terms is
much smaller than the theoretical maximum, and the economic
potential is even smaller. Needless to say, it is the economic
potential that matters most. This section presents estimates of
the technical potential and Chapter 8 will address the economic
potential.
Table 2.5 shows the CO2 emissions by economic sector and
major world regions for 2020 and 2050, and for six scenarios.
It should be noted that the total CO2 emissions in Table 2.5 are
Economic potential is the amount of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
from a specific option that could be achieved cost-effectively given prevailing
circumstances (i.e. a price for CO2 reductions and the costs of other options).

For the four marker scenarios and the technology-intensive A1T and
the fossil-intensive A1FI illustrative scenarios, it is important to note that
comparisons between the results of different models are not straightforward.
First, the modelling methodologies imply different representations of energy
technologies and their future evolutions. Secondly, the sectoral disaggregation
and the energy/fuel details vary across the models. Thirdly, there are differences
in how countries of the world are grouped together into regions. Tables 2.5 and
2.6 are based on the work by Toth and Rogner (2005) that attempts to create
the best possible approximation for the purposes of comparing the regional and
sectoral model and scenario results.

higher than reported in SRES because emissions from biomass

are explicitly included here (as these are potentially available
for capture), while they where considered climate-neutral in
the SRES presentations and therefore not counted as emission
releases to the atmosphere. Geographically, the distribution of
emission sources is set to change substantially. Between 2000
and 2050, the bulk of emission sources will shift from the
OECD countries to the developing regions, especially China,
South Asia and Latin America. As to emissions by sector, power
generation, transport, and industry will remain the three main
sources of CO2 emissions over the next 50 years. Globally, the
projected energy sector emissions will fluctuate around the 40%
mark in 2050 (this matches the current figure), emissions from
the industry sector will decline and transport sector emissions
(i.e., mobile sources) increase. Power generation, which
typically represent the bulk of large point sources, will account
for about 50% of total emissions by 2050.
These emissions form the theoretical maximum potential
for CO2 capture from fossil fuel use. Toth and Rogner (2006)
derived a set of capture factors on the basis of the technical or
technological feasibility of adding CO2 capture before, during
or after combustion of fossil fuels. Capture factors are defined as
the estimated maximum share of emissions for which capture is
technically plausible. A detailed assessment of the power plants

As regards the share of emissions across sectors in 2020 (Table 2.5), there
is an inherent divergence between scenarios with longer and shorter time
horizons. Given the quasi perfect foresight of the underlying models, the SRES
scenarios account for resource depletion over a period of a century and, due
to the anticipated transition to higher-fuel-cost categories in the longer run,
they shift to non-fossil energy sources much earlier than, for example, the IEA
scenarios, especially for electricity supply. Consequently, the range for the
shares of fossil-sourced power generation is between 43 and 58% for 2020,
while the IEA projects a share of 71%. The corresponding sectoral shares in
CO2 emissions mirror the electricity generating mix: the IEA projects 43% for
power generation (IEA, 2002) compared to a range of 28 to 32% in the six
illustrative SRES scenarios.

3,193

Africa

57

3,498

1,670

21
9,159

11

12

542

1,363

4,682

19

126

588

582

1,121

2,248

EEFSU

823

96

26

23

105

208

356

E Europe

3,698

312

439

1,482

1,465

EEFSU

2,661

578

80

22

196

352

727

705

FSU

2,613

135

977

125

695

680

LAM

3,631

1,159

57

139

282

713

885

396

LAM

4,938

1,502

566

1,182

1,689

LAM

1,192

74

297

25

426

370

Middle East

2,055

837

61

36

139

149

465

368

ME-N Africa

2,934

1,052

195

721

966

Middle East

7,062

52

2,210

755

1,418

2,618

181

608

168

102

153

USA Canada

7,053

2,394

231

127

370

771

690

2,470

NAM

5,388

2,022

637

1,607

1,122

USA

1,654

12

357

115

416

753

P-OECD

1,519

450

74

30

75

150

292

448

P-OECD

2,159

659

238

698

564

P-OECD

5,976

52

1,357

488

1,530

2,546

South East Asia

4,292

620

75

211

250

795

954

PAS

1,388

6,439

1,592

950

2,063

1,834

S&EA

2,192

432

47

38

42

690

748

195

SAS

5,181

21

1,345

786

1,384

1,640

W. Europe

4,330

1,448

177

107

219

627

530

1,221

W. Europe

5,476

2,175

933

1,244

1,123

OECD West

CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Source: Total emissions MtCO2 2020

Region total

Fuel flared

10

Hydrogen

Synfuels

456

Transport

135

3,732

622

Res/Com

Industry

Power

427

CPA

Africa

Sector

A1FI

9,491

2,078

1,235

145

122

211

2,773

2,840

CPA

2,165

8,610

1,008

1,897

Region total

435

59

Hydrogen

Transport

Synfuels

107

730

358

333

Refineries

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sub-Saharan

Sector

A1T

4,580

877

642

2,512

2,016

1,046

CPA

Africa

Region total

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sector

A1B

Table 2.5 Carbon dioxide emissions from sectors in major world regions in six IPCC SRES scenarios in 2020 and 2050 (IPCC, 2000). Continued on next page.

39,796

327

238

8,297

4,477

11,262

15,195

Sector total

40,126

9,684

1,030

900

1,913

7,855

8,699

10,045

Sector total

44,222

11,199

6,496

14,207
12,321

Sector total

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

85

Africa

15

1,816

224
6,591

655

274

18

241

1,936

2,017

1,451

291

343

471

290

670

530

18

32

169

330

956

149

931 2,184

105

15

42

137

232

398

FSU

931 2,064

99

136

108

210

377

CPA E. Europe

4,118

413

578

602

1,377

1,148

FSU

2,563

715

24

47

223

462

754

338

1,652

506

17

16

193

177

400

342

2,422

502

509

350

362

699

Middle East

2,800

538

569

434

402

857

Middle East

LAM ME-N Africa

3,333

591

987

193

531

1,031

LAM

3,668

644

1,060

209

625

LAM

1,130

8,566

2,278

159

126

480

1,213

993

3,317

NAM

5,466

481

1,708

511

537

2,228

USA

7,706

567

2,013

639

808

USA

3,680

506

55

172

74

79

128

Canada

696

68

200

92

111

224

Canada

1,373

384

31

98

174

223

459

P-OECD

1,348

169

365

132

205

477

P-OECD

1,788

247

406

155

291

689

P-OECD

3,464

784

108

77

242

440

796

1,017

PAS

1,222

266

314

79

209

354

South East Asia

1,264

269

334

87

218

356

South East Asia

2,589

468

36

12

111

929

634

398

SAS

2,367

164

370

250

611

972

South Asia

2,715

142

332

251

708

1,282

South Asia

4,292

1,164

119

56

271

768

679

1,234

W. Europe

3,665

432

1,204

557

355

1,118

OECD Europe

4,638

532

1,270

644

528

1,663

OECD Europe

CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Source: Total emissions MtCO2 2020

Region total

Transport

30

Hydrogen

Synfuels

70

854

307

317

Refineries

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sub-Saharan

Sector

B2

1,946

392

384

283

259

Region total

Others

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

Power

629

Africa East Asia E. Europe

371

314

539

417

923

FSU

1,109 2,563

112

130

118

261

488

Sector

B1

5,193

439

606

746

1,786

1,616

1,981

394

358

269

290

670

Africa East Asia E. Europe

Region total

Others

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sector

A2

Table 2.5 Continued.

9,829

36,019

7,812

817

420

2,139

7,420

7,990

9,420

Sector total

29,389

3,856

7,070

3,611

5,024

Sector total

36,120

4,324

7,592

4,181

6,444

13,579

Sector total

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

290

2,629

9,927

18,453

26

0
9,246

43

2,189

1,031

814

1,066

4,102

EEFSU

732

280

37

137

12

70

77

119

E. Europe

4,311

512

879

1,645

1,276

EEFSU

2,949

1,121

364

118

395

448

299

203

FSU

433

6,099

102

35

2,173

238

948

2,604

LAM

5,917

2,106

699

314

1,576

788

LAM

7,465

2,841

1,074

2,384

1,165

3,236

40

860

70

857

1,409

Middle East

4,751

1,613

647

22

299

598

614

958

ME-N
Africa

5,566

2,676

415

1,635

840

LAM Middle East

9,421

13

1,021

2,753

854

1,295

3,485

682

50

176

95

118

240

USA Canada

4,977

2,094

715

263

878

420

606

NAM

5,218

2,091

797

969

USA

1,361

1,958

171

418

112

337

918

P-OECD

859

386

114

32

116

104

107

P-OECD

1,909

690

236

395

588

P-OECD

521

18,246

20

267

4,525

1,172

2,731

9,530

South East
Asia

5,506

1,839

151

515

287

1,154

1,039

PAS

12,535

4,506

2,056

3,273

2,700

S&EA

1,394

5,702

1,545

256

339

137

1,285

745

SAS

278

6,412

418

1,516

854

1,244

2,374

W. Europe

3,468

1,464

612

418

42

507

147

W. Europe

5,779

2,278

1,004

1,038

1,459

OECD West

Source: Total emissions MtCO2 2050

CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Region
total

Fuel flared

50

Hydrogen

1,207

259

4,899

7,598

CPA

12,725

4,319

99

442

477

2,093

2,680

Synfuels

983

2,574

3,831

CPA

10,643

2,082

3,297

2,555

CPA

2,708

503

Transport

Res/Com

2,022

4,413

Power

Industry

Africa

5,825

1,083

Sector

A1FI

Region
total

Transport

811

Hydrogen

Synfuels

71

774

Refineries

Res/Com

1,871

925

Power

Industry

Africa

Sub-Sharan

13,182

4,190

Sector

A1T

Region
total

Transport

Res/Com

2,610

2,304

Industry

4,078

Africa

Power

Sector

A1B

Table 2.5 Continued.

83,679

305

7,039

17,340

6,805

15,517

36,673

Sector total

53,411

17,851

2,456

4,329

2,330

9,979

6,996

9,469

Sector total

66,609

21,867

12,369

16,199

16,174

Sector total

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

87

Africa

573

Sector

Power

Africa

308

3,584

Region total

572
8,645

1,531

1,312

139

360

1,850

1,751

984

145

43

56

14

85

166

474

488

45

127

92

121

104

CPA E. Europe

1,703

2,551

280

571

465

985

251

1,714

106

193

157

345

913

East E. Europe
Asia

9,127

643

901

1,451

2,727

3,406

East E. Europe
Asia

3,458

840

278

285

409

386

685

576

FSU

1,612

209

466

358

235

343

FSU

4,237

452

646

735

725

1,679

FSU

3,471

1,230

277

326

200

477

688

274

2,999

799

186

448

85

127

601

753

2,825

458

834

298

574

662

Middle East

6,409

904

1,370

719

899

2,518

Middle East

LAM ME-N Africa

2,527

378

946

242

465

496

LAM

6,365

754

1,547

325

1,118

2,621

LAM

7,524

2,577

319

174

382

1,084

708

2,280

NAM

2,205

230

976

338

319

342

USA

8,719

582

1,946

644

895

4,653

USA

259

29

104

52

44

30

Canada

778

67

191

95

115

310

Canada

951

340

29

50

47

129

66

289

P-OECD

529

60

204

81

103

82

P-OECD

1,967

142

378

144

276

1,028

P-OECD

3,917

1,014

185

223

244

661

827

762

PAS

1,255

198

390

105

250

313

South East
Asia

2,441

304

578

179

413

967

South East
Asia

5,797

1,075

444

54

262

1,106

1,499

SAS

1,357

3,488

253

660

455

877

1,243

South
Asia

6,949

359

703

599

1,627

3,660

South
Asia

3,861

1,336

364

97

112

610

406

936

W. Europe

1,824

225

732

384

171

311

OECD Europe

4,585

429

1,275

628

487

1,766

OECD Europe

45,189

11,459

3,743

2,304

2,157

7,138

8,328

10,060

Sector total

22,584

2,779

6,968

3,389

4,699

4,749

Sector total

59,003

5,461

10,788

6,582

10,506

25,666

Sector total

Notes:
Source: Total emissions MtCO2 2050.
The division of the world into large economic regions differs between the various models underlying the SRES scenarios. Tables 2.5 and 2.6 consolidate the original model regions at a
level that makes model results comparable (although the exact geographical coverage of the regions may vary).
CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Transport

453

Hydrogen

Synfuels

43

623

932

654

Refineries

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sub-Saharan

Sector

B2

3,019

414

959

517

556

Region total

Others

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

B1

719

5,713

Region total

Others

1,061

907

Transport

Res/Com

881

2,144

Power

Industry

Africa

Sector

A2

Table 2.5 Continued.

88
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

89

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

currently in operation around the world and those planned
to be built in the near future was conducted, together with a
review of industrial boilers in selected regions. Capture factors
were established on the basis of installed capacity, fuel type,
unit size, and other technical parameters. Outside the energy
and industry sectors, there are only very limited prospects for
practical CO2 capture because sources in the residential sectors
are small, dispersed, and often mobile, and contain only low
concentrations. These factors result in lower capture factors.
In the assessment of CO2 capture, perhaps the most important
open question is what will happen in the transport sector over
the next few decades. If the above average increases in energy
use for transport projected by all models in all scenarios involve
traditional fossil-fuelled engine technologies, the capture and
storage of transport-related CO2 will though theoretically
possible remain technically meaningless (excess weight,
on-board equipment, compression penalty, etc.). However,
depending on the penetration rate of hydrogen-based transport
technologies, it should be possible to retrofit CO2-emitting
hydrogen production facilities with CO2 capture equipment.
The transport sector provides a huge potential for indirect CO2
capture but feasibility depends on future hydrogen production
technologies.
CO2 capture might also be technically feasible from
biomass-fuelled power plants, biomass fermentation for alcohol
production or units for the production of biomass-derived
hydrogen. It is conceivable that these technologies might play a
significant role by 2050 and produce negative emissions across
the full technology chain.
The results of applying the capture factors developed by
Toth and Rogner (2006) to the CO2 emissions of the SRES
scenarios of Table 2.5 are presented in Table 2.6. Depending on
the scenario, between 30 and 60% of global power generation
emissions could be suitable for capture by 2050 and 30 to
40% of industry emissions could also be captured in that time
frame.
The technical potentials for CO2 capture presented here are
only the first step in the full carbon dioxide capture and storage
chain. The variations across scenarios reflect the uncertainties
inherently associated with scenario and modelling analyses.
The ranges of the technical capture potential relative to total
CO2 emissions are 912% (or 2.64.9 GtCO2) by 2020 and 21
45% (or 4.737.5 GtCO2) by 2050.
2.4 Geographical relationship between sources and
storage opportunities
The preceding sections in this chapter have described the
geographical distributions of CO2 emission sources. This section
gives an overview of the geographic distribution of potential
storage sites that are in relative proximity to present-day sites
with large point sources.

2.4.1

Global storage opportunities

Global assessments of storage opportunities for CO2 emissions

involving large volumes of CO2 storage have focused on the
options of geological storage or ocean storage, where CO2 is:
injected and trapped within geological formations at
subsurface depths greater than 800 m where the CO2 will be
supercritical and in a dense liquid-like form in a geological
reservoir, or
injected into deep ocean waters with the aim of dispersing
it quickly or depositing it at great depths on the floor of the
ocean with the aim of forming CO2 lakes.
High-level global assessments of both geological and ocean
storage scenarios have estimated that there is considerable
capacity for CO2 storage (the estimates range from hundreds to
tens of thousands of GtCO2). The estimates in the literature of
storage capacity in geological formations and in the oceans are
discussed in detail in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively and are not
discussed further in this chapter.
2.4.2

Consideration of spatial and temporal

relationships

As discussed in Chapter 5, the aim of geological storage is

to replicate the natural occurrence of deep subsurface fluids,
where they have been trapped for tens or hundreds of millions
of years. Due to the slow migration rates of subsurface fluids
observed in nature (often centimetres per year), and even
including scenarios where CO2 leakage to the surface might
unexpectedly occur, CO2 injected into the geological subsurface
will essentially remain geographically close to the location
where it is injected. Chapter 6 shows that CO2 injected into
the ocean water column does not remain in a static location,
but will migrate at relatively rapid speed throughout the ocean
as dissolved CO2 within the prevailing circulation of ocean
currents. So dissolved CO2 in the water column will not remain
where it is injected in the immediate short term (i.e., a few years
to some centuries). Deep-ocean lakes of CO2 will, in principle,
be more static geographically but will dissolve into the water
column over the course of a few years or centuries.
These spatial and temporal characteristics of CO2 migration
in geological and ocean storage are important criteria when
attempting to make maps of source and storage locations. In
both storage scenarios, the possibility of adjoining storage
locations in the future and of any possible reciprocal impacts
will need to be considered.
2.4.3

Global geographical mapping of source/storage

locations

To appreciate the relevance of a map showing the geographic

distribution of sources and potential storage locations, it is
necessary to know the volumes of CO2 emissions and the storage
capacity that might be available, and to establish a picture of
the types and levels of technical uncertainty associated with the

46

129

Region total

31

259

607

CPA

840

125

74

54

59

195

334

CPA

702

46

182

475

CPA

89

26

144

525

EEFSU

135

24

18

78

E. Europe

508

21

168

319

EEFSU

364

73

16

50

16

70

139

FSU

49

95

LAM

315

50

85

71

14

56

39

LAM

337

16

155

165

LAM

58

90

Middle East

294

56

25

42

57

110

ME-N Africa

301

127

167

MEA

37

36

189

791

USA

1,251

211

91

113

37

85

715

NAM

665

30

156

479

NAM

22

55

Canada

Potential CO2 capture in MtCO2 2020

51

226

P-OECD

270

68

23

23

21

128

P-OECD

261

12

64

185

P-OECD

104

401

South East Asia

426

65

86

63

12

35

164

PAS

437

17

130

290

S&EA

150

41

16

11

57

20

SAS

16

48

198

500

W. Europe

777

162

81

67

36

65

366

W. Europe

561

51

159

351

OECD West

Region total
50
904
785
149
149
1,053
83
292
513
763

CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Fuel flared

Hydrogen

Synfuels

15

30

Africa

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sector

A1FI

Transport

30

Hydrogen

Synfuels

22

21

Africa

Sub-Saharan

156

33

117

Africa

Refineries

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sector

A1T

Region total

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sector

A1B

2,548

4,741

167

165

1,091

3,319

Sector total

4,950

919

532

521

200

664

2,115

Sector total

3,928

207

1,173

Sector total

Table 2.6 CO2 emissions available for capture and storage in 2020 and 2050 from sectors in major world regions under six IPCC SRES scenarios (after Toth and Rogner, 2005).
Continued on next page.

90
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

51

47

12

233

11

60

42

122

225

14

11

19

82

105

19

81

CPA E. Europe

256

22

79

156

134

26

102

East E. Europe
Asia

392

25

127

241

East E. Europe
Asia

16

22

42

15

89

24

FSU

214

22

32

160

FSU

292

26

49

217

FSU

20

28

56

42

52

LAM

187

35

147

LAM

198

42

150

LAM

16

11

58

50

100

ME-N Africa

228

11

43

174

Middle East

271

15

48

208

Middle East

144

88

144

46

103

982

NAM

722

22

68

632

USA

1,252

30

111

1,111

USA

49

10

35

Canada

86

15

66

Canada

Potential CO2 capture in MtCO2 2020

28

29

12

114

P-OECD

155

22

126

P-OECD

244

35

201

P-OECD

92

31

61

19

153

PAS

69

10

57

South East
Asia

74

12

60

South East
Asia

31

28

30

41

SAS

179

45

129

South Asia

194

49

140

South Asia

107

42

81

35

73

349

W. Europe

375

28

43

304

OECD
Europe

579

35

68

477

OECD
Europe

Region total
69
693
132
209
204
239
1,507
196
361
140
687

CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Transport

15

Hydrogen

Synfuels

14

18

Africa

Refineries

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sector

Sub-Saharan

Region total

B2

Others

Transport

Res/Com

38

Power

Industry

Africa

Sector

Region total

B1

Others

Transport

Res/Com

41

Power

Industry

Africa

Sector

A2

Table 2.6 Continued.

4,437

712

258

583

178

565

2,140

Sector total

2,584

134

411

2,040

Sector total

3,769

163

590

3,016

Sector total

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

91

Africa

283

1,905

Africa

Region total

Sector

2,425

430

1,817

4,836

CPA

4,154

96

407

367

445

307

2,530

CPA

3,291

660

931

1,701

CPA

2,019

188

462

2,691

EEFSU

301

36

126

16

25

90

E. Europe

1,747

191

726

831

EEFSU

1,098

354

109

304

94

110

127

FSU

32

27

332

1,486

LAM

1,709

645

242

189

165

469

LAM

1,818

128

1,015

674

LAM

15

370

992

Middle East

1,965

630

20

245

126

191

753

ME-N Africa

1,337

87

701

548

Middle East

942

189

559

2,677

USA

1,681

660

216

190

139

477

NAM

1,627

172

439

1,015

NAM

46

23

53

186

Canada

Potential CO2 Capture in MtCO2 2050

158

30

144

705

P-OECD

280

105

26

32

33

84

P-OECD

671

68

165

438

P-OECD

233

229

962

5,979

South East Asia

1,867

147

449

221

238

111

702

PAS

3,253

393

1,201

1,658

S&EA

1,493

249

296

98

140

288

423

SAS

385

279

569

1,862

W. Europe

1,393

596

386

35

159

102

115

W. Europe

1,892

319

481

1,092

OECD
West

Region total
3,175
9,509
5,360
1,877
1,377
4,367
308
1,038
7,403
3,095

CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Fuel flared

213

Hydrogen

Synfuels

37

557

2,369

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

Power

A1FI

Transport

665

Hydrogen

Synfuels

37

66

329

526

Refineries

Res/Com

Industry

Power

Sub-Saharan

Sector

A1T

3,149

222

Region total

Transport

Res/Com

760

2,167

Power

Industry

Africa

Sector

A1B

Table 2.6 Continued.

37,508

6,453

1,448

5,826

23,781

Sector total

17,846

2,392

3,867

1,799

1,694

1,799

6,296

Sector total

18,783

2,241

6,419

10,124

Sector total

92
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

266

Power

3,476

489

41

51

11

18

63

307

1,496

264

256

306

77

248

345

FSU

371

69

83

218

FSU

1,552

155

286

1,110

FSU

1,187

263

293

150

52

266

164

LAM

423

28

137

258

LAM

1,812

41

365

1,407

LAM

1,484

176

403

68

16

257

563

ME-N
Africa

671

57

196

418

Middle East

2,095

148

319

1,628

Middle East

2,924

303

157

305

224

225

1,710

NAM

408

69

118

221

USA

4,096

143

384

3,569

USA

46

11

16

19

Canada

298

21

46

230

Canada

Potential CO2 Capture in MtCO2 2050

383

27

45

38

35

20

216

P-OECD

110

21

36

52

P-OECD

933

42

112

779

P-OECD

1,246

176

189

183

102

157

439

PAS

273

16

72

185

South East
Asia

799

30

139

631

South East
Asia

1,675

197

194

1,284

1,665

421

46

183

104

238

673

SAS

980

73

271

635

1,552

345

87

89

182

144

704

W. Europe

377

111

64

203

South Asia OECD Europe

2,544

113

519

1,912

South Asia OECD Europe

17,125

3,556

2,015

1,625

1,161

2,243

6,526

Sector total

4,703

598

1,437

2,668

Sector total

21,394

1,295

3,741

16,359

Sector total

Notes: The division of the world into large economic regions differs in the different models underlying the SRES scenarios. Tables 2.5 and 2.6 consolidate the original model regions at
a level that makes model results comparable (although the exact geographical coverage of the regions may vary).
CPA = Centrally Planned Asia. EE = Eastern Europe, FSU = Former Soviet Union, LAM = Latin America, P-OECD = Pacific OECD, S&EA = South and Southeast Asia,
OECD-West = Western Europe + Canada, Africa, ME = Middle East, PAS = Pacific Asia, SAS = South Asia

Transport

1,246

1,223

Region total

270

309

459

1,067

125

293

121

19

40

63

CPA E. Europe

478

80

268

130

733

34

128

571

East E. Europe
Asia

3,365

293

991

2,080

East E. Europe
Asia

362

Hydrogen

Synfuels

22

42

Refineries

Res/Com

166

339

Power

Industry

Africa

Sub-Saharan

447

44

Sector

B2

Region total

Others

Transport

Res/Com

Industry

138

Africa

Sector

B1

1,493

78

Region total

Others

Transport

Res/Com

257

1,158

Power

Industry

Africa

Sector

A2

Table 2.6 Continued.

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

93

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 2.4 Prospective areas in sedimentary basins where suitable saline formations, oil or gas fields, or coal beds may be found. Locations for
storage in coal beds are only partly included. Prospectivity is a qualitative assessment of the likelihood that a suitable storage location is present
in a given area based on the available information. This figure should be taken as a guide only, because it is based on partial data, the quality of
which may vary from region to region, and which may change over time and with new information (Bradshaw and Dance, 2004).

storage sites that will affect their viability as potential solutions.

As indicated above in this chapter, there are some 7,500 large
stationary sources with emissions in excess of 0.1 MtCO2 yr-1
and that number is projected to rise by 2050. The mapping does
not take into account the capture factors presented in Section
2.3.2.
2.4.3.1 Geological storage and source location matching
Chapter 5 includes detailed discussions of the geological
characteristics of storage sites. Before discussing the global
locations for geological storage opportunities, it is necessary
to describe some basic fundamentals of geological storage. The
worlds geological provinces can be allocated to a variety of
rock types, but the main ones relevant to geological storage are
sedimentary basins that have undergone only minor tectonic
deformation and are at least 1000 m thick with adequate
reservoir/seal pairs to allow for the injection and trapping of
CO2. The petroleum provinces of the world are a subset of the
sedimentary basins described above, and are considered to be
promising locations for the geological storage of CO2 (Bradshaw
et al., 2002). These basins have adequate reservoir/seal pairs,
and suitable traps for hydrocarbons, whether liquids or gases.
The remaining geological provinces of the world can generally
be categorized as igneous (rocks formed from crystallization
of molten liquid) and metamorphic (pre-existing rocks formed
by chemical and physical alteration under the influence of heat,
pressure and chemically active fluids) provinces. These rock
types are commonly known as hard-rock provinces, and they
will not be favourable for CO2 storage as they are generally not
porous and permeable and will therefore not readily transmit
fluids. More details on the suitability of sedimentary basins and
characterization of specific sites are provided in Chapter 5.
Figure 2.4 shows the prospectivity(see Annex II) of

various parts of the world for the geological storage of CO2.

Prospectivity is a term commonly used in explorations for any
geological resource, and in this case it applies to CO2 storage
space. Prospectivity is a qualitative assessment of the likelihood
that a suitable storage location is present in a given area based
on the available information. By nature, it will change over
time and with new information. Estimates of prospectivity
are developed by examining data (if possible), examining
existing knowledge, applying established conceptual models
and, ideally, generating new conceptual models or applying an
analogue from a neighbouring basin or some other geologically
similar setting. The concept of prospectivity is often used when
it is too complex or technically impossible to assign numerical
estimates to the extent of a resource.
Figure 2.4 shows the worlds geological provinces broken
down into provinces that are thought, at a very simplistic
level, to have CO2 storage potential that is either: 1) highly
prospective, 2) prospective, or 3) non-prospective (Bradshaw
and Dance, 2004). Areas of high prospectivity are considered
to include those basins that are world-class petroleum basins,
meaning that they are the basins of the world that are producing
substantial volumes of hydrocarbons. It also includes areas
that are expected to have substantial storage potential. Areas of
prospective storage potential are basins that are minor petroleum
basins but not world-class, as well as other sedimentary basins
that have not been highly deformed. Some of these basins will
be highly prospective for CO2 storage and others will have low
prospectivity.
Determining the degree of suitability of any of these
basins for CO2 storage will depend on detailed work in each
area. Areas that are non-prospective are highly deformed
sedimentary basins and other geological provinces, mainly
containing metamorphic and igneous rocks. Some of these

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

95

Figure 2.5 Geographical relationship between CO2 emission sources and prospective geological storage sites. The dots indicate CO2 emission
sources of 0.150 MtCO2 yr-1. Prospectivity is a qualitative assessment of the likelihood that a suitable storage location is present in a given
area based on the available information. This figure should be taken as a guide only, because it is based on partial data, the quality of which
may vary from region to region, and which may change over time and with new information.

provinces might have some local niche opportunities for CO2

storage, but at this stage they would not be considered suitable
for a conventional form of CO2 storage. As Bradshaw and
Dance (2004) explain, this map is subject to significant caveats
and based on significant assumptions because of the data source
from which it was generated. However, it can be used as a
general (although not specific) guide at the global scale to the
location of areas that are likely to provide opportunities for the
geological storage of CO2. Due to the generalized manner in
which this map has been created, and the lack of specific or
hard data for each of the basins assessed, the prospectivity
levels assigned to each category have no meaningful correlative
statistical or probabilistic connotation. To achieve a numerical
analysis of risk or certainty would require specific information
about each and every basin assessed.
Figure 2.5 shows the overlap of the sedimentary basins
that are prospective for CO2 storage potential with the current
locations of large sources of stationary emissions (IEA GHG,
2002a). The map can be simplistically interpreted to identify
areas where large distances might be required to transport
emissions from any given source to a geological storage
location. It clearly shows areas with local geological storage
potential and low numbers of emission sites (for example,
South America) as well as areas with high numbers of emission
sites and few geological storage options in the vicinity (the
Indian sub-continent, for example). This map, however, does
not address the relative capacity of any of the given sites to
match either large emission sources or small storage capacities.
Neither does it address any of the technical uncertainties that
could exist at any of the storage sites, or the cost implications
for the emission sources of the nature of the emission plant
or the purity of the emission sources. Such issues of detailed
source-to-store matching are dealt with in Chapter 5.

Figures 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 show the regional emission clusters
for twelve regions of the world and the available storage
opportunities within each region. They also compare the relative
ranking of the area of available prospective sedimentary basins
in a 300 km radius around emission clusters (Bradshaw and
Dance, 2004). The 300 km radius was selected because it was
considered useful as an indicator of likely transport distances
for potentially viable source-to-storage matches (see Chapter 5).
Although this data could suggest trends, such as high emissions
for China with a small area of prospective sedimentary basins,
or a large area of prospective sedimentary basins with low
emissions for the Middle East, it is premature to make too many
assumptions until detailed assessments are made in each region
as to the quality and viability of each sedimentary basin and
specific proposed sites. Each basin will have its own technical
peculiarities, and because the science of injection and storage of
very large volumes of CO2 is still developing, it is premature at
this stage to make any substantive comments about the viability
of individual sedimentary basins unless there are detailed
data sets and assessments (see Chapter 5). These maps do,
however, indicate where such detailed geological assessments
will be required China and India, for example before a
comprehensive assessment can be made of the likely worldwide
impact of the geological storage of CO2. These maps also show
that CO2 storage space is a resource, just like any other resource;
some regions will have many favourable opportunities, and
others will not be so well-endowed (Bradshaw and Dance,
2004).
Figure 2.9 shows those emission sources with high
concentrations (>95%) of CO2, with their proximity to
prospective geological storage sites. Clusters of highconcentration sources can be observed in China and North
America and to lesser extent in Europe.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 2.6 Regional emission clusters with a 300 km buffer relative to world geological storage prospectivity (Bradshaw and Dance, 2004).

2.4.3.2 Ocean storage and source-location matching

Due to a lack of publicly available literature, a review of the
proximity of large CO2 point sources and their geographical
relationship to ocean storage opportunities on the global scale
could not be undertaken. A related study was undertaken that
analysed seawater scrubbing of CO2 from power stations along
the coastlines of the world. The study considered the number

of large stationary sources (in this case, power generation

plants) on the coastlines of the worldwide that are located
within 100 km of the 1500 m ocean floor contour (IEA GHG,
2000a). Eighty-nine potential power generation sources were
identified that were close to these deep-water locations. This
number represents only a small proportion (< 2%) of the total
number of large stationary sources in the power generation

Figure 2.7 Regional storage opportunities determined by using a ratio (percentage) of all prospective areas to non-prospective areas within a
300 km buffer around major stationary emissions. The pie charts show the proportion of the prospective areas (sedimentary basins) in the buffer
regions (Bradshaw and Dance, 2004).

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Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

Figure 2.8 Proximity of emissions to sedimentary basins.

sector worldwide (see Section 2.1). A larger proportion of

power plants could possibly turn to deep-ocean storage because
transport over distances larger than 100 km may prove costeffective in some cases; nevertheless, this study indicates that a
higher fraction of large stationary sources could be more costeffectively matched to geological storage reservoirs than ocean
storage sites. There are many issues that will also need to be
addressed when considering deep-ocean storage sites, including
jurisdictional boundaries, site suitability, and environmental
impact etc., which are discussed in Chapter 6. The spatial and
temporal nature of ocean water-column injection may affect the

approach to source and storage matching, as the CO2 will not

remain adjacent to the local region where the CO2 is injected,
and conceivably might migrate across jurisdictional boundaries
and into sensitive environmental provinces.
2.5 Alternative energy carriers and CO2 source
implications
As discussed earlier in this chapter, a significant fraction of
the worlds CO2 emissions comes from transport, residences,
and other small, distributed combustion sources. Whilst it is

Figure 2.9 Geographical proximity of high-concentration CO2 emission sources (> 95%) to prospective geological storage sites.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

currently not economically feasible to capture and store CO2

from these small, distributed sources, these emissions could be
reduced if the fossil fuels used in these units were replaced with
either:
carbon-free energy carriers (e.g. electricity or hydrogen);
energy carriers that are less carbon-intensive than
conventional hydrocarbon fuels (e.g., methanol, FischerTropsch liquids or dimethyl ether);
biomass energy that can either be used directly or to
produce energy carriers like bioethanol. If the biomass is
grown sustainably the energy produced can be considered
carbon-neutral.
In the first two cases, the alternative energy carriers can be
produced in centralized plants that incorporate CO2 capture and
storage. In the case of biomass, CO2 capture and storage can also
be incorporated into the energy carrier production schemes. The
aim of this section is to explore the implications that introducing
such alternative energy carriers and energy sources might have
for future large point sources of CO2 emissions.
2.5.1

Carbon-free energy carriers

2.5.1.1 Electricity
The long-term trend has been towards the electrification of the
energy economy, and this trend is expected to continue (IPCC,
2000). To the extent that expanded electricity use is a substitute
for the direct use of fossil fuels (e.g., in transport, or for cooking
or heating applications in households), the result can be less CO2
emissions if the electricity is from carbon-free primary energy
sources (renewable or nuclear) or from distributed generators
such as fuel cells powered by hydrogen produced with nearzero fuel-cycle-wide emissions or from large fossil-fuel power
plants at which CO2 is captured and stored.
While, in principle, all energy could be provided by
electricity, most energy projections envision that the direct use
of fuels will be preferred for many applications (IPCC, 2000). In
transport, for example, despite intensive developmental efforts,
battery-powered electric vehicles have not evolved beyond
niche markets because the challenges of high cost, heavy weight,
and long recharging times have not been overcome. Whilst the
prospects of current hybrid electric vehicles (which combine
fossil fuel and electric batteries) penetrating mass markets seem
good, these vehicles do not require charging from centralized
electrical grids. The successful development of plug-in hybrids
might lead to an expanded role for electricity in transport but
such vehicles would still require fuel as well as grid electricity.
In summary, it is expected that, although electricitys share of
total energy might continue to grow, most growth in large point
sources of CO2 emissions will be the result of increased primary
energy demand.
2.5.1.2 Hydrogen
If hydrogen can be successfully established in the market as
an energy carrier, a consequence could be the emergence
of large new concentrated sources of CO2 if the hydrogen

is manufactured from fossil fuels in large pre-combustion

decarbonization plants with CO2 capture and storage. Such
plants produce a high concentration source of CO2 (see Chapter
3 for details on system design). Where fossil fuel costs are low
and CO2 capture and storage is feasible, hydrogen manufactured
in this way is likely to be less costly than hydrogen produced
from renewable or nuclear primary energy sources (Williams,
2003; NRC, 2004). It should be noted that this technology
can be utilized only if production sites are within a couple of
hundred kilometres of where the hydrogen will be used, since
cost-effective, long-distance hydrogen transport represents
a significant challenge. Producing hydrogen from fossil
fuels could be a step in technological development towards
a hydrogen economy based on carbon-free primary energy
sources through the establishment of a hydrogen utilization
infrastructure (Simbeck, 2003).
Energy market applications for hydrogen include its
conversion to electricity electrochemically (in fuel cells) and
in combustion applications. Substituting hydrogen for fossil
fuel burning eliminates CO2 emissions at the point of energy
use. Much of the interest in hydrogen market development
has focused on distributed stationary applications in buildings
and on transport. Fuel cells are one option for use in stationary
distributed energy systems at scales as small as apartment
buildings and even single-family residences (Lloyd, 1999).
In building applications, hydrogen could also be combusted
for heating and cooking (Ogden and Williams, 1989). In the
transport sector, the hydrogen fuel cell car is the focus of
intense development activity, with commercialization targeted
for the middle of the next decade by several major automobile
manufacturers (Burns et al., 2002). The main technological
obstacles to the widespread use of fuel cell vehicles are the
current high costs of the vehicles themselves and the bulkiness
of compressed gaseous hydrogen storage (the only fully proven
hydrogen storage technology), which restricts the range between
refuelling (NRC, 2004). However, the currently achievable
ranges might be acceptable to many consumers, even without
storage technology breakthroughs (Ogden et al., 2004).
Hydrogen might also be used in internal combustion engine
vehicles before fuel cell vehicles become available (Owen
and Gordon, 2002), although efficiencies are likely to be less
than with fuel cells. In this case, the range between refuelling
would also be less than for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with the
same performance (Ogden et al., 2004). For power generation
applications, gas turbines originally designed for natural gas
operation can be re-engineered to operate on hydrogen (Chiesa
et al., 2003).
Currently, there are a number of obstacles on the path to a
hydrogen economy. They are: the absence of cost-competitive
fuel cells and other hydrogen equipment and the absence of
an infrastructure for getting hydrogen to consumers. These
challenges are being addressed in many hydrogen R&D
programmes and policy studies being carried out around the
world (Sperling and Cannon, 2004). There are also safety
concerns because, compared to other fuels, hydrogen has a
wide flammability and detonation range, low ignition energy,

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Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

and high flame speed. However, industrial experience shows
that hydrogen can be manufactured and used safely in many
applications (NRC, 2004).
There is widespread industrial experience with the production
and distribution of hydrogen, mainly for the synthesis of
ammonia fertilizer and hydro-treatment in oil refineries. Current
global hydrogen production is 45 million t yr-1, the equivalent
to 1.4% of global primary energy use in 2000 (Simbeck, 2003).
Forty-eight per cent is produced from natural gas, 30% from
oil, 18% from coal, and 4% via electrolysis of water. Ammonia
production, which consumes about 100,000 MWt of hydrogen,
is growing by 24% per year. Oil refinery demand for hydrogen
is also increasing, largely because of the ongoing shift to
heavier crude oils and regulations limiting the sulphur content
of transport fuels. Most hydrogen is currently manufactured
via steam methane reforming (SMR), steam reforming of
naphtha, and the gasification of petroleum residues and coal.
The SMR option is generally favoured due to its lower capital
cost wherever natural gas is available at reasonable prices.
Nevertheless, there are currently about 75 modern commercial
gasification plants making about 20,000 MWt of hydrogen
from coal and oil refinery residues (NETL-DOE, 2002); these
are mostly ammonia fertilizer plants and hydrogen plants in
oil refineries in China, Europe, and North America. There are
currently over 16,000 km of hydrogen pipelines around the
world. Most are relatively short and located in industrial areas
for large customers who make chemicals, reduce metals, and
engage in the hydro-treatment of oil at refineries. The longest
pipeline currently in operation is 400 km long and is located in
a densely populated area of Europe, running from Antwerp to
northern France. The pipeline operates at a pressure of about 60
atmospheres (Simbeck, 2004).
Fossil fuel plants producing hydrogen with CO2 capture
and storage would typically be large, producing volumes
of the order of 1000 MWt (720 t day-1) in order to keep the
hydrogen costs and CO2 storage costs low. Per kg of hydrogen,
the co-production rate would be about 8 kgCO2 with SMR and
15 kgCO2 with coal gasification, so that the CO2 storage rates
(for plants operated at 80% average capacity factor) would be
1.7 and 3.1 million tonnes per year for SMR and coal gasification
plants respectively.
Making hydrogen from fossil fuels with CO2 capture and
storage in a relatively small number of large plants for use in
large numbers of mobile and stationary distributed applications
could lead to major reductions in fuel-cycle-wide emissions
compared to petroleum-based energy systems. This takes into
account all fossil fuel energy inputs, including energy for
petroleum refining and hydrogen compression at refuelling
stations (NRC, 2004; Ogden et al., 2004). No estimates have yet
been made of the number of large stationary, concentrated CO2
sources that could be generated via such hydrogen production
systems and their geographical distribution.

plant of this kind operating at 80% capacity could support 2 million

A
hydrogen fuel cell cars with a gasoline-equivalent fuel economy of 2.9 L per
100 km driving 14,000 km per year.

2.5.2

Alternative energy carriers and CO2 source

implications

Interest in synthetic liquid fuels stems from concerns about both

the security of oil supplies (TFEST, 2004) and the expectation
that it could possibly be decades before hydrogen can make a
major contribution to the energy economy (NRC, 2004).
There is considerable activity worldwide relating to the
manufacture of Fischer-Tropsch liquids from stranded natural
gas supplies. The first major gas to liquids plant, producing
12,500 barrels per day, was built in Malaysia in 1993. Several
projects are underway to make Fischer-Tropsch liquid fuels
from natural gas in Qatar at plant capacities ranging from 30,000
to 140,000 barrels per day. Although gas to liquids projects do
not typically produce concentrated by-product streams of CO2,
synthetic fuel projects using synthesis gas derived from coal (or
other solid feedstocks such as biomass or petroleum residuals)
via gasification could produce large streams of concentrated
CO2 that are good candidates for capture and storage. At Sasol in
South Africa, coal containing some 20 million tonnes of carbon
is consumed annually in the manufacture of synthetic fuels and
chemicals. About 32% of the carbon ends up in the products,
40% is vented as CO2 in dilute streams, and 28% is released
as nearly pure CO2 at a rate of about 20 million tonnes of CO2
per year. In addition, since 2000, 1.5 million tonnes per year of
CO2 by-product from synthetic methane production at a coal
gasification plant in North Dakota (United States) have been
captured and transported 300 km by pipeline to the Weyburn oil
field in Saskatchewan (Canada), where it is used for enhanced oil
recovery (see Chapter 5 for more details). Coal-based synthetic
fuel plants being planned or considered in China include six
600,000 t yr-1 methanol plants, two 800,000 t yr-1 dimethyl ether
plants, and two or more large Fischer-Tropsch liquids plants.
In the United States, the Department of Energy is supporting a
demonstration project in Pennsylvania to make 5,000 barrels/
day of Fischer-Tropsch liquids plus 41 MWe of electricity from
low-quality coal.
If synthesis-gas-based energy systems become established
in the market, economic considerations are likely to lead, as in
the case of hydrogen production, to the construction of large
facilities that would generate huge, relatively pure, CO2 coproduct streams. Polygeneration plants, for example plants
that could produce synthetic liquid fuels plus electricity,
would benefit as a result of economies of scale, economies of
scope, and opportunities afforded by greater system operating
flexibility (Williams et al., 2000; Bechtel et al., 2003; Larson
and Ren, 2003; Celik et al., 2005). In such plants, CO2 could be
captured from shifted synthesis gas streams both upstream and
downstream of the synthesis reactor where the synthetic fuel is
produced.
With CO2 capture and storage, the fuel-cycle-wide
greenhouse gas emissions per GJ for coal derived synthetic

ost of the methanol would be used for making chemicals and for subsequent
M
conversion to dimethyl ether, although some methanol will be used for
transport fuel. The dimethyl ether would be used mainly as a cooking fuel.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

fuels can sometimes be less than for crude oil-derived fuels. For
example, a study of dimethyl ether manufacture from coal with
CO2 capture and storage found that fuel-cycle-wide greenhouse
gas emissions per GJ ranged from 75 to 97% of the emission
rate for diesel derived from crude oil, depending on the extent
of CO2 capture (Celik et al., 2005).
The CO2 source implications of making synthetic lowcarbon liquid energy carriers with CO2 capture and storage are
similar to those for making hydrogen from fossil fuels: large
quantities of concentrated CO2 would be available for capture
at point sources. Again, no estimates have yet been made of the
number of large stationary sources that could be generated or of
their geographical distribution.
2.5.3

CO2 source implications of biomass energy

production

There is considerable interest in some regions of the world in

the use of biomass to produce energy, either in dedicated plants
or in combination with fossil fuels. One set of options with
potentially significant but currently uncertain implications for
future CO2 sources is bioenergy with CO2 capture and storage.
Such systems could potentially achieve negative CO2 emissions.
The perceived CO2 emission benefits and costs of such systems
are discussed elsewhere in this report (see Chapters 3 and 8)
and are not discussed further here. The aim of this section is
to assess the current scale of emissions from biomass energy
production, to consider how they might vary in the future, and
therefore to consider their impact on the future number, and
scale, of CO2 emission sources.
2.5.3.1 Bioethanol production
Bioethanol is the main biofuel being produced today. Currently,
the two largest producers of bioethanol are the USA and Brazil.
The USA produced 11 billion litres in 2003, nearly double the
capacity in 1995. Production is expected to continue to rise
because of government incentives. Brazilian production was
over 14 billion litres per year in 2003/2004, similar to the level
in 1997/1998 (Mllersten et al., 2003). Bioethanol is used
directly in internal combustion engines, without modification,
as a partial replacement for petroleum-based fuels (the level of
replacement in Europe and the USA is 5 to 10%).
Bioethanol plants are a high-concentration source of CO2
at atmospheric pressure that can be captured and subsequently
stored. As can be seen in Table 2.3, the numbers of these
plants are significant in the context of high-purity sources,
although their global distribution is restricted. These sources
are comparable in size to those from ethylene oxide plants but
smaller than those from ammonia plants.
Although the trend in manufacture is towards larger
production facilities, the scale of future production will
be determined by issues such as improvements in biomass
production and conversion technologies, competition with
other land use, water demand, markets for by-product streams
and competition with other transport fuels.
On the basis of the literature currently available, it is not

possible to estimate the number of bioethanol plants that will

be built in the future or the likely size of their CO2 emissions.
2.5.3.2 Biomass as a primary energy source
A key issue posed by biomass energy production, both with
and without CO2 capture and storage, is that of size. Current
biomass energy production plants are much smaller than fossil
fuel power plants; typical plant capacities are about 30 MWe,
with CO2 emissions of less than 0.2 MtCO2 per year. The size of
these biomass energy production plants reflects the availability
and dispersed nature of current biomass supplies, which are
mainly crop and forestry residues.

The prospects for biomass energy production with CO2
capture and storage might be improved in the future if economies
of scale in energy production and/or CO2 capture and storage
can be realized. If, for instance, a CO2 pipeline network is
established in a country or region, then small CO2 emission
sources (including those from biomass energy plants) could be
added to any nearby CO2 pipelines if it is economically viable to
do so. A second possibility is that existing large fossil fuel plants
with CO2 capture and storage represent an opportunity for the
co-processing of biomass. Co-processing biomass at coal power
plants already takes place in a number of countries. However,
it must be noted that if biomass is co-processed with a fossil
fuel, these plants do not represent new large-scale emissions
sources. A third possibility is to build larger biomass energy
production plants than the plants typically in place at present.
Larger biomass energy production plants have been built or are
being planned in a number of countries, typically those with
extensive biomass resources. For example, Sweden already has
seven combined heat and power plants using biomass at pulp
mills, with each plant producing around 130 MWe equivalent.
The size of biomass energy production plants depends on local
circumstances, in particular the availability of concentrated
biomass sources; pulp mills and sugar processing plants offer
concentrated sources of this kind.
Larger plants could also be favoured if there were a shift
from the utilization of biomass residues to dedicated energy
crops. Several studies have assessed the likely size of future
biomass energy production plants, but these studies conflict
when it comes to the scale issue. One study, cited in Audus and
Freund (2004), surveyed 28 favoured sites using woody biomass
crops in Spain and concluded that the average appropriate scale
would be in the range 30 to 70 MWe. This figure is based on the
fact that transport distances longer than the assumed maximum
of 40 km would render larger plants uneconomic. In contrast,
another study based on dedicated energy crops in Brazil and
the United States estimated that economies of scale outweigh
the extra costs of transporting biomass over long distances.
This study found that plant capacities of hundreds of MWe were
feasible (Marrison and Larson, 1995). Other studies have come
up with similar findings (Dornburg and Faaij, 2001; Hamelinck
and Faaij, 2002). A recent study analyzed a variety of options
including both electricity and synthetic fuel production and
indicated that large plants processing about 1000 MWth of
biomass would tend to be preferred for dedicated energy crops

101

Chapter 2: Sources of CO2

in the United States (Greene et al., 2004).
The size of future emission sources from bioenergy options
depends to a large degree on local circumstances and the extent
to which economic forces and/or public policies will encourage
the development of dedicated energy crops. The projections of
annual global biomass energy use rise from 1260 EJ by 2020,
to 70190 EJ per year by 2050, and to 120380 EJ by 2100 in
the SRES Marker Scenarios (IPCC, 2000), showing that many
global energy modellers expect that dedicated energy crops
may well become more and more important during the course
of this century. So if bioenergy systems prove to be viable at
scales suitable for CO2 capture and storage, then the negative
emissions potential of biomass (see Chapter 8) might, during
the course of this century, become globally important. However,
it is currently unclear to what extent it will be feasible to exploit
this potential, both because of the uncertainties about the scale
of bioenergy conversion and the extent to which dedicated
biomass energy crops will play a role in the energy economy of
the future.
In summary, based on the available literature, it is not
possible at this stage to make reliable quantitative statements on
number of biomass energy production plants that will be built in
the future or the likely size of their CO2 emissions.
2.6

Gaps in knowledge

Whilst it is possible to determine emission source data for the

year 2000 (CO2 concentration and point source geographical
location) with a reasonable degree of accuracy for most
industrial sectors, it is more difficult to predict the future location
of emission point sources. Whilst all projections indicate
there will be an increase in CO2 emissions, determining the
actual locations for new plants currently remains a subjective
business.
A detailed description of the storage capacity for the
worlds sedimentary basins is required. Although capacity
estimates have been made, they do not yet constitute a full
resource assessment. Such information is essential to establish
a better picture of the existing opportunities for storing the CO2
generated at large point sources. At present, only a simplistic
assessment is possible based on the limited data about the
storage capacity currently available in sedimentary basins.
An analysis of the storage potential in the ocean for
emissions from large point sources was not possible because
detailed mapping indicating the relationship between storage
locations in the oceans and point source emissions has not yet
been carefully assessed.
This chapter highlights the fact that fossil fuel-based
hydrogen production from large centralized plants will
potentially result in the generation of more high-concentration
emission sources. However, it is not currently possible to
predict with any accuracy the number of these point sources
in the future, or when they will be established, because of
market development uncertainties surrounding hydrogen as
an energy carrier. For example, before high-concentration CO2
sources associated with hydrogen production for energy can

be exploited, cost-effective end-use technologies for hydrogen

(e.g., low-temperature fuel cells) must be readily available on
the market. In addition, it is expected that it will take decades
to build a hydrogen infrastructure that will bring the hydrogen
from large centralized sources (where CCS is practical) to
consumers.
Synthetic liquid fuels production or the co-production of
liquid fuels and electricity via the gasification of coal or other
solid feedstocks or petroleum residuals can also lead to the
generation of concentrated streams of CO2. It is unclear at the
present time to what extent such synthetic fuels will be produced
as alternatives to crude-oil-derived hydrocarbon fuels. The coproduction options, which seem especially promising, require
market reforms that make it possible to co-produce electricity
at a competitive market price.
During the course of this century, biomass energy systems
might become significant new large CO2 sources, but this
depends on the extent to which bioenergy conversion will take
place in large plants, and the global significance of this option
may well depend critically on the extent to which dedicated
energy crops are pursued.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

105

Capture of CO2

Coordinating Lead Authors

Kelly (Kailai) Thambimuthu (Australia and Canada), Mohammad Soltanieh (Iran), Juan Carlos Abanades
(Spain)
Lead Authors
Rodney Allam (United Kingdom), Olav Bolland (Norway), John Davison (United Kingdom), Paul Feron
(The Netherlands), Fred Goede (South Africa), Alyce Herrera (Philippines), Masaki Iijima (Japan), Danil
Jansen (The Netherlands), Iosif Leites (Russian Federation), Philippe Mathieu (Belgium), Edward Rubin
(United States), Dale Simbeck (United States), Krzysztof Warmuzinski (Poland), Michael Wilkinson
(United Kingdom), Robert Williams (United States)
Contributing Authors
Manfred Jaschik (Poland), Anders Lyngfelt (Sweden), Roland Span (Germany), Marek Tanczyk (Poland)
Review Editors
Ziad Abu-Ghararah (Saudi Arabia), Tatsuaki Yashima (Japan)

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

107

3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 The basis for CO2 capture
3.1.2 CO2 capture systems
3.1.3 Types of CO2 capture technologies
3.1.4 Application of CO2 capture

108
108
108
109
110

3.2 Industrial process capture systems

3.2.1 Introduction
3.2.2 Natural gas sweetening
3.2.3 Steel production
3.2.4 Cement production
3.2.5 Ammonia production
3.2.6 Status and outlook

111
111
111
112
113
113
113

3.3
3.3.1
3.3.2
3.3.3
3.3.4

113
113
114
118
121

Post-combustion capture systems

Introduction
Existing technologies
Emerging technologies
Status and outlook

3.4
3.4.1
3.4.2
3.4.3
3.4.4
3.4.5

Oxy-fuel combustion capture systems

Introduction
Oxy-fuel indirect heating - steam cycle
Oxy-fuel direct heating - gas turbine cycle
Oxy-fuel direct heating - steam turbine cycle
Techniques and improvements in oxygen
production
3.4.6 Chemical looping combustion
3.4.7 Status and outlook

122
122
122
125
126

3.5
3.5.1
3.5.2
3.5.3
3.5.4
3.5.5

130
130
130
136
138
140

Pre-combustion capture systems

Introduction
Existing technologies
Emerging technologies
Enabling technologies
Status and outlook

127
129
130

3.6 Environmental, monitoring, risk and legal

aspects of capture systems
141
3.6.1 Emissions and resource use impacts of CO2 capture
systems
141
3.6.2 Issues related to the classification of carbon
dioxide as a product
145
3.6.3 Health and safety risks associated with carbon
dioxide processing
145
3.6.4 Plant design principles and guidelines used by
governments, industries and financiers
145
3.6.5 Commissioning, good practice during operations
and sound management of chemicals
146
3.6.6 Site closure and remediation
146
3.7
3.7.1
3.7.2
3.7.3
3.7.4
3.7.5

Cost of CO2 capture

Factors affecting CO2 capture cost
Measures of CO2 capture cost
The context for current cost estimates
Overview of technologies and systems evaluated
Post-combustion CO2 capture cost for electric
power plants (current technology)
3.7.6 Pre-combustion CO2 capture cost for electric
power plants (current technology)
3.7.7 CO2 capture cost for hydrogen production and
multi-product plants (current technology)
3.7.8 Capture costs for other industrial processes
(current technology)
3.7.9 Outlook for future CO2 capture costs
3.7.10 CO2 capture costs for electric power plants
(advanced technology)
3.7.11 CO2 capture costs for hydrogen production and
multi-product plants (advanced technology)
3.7.12 CO2 capture costs for other industrial processes
(advanced technology)
3.7.13 Summary of CO2 capture cost estimates

158

3.8

170

Gaps in knowledge

References

146
146
147
149
150
150
155

161
163
163
166
168
168

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Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Executive Summary
The purpose of CO2 capture is to produce a concentrated stream
that can be readily transported to a CO2 storage site. CO2 capture
and storage is most applicable to large, centralized sources
like power plants and large industries. Capture technologies
also open the way for large-scale production of low-carbon or
carbon-free electricity and fuels for transportation, as well as
for small-scale or distributed applications. The energy required
to operate CO2 capture systems reduces the overall efficiency of
power generation or other processes, leading to increased fuel
requirements, solid wastes and environmental impacts relative
to the same type of base plant without capture. However, as
more efficient plants with capture become available and replace
many of the older less efficient plants now in service, the
net impacts will be compatible with clean air emission goals
for fossil fuel use. Minimization of energy requirements for
capture, together with improvements in the efficiency of energy
conversion processes will continue to be high priorities for
future technology development in order to minimize overall
environmental impacts and cost.
At present, CO2 is routinely separated at some large
industrial plants such as natural gas processing and ammonia
production facilities, although these plants remove CO2 to
meet process demands and not for storage. CO2 capture also
has been applied to several small power plants. However,
there have been no applications at large-scale power plants of
several hundred megawatts, the major source of current and
projected CO2 emissions. There are three main approaches to
CO2 capture, for industrial and power plant applications. Postcombustion systems separate CO2 from the flue gases produced
by combustion of a primary fuel (coal, natural gas, oil or
biomass) in air. Oxy-fuel combustion uses oxygen instead of
air for combustion, producing a flue gas that is mainly H2O and
CO2 and which is readily captured. This is an option still under
development. Pre-combustion systems process the primary fuel
in a reactor to produce separate streams of CO2 for storage and
H2 which is used as a fuel. Other industrial processes, including
processes for the production of low-carbon or carbon-free fuels,
employ one or more of these same basic capture methods. The
monitoring, risk and legal aspects associated with CO2 capture
systems appear to present no new challenges, as they are all
elements of long-standing health, safety and environmental
control practice in industry.
For all of the aforementioned applications, we reviewed
recent studies of the performance and cost of commercial or
near-commercial technologies, as well as that of newer CO2
capture concepts that are the subject of intense R&D efforts
worldwide. For power plants, current commercial CO2 capture
systems can reduce CO2 emissions by 80-90% kWh-1 (8595% capture efficiency). Across all plant types the cost of
electricity production (COE) increases by 12-36 US$ MWh-1
(US$ 0.012-0.036 kWh-1) over a similar type of plant without
capture, corresponding to a 40-85% increase for a supercritical
pulverized coal (PC) plant, 35-70% for a natural gas combined
cycle (NGCC) plant and 20-55% for an integrated gasification

107
combined cycle (IGCC) plant using bituminous coal. Overall
the COE for fossil fuel plants with capture, ranges from 43-86
US$ MWh-1, with the cost per tonne of CO2 ranging from 1157 US$/tCO2 captured or 13-74 US$/tCO2 avoided (depending
on plant type, size, fuel type and a host of other factors). These
costs include CO2 compression but not additional transport
and storage costs. NGCC systems typically have a lower COE
than new PC and IGCC plants (with or without capture) for
gas prices below about 4 US$ GJ-1. Most studies indicate that
IGCC plants are slightly more costly without capture and
slightly less costly with capture than similarly sized PC plants,
but the differences in cost for plants with CO2 capture can vary
with coal type and other local factors. The lowest CO2 capture
costs (averaging about 12 US$/t CO2 captured or 15 US$/tCO2
avoided) were found for industrial processes such as hydrogen
production plants that produce concentrated CO2 streams as part
of the current production process; such industrial processes may
represent some of the earliest opportunities for CO2 Capture
and Storage (CCS). In all cases, CO2 capture costs are highly
dependent upon technical, economic and financial factors
related to the design and operation of the production process
or power system of interest, as well as the design and operation
of the CO2 capture technology employed. Thus, comparisons
of alternative technologies, or the use of CCS cost estimates,
require a specific context to be meaningful.
New or improved methods of CO2 capture, combined with
advanced power systems and industrial process designs, can
significantly reduce CO2 capture costs and associated energy
requirements. While there is considerable uncertainty about the
magnitude and timing of future cost reductions, this assessment
suggests that improvements to commercial technologies can
reduce CO2 capture costs by at least 20-30% over approximately
the next decade, while new technologies under development
promise more substantial cost reductions. Realization of future
cost reductions, however, will require deployment and adoption
of commercial technologies in the marketplace as well as
sustained R&D.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 3.1 CO2 capture systems (adapted from BP).

3.1 Introduction
3.1.1

The basis for CO2 capture

The main application of CO2 capture is likely to be at large

point sources: fossil fuel power plants, fuel processing plants
and other industrial plants, particularly for the manufacture of
iron, steel, cement and bulk chemicals, as discussed in Chapter
2.
Capturing CO2 directly from small and mobile sources in the
transportation and residential & commercial building sectors is
expected to be more difficult and expensive than from large point
sources. Small-scale capture is therefore not further discussed
in this chapter. An alternative way of avoiding emissions of
CO2 from these sources would be by use of energy carriers such
as hydrogen or electricity produced in large fossil fuel-based
plants with CO2 capture or by using renewable energy sources.
Production of hydrogen with CO2 capture is included in this
chapter.
The possibility of CO2 capture from ambient air (Lackner,
2003) is not discussed in this chapter because the CO2
concentration in ambient air is around 380 ppm, a factor
of 100 or more lower than in flue gas. Capturing CO2 from
air by the growth of biomass and its use in industrial plants
with CO2 capture is more cost-effective based on foreseeable
technologies, and is included in this chapter.
In an analysis of possible future scenarios for anthropogenic
greenhouse-gas emissions it is implicit that technological
innovations will be one of the key factors which determines
our future path (Section 2.5.3). Therefore this chapter deals not

only with application of existing technology for CO2 capture,

but describes many new processes under development which
may result in lower CO2 capture costs in future.
3.1.2

CO2 capture systems

There are four basic systems for capturing CO2 from use of
fossil fuels and/or biomass:
Capture from industrial process streams (described in
Section 3.2);
Post-combustion capture (described in Section 3.3);
Oxy-fuel combustion capture (described in Section 3.4);
Pre-combustion capture (described in Section 3.5).
These systems are shown in simplified form in Figure 3.1.
3.1.2.1 Capture from industrial process streams
CO2 has been captured from industrial process streams for
80 years (Kohl and Nielsen, 1997), although most of the CO2
that is captured is vented to the atmosphere because there is
no incentive or requirement to store it. Current examples of
CO2 capture from process streams are purification of natural
gas and production of hydrogen-containing synthesis gas for
the manufacture of ammonia, alcohols and synthetic liquid
fuels. Most of the techniques employed for CO2 capture in
the examples mentioned are also similar to those used in precombustion capture. Other industrial process streams which
are a source of CO2 that is not captured include cement and
steel production, and fermentation processes for food and drink
production. CO2 could be captured from these streams using

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Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

techniques that are common to post-combustion capture, oxyfuel combustion capture and pre-combustion capture (see below
and Section 3.2).
3.1.2.2 Post-combustion capture
Capture of CO2 from flue gases produced by combustion of
fossil fuels and biomass in air is referred to as post-combustion
capture. Instead of being discharged directly to the atmosphere,
flue gas is passed through equipment which separates most of
the CO2. The CO2 is fed to a storage reservoir and the remaining
flue gas is discharged to the atmosphere. A chemical sorbent
process as described in Section 3.1.3.1 would normally be used
for CO2 separation. Other techniques are also being considered
but these are not at such an advanced stage of development.
Besides industrial applications, the main systems of
reference for post-combustion capture are the current installed
capacity of 2261 GWe of oil, coal and natural gas power plants
(IEA WEO, 2004) and in particular, 155 GWe of supercritical
pulverized coal fired plants (IEA CCC, 2005) and 339 GWe of
natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants, both representing
the types of high efficiency power plant technology where CO2
capture can be best applied (see Sections 3.3 and 3.7).
3.1.2.3 Oxy-fuel combustion capture
In oxy-fuel combustion, nearly pure oxygen is used for
combustion instead of air, resulting in a flue gas that is mainly
CO2 and H2O. If fuel is burnt in pure oxygen, the flame
temperature is excessively high, but CO2 and/or H2O-rich
flue gas can be recycled to the combustor to moderate this.
Oxygen is usually produced by low temperature (cryogenic)
air separation and novel techniques to supply oxygen to the
fuel, such as membranes and chemical looping cycles are being
developed. The power plant systems of reference for oxy-fuel
combustion capture systems are the same as those noted above
for post-combustion capture systems.
3.1.2.4 Pre-combustion capture
Pre-combustion capture involves reacting a fuel with oxygen
or air and/or steam to give mainly a synthesis gas (syngas) or
fuel gas composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The
carbon monoxide is reacted with steam in a catalytic reactor,
called a shift converter, to give CO2 and more hydrogen. CO2
is then separated, usually by a physical or chemical absorption
process, resulting in a hydrogen-rich fuel which can be used
in many applications, such as boilers, furnaces, gas turbines,
engines and fuel cells. These systems are considered to be
strategically important (see Section 3.5) but the power plant
systems of reference today are 4 GWe of both oil and coal-based,
integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC) which are
around 0.1% of total installed capacity worldwide (3719 GWe;
IEA WEO, 2004). Other reference systems for the application
of pre-combustion capture include substantially more capacity
than that identified above for IGCC in existing natural gas, oil
and coal-based syngas/hydrogen production facilities and other
types of industrial systems described in more detail in Sections
3.2 and 3.5.

3.1.3

Types of CO2 capture technologies

CO2 capture systems use many of the known technologies for

gas separation which are integrated into the basic systems for
CO2 capture identified in the last section. A summary of these
separation methods is given below while further details are
available in standard textbooks.
3.1.3.1 Separation with sorbents/solvents
The separation is achieved by passing the CO2-containing gas
in intimate contact with a liquid absorbent or solid sorbent that
is capable of capturing the CO2. In the general scheme of Figure
3.2a, the sorbent loaded with the captured CO2 is transported to
a different vessel, where it releases the CO2 (regeneration) after
being heated, after a pressure decrease or after any other change
in the conditions around the sorbent. The sorbent resulting after
the regeneration step is sent back to capture more CO2 in a cyclic
process. In some variants of this scheme the sorbent is a solid
and does not circulate between vessels because the sorption
and regeneration are achieved by cyclic changes (in pressure
or temperature) in the vessel where the sorbent is contained. A
make-up flow of fresh sorbent is always required to compensate
for the natural decay of activity and/or sorbent losses. In some
situations, the sorbent may be a solid oxide which reacts in a
vessel with fossil fuel or biomass producing heat and mainly
CO2 (see Section 3.4.6). The spent sorbent is then circulated to a
second vessel where it is re-oxidized in air for reuse with some
loss and make up of fresh sorbent.
The general scheme of Figure 3.2 governs many important
CO2 capture systems, including leading commercial options like
chemical absorption and physical absorption and adsorption.
Other emerging processes based on new liquid sorbents, or
new solid regenerable sorbents are being developed with the
aim of overcoming the limitations of the existing systems.
One common problem of these CO2 capture systems is that
the flow of sorbent between the vessels of Figure 3.2a is large
because it has to match the huge flow of CO2 being processed
in the power plant. Therefore, equipment sizes and the energy
required for sorbent regeneration are large and tend to translate
into an important efficiency penalty and added cost. Also, in
systems using expensive sorbent materials there is always a
danger of escalating cost related to the purchase of the sorbent
and the disposal of sorbent residues. Good sorbent performance
under high CO2 loading in many repetitive cycles is obviously
a necessary condition in these CO2 capture systems.
3.1.3.2 Separation with membranes
Membranes (Figure 3.2b) are specially manufactured materials
that allow the selective permeation of a gas through them. The
selectivity of the membrane to different gases is intimately
related to the nature of the material, but the flow of gas through
the membrane is usually driven by the pressure difference
across the membrane. Therefore, high-pressure streams are
usually preferred for membrane separation. There are many
different types of membrane materials (polymeric, metallic,
ceramic) that may find application in CO2 capture systems to

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 3.2 General schemes of the main separation processes relevant for CO2 capture. The gas removed in the separation may be CO2, H2 or O2.
In Figures 3.2b and 3.2c one of the separated gas streams (A and B) is a concentrated stream of CO2, H2 or O2 and the other is a gas stream with
all the remaining gases in the original gas (A+B).

preferentially separate H2 from a fuel gas stream, CO2 from a

range of process streams or O2 from air with the separated O2
subsequently aiding the production of a highly concentrated
CO2 stream. Although membrane separation finds many current
commercial applications in industry (some of a large scale,
like CO2 separation from natural gas) they have not yet been
applied for the large scale and demanding conditions in terms
of reliability and low-cost required for CO2 capture systems.
A large worldwide R&D effort is in progress aimed at the
manufacture of more suitable membrane materials for CO2
capture in large-scale applications.
3.1.3.3

Distillation of a liquefied gas stream and

refrigerated separation
A gas can be made liquid by a series of compression, cooling
and expansion steps. Once in liquid form, the components of
the gas can be separated in a distillation column. In the case
of air, this operation is currently carried out commercially on
a large scale. Oxygen can be separated from air following the
scheme of Figure 3.2c and be used in a range of CO2 capture
systems (oxy-fuel combustion and pre-combustion capture). As
in the previous paragraphs, the key issue for these systems is

the large flow of oxygen required. Refrigerated separation can

also be used to separate CO2 from other gases. It can be used
to separate impurities from relatively high purity CO2 streams,
for example, from oxy-fuel combustion and for CO2 removal
from natural gas or synthesis gas that has undergone a shift
conversion of CO to CO2.
3.1.4

Application of CO2 capture

The CO2 capture systems shown in Figure 3.1 can be crossreferenced with the different separation technologies of Figure
3.2, resulting in a capture toolbox. Table 3.1 gives an overview
of both current and emerging technologies in this toolbox. In the
next sections of this chapter a more detailed description of all
these technological options will be given, with more emphasis
on the most developed technologies for which the CO2 capture
cost can be estimated most reliably. These leading commercial
options are shown in bold in Table 3.1. An overview of the
diverse range of emerging options being investigated worldwide
for CO2 capture applications will also be provided. All of these
options are aimed at more efficient and lower cost CO2-capture
systems (compared with the leading options). It is important

111

Ryan-Holmes
Liquefaction
Hybrid processes
Distillation
Improved distillation
Liquefaction
Hybrid processes
process
a
Notes: Processes shown in bold are commercial processes that are currently preferred in most circumstances. Some process streams involve CO2/H2 or CO2/N2 separations but this is covered under
pre-combustion capture and post-combustion capture. The key separation processes are outlined in Section 3.1.3 and described in Sections 3.2-3.5.

Zeolites
Activated carbon
Alumina
Adsorbents for O2/N2
separation,
Perovskites
Oxygen chemical
looping
Zeolites
Activated
carbon
Carbonates
Carbon based
sorbents
Zeolites
Activated
carbon
Zeolites
Activated carbon
Solid sorbents

Cryogenic

Polymeric
Ion transport
membranes
Facilitated transport
Polymeric
Ceramic
Facilitated transport
Carbon
Contactors
Polymeric
Ceramic
Facilitated transport
Carbon
Contactors
Membranes

Solvents
(Absorption)

Capture
Technologies

Chemical
solvents

Polymeric

Improved solvents
Novel contacting
equipment
Improved design of
processes
Chemical
solvents
Improved solvents
Novel contacting
equipment
Improved design of
processes
Physical solvents

Emerging
Emerging
Current

Current

n. a.

Carbonates Hydrotalcites
Silicates

Improved chemical solvents

Novel contacting equipment
Improved design of processes
Physical solvent
Chemical solvents
Biomimetic solvents,
e.g. hemoglobinederivatives

Ceramic
Palladium
Reactors
Contactors

Emerging
Current

CO2/H2
O2/N2
CO2/N2

Current

Pre-combustion capture
Oxy-fuel combustion capture
Post-combustion capture

CO2/CH4

Process streamsa
Separation task

Table 3.1 Capture toolbox.

Emerging

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

to understand that this wide variety of approaches for CO2

capture will tend to settle with time as the expected benefits
(and potential weaknesses) in the technological portfolio of
Table 3.1 becomes obvious with new results from current and
future research and demonstration projects. Only a few of these
options will prove truly cost-effective in the medium to long
term.
CO2 capture may be installed in new energy utilization
plants or it may be retrofitted to existing plants. In principle,
if CO2 capture is to be introduced rapidly, it may have to be
retrofitted to some existing plants or these plants would have to
be retired prematurely and replaced by new plants with capture.
Disadvantages of retrofits are:
There may be site constraints such as availability of land for
the capture equipment;
A long remaining plant life may be needed to justify the
large expense of installing capture equipment;
Old plants tend to have low energy efficiencies. Including
CO2 capture will have a proportionally greater impact on the
net output than in high efficiency plants.
To minimize the site constraints, new energy utilization plants
could be built capture-ready, that is with the process design
initially factoring in the changes necessary to add capture and
with sufficient space and facilities made available for simple
installation of CO2 capture at a later date. For some types of
capture retrofit, for example pre-combustion capture and oxyfuel combustion, much of the retrofit equipment could be built
on a separate site if necessary.
The other barriers could be largely overcome by upgrading
or substantially rebuilding the existing plant when capture is
retrofitted. For example, old inefficient boilers and steam turbines
could be replaced by modern, high-efficiency supercritical
boilers and turbines or IGCC plants. As the efficiencies of
power generation technologies are increasing, the efficiency of
the retrofitted plant with CO2 capture could be as high as that of
the original plant without capture.
3.2 Industrial process capture systems
3.2.1

Introduction

There are several industrial applications involving process

streams where the opportunity exists to capture CO2 in large
quantities and at costs lower than from the systems described
in the rest of this chapter. Capture from these sources will not
be the complete answer to the needs of climate change, since
the volumes of combustion-generated CO2 are much higher,
but it may well be the place where the first capture and storage
occurs.
3.2.2

Natural gas sweetening

Natural gas contains different concentration levels of CO2,

depending on its source, which must be removed. Often pipeline
specifications require that the CO2 concentration be lowered to

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

around 2% by volume (although this amount varies in different

places) to prevent pipeline corrosion, to avoid excess energy
for transport and to increase the heating value of the gas.
Whilst accurate figures are published for annual worldwide
natural gas production (BP, 2004), none seem to be published
on how much of that gas may contain CO2. Nevertheless, a
reasonable assumption is that about half of raw natural gas
production contains CO2 at concentrations averaging at least
4% by volume. These figures can be used to illustrate the
scale of this CO2 capture and storage opportunity. If half of the
worldwide production of 2618.5 billion m3 of natural gas in
2003 is reduced in CO2 content from 4 to 2% mol, the resultant
amount of CO2 removed would be at least 50 Mt CO2 yr-1. It is
interesting to note that there are two operating natural gas plants
capturing and storing CO2, BPs In Salah plant in Algeria and
a Statoil plant at Sleipner in the North Sea. Both capture about
1 MtCO2 yr-1 (see Chapter 5). About 6.5 million tCO2 yr-1 from
natural gas sweetening is also currently being used in enhanced
oil recovery (EOR) in the United States (Beecy and Kuuskraa,
2005) where in these commercial EOR projects, a large fraction
of the injected CO2 is also retained underground (see Chapter
5).
Depending on the level of CO2 in natural gas, different
processes for natural gas sweetening (i.e., H2S and CO2
removal) are available (Kohl and Nielsen, 1997 and Maddox
and Morgan, 1998):
Chemical solvents
Physical solvents
Membranes
Natural gas sweetening using various alkanolamines (MEA,
DEA, MDEA, etc.; See Table 3.2), or a mixture of them, is the
most commonly used method. The process flow diagram for CO2
recovery from natural gas is similar to what is presented for flue
gas treatment (see Figure 3.4, Section 3.3.2.1), except that in
natural gas processing, absorption occurs at high pressure, with
subsequent expansion before the stripper column, where CO2
will be flashed and separated. When the CO2 concentration in
natural gas is high, membrane systems may be more economical.
Industrial application of membranes for recovery of CO2 from

natural gas started in the early 1980s for small units, with many
design parameters unknown (Noble and Stern, 1995). It is now
a well-established and competitive technology with advantages
compared to other technologies, including amine treatment
in certain cases (Tabe-Mohammadi, 1999). These advantages
include lower capital cost, ease of skid-mounted installation,
lower energy consumption, ability to be applied in remote areas,
especially offshore and flexibility.
3.2.3

Steel production

The iron and steel industry is the largest energy-consuming

manufacturing sector in the world, accounting for 10-15%
of total industrial energy consumption (IEA GHG, 2000a).
Associated CO2 emissions were estimated at 1442 MtCO2 in
1995. Two types of iron- and steel-making technologies are in
operation today. The integrated steel plant has a typical capacity
of 3-5 Mtonnes yr-1 of steel and uses coal as its basic fuel with,
in many cases, additional natural gas and oil. The mini-mill
uses electric arc furnaces to melt scrap with a typical output of 1
Mtonnes yr-1 of steel and an electrical consumption of 300-350
kWh tonne-1 steel. Increasingly mini-mills blend direct-reduced
iron (DRI) with scrap to increase steel quality. The production
of direct-reduced iron involves reaction of high oxygen content
iron ore with H2 and CO to form reduced iron plus H2O and
CO2. As a result, many of the direct reduction iron processes
could capture a pure CO2 stream.
An important and growing trend is the use of new ironmaking processes, which can use lower grade coal than the
coking coals required for blast furnace operation. A good
example is the COREX process (von Bogdandy et. al, 1989),
which produces a large additional quantity of N2-free fuel gas
which can be used in a secondary operation to convert iron
ore to iron. Complete CO2 capture from this process should be
possible with this arrangement since the CO2 and H2O present
in the COREX top gas must be removed to allow the CO plus
H2 to be heated and used to reduce iron oxide to iron in the
secondary shaft kiln. This process will produce a combination
of molten iron and iron with high recovery of CO2 derived
fromthe coal feed to the COREX process.

Table 3.2 Common solvents used for the removal of CO2 from natural gas or shifted syngas in pre-combustion capture processes.
Solvent name

Type

Physical

Methanol

Chemical name

Vendors

Purisol

Physical

N-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP)

Lurgi, Germany

Benfield

Chemical

Potassium carbonate

Rectisol

Selexol
MEA

MDEA

Sulfinol

Physical

Chemical
Chemical
Chemical

Lurgi and Linde, Germany

Lotepro Corporation, USA

Dimethyl ethers of polyethylene glycol (DMPEG)

Union Carbide, USA

Monoethanolamine

Various

Methyldiethylamine

Tetrahydrothiophene 1,1-dioxide (Sulfolane),

an alkaloamine and water

UOP

BASF and others

Shell

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Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Early opportunities exist for the capture of CO2 emissions
from the iron and steel industry, such as:
CO2 recovery from blast furnace gas and recycle of CO-rich
top gas to the furnace. A minimum quantity of coke is still
required and the blast furnace is fed with a mixture of pure
O2 and recycled top gas. The furnace is, in effect, converted
from air firing to oxy-fuel firing with CO2 capture (see
Section 3.4). This would recover 70% of the CO2 currently
emitted from an integrated steel plant (Dongke et al., 1988).
It would be feasible to retrofit existing blast furnaces with
this process.
Direct reduction of iron ore, using hydrogen derived from
a fossil fuel in a pre-combustion capture step (see Section
3.5) (Duarte and Reich, 1998). Instead of the fuel being
burnt in the furnace and releasing its CO2 to atmosphere,
the fuel would be converted to hydrogen and the CO2 would
be captured during that process. The hydrogen would
then be used as a reduction agent for the iron ore. Capture
rates should be 90-95% according to the design of the precombustion capture technique (see Section 3.5).
Other novel process routes for steel making to which CO2 capture
can be applied are currently in the research and development
phase (Gielen, 2003; IEA, 2004)
3.2.4

Cement production

Emissions of CO2 from the cement industry account for 6% of

the total emissions of CO2 from stationary sources (see Chapter
2). Cement production requires large quantities of fuel to drive
the high temperature, energy-intensive reactions associated
with the calcination of the limestone that is calcium carbonate
being converted to calcium oxide with the evolution of CO2.
At present, CO2 is not captured from cement plants, but
possibilities do exist. The concentration of CO2 in the flue gases
is between 15-30% by volume, which is higher than in flue
gases from power and heat production (3-15% by volume). So,
in principle, the post-combustion technologies for CO2 capture
described in Section 3.3 could be applied to cement production
plants, but would require the additional generation of steam in
a cement plant to regenerate the solvent used to capture CO2.
Oxy-fuel combustion capture systems may also become a
promising technique to recover CO2 (IEA GHG, 1999). Another
emerging option would be the use of calcium sorbents for CO2
capture (see Sections 3.3.3.4 and 3.5.3.5) as calcium carbonate
(limestone) is a raw material already used in cement plants. All
of these capture techniques could be applied to retrofit, or new
plant applications.
3.2.5

Ammonia production

CO2 is a byproduct of ammonia (NH3) production (Leites et al.,

2003); Two main groups of processes are used:
Steam reforming of light hydrocarbons (natural gas, liquefied
petroleum gas, naphtha)
Partial oxidation or gasification of heavy hydrocarbons
(coal, heavy fuel oil, vacuum residue).

Around 85% of ammonia is made by processes in the steam

methane reforming group and so a description of the process is
useful. Although the processes vary in detail, they all comprise
the following steps:
1. Purification of the feed;
2. Primary steam methane reforming (see Section 3.5.2.1);
3. Secondary reforming, with the addition of air, commonly
called auto thermal reforming (see Section 3.5.2.3);
4. Shift conversion of CO and H2O to CO2 and H2;
5. Removal of CO2;
6. Methanation (a process that reacts and removes trace CO
and CO2);
7. Ammonia synthesis.
The removal of CO2 as a pure stream is of interest to this report.
A typical modern plant will use the amine solvent process to
treat 200,000 Nm3 h-1 of gas from the reformer, to produce 72
tonnes h-1 of concentrated CO2 (Apple, 1997). The amount of
CO2 produced in modern plants from natural gas is about 1.27
tCO2/tNH3. Hence, with a world ammonia production of about
100 Mtonnes yr-1, about 127 MtCO2 yr-1 is produced. However,
it should be noted that this is not all available for storage, as
ammonia plants are frequently combined with urea plants,
which are capable of utilizing 70-90% of the CO2. About 0.7
MtCO2 yr-1captured from ammonia plants is currently used
for enhanced oil recovery in the United States (Beecy and
Kuuskraa, 2005) with a large fraction of the injected CO2 being
retained underground (see Chapter 5) in these commercial EOR
projects.
3.2.6

Status and outlook

We have reviewed processes current and potential - that may be

used to separate CO2 in the course of producing another product.
One of these processes, natural gas sweetening, is already being
used in two industrial plants to capture and store about 2 MtCO2
yr-1 for the purpose of climate change mitigation. In the case of
ammonia production, pure CO2 is already being separated. Over
7 MtCO2 yr-1 captured from both natural gas sweetening and
ammonia plants is currently being used in enhanced oil recovery
with some storage (see also Chapter 5) of the injected CO2 in
these commercial EOR projects. Several potential processes for
CO2 capture in steel and cement production exist, but none have
yet been applied. Although the total amount of CO2 that may
be captured from these industrial processes is insignificant in
terms of the scale of the climate change challenge, significance
may arise in that their use could serve as early examples of
solutions that can be applied on larger scale elsewhere.
3.3 Post-combustion capture systems
3.3.1

Introduction

Current anthropogenic CO2 emissions from stationary sources

come mostly from combustion systems such as power plants,

114
cement kilns, furnaces in industries and iron and steel production
plants (see Chapter 2). In these large-scale processes, the direct
firing of fuel with air in a combustion chamber has been (for
centuries, as it is today) the most economic technology to extract
and use the energy contained in the fuel. Therefore, the strategic
importance of post-combustion capture systems becomes
evident when confronted with the reality of todays sources of
CO2 emissions. Chapter 2 shows that any attempt to mitigate
CO2 emissions from stationary sources on a relevant scale using
CO2 capture and storage, will have to address CO2 capture from
combustion systems. All the CO2 capture systems described in
this section are aimed at the separation of CO2 from the flue
gases generated in a large-scale combustion process fired with
fossil fuels. Similar capture systems can also be applied to
biomass fired combustion processes that tend to be used on a
much smaller scale compared to those for fossil fuels.
Flue gases or stack gases found in combustion systems are
usually at atmospheric pressure. Because of the low pressure,
the large presence of nitrogen from air and the large scale of the
units, huge flows of gases are generated, the largest example
of which may be the stack emissions coming from a natural
gas combined cycle power plant having a maximum capacity of
around 5 million normal m3 h-1. CO2 contents of flue gases vary
depending on the type of fuel used (between 3% for a natural
gas combined cycle to less than 15% by volume for a coal-fired
combustion plant See Table 2.1). In principle post-combustion
capture systems can be applied to flue gases produced from
the combustion of any type of fuel. However, the impurities
in the fuel are very important for the design and costing of
the complete plant (Rao and Rubin, 2002). Flue gases coming
from coal combustion will contain not only CO2, N2, O2 and
H2O, but also air pollutants such as SOx, NOx, particulates,
HCl, HF, mercury, other metals and other trace organic and
inorganic contaminants. Figure 3.3 shows a general schematic
of a coal-fired power plant in which additional unit operations
are deployed to remove the air pollutants prior to CO2 capture

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

in an absorption-based process. Although capture of CO2 in
these flue gases is in principle more problematic and energy
intensive than from other gas streams, commercial experience
is available at a sufficiently large scale (see Section 3.3.2) to
provide the basis for cost estimates for post-combustion CO2
capture systems (see Section 3.7). Also, a large R&D effort is
being undertaken worldwide to develop more efficient and lower
cost post-combustion systems (see Section 3.3.3), following all
possible approaches for the CO2 separation step (using sorbents,
membranes or cryogenics; see Section 3.1.3).
3.3.2

Existing technologies

There are several commercially available process technologies

which can in principle be used for CO2 capture from flue gases.
However, comparative assessment studies (Hendriks, 1994;
Riemer and Ormerod, 1995; IEA GHG, 2000b) have shown that
absorption processes based on chemical solvents are currently
the preferred option for post-combustion CO2 capture. At this
point in time, they offer high capture efficiency and selectivity,
and the lowest energy use and costs when compared with
other existing post-combustion capture processes. Absorption
processes have reached the commercial stage of operation for
post-combustion CO2 capture systems, albeit not on the scale
required for power plant flue gases. Therefore, the following
paragraphs are devoted to a review of existing knowledge
of the technology and the key technical and environmental
issues relevant to the application of this currently leading
commercial option for CO2 capture. The fundamentals of the
CO2 separation step using commercial chemical absorption
processes are discussed first. The requirements of flue gas
pretreatment (removal of pollutants other than CO2) and the
energy requirements for regeneration of the chemical solvent
follow.
3.3.2.1

Absorption processes

Figure 3.3 Schematic of a pulverized coal-fired power plant with an amine-based CO2 capture system and other emission controls.

115

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Absorption processes in post-combustion capture make use of
the reversible nature of the chemical reaction of an aqueous
alkaline solvent, usually an amine, with an acid or sour gas.
The process flow diagram of a commercial absorption system is
presented in Figure 3.4. After cooling the flue gas, it is brought
into contact with the solvent in the absorber. A blower is
required to overcome the pressure drop through the absorber. At
absorber temperatures typically between 40 and 60oC, CO2 is
bound by the chemical solvent in the absorber. The flue gas then
undergoes a water wash section to balance water in the system
and to remove any solvent droplets or solvent vapour carried
over, and then it leaves the absorber. It is possible to reduce
CO2 concentration in the exit gas down to very low values, as
a result of the chemical reaction in the solvent, but lower exit
concentrations tend to increase the height of the absorption
vessel. The rich solvent, which contains the chemically bound
CO2 is then pumped to the top of a stripper (or regeneration
vessel), via a heat exchanger. The regeneration of the chemical
solvent is carried out in the stripper at elevated temperatures
(100oC140oC) and pressures not very much higher than
atmospheric pressure. Heat is supplied to the reboiler to
maintain the regeneration conditions. This leads to a thermal
energy penalty as a result of heating up the solvent, providing
the required desorption heat for removing the chemically
bound CO2 and for steam production which acts as a stripping
gas. Steam is recovered in the condenser and fed back to the
stripper, whereas the CO2 product gas leaves the stripper. The
lean solvent, containing far less CO2 is then pumped back to
the absorber via the lean-rich heat exchanger and a cooler to
bring it down to the absorber temperature level.
Figure 3.4 also shows some additional equipment needed
to maintain the solution quality as a result of the formation of

degradation products, corrosion products and the presence of

particles. This is generally done using filters, carbon beds and
a thermally operated reclaimer. Control of degradation and
corrosion has in fact been an important aspect in the development
of absorption processes over the past few decades.
The key parameters determining the technical and economic
operation of a CO2 absorption system are:
Flue gas flow rate - The flue gas flow rate will determine the
size of the absorber and the absorber represents a sizeable
contribution to the overall cost.
CO2 content in flue gas - Since flue gas is usually at
atmospheric pressure, the partial pressure of CO2 will be
as low as 3-15 kPa. Under these low CO2 partial pressure
conditions, aqueous amines (chemical solvents) are the most
suitable absorption solvents (Kohl and Nielsen, 1997).
CO2 removal - In practice, typical CO2 recoveries are between
80% and 95%. The exact recovery choice is an economic
trade-off, a higher recovery will lead to a taller absorption
column, higher energy penalties and hence increased costs.
Solvent flow rate - The solvent flow rate will determine
the size of most equipment apart from the absorber. For a
given solvent, the flow rate will be fixed by the previous
parameters and also the chosen CO2 concentrations within
the lean and the rich solutions.
Energy requirement - The energy consumption of the process
is the sum of the thermal energy needed to regenerate the
solvents and the electrical energy required to operate liquid
pumps and the flue gas blower or fan. Energy is also required
to compress the CO2 recovered to the final pressure required
for transport and storage.

Figure 3.4 Process flow diagram for CO2 recovery from flue gas by chemical absorption.

116
C
ooling requirement - Cooling is needed to bring the flue
gas and solvent temperatures down to temperature levels
required for efficient absorption of CO2. Also, the product
from the stripper will require cooling to recover steam from
the stripping process.
The purity and pressure of CO2 typically recovered from an
amine-based chemical absorption process are as follows (Sander
and Mariz, 1992):
CO2 purity: 99.9% by volume or more (water saturated
conditions)
CO2 pressure: 50 kPa (gauge)
A further CO2 purification step makes it possible to bring the
CO2-quality up to food-grade standard. This is required for use
in beverages and packaging.
Since combustion flue gases are generally at atmospheric
pressure and the CO2 is diluted, the CO2 partial pressure is
very low. Also, flue gas contains oxygen and other impurities;
therefore an important characteristic of an absorption process is
in the proper choice of solvent for the given process duty. High
CO2 loading and low heat of desorption energy are essential
for atmospheric flue gas CO2 recovery. The solvents must also
have low byproduct formation and low decomposition rates, to
maintain solvent performance and to limit the amount of waste
materials produced. The important effect of other contaminants
on the solvent is discussed in Section 3.3.2.2.
The following three absorption processes are commercially
available for CO2 capture in post-combustion systems:
The Kerr-McGee/ABB Lummus Crest Process (Barchas and
Davis, 1992) - This process recovers CO2 from coke and

Figure 3.5 CO2 capture plant in Malaysia using a 200 tonne d1

KEPCO/MHI chemical solvent process (Courtesy of Mitsubishi).

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

coal-fired boilers, delivering CO2 for soda ash and liquid
CO2 preparations. It uses a 15-20% by weight aqueous
MEA (Mono-Ethanolamine) solution. The largest capacity
experienced for this process is 800 tCO2 d-1utilizing two
parallel trains (Arnold et al., 1982).
The Fluor Daniel ECONAMINE Process (Sander and
Mariz, 1992, Chapel et al., 1999) - This process was acquired
by Fluor Daniel Inc. from Dow Chemical Company in 1989.
It is a MEA-based process (30% by weight aqueous solution)
with an inhibitor to resist carbon steel corrosion and is
specifically tailored for oxygen-containing gas streams. It
has been used in many plants worldwide recovering up to
320 tCO2 d-1 in a single train for use in beverage and urea
production.
The Kansai Electric Power Co., Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, Ltd., KEPCO/MHI Process (Mimura et al., 1999
and 2003) - The process is based upon sterically-hindered
amines and already three solvents (KS-1, KS-2 and KS-3)
have been developed. KS-1 was commercialized in a urea
production application. In this process, low amine losses
and low solvent degradation have been noted without the
use of inhibitors or additives. As shown in Figure 3.5, the
first commercial plant at 200 tCO2 d-1 recovery from a flue
gas stream has been operating in Malaysia since 1999 for
urea production (equivalent to the emissions from a 10 MWt
coal-fired power plant)
The performance of the chemical solvent in the operation is
maintained by replacement, filtering and reclaiming, which
leads to a consumables requirement. Typical values for the
solvent consumption are between 0.2 and 1.6 kg/tCO2. In
addition, chemicals are needed to reclaim the amine from
the heat stable salt (typically 0.030.13 kg NaOH/tCO2) and
to remove decomposition products (typically 0.03-0.06 kg
activated carbon/tCO2). The ranges are primarily dependent on
the absorption process, with KS-1 being at the low end of the
range and ECONAMINE at the high end.
3.3.2.2. Flue gas pretreatment
Flue gases from a combustion power plant are usually above
100C, which means that they need to be cooled down to the
temperature levels required for the absorption process. This can
be done in a cooler with direct water contact, which also acts as
a flue gas wash with additional removal of fine particulates.
In addition to the above, flue gas from coal combustion will
contain other acid gas components such as NOx and SOx. Flue
gases from natural gas combustion will normally only contain
NOx. These acidic gas components will, similar to CO2, have
a chemical interaction with the alkaline solvent. This is not
desirable as the irreversible nature of this interaction leads to
the formation of heat stable salts and hence a loss in absorption
capacity of the solvent and the risk of formation of solids in the
solution. It also results in an extra consumption of chemicals
to regenerate the solvent and the production of a waste stream
such as sodium sulphate or sodium nitrate. Therefore, the
pre-removal of NOx and SOx to very low values before CO2

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

recovery becomes essential. For NOx it is the NO2 which leads
to the formation of heat stable salts. Fortunately, the level of
NO2 is mostly less than 10% of the overall NOx content in a flue
gas (Chapel et al., 1999).
The allowable SOx content in the flue gas is primarily
determined by the cost of the solvent - as this is consumed
by reaction with SOx. SO2 concentrations in the flue gas are
typically around 300-5000 ppm. Commercially available
SO2-removal plants will remove up to 98-99%. Amines are
relatively cheap chemicals, but even cheap solvents like MEA
(with a price around 1.25 US$ kg-1 (Rao and Rubin, 2002) may
require SOx concentrations of around 10 ppm, to keep solvent
consumption (around 1.6 kg of MEA/tCO2 separated) and make
up costs at reasonable values, which often means that additional
flue gas desulphurization is needed. The optimal SO2 content,
before the CO2 absorption process is a cost trade-off between
CO2-solvent consumption and SO2-removal costs. For the
Kerr-Mcgee/ABB Lummus Crest Technology, SO2-removal is
typically not justified for SO2 levels below 50 ppm (Barchas
and Davis, 1992). For the Fluor Daniel Econamine FG process a
maximum of 10 ppm SO2 content is generally set as the feed
gas specification (Sander and Mariz, 1992). This can be met
by using alkaline salt solutions in a spray scrubber (Chapel et
al., 1999). A SO2 scrubber might also double as a direct contact
cooler to cool down the flue gas.
Careful attention must also be paid to fly ash and soot present
in the flue gas, as they might plug the absorber if contaminants
levels are too high. Often the requirements of other flue gas
treatment are such that precautions have already been taken.
In the case of CO2 recovery from a coal-fired boiler flue gas,
the plant typically has to be equipped with a DeNOx unit, an
electrostatic precipitator or a bag house filter and a DeSOx or
flue gas desulphurization unit as part of the environmental
protection of the power plant facilities. In some cases, these
environmental protection facilities are not enough to carry out
deep SOx removal up to the 1-2 ppm level sometimes needed
to minimize solvent consumption and its reclamation from
sticking of solvent wastes on reclaimer tube surfaces.
3.3.2.3 Power generation efficiency penalty in CO2 capture
A key feature of post-combustion CO2 capture processes based
on absorption is the high energy requirement and the resulting
efficiency penalty on power cycles. This is primarily due to the
heat necessary to regenerate the solvent, steam use for stripping
and to a lesser extent the electricity required for liquid pumping,
the flue gas fan and finally compression of the CO2 product.
Later in this chapter, Sections 3.6 and 3.7 present summaries of
CO2 capture energy requirements for a variety of power systems
and discuss the environmental and economic implications of
these energy demands.
In principle, the thermal energy for the regeneration process
can be supplied by an auxiliary boiler in a retrofit situation.
Most studies, however, focus on an overall process in which
the absorption process is integrated into the power plant. The
heat requirement is at such levels that low-pressure steam,
for example condensing at 0.3 MPa(g), can be used in the

117
reboiler. The steam required for the regeneration process is then
extracted from the steam cycle in the power plant. For a coalfired power station, low-pressure steam will be extracted prior
to the last expansion stage of the steam turbine. For a natural
gas fired combined cycle, low-pressure steam will be extracted
from the last stage in the heat recovery steam generator. Some
of this heat can be recovered by preheating the boiler feed
water (Hendriks, 1994). Values for the heat requirement for the
leading absorption technologies are between 2.7 and 3.3 GJ/
tCO2, depending on the solvent process. Typical values for the
electricity requirement are between 0.06 and 0.11 GJ/tCO2 for
post-combustion capture in coal- fired power plants and 0.21
and 0.33 GJ/tCO2 for post-combustion capture in natural gas
fired combined cycles. Compression of the CO2 to 110 bar will
require around 0.4 GJ/tCO2 (IEA GHG, 2004).
Integration of the absorption process with an existing power
plant will require modifications of the low-pressure part of the
steam cycle, as a sizeable fraction of the steam will be extracted
and hence will not be available to produce power (Nsakala et
al., 2001, Mimura et al.,1995, Mimura et al., 1997). To limit
the required modifications, small back-pressure steam turbines
using medium pressure steam to drive the flue gas fan and boiler
feed water pumps can be used. The steam is then condensed in
the reboiler (Mimura et al., 1999). Furthermore, in power plants
based on steam cycles more than 50% thermal energy in the
steam cycle is disposed off in the steam condenser. If the steam
cycle system and CO2 recovery can be integrated, part of the
waste heat disposed by the steam condenser can be utilized for
regeneration of the chemical solvent.
The reduction of the energy penalty is, nevertheless, closely
linked to the chosen solvent system. The IEA Greenhouse
Programme (IEA GHG) has carried out performance assessments
of power plants with post-combustion capture of CO2, taking
into consideration the most recent improvements in postcombustion CO2 capture processes identified by technology
licensors (IEA GHG, 2004). In this study, Mitsui Babcock
Energy Ltd. and Alstom provided information on the use of a
high efficiency, ultra-supercritical steam cycle (29 MPa, 600C,
620C reheat) boiler and steam turbine for a coal-fired power
plant, while for the NGCC case, a combined cycle using a
GE 9FA gas turbine was adopted. Fluor provided information
on the Fluor Econamine + process based on MEA, and MHI
provided information on KEPCO/MHI process based on the
KS-1 solvent for CO2 capture. CO2 leaving these systems were
compressed to a pressure of 11 MPa. The overall net power
plant efficiencies with and without CO2 capture are shown in
Figure 3.6, while Figure 3.7 shows the efficiency penalty for
CO2 capture. Overall, results from this study show that the
efficiency penalty for post-combustion capture in coal and gas
fired plant is lower for KEPCO/MHIs CO2 absorption process.
For the purpose of comparison, the performance of power plants
with pre-combustion and oxy-fuel capture, based on the same
standard set of plant design criteria are also shown in Figures
3.6 and 3.7.

118

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 3.6 Thermal efficiencies of power plants with and without CO2 capture, % LHV-basis (Source data: Davison 2005, IEA GHG 2004, IEA
GHG 2003; IEA GHG, 2000b; Dillon et al., 2005).
a. The efficiencies are based on a standard set of plant design criteria (IEA GHG, 2004).
b. The coal steam cycle plants, including the post-combustion capture and oxy-fuel plants, are based on ultra-supercritical steam (29MPa, 600C
superheat, 620C reheat). The IGCC and natural gas pre- and post-combustion capture plants are based on GE 9FA gas turbine combined
cycles. The natural gas oxy-fuel plant is based on a CO2 recycle gas turbine, as shown in Figure 3.10, with different operating pressures and
temperatures but similar mechanical design criteria to that of the 9FA.
c. Data are presented for two types of post-combustion capture solvent: MEA (Fluor plant designs) and KS-1 (MHI plant designs). The solvent
desorption heat consumptions are 3.2 and 2.7 MJ/kgCO2 captured respectively for the coal plants and 3.7 and 2.7 MJ kg1 for the natural gas
plants.
d. Data are presented for IGCC plants based on two types of gasifier: the Shell dry feed/heat recovery boiler type and the GE (formerly Texaco)
slurry feed water quench type.
e. The natural gas pre-combustion capture plant is based on partial oxidation using oxygen.
f. The oxy-fuel plants include cryogenic removal of some of the impurities from the CO2 during compression. Electricity consumption for
oxygen production by cryogenic distillation of air is 200 kWh/ tO2 at atmospheric pressure for the coal plant and 320 kWh/ tO2 at 40 bar for
the natural gas plant. Oxygen production in the IGCC and natural gas pre-combustion capture plants is partially integrated with the gas turbine
compressor, so comparable data cannot be provided for these plants.
g. The percentage CO2 capture is 8590% for all plants except the natural gas oxy-fuel plant which has an inherently higher percentage capture
of 97%.

3.3.2.4 Effluents
As a result of decomposition of amines, effluents will be
created, particularly ammonia and heat-stable salts. Rao and
Rubin (2002) have estimated these emissions for an MEA-based
process based on limited data. In such processes, heat stable
salts (solvent decomposition products, corrosion products etc.)
are removed from the solution in a reclaimer and a waste stream
is created and is disposed of using normal HSE (Health, Safety
and Environmental) practices. In some cases, these reclaimer
bottoms may be classified as a hazardous waste, requiring
special handling (Rao and Rubin, 2002). Also a particle filter and
carbon filter is normally installed in the solvent circuit to remove
byproducts. Finally, some solvent material will be lost to the
environment through evaporation and carry over in the absorber,
which is accounted for in the solvent consumption. It is expected
that acid gases other than CO2, which are still present in the flue
gas (SOx and NO2) will also be absorbed in the solution. This
will lower the concentration of these components further and
even the net emissions in some cases depending on the amount
of additional energy use for CO2 capture (see Tables 3.4 and 3.5).
As SO2-removal prior to CO2-removal is very likely in coal-fired
plants, this will lead to the production of a waste or byproduct
stream containing gypsum and water from the FGD unit.

3.3.3

Emerging technologies

3.3.3.1 Other absorption process

Various novel solvents are being investigated, with the object
of achieving a reduced energy consumption for solvent
regeneration (Chakma, 1995; Chakma and Tontiwachwuthikul,
1999; Mimura et al., 1999; Zheng et al., 2003; Cullinane and
Rochelle, 2003; Leites, 1998; Erga et al., 1995; Aresta and
Dibenedetto, 2003; Bai and Yeh, 1997).
Besides novel solvents, novel process designs are also
currently becoming available (Leites et al. 2003). Research is
also being carried out to improve upon the existing practices
and packing types (Aroonwilas et al., 2003). Another area of
research is to increase the concentration levels of aqueous MEA
solution used in absorption systems as this tends to reduce the
size of equipment used in capture plants (Aboudheir et al.,
2003). Methods to prevent oxidative degradation of MEA
by de-oxygenation of the solvent solutions are also being
investigated (Chakravarti et al., 2001). In addition to this, the
catalytic removal of oxygen in flue gases from coal firing has
been suggested (Nsakala et al., 2001) to enable operation with
promising solvents sensitive to oxygen.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

119

Figure 3.7 Percentage increase in fuel use per kWh of electricity due to CO2 capture, compared to the same plant without capture (Source data:
Davison, 2005; IEA GHG, 2004; IEA GHG, 2003; IEA GHG, 2000b; Dillon et al., 2005).
a. The increase in fuel required to produce a kWh of electricity is calculated by comparing the same type of plant with and without capture. The
increase in fuel consumption depends on the type of baseline plant without capture. For example, the increase in energy consumption for a GE
IGCC plant with capture compared to a coal steam cycle baseline plant without capture would be 40% as opposed to the lower value shown
in the figure that was calculated relative to the same type of baseline plant without capture.
b. The direct energy consumptions for CO2 separation are lower for pre-combustion capture than for post-combustion capture, because CO2 is
removed from a more concentrated, higher pressure gas, so a physical rather than a chemical solvent can be used.
c. The Fuel gas processing and related impacts category for IGCC includes shift conversion of the fuel gas and the effects on the gas turbine
combined cycle of removal of CO2 from the fuel gas and use of hydrogen as a fuel instead of syngas. For natural gas pre-combustion capture
this category also includes partial oxidation/steam reforming of the natural gas.
d. The energy consumption for CO2 compression is lower in pre-combustion capture than in post-combustion capture because some of the CO2
leaves the separation unit at elevated pressure.
e. The energy consumption for CO2 compression in the oxy-fuel processes depends on the composition of the extracted product, namely 75%
by volume in the coal-fired plant and 93% by volume in the gas fired plant. Impurities are cryogenically removed from the CO2 during
compression, to give a final CO2 purity of 96% by volume. The energy consumption of the cryogenic CO2 separation unit is included in the
CO2 compression power consumption.
f. The Oxygen production and power plant impacts category for oxy-fuel processes includes the power consumption for oxygen production
and the impacts of CO2 capture on the rest of the power plant, that is excluding CO2 compression and purification. In the coal-fired oxy-fuel
plant, the efficiency of the rest of the power plant increases slightly, for example due to the absence of a flue gas desulphurization (FGD)
unit. The efficiency of the rest of the gas fired oxy-fuel plant decreases because of the change of working fluid in the power cycle from air to
recycled flue gas.

3.3.3.2 Adsorption process

In the adsorption process for flue gas CO2 recovery, molecular
sieves or activated carbons are used in adsorbing CO2. Desorbing
CO2 is then done by the pressure swing operation (PSA) or
temperature swing operation (TSA). Most applications are
associated with pressure swing adsorption (Ishibashi et al., 1999
and Yokoyama, 2003). Much less attention has been focused
on CO2 removal via temperature swing adsorption, as this
technique is less attractive compared to PSA due to the longer
cycle times needed to heat up the bed of solid particles during
sorbent regeneration. For bulk separations at large scales, it is
also essential to limit the length of the unused bed and therefore
opt for faster cycle times.
Adsorption processes have been employed for CO2 removal
from synthesis gas for hydrogen production (see Section
3.5.2.9). It has not yet reached a commercial stage for CO2
recovery from flue gases. The following main R&D activities
have been conducted:
Study of CO2 removal from flue gas of a thermal power
plant by physical adsorption (Ishibashi et al., 1999);

Study of CO2 removal from flue gas of a thermal power

plant by a combined system with pressure swing adsorption
and a super cold separator (Takamura et al., 1999);
Pilot tests on the recovery of CO2 from a coal and oil fired
power plant, using pressure temperature swing adsorption
(PTSA) and an X-type zeolite as an adsorbent (Yokoyama,
2003).
Pilot test results of coal-fired flue gas CO2 recovery by adsorption
processes show that the energy consumption for capture
(blowers and vacuum pumps) has improved from the original
708 kWh/tCO2 to 560 kWh/tCO2. An energy consumption of
560 kWh/tCO2 is equivalent to a loss corresponding to 21% of
the energy output of the power plant. Recovered CO2 purity is
about 99.0% by volume using two stages of a PSA and PTSA
system (Ishibashi et al., 1999).
It can be concluded that based on mathematical models and
data from pilot-scale experimental installations, the design of
a full-scale industrial adsorption process might be feasible. A
serious drawback of all adsorptive methods is the necessity to

120
treat the gaseous feed before CO2 separation in an adsorber.
Operation at high temperature with other sorbents (see Section
3.3.3.4) can circumvent this requirement (Sircar and Golden,
2001). In many cases gases have to be also cooled and dried,
which limits the attractiveness of PSA, TSA or ESA (electric
swing adsorption) vis--vis capture by chemical absorption
described in previous sections. The development of a new
generation of materials that would efficiently adsorb CO2
will undoubtedly enhance the competitiveness of adsorptive
separation in a flue gas application.
3.3.3.3 Membranes
Membrane processes are used commercially for CO2 removal
from natural gas at high pressure and at high CO2 concentration
(see Section 3.2.2). In flue gases, the low CO2 partial pressure
difference provides a low driving force for gas separation.
The removal of carbon dioxide using commercially available
polymeric gas separation membranes results in higher energy
penalties on the power generation efficiency compared to a
standard chemical absorption process (Herzog et al., 1991, Van
der Sluijs et al., 1992 and Feron, 1994). Also, the maximum
percentage of CO2 removed is lower than for a standard
chemical absorption processes. Improvements can be made if
more selective membranes become available, such as facilitated
membranes, described below.
The membrane option currently receiving the most attention
is a hybrid membrane absorbent (or solvent) system. These
systems are being developed for flue gas CO2 recovery.
Membrane/solvent systems employ membranes to provide
a very high surface area to volume ratio for mass exchange
between a gas stream and a solvent resulting in a very compact
system. This results in a membrane contactor system in which
the membrane forms a gas permeable barrier between a liquid
and a gaseous phase. In general, the membrane is not involved
in the separation process. In the case of porous membranes,
gaseous components diffuse through the pores and are absorbed
by the liquid; in cases of non-porous membranes they dissolve in
the membrane and diffuse through the membrane. The contact
surface area between gas and liquid phase is maintained by the
membrane and is independent of the gas and liquid flow rate.
The selectivity of the partition is primarily determined by the
absorbent (solvent). Absorption in the liquid phase is determined
either by physical partition or by a chemical reaction.
The advantages of membrane/solvent systems are avoidance
of operational problems occurring in conventional solvent
absorption systems (see Section 3.3.2.1) where gas and liquid
flows are in direct contact. Operational problems avoided
include foaming, flooding entrainment and channelling, and
result in the free choice of the gas and liquid flow rates and
a fixed interface for mass transfer in the membrane/solvent
system. Furthermore, the use of compact membranes result
in smaller equipment sizes with capital cost reductions. The
choice of a suitable combination of solvent and membrane
material is very important. The material characteristics should
be such that the transfer of solvent through the membrane is
avoided at operating pressure gradients of typically 50100 kPa,

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

while the transfer of gas is not hindered. The overall process
configuration in terms of unit operations would be very similar
to a conventional chemical absorption/desorption process (see
Figure 3.4). Membrane/solvent systems can be both used in the
absorption as well as in the desorption step. Feron and Jansen
(2002) and Falk-Pedersen et al. (1999) give examples of suitable
membrane/solvent systems.
Research and development efforts have also been reported
in the area of facilitated transport membranes. Facilitated
transport membranes rely on the formation of complexes
or reversible chemical reactions of components present in a
gas stream with compounds present in the membrane. These
complexes or reaction products are then transported through the
membrane. Although solution and diffusion still play a role in
the transport mechanism, the essential element is the specific
chemical interaction of a gas component with a compound in
the membrane, the so-called carrier. Like other pressure driven
membrane processes, the driving force for the separation
comes from a difference in partial pressure of the component
to be transported. An important class of facilitated transport
membranes is the so-called supported liquid membrane in which
the carrier is dissolved into a liquid contained in a membrane.
For CO2 separations, carbonates, amines and molten salt
hydrates have been suggested as carriers (Feron, 1992). Porous
membranes and ion-exchange membranes have been employed
as the support. Until now, supported liquid membranes have
only been studied on a laboratory scale. Practical problems
associated with supported liquid membranes are membrane
stability and liquid volatility. Furthermore, the selectivity for a
gas decreases with increasing partial pressure on the feed side.
This is a result of saturation of the carrier in the liquid. Also, as
the total feed pressure is increased, the permeation of unwanted
components is increased. This also results in a decrease in
selectivity. Finally, selectivity is also reduced by a reduction in
membrane thickness. Recent development work has focused on
the following technological options that are applicable to both
CO2/N2 and CO2/H2 separations:
Amine-containing membranes (Teramoto et al., 1996);
Membranes containing potassium carbonate polymer gel
membranes (Okabe et al., 2003);
Membranes containing potassium carbonate-glycerol
(Chen et al., 1999);
Dendrimer-containing membranes
(Kovvali and Sirkar, 2001).
Poly-electrolyte membranes (Quinn and Laciak, 1997);
Facilitated transport membranes and other membranes can
also be used in a preconcentration step prior to the liquefaction
of CO2 (Mano et al., 2003).
3.3.3.4 Solid sorbents
There are post-combustion systems being proposed that make
use of regenerable solid sorbents to remove CO2 at relatively
high temperatures. The use of high temperatures in the CO2
separation step has the potential to reduce efficiency penalties
with respect to wet-absorption methods. In principle, they all

121

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

follow the scheme shown in Figure 3.2a, where the combustion
flue gas is put in contact with the sorbent in a suitable reactor to
allow the gas-solid reaction of CO2 with the sorbent (usually the
carbonation of a metal oxide). The solid can be easily separated
from the gas stream and sent for regeneration in a different
reactor. Instead of moving the solids, the reactor can also be
switched between sorption and regeneration modes of operation
in a batch wise, cyclic operation. One key component for the
development of these systems is obviously the sorbent itself,
that has to have good CO2 absorption capacity and chemical and
mechanical stability for long periods of operation in repeated
cycles. In general, sorbent performance and cost are critical
issues in all post-combustion systems, and more elaborate
sorbent materials are usually more expensive and will have to
demonstrate outstanding performance compared with existing
commercial alternatives such as those described in 3.3.2.
Solid sorbents being investigated for large-scale CO2 capture
purposes are sodium and potassium oxides and carbonates (to
produce bicarbonate), usually supported on a solid substrate
(Hoffman et al., 2002; Green et al., 2002). Also, high temperature
Li-based and CaO-based sorbents are suitable candidates. The
use of lithium-containing compounds (lithium, lithium-zirconia
and lithium-silica oxides) in a carbonation-calcination cycle,
was first investigated in Japan (Nakagawa and Ohashi, 1998).
The reported performance of these sorbents is very good, with
very high reactivity in a wide range of temperatures below
700C, rapid regeneration at higher temperatures and durability
in repeated capture-regeneration cycles. This is essential
because lithium is an intrinsically expensive material.
The use of CaO as a regenerable CO2 sorbent has been
proposed in several processes dating back to the 19th century.
The carbonation reaction of CaO to separate CO2 from hot gases
(T > 600C) is very fast and the regeneration of the sorbent
by calcining the CaCO3 into CaO and pure CO2 is favoured
at T > 900C (at a partial pressure of CO2 of 0.1 MPa). The
basic separation principle using this carbonation-calcination
cycle was successfully tested in a pilot plant (40 tonne d-1) for
the development of the Acceptor Coal Gasification Process
(Curran et al., 1967) using two interconnected fluidized beds.
The use of the above cycle for a post-combustion system
was first proposed by Shimizu et al. (1999) and involved the
regeneration of the sorbent in a fluidized bed, firing part of
the fuel with O2/CO2 mixtures (see also Section 3.4.2). The
effective capture of CO2 by CaO has been demonstrated in
a small pilot fluidized bed (Abanades et al., 2004a). Other
combustion cycles incorporating capture of CO2 with CaO
that might not need O2 are being developed, including one that
works at high pressures with simultaneous capture of CO2 and
SO2 (Wang et al., 2004). One weak point in all these processes
is that natural sorbents (limestones and dolomites) deactivate
rapidly, and a large make-up flow of sorbent (of the order of
the mass flow of fuel entering the plant) is required to maintain
the activity in the capture-regeneration loop (Abanades et al.,
2004b). Although the deactivated sorbent may find application
in the cement industry and the sorbent cost is low, a range of
methods to enhance the activity of Ca-based CO2 sorbents are

being pursued by several groups around the world.

3.3.4

Status and outlook

Virtually all the energy we use today from carbon-containing

fuels is obtained by directly burning fuels in air. This is despite
many decades of exploring promising and more efficient
alternative energy conversion cycles that rely on other fuel
processing steps prior to fuel combustion or avoiding direct
fuel combustion (see pre-combustion capture Section 3.5). In
particular, combustion-based systems are still the competitive
choice for operators aiming at large-scale production of
electricity and heat from fossil fuels, even under more demanding
environmental regulations, because these processes are reliable
and well proven in delivering electricity and heat at prices that
often set a benchmark for these services. In addition, there is
a continued effort to raise the energy conversion efficiencies
of these systems through advanced materials and component
development. This will allow these systems to operate at higher
temperature and higher efficiency.
As was noted in Section 3.1, the main systems of reference
for post-combustion capture are the present installed capacity
of coal and natural gas power plants, with a totalof 970 GWe
subcritical steam and 155 GWe of supercritical/ultra-supercritical
steam-based pulverized coal fired plants, 339 GWe of natural
gas combined cycle, 333 GWe natural gas steam-electric power
plants and 17 GWe of coal-fired, circulating, fluidized-bed
combustion (CFBC) power plants. An additional capacity of
454 GWe of oil-based power plant, with a significant proportion
of these operating in an air-firing mode is also noted (IEA
WEO, 2004 and IEA CCC, 2005). Current projections indicate
that the generation efficiency of commercial, pulverized coal
fired power plants based on ultra-supercritical steam cycles
would exceed 50% lower heating value (LHV) over the next
decade (IEA, 2004), which will be higher than efficiencies
of between 36 and 45% reported for current subcritical and
supercritical steam-based plants without capture (see Section
3.7). Similarly, natural gas fired combined cycles are expected
to have efficiencies of 65% by 2020 (IEA GHG, 2002b) and up
from current efficiencies between 55 and 58% (see Section 3.7).
In a future carbon-constrained world, these independent and
ongoing developments in power cycle efficiencies will result
in lower CO2-emissions per kWh produced and hence a lower
loss in overall cycle efficiency when post-combustion capture
is applied.
There are proven post-combustion CO2 capture technologies
based on absorption processes that are commercially available
at present . They produce CO2 from flue gases in coal and gasfired installations for food/beverage applications and chemicals
production in capacity ranges between 6 and 800 tCO2 d-1. They
require scale up to 20-50 times that of current unit capacities
for deployment in large-scale power plants in the 500 MWe
capacity range (see Section 3.3.2). The inherent limitations
of currently available absorption technologies when applied
to post-combustion capture systems are well known and their
impact on system cost can be estimated relatively accurately for

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a given application (see Section 3.7). Hence, with the dominant

role played by air- blown energy conversion processes in the
global energy infrastructure, the availability of post-combustion
capture systems is important if CO2 capture and storage becomes
a viable climate change mitigation strategy.
The intense development efforts on novel solvents for
improved performance and reduced energy consumption
during regeneration, as well as process designs incorporating
new contacting devices such as hybrid membrane-absorbent
systems, solid adsorbents and high temperature regenerable
sorbents, may lead to the use of more energy efficient postcombustion capture systems. However, all these novel concepts
still need to prove their lower costs and reliability of operation
on a commercial scale. The same considerations also apply to
other advanced CO2 capture concepts with oxy-fuel combustion
or pre-combustion capture reviewed in the following sections of
this chapter. It is generally not yet clear which of these emerging
technologies, if any, will succeed as the dominant commercial
technology for energy systems incorporating CO2 capture.
3.4 Oxy-fuel combustion capture systems
3.4.1

Introduction

The oxy-fuel combustion process eliminates nitrogen from the

flue gas by combusting a hydrocarbon or carbonaceous fuel in
either pure oxygen or a mixture of pure oxygen and a CO2rich recycled flue gas (carbonaceous fuels include biomass).
Combustion of a fuel with pure oxygen has a combustion
temperature of about 3500C which is far too high for typical
power plant materials. The combustion temperature is limited
to about 1300-1400C in a typical gas turbine cycle and to
about 1900C in an oxy-fuel coal-fired boiler using current
technology. The combustion temperature is controlled by the
proportion of flue gas and gaseous or liquid-water recycled
back to the combustion chamber.
The combustion products (or flue gas) consist mainly of
carbon dioxide and water vapour together with excess oxygen
required to ensure complete combustion of the fuel. It will also
contain any other components in the fuel, any diluents in the
oxygen stream supplied, any inerts in the fuel and from air
leakage into the system from the atmosphere. The net flue gas,
after cooling to condense water vapour, contains from about
80-98% CO2 depending on the fuel used and the particular
oxy-fuel combustion process. This concentrated CO2 stream
can be compressed, dried and further purified before delivery
into a pipeline for storage (see Chapter 4). The CO2 capture
efficiency is very close to 100% in oxy-fuel combustion capture
systems. Impurities in the CO2 are gas components such as SOx,
NOx, HCl and Hg derived from the fuel used, and the inert
gas components, such as nitrogen, argon and oxygen, derived
from the oxygen feed or air leakage into the system. The CO2
is transported by pipeline as a dense supercritical phase. Inert
gases must be reduced to a low concentration to avoid twophase flow conditions developing in the pipeline systems.
The acid gas components may need to be removed to comply

with legislation covering co-disposal of toxic or hazardous

waste or to avoid operations or environmental problems with
disposal in deep saline reservoirs, hydrocarbon formations or
in the ocean. The carbon dioxide must also be dried to prevent
water condensation and corrosion in pipelines and allow use of
conventional carbon-steel materials.
Although elements of oxy-fuel combustion technologies
are in use in the aluminium, iron and steel and glass melting
industries today, oxy-fuel technologies for CO2 capture have
yet to be deployed on a commercial scale. Therefore, the first
classification between existing technologies and emerging
technologies adopted in post-combustion (Section 3.3) and
pre-combustion (Section 3.5) is not followed in this section.
However, it is important to emphasize that the key separation
step in most oxy-fuel capture systems (O2 from air) is an
existing technology (see Section 3.4.5). Current methods
of oxygen production by air separation comprise cryogenic
distillation, adsorption using multi-bed pressure swing units and
polymeric membranes. For oxy-fuel conversions requiring less
than 200 tO2 d-1, the adsorption system will be economic. For
all the larger applications, which include power station boilers,
cryogenic air separation is the economic solution (Wilkinson et
al., 2003a).
In the following sections we present the main oxy-fuel
combustion systems classified according to how the heat of
combustion is supplied and whether the flue gas is used as a
working fluid (Sections 3.4.2, 3.4.3, 3.4.4). A brief overview
of O2 production methods relevant for these systems is given
(Section 3.4.5). In Section 3.4.6, the emerging technology
of chemical looping combustion is presented, in which pure
oxygen is supplied by a metal oxide rather than an oxygen
production process. The section on oxy-fuel systems closes with
an overview of the status of the technology (Section 3.4.7).
3.4.2

Oxy-fuel indirect heating - steam cycle

In these systems, the oxy-fuel combustion chamber provides

heat to a separate fluid by heat transfer through a surface. It can
be used for either process heating, or in a boiler with a steam
cycle for power generation. The indirect system can be used
with any hydrocarbon or carbon-containing fuel.
The application of oxy-fuel indirect heating for CO2
capture in process heating and power generation has been
examined in both pilot-scale trials evaluating the combustion
of carbonaceous fuels in oxygen and CO2-rich recycled flue gas
mixtures and engineering assessments of plant conversions as
described below.
3.4.2.1 Oxy-fuel combustion trials
Work to demonstrate the application of oxy-fuel recycle
combustion in process heating and for steam generation for use
in steam power cycles have been mostly undertaken in pilot
scale tests that have looked at the combustion, heat transfer and
pollutant-forming behaviour of natural gas and coal.
One study carried out (Babcock Energy Ltd. et al., 1995)
included an oxy-fuel test with flue gas recycle using a 160kW,

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pulverized coal, low NOx burner. The system included a
heat-transfer test section to simulate fouling conditions. Test
conditions included variation in recycle flow and excess O2
levels. Measurements included all gas compositions, ash analysis
and tube fouling after a 5-week test run. The work also included
a case study on oxy-fuel operation of a 660 MW power boiler
with CO2 capture, compression and purification. The main test
results were that NOx levels reduced with increase in recycle
rate, while SO2 and carbon in ash levels were insensitive to the
recycle rate. Fouling in the convective test section was greater
with oxy-fuel firing than with air. High-slagging UK coal had
worse slagging when using oxy-fuel firing, the higher excess O2
level lowered carbon in ash and CO concentration.
For the combustion of pulverized coal, other pilot-scale tests
by Croiset and Thambimuthu (2000) have reported that the flame
temperature and heat capacity of gases to match fuel burning in
air occurs when the feed gas used in oxy-fuel combustion has
a composition of approximately 35% by volume O2 and 65%
by volume of dry recycled CO2 (c.f. 21% by volume O2 and
the rest nitrogen in air). In practice, the presence of inerts such
as ash and inorganic components in the coal, the specific fuel
composition and moisture in the recycled gas stream and the
coal feed will result in minor adjustments to this feed mixture
composition to keep the flame temperature at a value similar to
fuel combustion in air.
At conditions that match O2/CO2 recycle combustion to fuel
burning in air, coal burning is reported to be complete (Croiset
and Thambimuthu, 2000), with operation of the process at
excess O2 levels in the flue gas as low as 1-3% by volume O2,
producing a flue gas stream of 95-98% by volume dry CO2 (the
rest being excess O2, NOx, SOx and argon) when a very high
purity O2 stream is used in the combustion process with zero
leakage of ambient air into the system. No differences were
detected in the fly ash formation behaviour in the combustor or
SO2 emissions compared to conventional air firing conditions.
For NOx on the other hand, emissions were lower due to zero
thermal NOx formation from the absence of nitrogen in the
feed gas - with the partial recycling of NOx also reducing the
formation and net emissions originating from the fuel bound
nitrogen. Other studies have demonstrated that the level of NOx
reduction is as high as 75% compared to coal burning in air
(Chatel-Pelage et al., 2003). Similar data for natural gas burning
in O2/CO2 recycle mixtures report zero thermal NOx emissions
in the absence of air leakage into the boiler, with trace amounts
produced as thermal NOx when residual nitrogen is present in
the natural gas feed (Tan et al., 2002).
The above and other findings show that with the application
of oxy-fuel combustion in modified utility boilers, the nitrogenfree combustion process would benefit from higher heat transfer
rates (McDonald and Palkes, 1999), and if also constructed
with higher temperature tolerant materials, are able to operate
at higher oxygen concentration and lower flue gas recycle flows
both of which will considerably reduce overall volume flows
and size of the boiler.
It should be noted that even when deploying a 2/3 flue gas
recycle gas ratio to maintain a 35% by volume O2 feed to a

pulverized coal fired boiler, hot recycling of the flue gas prior
to CO2 purification and compression also reduces the size of
all unit operations in the stream leaving the boiler to 1/5 that
of similar equipment deployed in conventional air blown
combustion systems (Chatel-Pelage et al., 2003). Use of a low
temperature gas purification step prior to CO2 compression
(see Section 3.4.2.2) will also eliminate the need to deploy
conventional selective catalytic reduction for NOx removal and
flue gas desulphurization to purify the gas, a practice typically
adopted in conventional air-blown combustion processes (see
Figure 3.3). The overall reduction in flow volumes, equipment
scale and simplification of gas purification steps will thus have
the benefit of reducing both capital and operating costs of
equipment deployed for combustion, heat transfer and final gas
purification in process and power plant applications (Marin et
al., 2003).
As noted above for pulverized coal, oil, natural gas and
biomass combustion, fluidized beds could also be fired with
O2 instead of air to supply heat for the steam cycle. The
intense solid mixing in a fluidized bed combustion system
can provide very good temperature control even in highly
exothermic conditions, thereby minimizing the need for flue
gas recycling. In principle, a variety of commercial designs for
fluidized combustion boilers exist that could be retrofitted for
oxygen firing. A circulating fluidized bed combustor with O2
firing was proposed by Shimizu et al. (1999) to generate the
heat required for the calcination of CaCO3 (see also Section
3.3.3.4). More recently, plans for pilot testing of an oxy-fired
circulating fluidized bed boiler have been published by Nsakala
et al. (2003).
3.4.2.2

Assessments of plants converted to oxy-fuel

combustion
We now discuss performance data from a recent comprehensive
design study for an application of oxy-fuel combustion in a new
build pulverized coal fired power boiler using a supercritical
steam cycle (see Figure 3.8; Dillon et al., 2005). The overall
thermal efficiency on a lower heating value basis is reduced
from 44.2% to 35.4%. The net power output is reduced from
677 MWe to 532 MWe.
Important features of the system include:
Burner design and gas recycle flow rate have been selected
to achieve the same temperatures as in air combustion
(compatible temperatures with existing materials in the
boiler).
The CO2-rich flue gas from the boiler is divided into three
gas streams: one to be recycled back to the combustor, one to
be used as transport and drying gas of the coal feed, and the
third as product gas. The first recycle and the product stream
are cooled by direct water scrubbing to remove residual
particulates, water vapour and soluble acid gases such as
SO3 and HCl. Oxygen and entrained coal dust together with
the second recycle stream flow to the burners.
The air leakage into the boiler is sufficient to give a high
enough inerts level to require a low temperature inert gas

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Figure 3.8 Schematic of an oxy-fuel, pulverized coal fired power plant.

removal unit to be installed, even if pure O2 were used as

the oxidant in the boiler. The cryogenic oxygen plant will,
in this case, produce 95% O2 purity to minimize power
consumption and capital cost.
The low temperature (-55C) CO2 purification plant
(Wilkinson et al., 2003b) integrated with the CO2 compressor
will not only remove excess O2, N2, argon but can also
remove all NOx and SO2 from the CO2 stream, if high
purity CO2 is required for storage. Significantly, removal of
these components before final CO2 compression eliminates
the need to otherwise incorporate upstream NOx and SOx
removal equipment in the net flue gas stream leaving the
boiler. Elimination of N2 from the flue gas results in higher
SOx concentrations in the boiler and reduced NOx levels.
Suitable corrosion resistant materials of construction must
be chosen.
The overall heat transfer is improved in oxy-fuel firing
because of the higher emissivity of the CO2/H2O gas mixture
in the boiler compared to nitrogen and the improved heat
transfer in the convection section. These improvements,
together with the recycle of hot flue gas, increase the boiler
efficiency and steam generation by about 5%.
The overall thermal efficiency is improved by running the
O2 plant air compressor and the first and final stages of
the CO2 compressor without cooling, and recovering the
compression heat for boiler feed water heating prior to
de-aeration.
Engineering studies have also been reported by Simbeck and
McDonald (2001b) and by McDonald and Palkes (1999).
This work has confirmed that the concept of retrofitting oxyfuel combustion with CO2 capture to existing coal-fired power

stations does not have any technical barriers and can make use
of existing technology systems.
It has been reported (Wilkinson et al., 2003b) that the
application of oxy-fuel technology for the retrofit of power
plant boilers and a range of refinery heaters in a refinery
complex (Grangemouth refinery in Scotland) is technically
feasible at a competitive cost compared to other types of
CO2 capture technologies. In this case, the existing boiler is
adapted to allow combustion of refinery gas and fuel oil with
highly enriched oxygen and with partial flue gas recycling for
temperature control. Oxy-fuel boiler conversions only needed
minor burner modifications, a new O2 injection system and
controls, and a new flue gas recycle line with a separate blower.
These are cheap and relatively simple modifications and result
in an increase in boiler/heater thermal efficiency due to the
recycle of hot gas. Modifications to a coal-fired boiler are more
complex. In this study, it was found to be more economic to
design the air separation units for only 95% O2 purity instead
of 99.5% to comply with practical levels of air leakage into
boilers and to separate the associated argon and nitrogen in
the CO2 inert gas removal system to produce a purity of CO2
suitable for geological storage. After conversion of the boiler,
the CO2 concentration in the flue gas increases from 17 to 60%
while the water content increases from 10 to 30%. Impurities
(SOx, NOx) and gases (excess O2, N2, argon) representing about
10% of the stream are separated from CO2 at low temperature
(-55C). After cooling, compression and drying of the separated
or non-recycled flue gas, the product for storage comprises
96% CO2 contaminated with 2% N2, 1% argon and less than
1% O2 and SO2. Production of ultra-pure CO2 for storage would
also be possible if distillation steps are added to the separation
process.

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Figure 3.9 Principle flow scheme of the advanced zero emission power plant cycle.

3.4.2.3 Advanced zero emission power plant

The advanced zero emission power plant (or AZEP as outlined in
Figure 3.9; Griffin et al., 2003) is an indirect heating gas turbine
cycle that incorporates a high-temperature oxygen transport
membrane, operating at about 800C -1000C (see Section
3.4.5.2). This process uses a standard air-based gas turbine in
a combined cycle arrangement. Three process steps take place
in a reactor system that replaces the combustion chamber of
a standard gas turbine: 1) separation of oxygen from hot air
using the membrane and transport to the combustion section; 2)
combustion and 3) heat exchange from the combustion products
to the compressed air.
A net efficiency for advanced zero emission power cycle of
around 4950% LHV is claimed including CO2 compression for
transport. In order to get full advantage of the potential of the
most advanced gas turbines, which have inlet temperatures of
1300C-1400C, an afterburner fired with natural gas in air may
be added behind the reactor system. The efficiency then climbs
up to 52% but now 15% of the CO2 generated by combustion is
released at the stack and is not captured.
3.4.3

Oxy-fuel direct heating - gas turbine cycle

Oxy-fuel combustion takes place in a pressurized CO2-rich

recirculating stream in a modified gas turbine. The hot gas is
expanded in the turbine producing power. The turbine exhaust
is cooled to provide heat for a steam cycle and water vapour is
condensed by further cooling. The CO2-rich gas is compressed in
the compressor section. The net CO2-rich combustion product is
removed from the system. Only natural gas, light hydrocarbons
and syngas (CO + H2) can be used as fuel.
3.4.3.1 Cycle description and performance
Figure 3.10 shows how a gas turbine can be adapted to run
with oxy-fuel firing using CO2 as a working fluid. Exhaust gas
leaving the heat recovery steam generator is cooled to condense
water. The net CO2 product is removed and the remaining gas is

recycled to the compressor. Suitable fuels are natural gas, light

to medium hydrocarbons or (H2 + CO) syngas, which could be
derived from coal. The use of CO2 as the working fluid in the
turbine will necessitate a complete redesign of the gas turbine
(see Section 3.4.3.2). A recent study (Dillon et al., 2005) gives
an overall efficiency including CO2 compression of 45%.
Two typical variants of this configuration are the so-called
Matiant and Graz cycles (Mathieu, 2003; Jericha et al., 2003).
The Matiant cycle uses CO2 as the working fluid, and consists
of features like intercooled compressor and turbine reheat. The
exhaust gas is preheating the recycled CO2 in a heat exchanger.
The CO2 generated in combustion is extracted from the cycle
behind the compressor. The net overall LHV efficiency is
expected to be 45-47% and can increase above 50% in a
combined cycle configuration similar to that shown in Figure
3.10. The Graz cycle consists of an integrated gas turbine and
steam turbine cycle. A net LHV efficiency of above 50% has
been calculated for this cycle (Jericha et al., 2003).
A recent comprehensive review of gas turbine cycles with
CO2 capture provides efficiencies of different cycles on a
common basis (Kvamsdal et al., 2004).
3.4.3.2 The CO2/oxy-fuel gas turbine
In existing gas turbines the molecular weight of the gases in
the compressor and turbine are close to that of air (28.8). In the
case of oxy-fuel combustion with CO2-recycle the compressor
fluid molecular weight is about 43 and about 40 in the turbine.
The change in working fluid from air to a CO2-rich gas results
in a number of changes in properties that are of importance for
the design of the compressor, combustor and the hot gas path
including the turbine:
The speed of sound is 80% of air;
The gas density is 50% higher than air;
The specific heat ratio is lower than air resulting in a lower
temperature change on adiabatic compression or expansion.
An oxy-fuel gas turbine in a combined cycle has a higher
optimal pressure ratio, typically 30 to 35 compared to 15

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Figure 3.10 Principle of the oxy-fuel gas turbine combined cycle. Exhaust gas is recycled, compressed and used in the combustion chamber to
control the temperature entering the turbine.

to 18 used with air in a combined cycle system. With the

highest turbine inlet temperature consistent with material
limitations, the rather high-pressure ratio results in an
exhaust gas temperature of about 600C, which is optimal
for the steam cycle.
These changes in the fundamental properties of the working
fluid will have a significant impact on gas turbine components,
requiring completely new designs of compressors, combustors
(to account for aerodynamic changes and acoustic feedbacks)
and hot gas path (O2 partial pressure must be low in oxy-fuel
systems but it is also important to avoid reducing conditions for
the materials of the turbine or the change to materials allowing
much lower O2 partial pressures).
3.4.4

Oxy-fuel direct heating - steam turbine cycle

In an oxy-fuel steam turbine cycle, water is pressurized as a

liquid and is then evaporated, heated by the direct injection
and combustion of a fuel with pure oxygen and expanded in a
turbine. Most of the water in the low pressure turbine exhaust
gas is cooled and condensed, prior to pumping back to a high
pressure while the CO2 produced from combustion is removed
and compressed for pipeline transport. A variant of this cycle in
which the heat is provided by burning natural gas fuel in-situ
with pure oxygen was proposed by Yantovskii et al. (1992).
The direct combustion of fuel and oxygen has been practised
for many years in the metallurgical and glass industries where
burners operate at near stoichiometric conditions with flame
temperatures of up to 3500C. A water quenched H2/O2 burner
capable of producing 60 tonne h-1, 6 MPa super heated steam
was demonstrated in the mid-1980s (Ramsaier et al., 1985). A

recent development by Clean Energy Systems incorporating

these concepts where a mixture of 90 % by volume superheated
steam and 10% CO2 is produced at high temperature and
pressure to power conventional or advanced steam turbines
is shown in Figure 3.11. The steam is condensed in a lowpressure condenser and recycled, while CO2 is extracted from
the condenser, purified and compressed. (Anderson et al., 2003
and Marin et al., 2003).
Plants of this type require a clean gaseous or liquid fuel
and will operate at 20 to 50 MPa pressure. The steam plus
CO2 generator is very compact. Control systems must be very
precise as start-up and increase to full flow in a preheated plant
can take place in less than 2 seconds. Precise control of this very
rapid start was demonstrated (Ramsaier et al., 1985) in a 60
tonne steam h-1 unit. The Clean Energy Systems studies claim
efficiencies as high as 55% with CO2 capture depending on the
process conditions used.
The Clean Energy Systems technology can be initially
applied with current steam turbines (565C inlet temperature).
The main technical issue is clearly the design of the steam
turbines which could be used at inlet temperatures up to 1300C
by applying technology similar to that used in the hot path
of gas turbines. The combustor itself (the gas generator) is
adapted from existing rocket engine technology. In 2000, Clean
Energy Systems proved the concept with a 110 kW pilot project
conducted at the University of California Davis. A 20 MW
thermal gas generator was successfully operated in a test run
of the order of a few minutes in early 2003. A zero emissions
demonstration plant (up to 6 MW electrical) is now on-line. US
Department of Energys National Energy Technology Laboratory
designed the reheater (Richards, 2003) and NASA tested it in
2002. Much more technology development and demonstration

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

127

Figure 3.11 Principle of the Clean Energy Systems cycle. The combustion of the fuel and oxygen is cooled by injection of liquid-water, which
is recycled in the process.

is needed on this proposed power cycle, but it shows significant

potential for low capital cost and high efficiency.
3.4.5

Techniques and improvements in oxygen

production

Oxygen is the key requirement for any oxy-fuel combustion

system. It is also a key technology for pre-combustion CO2
capture (see Section 3.5). In the next paragraphs, existing largescale O2 production methods are described first, followed by
emerging concepts aimed at reducing the energy consumption
and cost.
3.4.5.1 Cryogenic oxygen production
The very large quantities of oxygen required for CO2 capture
using the techniques of oxy-fuel combustion and pre-combustion
de-carbonization can only be economically produced, at present,
by using the established process of oxygen separation from air
by distillation at cryogenic temperatures (Latimer, 1967). This
is a technology that has been practiced for over 100 years.
In a typical cryogenic air separation plant (Castle, 1991;
Figure 3.12), air is compressed to a pressure of 0.5 to 0.6 MPa
and purified to remove water, CO2, N2O and trace hydrocarbons
which could accumulate to dangerous levels in oxygen-rich
parts of the plant, such as the reboiler condenser. Two or
more switching fixed bed adsorbers are used, which can be

regenerated by either temperature or pressure swing, using

in each case, a low pressure waste nitrogen stream. The air is
cooled against returning products (oxygen and nitrogen) in a
battery of aluminium plate-fin heat exchangers and separated
into pure oxygen and nitrogen fractions in a double distillation
column, which uses aluminium packing.
Oxygen can be pumped as liquid and delivered as a highpressure gas at up to 10 MPa. Pumped oxygen plants have
largely replaced the oxygen gas compression systems. They
have virtually identical power consumptions but in a pumped
cycle, a high-pressure air booster compressor provides a means
of efficiently vaporizing and heating the liquid oxygen stream
to ambient temperature. Current plant sizes range up to 3500
tO2 d-1 and larger single train plants are being designed. Typical
power consumption for the delivery of 95% O2 at low pressure
(0.17 MPa, a typical pressure for an oxy-fuel application) is 200
to 240 kWh/tO2. There are numerous process cycle variations
particularly for the production of oxygen at less than 97.5%
purity which have been developed to reduce power and capital
cost. Note that adsorption and polymeric membrane methods of
air separation are only economic for small oxygen production
rates.
3.4.5.2 High temperature oxygen ion transport membranes
Ceramic mixed metal oxides have been developed which
exhibit simultaneous oxygen ion and electron conduction at

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Figure 3.12a Oxygen production by distillation of liquid air.

Figure 3.12b A 3000 t day-1 oxygen plant (Courtesy of Air Products).

temperatures above 500C and preferably above 700C (Skinner

and Kilner 2003; Bouwmeester and Van Laar, 2002; Dyer et
al., 2000; Bredesen et al., 2004). Typical crystal structures
which exhibit these properties include the perovskites and the
brownmillerites. The selectivity of these materials for oxygen is
infinite. The oxygen permeability is primarily controlled by the
oxygen ion vacancies in the metal oxide lattice. A difference in
oxygen partial pressure across the membrane will cause oxygen

molecules to ionize on the ceramic surface and pass into the

crystal structure while simultaneously on the permeate side
of the membrane, the oxygen ions give up their electrons and
leave the ceramic in the region of lower activity. The electron
conduction path is through the metal ions in the lattice. Unlike
conventional membranes, the flux through the ceramic is a
function of the partial pressure ratio. In the technical literature,
the engineered structures of these ceramic mixed metal oxides
are referred to as ion transport membranes, ITM or oxygen
transport membranes, OTM.
The oxygen transport membrane can be fabricated in the
form of plain tubes or as hollow fins on a central collector tube
(Armstrong et al., 2002). The finned elements are then mounted
in tube sheets within a pressure vessel with high-pressure air
flowing over the fins. There are several new concepts that have
been proposed for using oxygen transport membranes in power
cycles with CO2 capture. A prime example of an oxy-fuel gas
turbine cycle that incorporates an oxygen transport membrane
for oxygen production is the advanced zero emission power
plant described in Section 3.4.2.3. Another example is found in
Sundnes (1998).
Development status
Oxygen transport membrane systems for oxygen production
are currently in the early stages of development by at least two
consortia receiving research funding from the US Department
of Energy and the European Commission. The concept has now

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reached the pilot plant stage and projected cost, manufacturing
procedures and performance targets for full size systems have
been evaluated. Systems capable of large-scale production are
projected to be available after industrial demonstration in about
7 years time (Armstrong et al., 2002).
3.4.6

Chemical looping combustion

Originally proposed by Richter and Knoche (1983) and with

subsequent significant contributions by Ishida and Jin (1994), the
main idea of chemical looping combustion is to split combustion
of a hydrocarbon or carbonaceous fuel into separate oxidation
and reduction reactions by introducing a suitable metal oxide
as an oxygen carrier to circulate between two reactors (Figure
3.13). Separation of oxygen from air is accomplished by fixing
the oxygen as a metal oxide. No air separation plant is required.
The reaction between fuel and oxygen is accomplished in a
second reactor by the release of oxygen from the metal oxide in
a reducing atmosphere caused by the presence of a hydrocarbon
or carbonaceous fuel. The recycle rate of the solid material
between the two reactors and the average solids residence time
in each reactor, control the heat balance and the temperature
levels in each reactor. The effect of having combustion in two
reactors compared to conventional combustion in a single stage
is that the CO2 is not diluted with nitrogen gas, but is almost pure
after separation from water, without requiring any extra energy
demand and costly external equipment for CO2 separation.
Possible metal oxides are some oxides of common transitionstate metals, such as iron, nickel, copper and manganese (Zafar
et al., 2005). The metal/metal oxide may be present in various
forms, but most studies so far have assumed the use of particles
with diameter 100-500 m. In order to move particles between
the two reactors, the particles are fluidized. This method also
ensures efficient heat and mass transfer between the gases and
the particles. A critical issue is the long-term mechanical and
chemical stability of the particles that have to undergo repeated
cycles of oxidation and reduction, to minimize the make-up
requirement. When a chemical looping cycle is used in a gas
turbine cycle, the mechanical strength for crushing and the
filtration system is important to avoid damaging carry-over to
the turbine.
The temperature in the reactors, according to available
information in the literature, may be in the range 800C-

Figure 3.13 The chemical looping combustion principle in a gas

turbine cycle.

1200C. NOx formation at these typical operating temperatures

will always be low. The fuel conversion in the reduction reactor
may not be complete, but it is likely (Cho et al., 2002) that
the concentrations of methane and CO when burning natural
gas are very small. In order to avoid deposit of carbon in the
reduction reactor, it is necessary to use some steam together
with the fuel.
The chemical looping principle may be applied either in
a gas turbine cycle with pressurized oxidation and reduction
reactors, or in a steam turbine cycle with atmospheric pressure
in the reactors. In the case of a gas turbine cycle, the oxidation
reactor replaces the combustion chamber of a conventional
gas turbine. The exothermic oxidation reaction provides heat
for increasing the air temperature entering the downstream
expansion turbine. In addition, the reduction reactor exit
stream may also be expanded in a turbine together with steam
production for power generation. The cooled low pressure CO2
stream will then be compressed to pipeline pressure. Another
option is to generate steam using heat transfer surfaces in the
oxidation reactor. Current circulating fluidized bed combustion
technology operating at atmospheric pressure in both the
oxidation and reduction stages necessitates the use of a steam
turbine cycle for power generation. Using natural gas as fuel
in a chemical looping combustion cycle which supplies a
gas turbine combined cycle power plant and delivering CO2
at atmospheric pressure, the potential for natural gas fuel-toelectricity conversion efficiency is estimated to be in the range
45-50% (Brandvoll and Bolland, 2004). Work on chemical
looping combustion is currently in the pilot plant and materials
research stage.
3.4.7

Status and outlook

Oxy-fuel combustion applied to furnaces, process heaters,

boilers and power generation systems is feasible since no
technical barriers for its implementation have been identified.
Early use of this capture technology is likely to address
applications involving indirect heating in power generation and
process heating (Section 3.4.2), since these options involve the
minimal modification of technologies and infrastructure that
have hitherto been already developed for the combustion of
hydrocarbon or carbonaceous fuels in air. However, several novel
applications proposed for direct heating in steam turbine cycles
or gas turbine cycles for power generation (Sections 3.4.3 and
3.4.4) still require the development of new components such as
oxy-fuel combustors, higher temperature tolerant components
such as CO2- and H2O-based turbines with blade cooling, CO2
compressors and high temperature ion transport membranes for
oxygen separation. As for Chemical Looping Combustion, it is
currently still at an early stage of development.
The potential for thermal efficiencies for oxy-fuel cycles
with CO2 capture, assuming the current state of development
in power plant technology, is depicted in Figures 3.6 and 3.7.
Power generation from pulverized coal fired systems, using
supercritical steam conditions presently operate at efficiencies
around 45% (LHV), while projections to the 2010-2020 time

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frame are predicting efficiencies above 50% (IEA, 2004) for

plants using ultra-supercritical steam conditions. An increase
in efficiency of more than 5% can therefore be expected for
future oxy-fuel capture systems based on coal firing that could
potentially match the best efficiencies realisable today for
pulverized coal-fired plants without CO2 capture. Similarly,
natural gas fired combined cycles will have efficiencies of 65%
in 2020 (IEA GHG, 2000b and up from current efficiencies
between 55 and 58%), which will enable plant efficiencies for
natural gas fired oxy-fuel cycles with CO2 capture above 50%.
The energy penalty for producing oxygen is by far the most
important cause for reduced efficiency in an oxy-fuel cycle
compared to a conventional power plant.
Current technology development envisages very high
efficiency separation of NOx, SOx, and Hg, as part of the CO2
compression and purification system. Improved separation
efficiencies of these contaminants are possible based on further
process and heat integration in the power cycle.
Current cryogenic oxygen technology is showing continuing
cost reduction based on improved compressor efficiencies,
more efficient process equipment and larger scale plants. The
new high temperature oxygen membrane could significantly
improve power generation efficiency and reduce capital cost.
Future oxy-fuel demonstration plants could be based on
retrofits to existing equipment such as process heaters and
boilers, in order to minimize development costs and achieve
early market entry. In this respect, power systems of reference
for oxy-fuel combustion capture are mainly the steam-based
pulverized coal and natural gas fired plants that currently
represent up to 1468 GWe, or 40% (IEA WEO, 2004) of the
existing global infrastructure (see also Section 3.1.2.3). Several
demonstration units may be expected within the next few years
particularly in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia where
active research initiatives are currently underway. As these
developments proceed and the technologies achieve market
penetration they may become competitive relative to alternate
options based on pre- and post-combustion CO2 capture. A
significant incentive to the development of oxy-fuel combustion
technology, as well as for pre- and post-combustion capture
technologies, is the introduction of environmental requirements
and/or fiscal incentives to promote CO2 capture and storage.
3.5 Pre-combustion capture systems
3.5.1

Introduction

A pre-combustion capture process typically comprises a first

stage of reaction producing a mixture of hydrogen and carbon
monoxide (syngas) from a primary fuel. The two main routes
are to add steam (reaction 1), in which case the process is called
steam reforming, or oxygen (reaction 2) to the primary fuel.
In the latter case, the process is often called partial oxidation
when applied to gaseous and liquid fuels and gasification
when applied to a solid fuel, but the principles are the same.
Steam reforming
CxHy + xH2O xCO + (x+y/2)H2 H +ve
(1)

Partial oxidation
CxHy + x/2O2 xCO + (y/2)H2

H ve

(2)

This is followed by the shift reaction to convert CO to CO2 by

the addition of steam (reaction 3):
Water Gas Shift Reaction
CO + H2O CO2 + H2

H -41 kJ mol-1 (3)

Finally, the CO2 is removed from the CO2/H2 mixture. The

concentration of CO2 in the input to the CO2/H2 separation stage
can be in the range 15-60% (dry basis) and the total pressure
is typically 2-7 MPa. The separated CO2 is then available for
storage.
It is possible to envisage two applications of pre-combustion
capture. The first is in producing a fuel (hydrogen) that is
essentially carbon-free. Although the product H2 does not need
to be absolutely pure and may contain low levels of methane,
CO or CO2, the lower the level of carbon-containing compounds,
the greater the reduction in CO2 emissions. The H2 fuel may also
contain inert diluents, such as nitrogen (when air is typically
used for partial oxidation), depending on the production process
and can be fired in a range of heaters, boilers, gas turbines or
fuel cells.
Secondly, pre-combustion capture can be used to reduce the
carbon content of fuels, with the excess carbon (usually removed
as CO2) being made available for storage. For example, when
using a low H:C ratio fuel such as coal it is possible to gasify
the coal and to convert the syngas to liquid Fischer-Tropsch
fuels and chemicals which have a higher H:C ratio than coal. In
this section, we consider both of these applications.
This section reports on technologies for the production of H2
with CO2 capture that already exist and those that are currently
emerging. It also describes enabling technologies that need to
be developed to enhance the pre-combustion capture systems
for power, hydrogen or synfuels and chemicals production or
combination of all three.
3.5.2

Existing technologies

3.5.2.1 Steam reforming of gas and light hydrocarbons

Steam reforming is the dominant technology for hydrogen
production today and the largest single train plants produce up
to 480 tH2 d-1. The primary energy source is often natural gas,
Then the process is referred to as steam methane reforming
(SMR), but can also be other light hydrocarbons, such as
naphtha. The process begins with the removal of sulphur
compounds from the feed, since these are poisons to the current
nickel-based catalyst and then steam is added. The reforming
reaction (1), which is endothermic, takes place over a catalyst at
high temperature (800C-900C). Heat is supplied to the reactor
tubes by burning part of the fuel (secondary fuel). The reformed
gas is cooled in a waste heat boiler which generates the steam
needed for the reactions and passed into the CO shift system.
Shift reactors in one or two stages are used to convert most of
the CO in the syngas to CO2 (Reaction 3, which is exothermic).

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The conventional two-stage CO conversion reduces the CO
concentration in syngas (or in hydrogen) down to 0.2-0.3%.
High temperature shift reactors operating between 400C and
550C and using an iron-chromium catalyst leave between 2%
and 3% CO in the exit gas (dry basis). Copper-based catalyst
can be used at temperatures from 180C-350C and leave from
0.2-1% CO in the exhaust. Lower CO content favours higher
CO2 recovery. The gas is then cooled and hydrogen is produced
by a CO2/H2 separation step. Until about 30 years ago, the CO2
was removed using a chemical (solvent) absorption process
such as an amine or hot potassium carbonate and was rejected
to atmosphere as a pure stream from the top of the regenerator.
There are many of these plants still in use and the CO2 could be
captured readily.
Modern plants, however, use a pressure swing adsorber
(PSA), where gases other than H2 are adsorbed in a set of
switching beds containing layers of solid adsorbent such as
activated carbon, alumina and zeolites (see the fuller description
of PSA in Section 3.5.2.9). The H2 exiting the PSA (typically
about 2.2 MPa) can have a purity of up to 99.999%, depending
on the market need. The CO2 is contained in a stream, from the
regeneration cycle, which contains some methane and H2. The
stream is used as fuel in the reformer where it is combusted
in air and the CO2 ends up being vented to atmosphere in the
reformer flue gas. Hence, to capture CO2 from modern SMR
plants would require one of the post-combustion processes
described above in Section 3.3. Alternatively, the PSA system
could be designed not only for high recovery of pure H2 but also
to recover pure CO2 and have a fuel gas as the third product
stream.
In a design study for a large modern plant (total capacity
720 tH2 d-1), the overall efficiency of making 6.0 MPa H2 from
natural gas with CO2 vented that is without CO2 capture, is
estimated to be 76%, LHV basis, with emissions of 9.1 kg CO2/
kg H2 (IEA GHG, 1996). The process can be modified (at a
cost) to provide a nearly pure CO2 co-product. One possibility
is to remove most of the CO2 from the shifted, cooled syngas in
a wet CO2 removal plant with an appropriate amine solvent. In
this case the CO2-deficient syngas exiting the amine scrubber is
passed to a PSA unit from which relatively pure H2 is recovered
and the PSA purge gases are burned along with additional
natural gas to provide the needed reformer heat. The CO2 is
recovered from the amine solvent by heating and pressurized
for transport. Taking into account the power to compress the
CO2 (to 11.2 MPa) reduces the efficiency to about 73% and the
emission rate to 1.4 kgCO2/kgH2, while the CO2 removal rate is
8.0 kgCO2/kgH2.
3.5.2.2 Partial oxidation of gas and light hydrocarbons
In the partial oxidation (POX) process (reaction 2), a fuel reacts
with pure oxygen at high pressure. The process is exothermic
and occurs at high temperatures (typically 1250C-1400C).
All the heat required for the syngas reaction is supplied by the
partial combustion of the fuel and no external heat is required.
As with SMR, the syngas will be cooled, shifted and the
CO2 removed from the mixture. The comments made on the

separation of CO2 from SMR syngas above apply equally to the

POX process. POX is a technology in common use today, the
efficiency is lower than SMR, but the range of fuels that can be
processed is much wider.
For large-scale hydrogen production, the oxygen is supplied
from a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU). The high investment
and energy consumption of the ASU is compensated by the
higher efficiency and lower cost of the gasification process and
the absence of N2 (from the air) in the syngas, which reduces
the separation costs considerably. However for pre-combustion
de-carbonization applications, in which the hydrogen would be
used as fuel in a gas turbine, it will be necessary to dilute the H2
with either N2 or steam to reduce flame temperature in the gas
turbine combustor and to limit NOx emission levels. In this case
the most efficient system will use air as the oxidant and produce
a H2/N2 fuel mixture (Hufton et al. 2005)
3.5.2.3

Auto-thermal reforming of gas and light

hydrocarbons
The autothermal reforming (ATR) process can be considered
as a combination of the two processes described above. The
heat required in the SMR reactor is generated by the partial
oxidation reaction (2) using air or oxygen, but because steam
is supplied to the reactor as well as excess natural gas, the
endothermic reforming reaction (1) occurs in a catalytic section
of the reactor downstream of the POX burner. The addition of
steam enables a high conversion of fuel to hydrogen at a lower
temperature. Operating temperatures of the autothermal process
are typically 950-1050C, although this depends on the design
of the process. An advantage of the process, compared to SMR,
is the lower investment cost for the reactor and the absence of
any emissions of CO2 since all heat release is internal, although
this is largely offset by investment and operating cost for the
oxygen plant. The range of fuels that can be processed is similar
to the SMR process, but the feed gas must be sulphur free.
CO2 capture is accomplished as described above for the steam
methane reforming.
3.5.2.4 Gas heated reformer
Each of the three syngas generation technologies, SMR, ATR
and POX produce high temperature gas which must be cooled,
producing in each case a steam flow in excess of that required
by the reforming and shift reactions. It is possible to reduce
this excess production by, for example, using preheated air and
a pre-reformer in an SMR plant. Another technique is to use
the hot syngas, leaving the primary reactor, as the shell-side
heating fluid in a tubular steam/hydrocarbon reforming reactor
which can operate in series, or in parallel, with the primary
reactor (Abbott et al., 2002). The addition of a secondary gas
heated reformer will increase the hydrogen production by up
to 33% and eliminate the excess steam production. The overall
efficiency is improved and specific capital cost is typically
reduced by 15%. Again, CO2 capture is accomplished as
described previously for steam methane reforming.
3.5.2.5

Gasification of coal, petroleum residues, or biomass

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 3.14 Simplified schematic of a gasification process showing options with CO2 capture and electricity, hydrogen or chemical production.

Gasification (see Figure 3.14) is a chemical process aimed

at making high-value products (chemicals, electricity, clean
synthetic fuels) out of low-value solid feedstocks such as
coal, oil refining residues, or biomass. Gasification is basically
partial oxidation (reaction 2), although steam is also supplied
to the reactor in most processes. Fixed bed, fluidized bed or
entrained flow gasifiers can be used. These can have very
different characteristics with respect to oxidant (air or O2),
operating temperature (up to 1350oC), operating pressure (0.1-7
MPa), feed system (dry or water slurry), syngas cooling method
(water quench or via radiative and convective heat exchangers)
and gas clean-up system deployed. These alternative design
options determine the fraction of feedstock converted to syngas,
syngas composition and cost. As economics depend strongly on
scale, gasification is generally considered to be suitable only
for large plants. The gasifier output contains CO, H2, CO2, H2O
and impurities (e.g., N2, COS, H2S, HCN, NH3, volatile trace
minerals and Hg) that must be managed appropriately.
A worldwide survey of commercial gasification projects
identified 128 operating gasification plants with 366 gasifiers
producing 42,700 MWt of syngas (NETL-DOE, 2002 and
Simbeck, 2001a). There are also about 24,500 MWt of syngas
projects under development or construction, with 4000-5000
MWt of syngas added annually. The feedstocks are mainly
higher rank coals and oil residues. Most commercial gasification
growth for the last 20 years has involved entrained-flow gasifiers,
for which there are three competing systems on the market.
Recent commercial gasification development has been mainly
with industrial ammonia production, industrial polygeneration
(in which clean syngas is used to make electricity and steam

along with premium syngas chemicals) and IGCC power plants.

Commercial experience with biomass gasification and fluidized
bed gasification has been limited.
CO2 capture technology is well established for gasification
systems that make chemicals and synthetic fuels (NETL-DOE,
2002). Gasification-based NH3 plants (many in China) include
making pure H2 and CO2 separation at rates up to 3500 tCO2
d-1 per plant. South African plants making Fischer-Tropsch
fuels and chemicals and a North Dakota plant making synthetic
natural gas (SNG) from coal also produce large streams of
nearly pure CO2. Figure 3.15 shows a picture of the North
Dakota gasification plant in which 3.3 MtCO2 yr-1 is captured
using a refrigerated methanol-based, physical solvent scrubbing
process (Rectisol process, see Section 3.5.2.11 and Table 3.2).
Most of this captured CO2 is vented and about 1.5 Mtonnes yr-1
of this stream is currently pipelined to the Weyburn, Canada
enhanced oil recovery and CO2 storage project (see Chapter 5).
When CO2 capture is an objective, O2-blown and highpressure systems are preferred because of the higher CO2 partial
pressures. De-carbonization via gasification entails lower
energy penalties for CO2 capture than does post-combustion
capture when considering only the separation stage, because
the CO2 can be recovered at partial pressures up to 3 orders
of magnitude higher. This greatly reduces CO2 absorber size,
solvent circulation rates and CO2 stripping energy requirements.
However, additional energy penalties are incurred in shifting
the CO in the syngas to CO2 and in other parts of the system
(see examples for IGCC plant with CO2 capture in Figures
3.6 and 3.7). Recent analyses for bituminous coals (see, for
example, IEA GHG, 2003) suggest using simple high-pressure

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for selling byproduct sulphur or sulphuric acid. Although costorage of H2S and CO2 is routinely pursued in Western Canada
as an acid gas management strategy for sour natural gas projects
(Bachu and Gunter, 2005), it is not yet clear that co-storage
would be routinely viable at large scales - a typical gasificationbased energy project would involve an annual CO2 storage rate
of 1-4 Mtonnes yr-1, whereas the total CO2 storage rate for all 48
Canadian projects is presently only 0.48 Mtonnes yr-1 (Bachu
and Gunter, 2005).
3.5.2.6

Figure 3.15 North Dakota coal gasification plant with 3.3 MtCO2
yr1 capture using a cold methanol, physical solvent process (cluster
of 4 tall columns in the middle of the picture represent the H2S and
CO2 capture processes; part of the captured stream is used for EOR
with CO2 storage in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada).

entrained-flow gasifiers with water slurry feed and direct water

quench followed by sour (sulphur-tolerant) shift reactors and
finally co-removal of CO2 and H2S by physical absorption. With
sour shifting, hot raw syngas leaving the gasifier requires only
one cooling cycle and less processing. Oxygen requirements
increase for slurry fed gasifiers and conversion efficiencies
decline with higher cycle efficiency losses with quench cooling.
Similar trends are also noted with a shift from bituminous to
lower rank sub-bituminous coal and lignite (Breton and Amick,
2002). Some analyses (e.g., Stobbs and Clark, 2005) suggest
that the advantages of pre-combustion over post-combustion
de-carbonization may be small or disappear for low-rank
coals converted with entrained-flow gasifiers. High-pressure,
fluidized-bed gasifiers may be better suited for use with lowrank coals, biomass and various carbonaceous wastes. Although
there are examples of successful demonstration of such gasifiers
(e.g., the high temperature Winkler, Renzenbrink et al., 1998),
there has been little commercial-scale operating experience.
The H2S in syngas must be removed to levels of tens of
ppm for IGCC plants for compliance with SO2 emissions
regulations and to levels much less than 1 ppm for plants that
make chemicals or synthetic fuels, so as to protect synthesis
catalysts. If the CO2 must be provided for storage in relatively
pure form, the common practice would be to recover first H2S
(which is absorbed more readily than CO2) from syngas (along
with a small amount of CO2) in one recovery unit, followed by
reduction of H2S to elemental sulphur in a Claus plant and tail
gas clean-up, and subsequent recovery of most of the remaining
CO2 in a separate downstream unit. An alternative option is to
recover sulphur in the form of sulphuric acid (McDaniel and
Hormick, 2002). If H2S/CO2 co-storage is allowed, however, it
would often be desirable to recover H2S and CO2 in the same
physical absorption unit, which would lead to moderate system
cost savings (IEA GHG, 2003; Larson and Ren, 2003; Kreutz
et al., 2005) especially in light of the typically poor prospects

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) for

power generation
In a coal IGCC, syngas exiting the gasifier is cleaned of
particles, H2S and other contaminants and then burned to make
electricity via a gas turbine/steam turbine combined cycle. The
syngas is generated and converted to electricity at the same
site, both to avoid the high cost of pipeline transport of syngas
(with a heating value only about 1/3 of that for natural gas)
and to cost-effectively exploit opportunities for making extra
power in the combined cycles steam turbine using steam from
syngas cooling. The main drivers for IGCC development were
originally the prospects of exploiting continuing advances
in gas turbine technology, the ease of realizing low levels of
air-pollutant emissions when contaminants are removed from
syngas, and greatly reduced process stream volumes compared
to flue gas streams from combustion which are at low pressure
and diluted with nitrogen from air.
Since the technology was initially demonstrated in the
1980s, about 4 GWe of IGCC power plants have been built.
Most of this capacity is fuelled with oil or petcoke; less than
1 GWe of the total is designed for coal (IEA CCC, 2005) and 3
out of 4 plants currently operating on coal and/or petcoke. This
experience has demonstrated IGCC load-following capability,
although the technology will probably be used mainly in base
load applications. All coal-based IGCC projects have been
subsidized, whereas only the Italian oil-based IGCC projects
have been subsidized. Other polygeneration projects in Canada,
the Netherlands and the United States, as well as an oil-based
IGCC in Japan, have not been subsidized (Simbeck, 2001a).
IGCC has not yet been deployed more widely because of
strong competition from the natural gas combined cycle (NGCC)
wherever natural gas is readily available at low prices, because
coal-based IGCC plants are not less costly than pulverized
coal fired steam-electric plants and because of availability
(reliability) concerns. IGCC availability has improved in recent
years in commercial-scale demonstration units (Wabash River
Energy, 2000; McDaniel and Hornick, 2002). Also, availability
has been better for industrial polygeneration and IGCC projects
at oil refineries and chemical plants where personnel are
experienced with the chemical processes involved. The recent
rise in natural gas prices in the USA has also increased interest
in IGCC.
Because of the advantages for gasification of CO2 capture at
high partial pressures discussed above, IGCC may be attractive
for coal power plants in a carbon-constrained world (Karg and
Hannemann, 2004). CO2 capture for pre-combustion systems

134
is commercially ready, however, no IGCC plant incorporating
CO2 capture has yet been built. With current technology, average
estimates of the energy penalties and the impact of increased fuel
use for CO2 removal are compared with other capture systems
in Figures 3.6 and 3.7 and show the prospective potential of
IGCC options. The data in Figures 3.6 and 3.7 also show that
some IGCC options may be different from others (i.e., slurry
fed and quench cooled versus dry feed and syngas cooling) and
their relative merits in terms of the capital cost of plant and the
delivered cost of power are discussed in Section 3.7.
3.5.2.7 Hydrogen from coal with CO2 capture
Relative to intensively studied coal IGCC technology with CO2
capture, there are few studies in the public domain on making H2
from coal via gasification with CO2 capture (NRC, 2004; Parsons
2002a, b; Gray and Tomlinson, 2003; Chiesa et al., 2005; Kreutz
et al., 2005), even though this H2 technology is well established
commercially, as noted above. With commercial technology,
H2 with CO2 capture can be produced via coal gasification in a
system similar to a coal IGCC plant with CO2 capture. In line
with the design recommendations for coal IGCC plants described
above (IEA GHG, 2003), what follows is the description from
a design study of a coal H2 system that produces, using best
available technology, 1070 MWt of H2 from high-sulphur (3.4%)
bituminous coal (Chiesa et al., 2005; Kreutz et al., 2005). In the
base case design, syngas is produced in an entrained flow quench
gasifier operated at 7 MPa. The syngas is cooled, cleaned of
particulate matter, and shifted (to primarily H2 and CO2) in sour
water gas shift reactors. After further cooling, H2S is removed
from the syngas using a physical solvent (Selexol). CO2 is then
removed from the syngas, again using Selexol. After being
stripped from the solvents, the H2S is converted to elemental S
in a Claus unit and a plant provides tail gas clean-up to remove
residual sulphur emissions; and the CO2 is either vented or
dried and compressed to 150 atm for pipeline transport and
underground storage. High purity H2 is extracted at 6 MPa from
the H2-rich syngas via a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit.
The PSA purge gas is compressed and burned in a conventional
gas turbine combined cycle, generating 78 MWe and 39 MWe of
electricity in excess of onsite electricity needs in the without and
with CO2 capture cases, respectively. For this base case analysis,
the effective efficiency of H2 manufacture was estimated to be
64% with CO2 vented and 61% with CO2 captured, while the
corresponding emission rates are 16.9 kgCO2 and 1.4 kgCO2/
kgH2, respectively. For the capture case, the CO2 removal rate
was 14.8 kgCO2/kgH2. Various alternative system configurations
were explored. It was found that there are no thermodynamic or
cost advantages from increasing the electricity/H2 output ratio,
so this ratio would tend to be determined by relative market
demands for electricity and H2. One potentially significant
option for reducing the cost of H2 with CO2 capture to about the
same level as with CO2 vented involves H2S/CO2 co-capture in a
single Selexol unit, as discussed above.
3.5.2.8 Carbon-based fluid fuels and multi-products
As discussed in Chapter 2, clean synthetic high H/C ratio fuels

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

can be made from syngas via gasification of coal or other low H/
C ratio feedstocks. Potential products include synthetic natural
gas, Fischer-Tropsch diesel/gasoline, dimethyl ether, methanol
and gasoline from methanol via the Mobil process. A byproduct
is typically a stream of relatively pure CO2 that can be captured
and stored.
Coal derived Fischer-Tropsch synfuels and chemicals have
been produced on a commercial scale in South Africa; coal
methanol is produced in China and at one US plant; and coal SNG
is produced at a North Dakota (US) plant (NETL-DOE, 2002).
Since 2000, 1.5 MtCO2 yr-1 from the North Dakota synthetic
natural gas plant (see Figure 3.15) have been transported by
pipeline, 300 km to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan,
Canada for enhanced oil recovery with CO2 storage.
Synfuel manufacture involves O2-blown gasification to make
syngas, gas cooling, gas clean-up, water gas shift and acid gas
(H2S/CO2) removal. Subsequently cleaned syngas is converted
catalytically to fuel in a synthesis reactor and unconverted
syngas is separated from the liquid fuel product. At this point
either most unconverted gas is recycled to the synthesis
reactor to generate additional liquid fuel and the remaining
unconverted gas is used to make electricity for onsite needs, or
syngas is passed only once through the synthesis reactor, and all
unconverted syngas is used for other purposes, for example, to
make electricity for sale to the electric grid as well as for onsite
use. The latter once through option is often more competitive
as a technology option (Williams, 2000; Gray and Tomlinson,
2001; Larson and Ren, 2003; Celik et al., 2005).
New slurry-phase synthesis reactors make the once through
configuration especially attractive for CO-rich (e.g., coalderived) syngas by making high once through conversion
possible. For once through systems, a water gas shift reactor
is often placed upstream of the synthesis reactor to generate
the H2/CO ratio that maximizes synfuel conversion in the
synthesis reactor. It is desirable to remove most CO2 from
shifted syngas to maximize synthetic fuel conversion. Also,
because synthesis catalysts are extremely sensitive to H2S and
various trace contaminants, these must be removed to very low
levels ahead of the synthesis reactor. Most trace metals can
be removed at low-cost using an activated carbon filter. CO2
removal from syngas upstream of the synthesis reactor is a lowcost, partial de-carbonization option, especially when H2S and
CO2 are co-captured and co-stored as an acid gas management
strategy (Larson and Ren, 2003). Further de-carbonization can
be realized in once through systems, at higher incremental cost,
by adding additional shift reactors downstream of the synthesis
reactor, recovering the CO2, and using the CO2-depleted, H2-rich
syngas to make electricity or some mix of electricity plus H2 in
a polygeneration configuration (see Figure 3.16). The relative
amounts of H2 and electricity produced would depend mainly
on relative demands, as there do not seem to be thermodynamic
or cost advantages for particular H2/electricity production ratios
(Chiesa et al., 2005; Kreutz et al., 2005). When syngas is decarbonized both upstream and downstream of the synthesis
reactor (see Figure 3.16) it is feasible to capture and store as
CO2 up to 90% of the carbon in the original feedstock except

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Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Figure 3.16 Making liquid fuel, electricity and hydrogen from coal via gasification, with CO2 capture and storage.

that contained in the synthetic fuel produced.

An example of such a system (Celik et al., 2005) is one
making 600 MW of dimethyl ether (containing 27% of coal
input energy and 20% of coal input carbon) plus 365 MW of
electricity (no H2) from coal. For this system the CO2 storage
rate (equivalent to 74% of C in coal) is 3.8 Mtonnes yr-1 (39%
from upstream of the synthesis reactor). The estimated fuel
cycle-wide GHG emissions for dimethyl ether are 0.9 times
those for crude oil-derived diesel and those for electricity are
0.09 times those for a 43% efficient coal-fired power plant with
CO2 vented.

means of a chemical reaction, which can be reversed by pressure

reduction and heating. The tertiary amine methyldiethanolamine
(MDEA, see Table 3.2) is widely used in modern industrial
processes, due to the high CO2 loading possible and the low
regenerator heating load, relative to other solvents. Hot
potassium carbonate (the most common commercial version of
which is known as Benfield) was used for CO2 removal in most
hydrogen plants until about 15 years ago.

3.5.2.9 Pressure swing adsorption

Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) is the system of choice for
the purification of syngas, where high purity H2 is required.
However, it does not selectively separate CO2 from the other
waste gases and so for an SMR application the CO2 concentration
in the waste gas would be 40-50% and require further upgrading
to produce pure CO2 for storage. Simultaneous H2 and CO2
separation is possible by using an additional PSA section to
remove the CO2 prior to the H2 separation step, such as the Air
Products Gemini Process (Sircar, 1979).
The PSA process is built around adsorptive separations of
cyclic character. The cycles consist of two basic steps: adsorption,
in which the more adsorbable species are selectively removed
from the feed gas and regeneration (desorption), when these
species are removed from the adsorbent so that it can be ready
for the next cycle. It is possible to obtain useful products during
both adsorption and regeneration. The principal characteristic
of PSA processes is the use of a decrease in pressure and/or the
purge by a less adsorbable gas to clean the adsorbent bed. Apart
from adsorption and regeneration, a single commercial PSA
cycle consists of a number of additional steps, including coand counter-current pressurization, pressure equalization and
co- and counter-current depressurization. A detailed description
of the PSA technique, along with its practical applications can
be found elsewhere (Ruthven et al., 1994).

3.5.2.11 Physical solvent processes

Physical solvent (or absorption) processes are mostly applicable
to gas streams which have a high CO2 partial pressure and/or a
high total pressure. They are often used to remove the CO2 from
the mixed stream of CO2 and H2 that comes from the shift reaction
in pre-combustion CO2 capture processes, such as product from
partial oxidation of coal and heavy hydrocarbons.
The leading physical solvent processes are shown in Table
3.2. The regeneration of solvent is carried out by release of
pressure at which CO2 evolves from the solvent, in one or more
stages. If a deeper regeneration is required the solvent would be
stripped by heating. The process has low energy consumption,
as only the energy for pressurizing the solvent (liquid pumping)
is required.
The use of high sulphur fossil fuels in a pre-combustion
capture process results in syngas with H2S. Acid gas components
must be removed. If transport and storage of mixed CO2 and
H2S is possible then both components can be removed together.
Sulphinol was developed to achieve significantly higher
solubilities of acidic components compared to amine solvents,
without added problems of excessive corrosion, foaming, or
solution degradation. It consists of a mixture of sulpholane
(tetrahydrothiophene 1,1-dioxide), an alkanolamine and water
in various proportions depending on the duty. If pure CO2 is
required, then a selective process is required using physical
solvents - often Rectisol or Selexol. The H2S must be separated
at sufficiently high concentration (generally >50%) to be treated
in a sulphur recovery plant.

3.5.2.10 Chemical solvent processes

Chemical solvents are used to remove CO2 from syngas at partial
pressures below about 1.5 MPa (Astarita et al., 1983) and are
similar to those used in post-combustion capture (see Section
3.3.2.1). The solvent removes CO2 from the shifted syngas by

3.5.2.12 Effect on other pollutants

Pre-combustion capture includes reforming, partial oxidation
or gasification. In order to maintain the operability of the
catalyst of reformers, sulphur (H2S) has to be removed prior
to reforming. In gasification, sulphur can be captured from the

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syngas, and in the case when liquid or solid fuels are gasified,
particulates, NH3, COS and HCN are also present in the system
that need to be removed. In general, all of these pollutants can
be removed from a high-pressure fuel gas prior to combustion,
where combustion products are diluted with nitrogen and
excess oxygen. In the combustion of hydrogen or a hydrogencontaining fuel gas, NOx may be formed. Depending upon
combustion technology and hydrogen fraction, the rate at which
NOx is formed may vary. If the volumetric fraction of hydrogen
is below approximately 50-60%, NOx formation is at the same
level as for natural gas dry low-NOx systems (Todd and Battista,
2001).
In general, with the exception of H2S that could be coremoved with CO2, other pollutants identified above are separated
in additional pretreatment operations, particularly in systems
that gasify liquid or solid fuels. High temperature pretreatment
operations for these multi-pollutants that avoid cooling of the
syngas have the advantage of improving the cycle efficiency of
the overall gasification process, but these separation processes
have not been commercially demonstrated.
Although it is not yet regulated as a criteria pollutant,
mercury (Hg), is currently the focus of considerable concern as
a pollutant from coal power systems. For gasification systems
Hg can be recovered from syngas at ambient temperatures at
very low-cost, compared to Hg recovery from flue gases (Klett
et al., 2002).
3.5.3

Emerging technologies

Emerging options in both natural gas reforming and coal

gasification incorporate novel combined reaction/separation
systems such as sorption-enhanced reforming and sorptionenhanced water gas shift, membrane reforming and membrane
water gas shift. Finally there is a range of technologies that
make use of the carbonation of CaO for CO2 capture.
3.5.3.1 Sorption enhanced reaction
A concept called Sorption Enhanced Reaction (SER) uses a
packed bed containing a mixture of a catalyst and a selective
adsorbent to remove CO2 from a high temperature reaction
zone, thus driving the reaction to completion. (Hufton et al.,
1999). The adsorbent is periodically regenerated by using a
pressure swing, or temperature swing adsorption system with
steam regeneration (Hufton et al., 2005).
High temperature CO2 adsorbents such as hydrotalcites
(Hufton et al., 1999) or lithium silicate (Nakagawa and Ohashi,
1998) can be mixed with a catalyst to promote either the steam
methane reforming reaction (Reaction 1) or water gas shift
reaction (Reaction 3) producing pure hydrogen and pure CO2 in
a single process unit. The continuous removal of the CO2 from
the reaction products by adsorption shifts each reaction towards
completion.
The SER can be used to produce hydrogen at 400-600oC
to fuel a gas turbine combined cycle power generation system.
A design study based on a General Electric 9FA gas turbine
with hot hydrogen, produced from an air blown ATR with a

sorption enhanced water gas shift reactor, gave a theoretical net

efficiency of 48.3% with 90% CO2 capture at 99% purity and
150 bar pressure (Hufton et al., 2005). The process is currently
at the pilot plant stage.
3.5.3.2

Membrane reactors for hydrogen production with

CO2 capture
Inorganic membranes with operating temperatures up to 1000C
offer the possibility of combining reaction and separation
of the hydrogen in a single stage at high temperature and
pressure to overcome the equilibrium limitations experienced
in conventional reactor configurations for the production of
hydrogen. The combination of separation and reaction in
membrane steam reforming and/or membrane water gas shift
offers higher conversion of the reforming and/or shift reactions
due to the removal of hydrogen from these equilibrium reactions
as shown in Reactions (1) and (3) respectively. The reforming
reaction is endothermic and can, with this technique, be forced
to completion at lower temperature than normal (typically 500600C). The shift reaction being exothermic can be forced to
completion at higher temperature (500-600C).
Another reason to incorporate H2 separation membranes in
the hydrogen production system is that CO2 is also produced
without the need for additional separation equipment. Membrane
reactors allow one-step reforming, or a single intermediate water
gas shift reaction, with hydrogen separation (the permeate)
leaving behind a retentate gas which is predominantly CO2 and
a small amount of non-recovered hydrogen and steam. This CO2
remains at the relatively high pressure of the reacting system (see
Figure 3.17). Condensation of the steam leaves a concentrated
CO2 stream at high pressure, reducing the compression energy
for transport and storage. Membrane reforming will benefit from
high-pressure operation due to the increased H2 partial pressure
differential across the membrane which is the driving force for
hydrogen permeation. Therefore membrane reactors are also
seen as a good option for pre-combustion de-carbonization
where a low-pressure hydrogen stream for fuel gas and a highpressure CO2-rich stream for transport and storage are required.
The use of the membrane reformer reactor in a gas turbine
combined cycle means that the hydrogen needs to be produced
at such pressure that the significant power consumption for
the hydrogen compression is avoided. This could be done by
increasing the operating pressure of the membrane reactor or
by using a sweep gas, for instance steam, at the permeate side
of the membrane (Jordal et al., 2003).
For these membrane reactor concepts, a hydrogen selective
membrane capable of operating in a high-temperature, highpressure environment is needed. In the literature a number of
membrane types have been reported that have these capabilities
and these are listed in Table 3.3. Microporous inorganic
membranes based upon surface diffusion separation exhibit
rather low separation factors (e.g., H2/CO2 separation factor of
15). However, the separation ability of the current commercially
available gamma-alumina and silica microporous membranes
(which have better separation factors, up to 40) depends upon
the stability of the membrane pore size, which is adversely

137

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Figure 3.17 Operating principle of a membrane reactor.

Table 3.3 Membrane materials, operating conditions and characteristics for H2 separation.

Membrane material

Pressure range (bar)

Pore size distribution (nm)

Separation factors (H2/CO2)

Permeability (mol m s Pa )
-1

Experim. temp. (C)

Pre-clean-up requirements

Chemical resistance problem

Geometry

Configuration
Lifetime

Costs (US$ m )
-2

Scalability

Microporous
Ceramic

Microporous
Carbon

<500

<400

<400

Alumina

Temperature range (C)

-2 -1

Microporous
Ceramic

>100

Silica
>100

0.7-2

0.7-2

10

10

15

-6

15

-6

200

200

Top layer tube

Top layer tube

H2O

Cascade/recycle/
once through

Cascade/recycle/
once through

4250

4250

+
0

affected by the presence of steam in the feed streams. The dense

ceramic membranes based on inorganic perovskite oxides (also
called proton conducting) need high temperatures, higher than
800oC, to achieve practical hydrogen flux rates. Palladiumbased dense membranes are also known for their high hydrogen
selectivity and permeability over other gases in the temperature
range 300C-600oC that is appropriate for these two reactions.
Palladium alloy tubes have been available for several decades,
but for CCS applications they are too expensive due to the
membrane thickness needed for structural stability and
consequently low hydrogen flux rates. In order to be suitable for
the target application, a hydrogen separation membrane must
have adequate selectivity and flux rate and must be stable in
the reducing coal gas or fuel-reforming environment containing
steam and hydrogen sulphide.
A number of membrane reactor developments have been
reported for hydrogen production with CO2 capture. Several
groups have evaluated methane steam reforming membrane

Zeolites

Metal

Carbon

Silica (Alumina)

Pd/Ag

10

>100

>100

<500 - 700

<600

0.7-2

0.3-0.7

no pores

10

10

10-7-10-6

15-25
-7

300-400

50

-6

300-400

100

300-400

S, HCl, HF (?)

Top layer tube/fibre

Top layer tube

Top layer tube/plate

O2

Cascade/recycle/
once through
3000?
0

Once through

4000-4250
-

S, HCl, HF

Once through

4000-4250
0

reactors based on palladium alloy membranes (Middleton et al.,

2002, Damle and Dorchak, 2001). These evaluations showed
that membrane reactors could achieve 90% CO2 recovery and
that at this moment the projected cost is nearly identical to that
for a conventional system. However, a cost-reduction can be
achieved by either reducing the material cost of the membrane
or by increasing the permeability. Similar evaluations of
membrane reactors for the shift conversion and separation of
CO2 from syngas produced from heavy feeds by gasification
have been reported (Bracht et al., 1997; Middleton 2002; Lowe
et al., 2003). For these gasifier systems the membrane reactors
could reduce the costs for capturing CO2 and the cost reduction
would be more significant if they could be made sulphur
tolerant.
3.5.3.3 Microchannel reformer
Microreactor technology can be used to produce a SMR, or low
temperature air-based POX system using a multichannel plate-

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fin heat exchanger, fabricated in stainless steel or high nickel

alloy by vacuum brazing or diffusion bonding.
An SMR reactor consists of alternate passages having fins,
which are coated with catalyst or porous catalyst insets. Heat
is produced by catalytic combustion of fuel gas premixed with
air and transferred by conduction to the adjacent passage fed
with the steam/hydrocarbon mixture, where the reforming
reaction takes place (Babovic et al., 2001). Very compact high
efficiency systems can be produced. Although these units are
being currently developed by a number of groups for smallscale H2 production for fuel cell applications, they also show
promise in larger H2 plants.
3.5.3.4 Conversion to hydrogen and carbon
Thermal cracking or pyrolysis of methane is the reaction where
methane reacts to carbon and hydrogen through:
Methane pyrolysis:
CH4 C + 2 H2

(4)

The main advantage of the process is that it can potentially yield

a clean gas (free of carbon oxides) that could be used directly
for power production, but a disadvantage is that the chemical
energy from the oxidation of carbon to CO2 is not released. The
cracking reaction is endothermic and so heat has to be supplied to
the reaction. If the natural gas is converted fully, the theoretical
yield of hydrogen corresponds to 60% of the heating value of
the natural gas. The amount of carbon, which can be obtained,
corresponds to 49% of the heating value, with the extra 9% of
the energy in this calculation being provided as endothermic
heat shown by reaction (4) above. Therefore full conversion can
be achieved only if heat is supplied from an external source.
If full conversion of methane is not achieved, the remaining
methane will be combusted to produce heat. There are many
different methods under development for reactors based on this
principle, including thermal catalytic, thermal non-catalytic and
plasma cracking.
In the plasma cracking process natural gas or other
hydrocarbons are supplied to a plasma reactor where the
hydrocarbons are cracked under pyrolysis conditions (i.e., in
absence of oxides, e.g., steam, which can supply oxygen to
form CO or CO2). The plasma arc, for which electricity is used,
supplies the heat for the cracking reaction. Advantages of the
process are its flexibility with respect to the fuel and the high
quality carbon black which can be produced. Two small-scale
plasma cracking processes for hydrogen/syngas production have
been in development. The Glid Arc process has been developed
by the Canadian Synergy Technologies Corporation. The
second process is the Kvaerner CB&H process. Kvaerner has
reported results for a pilot plant producing 1000Nm hydrogen
per hour and 270 kg or 500 kg carbon black using natural gas
and aromatic oil respectively (IEA GHG, 2001).
3.5.3.5 Technologies based on calcium oxide
There is a range of pre-combustion systems that make use of the
carbonation reaction of CaO at high pressures and temperatures,

to further integrate the gasification of the fuel (if solid), the

shift reaction, and in-situ CO2 removal with CaO. The overall
reaction aimed in the system is:
Carbonation of calcium oxide:
CaO + C + 2 H2O CaCO3 + 2H2

(5)

The regeneration of the sorbent produces pure CO2 when

carried out in a separate reactor by calcining CaCO3. A range
of systems can be developed under this general reaction
scheme depending on the technology adopted for gasification,
carbonation-calcination, hydrogen utilization route and storage
option for CO2. The first of these concepts was proposed at the
Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) and is currently under
development as the Zero Emission Coal Alliance (ZECA)
process. The full system includes (Lackner et al., 2001) a hydrogasification reactor, solid oxide fuel cell and a technology for
mineral carbonation. However, the fuel cell will require more
development and mineral carbonation is only at the laboratory
investigation stage (see Section 7.2 for a discussion of mineral
carbonation).
The HyPrRing process (Lin et al., 2002) is being developed
by the Center for Coal Utilization of Japan. It integrates
gasification, reforming and in situ CO2 capture in a single reactor
at pressures above 12 MPa and temperature above 650C.
Projects in Norway using natural gas and in Germany using
brown coal (Bandi et al., 2002) are also underway developing
pre-combustion systems using capture of CO2 with CaO. Finally,
General Electric (Rizeq et al., 2002) is developing an innovative
system involving the capture of CO2 in the gasification reactor
by a high temperature sorbent and with calcination in a separate
reactor by burning part of the fuel with an oxygen carrier.
All these systems are at an early stage of development.
Detailed process simulations show that the efficiencies are
potentially high because most of the energy employed for
sorbent regeneration is effectively transferred to the H2 generated
in reaction (5). The systems are aimed at very large-scale
generation of electricity and/or H2 and cement production (from
the deactivated sorbent, CaO). However, many uncertainties
remain concerning the performance of the individual units
and their practical integration. The main challenge may be the
regeneration of the sorbent at very high temperatures (>9000C),
to produce a pure stream of CO2. Another is the operating
conditions to achieve sufficient conversion towards hydrogen,
without the use of a catalyst for the shift reaction.
3.5.4

Enabling technologies

The performance and cost of a pre-combustion capture system

is linked to the availability of the enabling technologies that
complete the system. In this section we consider the availability
of industrial systems, to produce heat from the de-carbonized
fuel and gas turbines and fuel cells to produce power.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

3.5.4.1 Use of de-carbonized fuel in industrial systems
The use of hydrogen as a fuel for conventional fired heaters
and boilers is considered to be proven and indeed it is practiced
at certain industrial sites. There is a very large stock of capital
equipment of this type and so the use of hydrogen as a fuel
might be considered a valuable technology option in a carbonconstrained world. A study (IEA GHG, 2000c) has looked at the
cost of converting an existing refinery to use hydrogen fuel.
3.5.4.2 Use of de-carbonized fuel in gas turbine systems
There is extensive commercial experience with hydrogen-rich
fuel gas firing in gas turbines. For example, General Electric
reports over 450,000 hours of operating experience with
high hydrogen (52-95% by volume) content fuel gas in gas
turbines (Shilling and Jones, 2003). Unfortunately, most of that
experience is for refinery gas where methane is the other main
component of the fuel gas and is utilized in older lower firing
temperature gas turbines, not the state-of-the-art over 1300C
gas turbines normally considered for large de-carbonization
power plants.
Norsk Hydro and General Electric collaborated to perform
full-scale combustion system testing for modern gas turbines
firing hydrogen-rich gas with combustion exit temperatures of
above 1400C (Todd and Battista, 2001). The results showed
good combustion conditions with low NOx emission and
acceptable hot metal temperatures for mixtures with 54-77% by
volume hydrogen with most of the additional gas being nitrogen.
Dilution of the hydrogen with nitrogen or steam reduces the
NOx emission.
For pre-combustion capture of CO2 from natural gas,
air-blown gasification or autothermal reforming is usually
preferred (IEA GHG, 2000b; Wilkinson and Clarke, 2002).
Nitrogen dilution of the hydrogen required for firing in modern
gas turbines comes from the gasification air. High-pressure air
is usually extracted from the gas turbine to feed the air-blown
gasifier, or autothermal reformer to reduce costs and avoid a
separate air compressor. The balance between the amount of
air withdrawn from the gas turbine and the amount provided
from a separate air compressor is determined by the particular
characteristics of the gas turbine used. Some gas turbines can
accept a higher ratio of expander to compressor flow, allowing
greater volumes of dilution gas or smaller air-side draw flow
and giving higher power output.
For pre-combustion capture of CO2 from coal, oxygenblown gasification is usually preferred (IEA GHG, 2003).
Nitrogen dilution of the hydrogen required for firing in modern
gas turbines comes from the cryogenic air separation unit (used
to make the oxygen; see Section 3.4.5.1). The nitrogen is added
to the hydrogen after the gasification, CO shifting and CO2
capture to reduce the equipment sizes and cost. High-pressure
air is usually extracted from the gas turbine to supply a higher
than normal pressure cryogenic air separation unit to reduce
costs plus air, oxygen and nitrogen compression power. An
alternative IGCC scheme that incorporates newly emerging ion
transport membranes for oxygen production is also described
below in Section 3.5.4.3.

139
3.5.4.3 Syngas production using oxygen membranes
Oxygen required for a coal-fired IGCC process (Section
3.5.2.6) can be generated in an oxygen transport membrane
system by using a heated, high-pressure air stream produced by
heating the discharge air from the compressor section of a gas
turbine (Allam et al., 2002), typically at 1.6 MPa or 420C, to
the precise inlet temperature of the oxygen transport membrane
module which is above 700C. The oxygen, which permeates
to the low-pressure side passes through a heat recovery section
and is compressed to the final pressure of use. The O2 depleted
air leaving the oxygen transport membrane module then enters
the gas turbine combustor where it is used to burn fuel before
entering the gas turbine expander at the required temperature.
Note that due to the necessity to have excess air in a gas turbine
to limit turbine inlet temperature, removing one mole of oxygen
can be compensated by injection of the equivalent thermal
capacity of steam to maintain gas turbine power output. Studies
have been carried out (Armstrong et al., 2002) to compare
oxygen transport membrane and cryogenic oxygen production
in an IGCC power plant using coal as fuel. The oxygen plant
projected cost was reduced by 35% and the power consumption
by 37%. An LHV efficiency of 41.8% without CO2 capture and
compression is reported for this cycle compared to 40.9% when
a conventional cryogenic oxygen plant is used.
For autothermal reforming or the partial oxidation of natural
gas, if the permeate side of the oxygen transport membrane is
exposed to a natural gas plus water vapour stream in the presence
of a reforming catalyst, the oxygen will react as it leaves the
membrane in an exothermic reaction (Dyer et al., 2001; Carolan
et al., 2001), which will provide heat for the endothermic steam/
natural gas reforming reaction. The oxygen partial pressure at
these highly-reducing, high temperature conditions is extremely
low, allowing heated air at close to atmospheric pressure to be
used on the feed side of the membrane while producing a H2
+ CO mixture at high pressure from the permeate side. This
system can be used to produce H2 following CO shift reaction
and CO2 removal.
3.5.4.4 Chemical looping gasification/reforming
The chemical looping concept described in 3.4.6 is being
considered for reforming of a fuel to produce H2 and CO (Zafar
et al., 2005). When the amount of oxygen brought by the
metal oxide into the reduction reactor is below stoichiometric
requirements, the chemical reaction with the fuel produces H2
and CO. The reaction products may subsequently be shifted
with steam to yield CO2 and more H2.
3.5.4.5 Use of de-carbonized fuel in fuel cells
Fuel cells offer the possibility for highly efficient power
production since the conversion process is not controlled by
heat to work Carnot cycle restrictions (Blomen and Mugerwa,
1993). In general fuel cells feature the electrochemical oxidation
of gaseous fuels directly into electricity, avoiding the mixture of
the air and the fuel flows and thus the dilution with nitrogen and
excess oxygen of the oxidized products (Campanari, 2002). As
a result, the anode outlet stream of a fuel cell already has a very

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

high CO2 content that simplifies the CO2 capture subsystem.

The fuel is normally natural gas, though some concepts can
also be incorporated into coal gasification systems. The systems
concepts can be classified into two main groups (Goettlicher,
1999):
Systems with pre-fuel cell CO2 capture;
Systems with post-fuel cell CO2 capture.
In pre-fuel cell CO2 capture systems (see Figure 3.18a) the
fuel is first converted into hydrogen using steam reforming or
coal gasification, followed by the water gas shift conversion.
This system approach has been first proposed both for low
temperature and for high temperature fuel cells.
The post-fuel cell capture system (see Figure 3.18b) is
proposed for high temperature fuel cell systems (Dijkstra and
Jansen, 2003). These systems make use of the internal reforming
capabilities of the high temperature fuel cells resulting in an
anode off-gas that has a high CO2-content, but also contains
H2O and unconverted CO and H2. The water can easily be
removed by conventional techniques (cooling, knock-out,
additional drying). Oxidizing the H2 and CO from the (SOFC)
anode with air will result in a too high dilution of the stream
with nitrogen.
Haines (1999) chooses to use an oxygen-transport membrane
reactor placed after the SOFC. The anode off-gas is fed to one
side of the membrane, the cathode off-gas is fed to the other
side of the membrane. The membrane is selective to oxygen,
which permeates from the cathode off-gas stream to the anodeoff gas. In the membrane unit the H2 and CO are oxidized. The
retenate of the membrane unit consist of CO2 and water. Finally
a concept using a water gas shift membrane reactor has been
proposed (Jansen and Dijkstra, 2003).
3.5.5

Status and outlook

This section reviewed a wide variety of processes and fuel

conversion routes that share a common objective: to produce a
cleaner fuel stream from the conversion of a raw carbonaceous
fuel into one that contains little, or none, of the carbon contained
in the original fuel. This approach necessarily involves the
separation of CO2 at some point in the conversion process.
The resulting H2-rich fuel can be fed to a hydrogen consuming
process, oxidized in a fuel cell, or burned in the combustion
chamber of a gas turbine to produce electricity. In systems that
operate at high pressure, the energy conversion efficiencies tend
to be higher when compared to equivalent systems operating
at low pressures following the combustion route, but these
efficiency improvements are often obtained at the expense of a
higher complexity and capital investment in process plants (see
Section 3.7).
In principle, all pre-combustion systems are substantially
similar in their conversion routes, allowing for differences that
arise from the initial method employed for syngas production
from gaseous, liquid or solid fuels and from the subsequent need
to remove impurities that originate from the fuel feed to the plant.
Once produced, the syngas is first cleaned and then reacted with

Figure 3.18a Fuel cell system with pre-fuel cell CO2 capture. The
carbon-containing fuel is first completely converted into a mixture of
hydrogen and CO2. Hydrogen and CO2 are then separated and the H2rich fuel is oxidized in the fuel cell to produce electricity. The CO2
stream is dried and compressed for transport and storage.

Figure 3.18b Fuel cell system with post-fuel cell CO2 capture. The
carbon-containing fuel is first converted into a syngas. The syngas
is oxidized in the fuel cell to produce electricity. At the outlet of the
fuel cell CO2 is separated from the flue gas, dried and compressed for
transport and storage.

steam to produce more H2 and CO2. The separation of these two

gases can be achieved with well-known, commercial absorptiondesorption methods, producing a CO2 stream suitable for storage.
Also, intense R&D efforts worldwide are being directed towards
the development of new systems that combine CO2 separation
with some of the reaction steps, such as the steam reforming
of natural gas or water gas shift reaction stages, but it is not yet
clear if these emerging concepts (see Section 3.5.3) will deliver
a lower CO2 capture cost.
In power systems, pre-combustion CO2 capture in natural
gas combined cycles has not been demonstrated. However,
studies show that based on current state of the art gas turbine
combined cycles, pre-combustion CO2 capture will reduce the
efficiency from 56% LHV to 48% LHV (IEA, 2000b). In natural
gas combined cycles, the most significant area for efficiency
improvement is the gas turbine and it is expected that by 2020,
the efficiency of a natural gas combined cycle could be as
high as 65% LHV (IEA GHG, 2000d). For such systems the
efficiency with CO2 capture would equal the current state-ofthe-art efficiency for plants without CO2 capture, that is, 56%
LHV.
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycles (IGCC) are large
scale, near commercial examples of power systems that can be
implemented with heavy oil residues and solid fuels like coal and
petroleum coke. For the embryonic coal-fired IGCC technology
with the largest unit rated at 331 MWe, future improvements are
expected. A recent study describes improvements potentially
realisable for bituminous coals by 2020 that could reduce both
energy and cost-of-electricity penalties for CO2 capture to
13% compared to a same base plant without capture. For such

141

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

systems the generation efficiency with capture would equal the
best efficiency realisable today without CO2 capture (i.e., 43%
LHV; IEA GHG, 2003). Notably, all the innovations considered,
with the exception of ion transport membrane technology for air
separation (which is motivated by many market drivers other
than IGCC needs) involve non- breakthrough technologies,
with modest continuing improvements in components that are
already established commercially - improvements that might
emerge as a natural result of growing commercial experience
with IGCC technologies.
All fuel cell types are currently in the development phase.
The first demonstration systems are now being tested, with
the largest units being at the 1 MW scale. However, it will
take at least another 5 to 10 years before these units become
commercially available. In the longer term, these highly
efficient fuel cell systems are expected to become competitive
for power generation. Integrating CO2 capture in these systems
is relatively simple and therefore fuel cell power generation
systems offer the prospect of reducing the CO2 capture penalty
in terms of efficiency and capture costs. For instance, for high
temperature fuel cell systems without CO2 capture, efficiencies
that exceed 67% are calculated with an anticipated 7% efficiency
reduction when CO2 capture is integrated into the system
(Jansen and Dijkstra, 2003). However, fuel cell systems are too
small to reach a reasonable level of CO2 transport cost (IEA
GHG, 2002a), but in groups of a total of capacity 100MWe, the
cost of CO2 transport is reduced to a more acceptable level.
Most studies agree that pre-combustion systems may be better
suited to implement CO2 capture at a lower incremental cost
compared to the same type of base technology without capture
(Section 3.7), but with a key driver affecting implementation
being the absolute cost of the carbon emission-free product,
or service provided. Pre-combustion systems also have a high
strategic importance, because their capability to deliver, in
a large scale and at high thermal efficiencies, a suitable mix
of electricity, hydrogen and lower carbon-containing fuels or

chemical feedstocks in an increasingly carbon-constrained

world.
3.6 Environmental, monitoring, risk and legal
aspects of capture systems
The previous sections of this chapter focused on each of the
major technologies and systems for CO2 capture. Here we
summarize the major environmental, regulatory and risk issues
associated with the use of CO2 capture technology and the
handling of carbon dioxide common to all of these systems.
Issues related to the subsequent transport and storage of carbon
dioxide are discussed in Chapters 4 to 7.
3.6.1

Emissions and resource use impacts of CO2

capture systems

3.6.1.1 Overview of emissions from capture systems

Plants with CO2 capture would produce a stream of concentrated
CO2 for storage, plus in most cases a flue gas or vent gas emitted
to the atmosphere and liquid wastes. In some cases solid wastes
will also be produced.
The captured CO2 stream may contain impurities which
would have practical impacts on CO2 transport and storage
systems and also potential health, safety and environmental
impacts. The types and concentrations of impurities depend on
the type of capture process, as shown in Table 3.4, and detailed
plant design. The major impurities in CO2 are well known but
there is little published information on the fate of any trace
impurities in the feed gas such as heavy metals. If substances
are captured along with the CO2 then their net emissions to the
atmosphere will be reduced, but impurities in the CO2 may
result in environmental impacts at the storage site.
CO2 from most capture processes contains moisture, which
has to be removed to avoid corrosion and hydrate formation
during transportation. This can be done using conventional

Table 3.4 Concentrations of impurities in dried CO2, % by volume (Source data: IEA GHG, 2003; IEA GHG, 2004; IEA GHG, 2005).
COAL FIRED PLANTS
Post-combustion capture

Pre-combustion capture (IGCC)

SO2

NO

H2S

H2

CO

CH4

N2/Ar/O2

Total

<0.01

<0.01

0.01

0.01

0.5

0.01

0.01-0.6

0.8-2.0

0.03-0.4

0.01

0.03-0.6

2.1-2.7

Post-combustion capture

<0.01

<0.01

0.01

0.01

Pre-combustion capture

<0.01

1.0

0.04

2.0

1.3

4.4

Oxy-fuel

GAS FIRED PLANTS

Oxy-fuel

<0.01

<0.01

3.7

4.1

4.2

4.1

a. The SO2 concentration for oxy-fuel and the maximum H2S concentration for pre-combustion capture are for cases where these impurities are deliberately
left in the CO2, to reduce the costs of capture (see Section 3.6.1.1). The concentrations shown in the table are based on use of coal with a sulphur content of
0.86%. The concentrations would be directly proportional to the fuel sulphur content.
b. The oxy-fuel case includes cryogenic purification of the CO2 to separate some of the N2, Ar, O2 and NOx. Removal of this unit would increase impurity
concentrations but reduce costs.
c. For all technologies, the impurity concentrations shown in the table could be reduced at higher capture costs.

142
processes and the costs of doing so are included in published
costs of CO2 capture plants.
CO2 from post-combustion solvent scrubbing processes
normally contains low concentrations of impurities. Many of
the existing post-combustion capture plants produce high purity
CO2 for use in the food industry (IEA GHG, 2004).
CO2 from pre-combustion physical solvent scrubbing
processes typically contains about 1-2% H2 and CO and traces
of H2S and other sulphur compounds (IEA GHG, 2003). IGCC
plants with pre-combustion capture can be designed to produce
a combined stream of CO2 and sulphur compounds, to reduce
costs and avoid the production of solid sulphur (IEA GHG,
2003). Combined streams of CO2 and sulphur compounds
(primarily hydrogen sulphide, H2S) are already stored, for
example in Canada, as discussed in Chapter 5. However, this
option would only be considered in circumstances where the
combined stream could be transported and stored in a safe and
environmentally acceptable manner.
The CO2-rich gas from oxy-fuel processes contains oxygen,
nitrogen, argon, sulphur and nitrogen oxides and various other
trace impurities. This gas will normally be compressed and
fed to a cryogenic purification process to reduce the impurities
concentrations to the levels required to avoid two-phase flow
conditions in the transportation pipelines. A 99.99% purity
could be produced by including distillation in the cryogenic
separation unit. Alternatively, the sulphur and nitrogen oxides
could be left in the CO2 fed to storage in circumstances where
that is environmentally acceptable as described above for precombustion capture and when the total amount of all impurities
left in the CO2 is low enough to avoid two-phase flow conditions
in transportation pipelines.
Power plants with CO2 capture would emit a CO2-depleted
flue gas to the atmosphere. The concentrations of most harmful
substances in the flue gas would be similar to or lower than
in the flue gas from plants without CO2 capture, because CO2
capture processes inherently remove some impurities and
some other impurities have to be removed upstream to enable
the CO2 capture process to operate effectively. For example,
post-combustion solvent absorption processes require low
concentrations of sulphur compounds in the feed gas to avoid
excessive solvent loss, but the reduction in the concentration
of an impurity may still result in a higher rate of emissions per
kWh of product, depending upon the actual amount removed
upstream and the capture system energy requirements. As
discussed below (Section 3.6.1.2), the latter measure is more
relevant for environmental assessments. In the case of postcombustion solvent capture, the flue gas may also contain
traces of solvent and ammonia produced by decomposition of
solvent.
Some CO2 capture systems produce solid and liquid wastes.
Solvent scrubbing processes produce degraded solvent wastes,
which would be incinerated or disposed of by other means.
Post-combustion capture processes produce substantially more
degraded solvent than pre-combustion capture processes.
However, use of novel post-combustion capture solvents can
significantly reduce the quantity of waste compared to MEA

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

solvent, as discussed in Section 3.3.2.1. The waste from MEA
scrubbing would normally be processed to remove metals and
then incinerated. The waste can also be disposed of in cement
kilns, where the waste metals become agglomerated in the
clinker (IEA GHG, 2004). Pre-combustion capture systems
periodically produce spent shift and reforming catalysts and
these would be sent to specialist reprocessing and disposal
facilities.
3.6.1.2 Framework for evaluating capture system impacts
As discussed in Chapter 1, the framework used throughout this
report to assess the impacts of CO2 capture and storage is based
on the material and energy flows needed to produce a unit of
product from a particular process. As seen earlier in this chapter,
CO2 capture systems require an increase in energy use for their
operation. As defined in this report (see Section 1.5 and Figure
1.5), the energy requirement associated with CO2 capture is
expressed as the additional energy required to produce a unit
of useful product, such as a kilowatt-hour of electricity (for the
case of a power plant). As the energy and resource requirement
for CO2 capture (which includes the energy needed to compress
CO2 for subsequent transport and storage) is typically much
larger than for other emission control systems, it has important
implications for plant resource requirements and environmental
emissions when viewed from the systems perspective of
Figure 1.5.
In general, the CCS energy requirement per unit of product can
be expressed in terms of the change in net plant efficiency ()
when the reference plant without capture is equipped with a
CCS system:
E = (ref / ccs) - 1

(6)

where E is the fractional increase in plant energy input per

unit of product and ccs and ref are the net efficiencies of the
capture plant and reference plant, respectively. The CCS energy
requirement directly determines the increases in plant-level
resource consumption and environmental burdens associated
with producing a unit of useful product (like electricity)
while capturing CO2. In the case of a power plant, the larger
the CCS energy requirement, the greater the increases per
kilowatt-hour of in-plant fuel consumption and other resource
requirements (such as water, chemicals and reagents), as well
as environmental releases in the form of solid wastes, liquid
wastes and air pollutants not captured by the CCS system. The
magnitude of E also determines the magnitude of additional
upstream environmental impacts associated with the extraction,
storage and transport of additional fuel and other resources
consumed at the plant. However, the additional energy for these
upstream activities is not normally included in the reported

A different measure of the energy penalty commonly reported in the literature
is the fractional decrease in plant output (plant derating) for a fixed energy
input. This value can be expressed as: E* = 1 (ccs/ref). Numerically, E*
is smaller than the value of E given by Equation (6). For example, a plant
derating of E* = 25% corresponds to an increase in energy input per kWh of
E = 33%.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

143

energy requirements for CO2 capture systems.

Recent literature on CO2 capture systems applied to
electric power plants quantifies the magnitude of CCS energy
requirements for a range of proposed new plant designs with and
without CO2 capture. As elaborated later in Section 3.7 (Tables
3.7 to 3.15), those data reveal a wide range of E values. For
new supercritical pulverized coal (PC) plants using current
technology, these E values range from 24-40%, while for
natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) systems the range is 11%
22% and for coal-based gasification combined cycle (IGCC)
systems it is 14%25%. These ranges reflect the combined
effects of the base plant efficiency and capture system energy
requirements for the same plant type with and without capture.

Other studies, however, indicate that these impacts, while not

insignificant, tend to be small relative to plant-level impacts
(Bock et al., 2003).
For the most part, the magnitude of impacts noted above
- especially impacts on fuel use and solid waste production
- is directly proportional to the increased energy per kWh
resulting from the reduction in plant efficiency, as indicated
by Equation (6). Because CCS energy requirements are one
to two orders of magnitude greater than for other power plant
emission control technologies (such as particulate collectors
and flue gas desulphurization systems), the illustrative results
above emphasize the importance of maximizing overall plant
efficiency while controlling environmental emissions.

3.6.1.3 Resource and emission impacts for current systems

Only recently have the environmental and resource implications
of CCS energy requirements been discussed and quantified
for a variety of current CCS systems. Table 3.5 displays the
assumptions and results from a recent comparison of three
common fossil fuel power plants employing current technology
to capture 90% of the CO2 produced (Rubin et al., 2005).
Increases in specific fuel consumption relative to the reference
plant without CO2 capture correspond directly to the E
values defined above. For these three cases, the plant energy
requirement per kWh increases by 31% for the PC plant, 16%
for the coal-based IGCC plant and 17% for the NGCC plant. For
the specific examples used in Table 3.5, the increase in energy
consumption for the PC and NGCC plants are in the mid-range
of the values for these systems reported later in Tables 3.7 to
3.15 (see also Section 3.6.1.2), whereas the IGCC case is nearer
the low end of the reported range for such systems. As a result
of the increased energy input per kWh of output, additional
resource requirements for the PC plant include proportionally
greater amounts of coal, as well as limestone (consumed by
the FGD system for SO2 control) and ammonia (consumed by
the SCR system for NOx control). All three plants additionally
require more sorbent make-up for the CO2 capture units. Table
3.5 also shows the resulting increases in solid residues for
these three cases. In contrast, atmospheric emissions of CO2
decrease sharply as a result of the CCS systems, which also
remove residual amounts of other acid gases, especially SO2
in flue gas streams. Thus, the coal combustion system shows a
net reduction in SO2 emission rate as a result of CO2 capture.
However, because of the reduction in plant efficiency, other air
emission rates per kWh increase relative to the reference plants
without capture. For the PC and NGCC systems, the increased
emissions of ammonia are a result of chemical reactions in
the amine-based capture process. Not included in this analysis
are the incremental impacts of upstream operations such as
mining, processing and transport of fuels and other resources.

3.6.1.4 Resource and emission impacts of future systems

The analysis above compared the impacts of CO2 capture for a
given plant type based on current technology. The magnitude of
actual future impacts, however, will depend on four important
factors: (1) the performance of technologies available at the time
capture systems are deployed; (2) the type of power plants and
capture systems actually put into service; (3) the total capacity
of each plant type that is deployed; and, (4) the characteristics
and capacity of plants they may be replacing.
Analyses of both current and near-future post-combustion,
pre-combustion and oxy-fuel combustion capture technology
options reveal that some of the advanced systems currently
under development promise to significantly reduce the capture
energy requirements - and associated impacts - while still
reducing CO2 emissions by 90% or more, as shown in Figure
3.19. Data in this figure was derived from the studies previously
reported in Figures 3.6 and 3.7.
The timetable for deploying more efficient plants with CO2
capture will be the key determinant of actual environmental
changes. If a new plant with capture replaces an older, less
efficient and higher-emitting plant currently in service, the
net change in plant-level emission impacts and resource
requirements would be much smaller than the values given
earlier (which compared identical new plants with and without

Those additional energy requirements, if quantified, could be included by redefining the system boundary and system efficiency terms in Equation (6) to
apply to the full life cycle, rather than only the power plant. Such an analysis
would require additional assumptions about the methods of fuel extraction,
processing, transport to the power plant, and the associated energy requirements
of those activities; as well as the CO2 losses incurred during storage.

Figure 3.19 Fuel use for a reduction of CO2 emissions from capture
plants (data presented from design studies for power plants with and
without capture shown in Figures 3.6 and 3.7).

NH3

0.18

0.22

0.77

NOx
0.23

704

0.29

107

0.001

CO2
SOx

4.05

12.2

6.7

2.76

0.19

93

6.8

Increase

4.05

49.6

Sulfur

Spent CCS sorbent

FGD residues

28.1

Ash/slag

0.80
2.76

Ammonia

CCS Reagents

390

27.5

Limestone

Fuel

Rate

PC b

0.10

97

0.33

0.005

7.53

34.2

0.005

361

Increase

-1

0.01

0.05

-720

0.005

1.04

4.7

0.005

49

(All values in kg MWh )

Rate

IGCC c

0.002

0.11

43

0.94

0.80

156

Rate

NGCC d

0.002

0.02

342

0.94

0.80

23

Increase

Net power output of all plants is approximately 500 MW. Coal plants use Pittsburgh #8 coal with 2.1%S, 7.2% ash, 5.1% moisture and 303.2 MJ kg-1 lower heating value basis
(LHV). Natural gas LHV = 59.9 MJ kg-1. All plants capture 90% of potential CO2 emissions and compress to 13.7 MPa.
b
PC= Pulverized coal-fired plant; based on a supercritical unit with SCR, ESP and FGD systems, followed by an amine system for CO2 capture. SCR system assumes 2 ppmv
ammonia slip. SO2 removal efficiency is 98% for reference plant and 99% for capture plant. Net plant efficiency (LHV basis) is 40.9% without CCS and 31.2% with CCS.
c
IGCC=integrated gasification combined cycle system based on Texaco quench gasifiers (2 + 1 spare), two GE 7FA gas turbines, 3-pressure reheat HRSG. Sulfur removal
efficiency is 98% via hydrolyzer plus Selexol system; Sulfur recovery via Claus plant and Beavon-Stretford tailgas unit. Net plant efficiency (LHV basis) is 39.1% without
CCS and 33.8% with CCS.
d
NGCC=natural gas combined cycle plant using two GE 7FA gas turbines and 3-pressure reheat HRSG, with an amine system for CO2 capture. Net plant efficiency (LHV
basis) is 55.8% without CCS and 47.6% with CCS.

Atmospheric emissions

Solid Wastes/byproduct

Resource consumption

Capture Plant Parameter a

Table 3.5 Illustrative impacts of CCS energy requirements on plant-level resource consumption and non-CO2 emission rates for three current power plant systems. Values shown are mass
flow rates in kg per MWh for the capture plant, plus increases over the reference plant rates for the same plant type. See footnotes for additional details. (Source: Rubin et al., 2005)

144
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

145

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

capture). For example, the efficiency of a modern coal-based
plant with capture is close to many older coal-burning plants
currently in service. Replacing the latter with the former
would thus reduce CO2 emissions significantly with little or
no net change in plant coal consumption or related solid waste
impacts. In some cases, there could in fact be net reductions in
other plant emissions, in support of clean air goals. If, however,
the deployment of new CCS plants is delayed significantly,
older existing plants could well be replaced by modern highefficiency plants without capture. Such plants also would
be built to provide additional capacity in regions with high
electricity growth rates, such as in China and other parts of
Asia today. A decade or two from now, the fleet of existing
plants in those regions would thus look very different from the
present. Accordingly, the environmental and resource impacts
of additional new plants with CO2 capture would have to be
assessed in the context of the future situation.
Because comparisons of different plant types require a
specific context (or scenario) to be meaningful, this chapter
has only focused on characterizing the effects of CO2 capture
systems relative to the same type of power plant and not the
type of infrastructure it would replace (either currently, or in a
future carbon-constrained world). If other systems such as the
use of renewable energy, or electricity and synfuels cogenerated
from coal, find significant applications, those systems too would
require more comprehensive comparative life-cycle assessments
of resource use and impacts that are not currently available.
Chapter 8, however, assesses overall energy use impacts for
illustrative scenarios of CCS deployment in competition with
other carbon mitigation options.
3.6.2

Issues related to the classification of carbon

dioxide as a product

As a current commercial product, carbon dioxide is subject

to classification and regulations. The classification of carbon
dioxide is dependent on its physical state (gas, liquid or
solid), its concentration, impurities present and other criteria
established by national legislative classification in different
regions of the world. During the capture and concentration
process, the quality properties can change the classification of
the substance. A detailed assessment of carbon dioxide physical
and chemical properties is provided in Annex I.
The environmental, monitoring, risk and legal aspects
associated with carbon dioxide handling and storage are well
established in the processing industry. However, much larger
volumes are targeted for carbon dioxide processing for purposes
of CCS than the volumes handled at present. On a local and
regional level, additional emergency response and other
regulatory measures can be expected in the future, depending
on the rate of development of CCS. It is anticipated that human
capacity will be developed to assess the monitoring, risk and
legal aspects as required by the market.
At present, carbon dioxide typically occurs and is mainly
traded as a non-flammable gas (US Department of Transportation
classification class 2.2). The classification system of Transport

Dangerous Goods, International Maritime Organization/

International Maritime Dangerous Goods and International Civil
Aviation Organization / International Air Transport Association,
all classify carbon dioxide in class 2.2, non-flammable, noncorrosive and non-poisonous gases. In US federal regulations,
carbon dioxide is not listed as a product in the Clean Water Act
(CWA 307 and 311), Clean Air Act (CAA 112) or the Toxics
Release Inventory. In other international regulations carbon
dioxide is not classified in the European Inventory of Existing
Commercial Chemical Substance or other international lists,
but in Canada is classified as a compressed gas (class A) on the
Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Dangerous Substances
List (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, 2002).
3.6.3

Health and safety risks associated with carbon

dioxide processing

The effects of exposure to carbon dioxide are described in Annex

I. However, a risk assessment that includes an understanding of
both exposure and effects is required to characterize the risk for
various situations associated with carbon dioxide processing
(European Chemicals Bureau, 2003); see the following two
sections for established risk management practices. The most
probable routes of human exposure to carbon dioxide are
inhalation or skin contact. The need for a risk-based approach
is clear from the following two descriptions. Carbon dioxide
and its products of degradation are not legally classified as a
toxic substance; is non-hazardous on inhalation, is a non-irritant
and does not sensitize or permeate the skin. However, chronic
effects on humans follow from long-term exposure to airborne
carbon dioxide concentrations of between 0.5 and 1% resulting
in metabolic acidosis and increased calcium deposits in soft
tissues. The substance is toxic to the cardiovascular system and
upper respiratory tract at concentrations above 3%. Sensitive
populations to elevated carbon dioxide levels are described
in Annex I. The product risk assessment process is therefore
necessary as with any other chemical use to determine the risk
and establish the necessary risk management processes.
As an asphyxiate carbon dioxide presents the greatest
danger. If atmospheric oxygen is displaced such that oxygen
concentration is 15-16%, signs of asphyxia will be noted. Skin
contact with dry ice has caused serious frostbites and blisters
(Hazardous Substances Data Bank, 2002). Protective equipment
and clothing required in the processing industries include full
face-piece respirators to prevent eye contact and appropriate
personal protective clothing to protect the skin from becoming
frozen by the liquid.
3.6.4

Plant design principles and guidelines used by

governments, industries and financiers

New plant facilities like those envisioned for carbon dioxide

are subject to design guidelines for the petrochemical industry
as determined by relevant authorities. One example is the
European Unions Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
(IPPC) directive requiring the application of the principles

146

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

of Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Cost

(BATNEEC). Carbon dioxide capture and compression
processes are listed in several guidelines as gas-processing
facilities. Typically the World Bank guidelines and other
financial institutions have specific requirements to reduce risk
and these require monitoring (World Bank, 1999) which is part
of routine plant monitoring to detect accidental releases. Investor
guidelines like the World Bank guidelines are particularly
important for developing countries where there is less emphasis
on monitoring and legislation. National and regional legislation
for plant design and specifications from organizations like the
US Environmental Protection Agency are available to guide the
development of technology.
3.6.5

Commissioning, good practice during operations

and sound management of chemicals

The routine engineering design, commissioning and start-up

activities associated with petrochemical facilities are applicable
to the capture and compression of carbon dioxide; for example
Hazard Operability studies are conducted on a routine basis for
new facilities (Sikdar and Diwekar, 1999).
The management of carbon dioxide and reagents inside
factory battery limits will be in accordance with the relevant
practices in use for carbon dioxide. For carbon dioxide, US
Occupational Health and Safety Act standards and National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommendations
exist, which are applied widely in industry to guide safe handling
of carbon dioxide and the same applies to reagents and catalysts
used. Well established and externally audited management
systems such as International Standards Organizations ISO
14001 (environment) and ISO 9001 (quality) and Occupational
Health and Safety (OHSAS 18000) exist to provide assurance
that environment, safety, health and quality management
systems are in place (American Institute of Chemical Engineers,
1995). Tools like life-cycle assessment (ISO 14040 series) with
the necessary boundary expansion methodology are useful to
determine the overall issues associated with a facility and assist
with selection of parameters such as energy carriers, operational
conditions and materials used in the process. The life-cycle
assessment will also indicate if a trouble-free capture system
does generate environmental concerns elsewhere in the product
life cycle.
3.6.6

Site closure and remediation

It is not anticipated that carbon dioxide capture will result in

a legacy of polluted sites requiring remediation after plant
closure, assuming that standard operating procedures and
management practices in the previous section are followed.
However, depending on the technology used and the materials
procured for operations, waste disposal at the facilities and
operation according to a formal management system from
construction, operation to the development of site closure plans
will largely assist to reduce the risk of a polluted site after
closure of operations.

3.7

Cost of CO2 capture

This section of the report deals with the critical issue of CO2
capture costs. We begin with an overview of the many factors
that affect costs and the ability to compare published estimates
on a consistent basis. Different measures of CO2 capture cost
also are presented and discussed. The literature on CO2 capture
costs for currently available technologies is then reviewed,
along with the outlook for future costs over the next several
decades.
3.7.1

Factors affecting CO2 capture cost

Published estimates for CO2 capture costs vary widely, mainly

as a result of different assumptions regarding technical
factors related to plant design and operation (e.g., plant size,
net efficiency, fuel properties and load factor), as well as key
economic and financial factors such as fuel cost, interest rates
and plant lifetime. A number of recent papers have addressed
this issue and identified the principal sources of cost differences
and variability (Herzog, 1999; Simbeck, 1999; Rubin and Rao,
2003). This section draws heavily on Rubin and Rao (2003) to
highlight the major factors affecting the cost of CO2 capture.
3.7.1.1 Defining the technology of interest
Costs will vary with the choice of CO2 capture technology and
the choice of power system or industrial process that generates
the CO2 emissions. In engineering-economic studies of a single
plant or CO2 capture technology, such definitions are usually
clear. However, where larger systems are being analyzed, such
as in regional, national or global studies of CO2 mitigation
options, the specific technologies assumed for CO2 production
and capture may be unclear or unspecified. In such cases, the
context for reported cost results also may be unclear.
3.7.1.2 Defining the system boundary
Any economic assessment should clearly define the system
whose CO2 emissions and cost is being characterized. The most
common assumption in studies of CO2 capture is a single facility
(most often a power plant) that captures CO2 and transports it to
an off-site storage area such as a geologic formation. The CO2
emissions considered are those released at the facility before
and after capture. Reported costs may or may not include CO2
transport and storage costs. The system boundary of interest in
this section of the report includes only the power plant or other
process of interest and does not include CO2 transport and
storage systems, whose costs are presented in later chapters.
CO2 compression, however, is assumed to occur within the
facility boundary and therefore the cost of compression is
included in the cost of capture.
In some studies the system boundary includes emissions of

Alternatively, compression costs could be attributed wholly or in part to CO2
transport and storage. Most studies, however, include compression with capture
cost. This also facilitates comparisons of capture technologies that operate at
different pressures, and thus incur different costs to achieve a specified final
pressure.

147

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

CO2 and other greenhouse gases such as methane (expressed
as equivalent CO2) over the complete fuel cycle encompassing
not only the power plant or facility in question, but also the
upstream processes of extraction, refining and transport of fuel
used at the facility, plus any downstream emissions from the
use or storage of captured CO2. Still larger system boundaries
might include all power plants in a utility companys system;
all plants in a regional or national grid; or a national economy
where power plant and industrial emissions are but one element
of the overall energy system being modelled. In each of these
cases it is possible to derive a mitigation cost for CO2, but the
results are not directly comparable because they reflect different
system boundaries and considerations. Chapter 8 discusses such
differences in more detail and presents results for alternative
systems of interest.
3.7.1.3 Defining the technology time frame and maturity
Another factor that is often unclear in economic evaluations of
CO2 capture is the assumed time frame and/or level of maturity
for the technology under study. Does the cost estimate apply to
a facility that would be built today, or at some future time? This
is especially problematic in studies of advanced technologies
that are still under development and not currently commercial.
In most cases, studies of advanced technologies assume that
costs apply to an nth plant to be built sometime in the future
when the technology is mature. Such estimates reflect the
expected benefits of technological learning, but may or may
not adequately account for the increased costs that typically
occur in the early stages of commercialization. The choice of
technology time frame and assumed rate of cost improvements
and can therefore make a big difference in CO2 capture cost
estimates.
3.7.1.4 Different cost measures and assumptions
The literature reveals a number of different measures used to
characterize CO2 capture and storage costs, including capital
cost, cost of electricity, cost of CO2 avoided and others.
Because some of these measures are reported in the same units
(e.g., US dollars per tonne of CO2) there is great potential for
misunderstanding. Furthermore, for any given cost measure,
different assumptions about the technical, economic and
financial parameters used in cost calculations can also give
rise to large differences in reported capture costs. Section 3.7.2
elaborates on some of the common metrics of cost and the
parameters they employ.
3.7.2

Measures of CO2 capture cost

We define four common measures of CO2 capture cost here:

capital cost, incremental product cost (such as the cost of
electricity), cost of CO2 avoided and cost of CO2 captured
or removed. Each of these measures provides a different
perspective on CO2 capture cost for a particular technology
or system of interest. All of them, however, represent an
engineering economic perspective showing the added cost of
capturing CO2 in a particular application. Such measures are

required to address larger questions such as which options or

strategies to pursue - a topic addressed later in Chapter 8.
3.7.2.1 Capital cost
Capital cost (also known as investment cost or first cost)
is a widely used, albeit incomplete, metric of the cost of a
technology. It is often reported on a normalized basis (e.g., cost
per kW). For CO2 capture systems, the capital cost is generally
assumed to represent the total expenditure required to design,
purchase and install the system of interest. It may also include
the additional costs of other plant components not needed in
the absence of a CO2 capture device, such as the costs of an
upstream gas purification system to protect the capture device.
Such costs often arise in complex facilities like a power plant.
Thus, the total incremental cost of CO2 capture for a given
plant design is best determined as the difference in total cost
between plants with and without CO2 capture, producing the
same amounts of useful (primary) product, such as electricity.
Different organizations employ different systems of accounts
to specify the elements of a capital cost estimate. For electric
power plants, one widely used procedure is that defined by
the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI, 1993). However,
because there is no universally employed nomenclature
or system of accounts, capital costs reported by different
organizations or authors may not always include the same items.
The terms used to report capital costs may further disguise such
differences and lead to misunderstandings about what is and is
not included. For example, power plant cost studies often report
a value of capital cost that does not include the cost of interest
during construction or other so-called owners costs that
typically add at least 10-20% (sometimes substantially more)
to the total capital requirement of a system. Only if a capital
cost breakdown is reported can such omissions be discovered.
Studies that fail to report the year of a cost estimate introduce
further uncertainty that may affect cost comparisons.
3.7.2.2 Incremental product cost
The effect of CO2 capture on the cost of electricity (or other
product) is one of the most important measures of economic
impact. Electric power plants, a major source of CO2 emissions,
are of particular interest in this regard. The cost electricity
(COE) for a power plant can be calculated as:
COE = [(TCR)(FCF) + (FOM)]/[(CF)(8760)(kW)] + VOM +
(HR)(FC)
(7)
where, COE = levelized cost of electricity (US$ kWh-1), TCR
= total capital requirement (US$), FCF = fixed charge factor
(fraction yr-1), FOM = fixed operating costs (US$ yr-1), VOM
= variable operating costs (US$ kWh-1), HR = net plant heat
rate (kJ kWh-1), FC = unit fuel cost (US$ kJ-1), CF = capacity
For simplicity, the value of FCF in Equation (7) is applied to the total capital
requirement. More detailed calculations of COE based on a year-by-year
analysis apply the FCF to the total capital cost excluding owners costs (such
as interest during construction), which are separately accounted for in the years
prior to plant start-up.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

factor (fraction), 8760 = total hours in a typical year and kW

= net plant power (kW). In this chapter, the costs in Equation
(7) include only the power plant and capture technologies and
not the additional costs of CO2 transport and storage that are
required for a complete system with CCS. The incremental
COE is the difference in electricity cost with and without CO2
capture. Again, the values reported here exclude transport and
storage costs. Full CCS costs are reported in Chapter 8.
Equation (7) shows that many factors affect this incremental
cost. For example, just as the total capital cost includes many
different items, so too do the fixed and variable costs associated
with plant operation and maintenance (O&M). Similarly, the
fixed charge factor (FCF, also known as the capital recovery
factor) reflects assumptions about the plant lifetime and the
effective interest rate (or discount rate) used to amortize capital
costs. Assumptions about any of the factors in Equation (7)
can have a pronounced effect on overall cost results. Nor are
these factors all independent of one another. For example, the
design heat rate of a new power plant may affect the total capital
requirement since high-efficiency plants usually are more costly
than lower-efficiency designs.
Finally, because several of the parameter values in Equation
(7) may change over the operating life of a facility (such as
the capacity factor, unit fuel cost, or variable operating costs),
the value of COE also may vary from year to year. To include
such effects, an economic evaluation would calculate the net
present value (NPV) of discounted costs based on a schedule of
year-to-year cost variations, in lieu of the simpler formulation
of Equation (7). However, most engineering-economic studies
use Equation (7) to calculate a single value of levelized COE
over the assumed life of the plant. The levelized COE is the
cost of electricity, which, if sustained over the operating life of
the plant, would produce the same NPV as an assumed stream
of variable year-to-year costs. In most economic studies of CO2
capture, however, all parameter values in Equation (7) are held
constant, reflecting (either implicitly or explicitly) a levelized
COE over the life of the plant.

3.7.2.3 Cost of CO2 avoided

One of the most widely used measures for the cost of CO2 capture
and storage is the cost of CO2 avoided. This value reflects the
average cost of reducing atmospheric CO2 mass emissions by
one unit while providing the same amount of useful product as
a reference plant without CCS. For an electric power plant the
avoidance cost can be defined as:

For CO2 capture systems with large auxiliary energy requirements, the
magnitude of incremental cost also depends on whether the plant with capture
is assumed to be a larger facility producing the same net output as the reference
plant without capture, or whether the reference plant is simply derated to supply
the auxiliary energy. While the latter assumption is most common, the former
yields a smaller incremental cost due to economy-of-scale effects.

In its simplest form, FCF can be calculated from the project lifetime, n (years),
and annual interest rate, i (fraction), by the equation: FCF = i / [1 (1 + i)n ].

Readers not familiar with these economic concepts and calculations may wish
to consult a basic economics text, or references such as (EPRI, 1993) or (Rubin,
2001) for more details.

Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2) =

[(COE)capture (COE)ref] / [(CO2 kWh-1)ref (CO2 kWh-1)capture]

(8)
where, COE = levelized cost of electricity (US$ kWh-1) as given
by Equation (7) and CO2 kWh-1 = CO2 mass emission rate (in
tonnes) per kWh generated, based on the net plant capacity for
each case. The subscripts capture and ref refer to the plant
with and without CO2 capture, respectively. Note that while this
equation is commonly used to report a cost of CO2 avoided for
the capture portion of a full CCS system, strictly speaking it
should be applied only to a complete CCS system including
transport and storage costs (since all elements are required to
avoid emissions to the atmosphere).
The choice of the reference plant without CO2 capture plays
a key role in determining the CO2 avoidance cost. Here the
reference plant is assumed to be a plant of the same type and
design as the plant with CO2 capture. This provides a consistent
basis for reporting the incremental cost of CO2 capture for a
particular type of facility.
Using Equation (8), a cost of CO2 avoided can be calculated
for any two plant types, or any two aggregates of plants.
Thus, special care should be taken to ensure that the basis
for a reported cost of CO2 avoided is clearly understood or
conveyed. For example, the avoidance cost is sometimes
taken as a measure of the cost to society of reducing GHG
emissions. In that case, the cost per tonne of CO2 avoided
reflects the average cost of moving from one situation (e.g., the
current mix of power generation fuels and technologies) to a
different mix of technologies having lower overall emissions.
Alternatively, some studies compare individual plants with and
without capture (as we do), but assume different types of plants
for the two cases. Such studies, for example, might compare
a coal-fired plant with capture to an NGCC reference plant
without capture. Such cases reflect a different choice of system
boundaries and address very different questions, than those
addressed here. However, the data presented in this section
(comparing the same type of plant with and without capture)
can be used to estimate a cost of CO2 avoided for any two of the
systems of interest in a particular situation (see Chapter 8).
3.7.2.4 Cost of CO2 captured or removed
Another cost measure frequently reported in the literature is
based on the mass of CO2 captured (or removed) rather than
emissions avoided. For an electric power plant it can be defined
as:
Cost of CO2 Captured (US$/tCO2) =
[(COE)capture (COE)ref] / (CO2, captured kWh-1)

(9)

As used here, cost refers only to money spent for technology, fuels and
related materials, and not to broader societal measures such as macroeconomic
costs or societal damage costs associated with atmospheric emissions. Further
discussions and use of the term cost of CO2 avoided appear in Chapter 8 and
in the references cited earlier.

149

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

where, CO2, captured kWh-1 = total mass of CO2 captured (in
tonnes) per net kWh for the plant with capture. This measure
reflects the economic viability of a CO2 capture system given a
market price for CO2 (as an industrial commodity). If the CO2
captured at a power plant can be sold at this price (e.g., to the
food industry, or for enhanced oil recovery), the COE for the
plant with capture would be the same as for the reference plant
having higher CO2 emissions. Numerically, the cost of CO2
captured is lower than the cost of CO2 avoided because the
energy required to operate the CO2 capture systems increases
the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of product.
3.7.2.5 Importance of CCS energy requirements
As the energy requirement for CCS is substantially larger
than for other emission control systems, it has important
implications for plant economics as well as for resource
requirements and environmental impacts. The energy penalty
(as it is often called) enters cost calculations in one of two ways.
Most commonly, all energy needed to operate CCS absorbers,
compressors, pumps and other equipment is assumed to be
provided within the plant boundary, thus lowering the net plant
capacity (kW) and output (kWh, in the case of a power plant).
The result, as shown by Equation (7), is a higher unit capital
cost (US$ kW-1) and a higher cost of electricity production (US$
kWh-1). Effectively, these higher unit costs reflect the expense
of building and operating the incremental capacity needed to
operate the CCS system.
Alternatively, some studies - particularly for industrial
processes such as hydrogen production - assume that some or
all of the energy needed to operate the CCS system is purchased
from outside the plant boundary at some assumed price. Still
other studies assume that new equipment is installed to generate
auxiliary energy on-site. In these cases, the net plant capacity and
output may or may not change and may even increase. However,
the COE in Equation (7) again will rise due to the increases in
VOM costs (for purchased energy) and (if applicable) capital
costs for additional equipment. The assumption of purchased
power, however, does not guarantee a full accounting of the
replacement costs or CO2 emissions associated with CCS. In
all cases, however, the larger the CCS energy requirement, the
greater the difference between the costs of CO2 captured and
avoided.
3.7.2.6 Other measures of cost
The cost measures above characterize the expense of adding
CO2 capture to a single plant of a given type and operating
profile. A broader modelling framework is needed to address
questions involving multiple plants (e.g., a utility system,
regional grid, or national network), or decisions about what
type of plant to build (and when). Macroeconomic models that
include emission control costs as elements of a more complex
framework typically yield cost measures such as the change
in gross domestic product (GDP) from the imposition of a
carbon constraint, along with changes in the average cost of
electricity and cost per tonne of CO2 abated. Such measures
are often useful for policy analysis, but reflect many additional

assumptions about the structure of an economy as well as

the cost of technology. Chapter 8 provides a discussion of
macroeconomic modelling as it relates to CO2 capture costs.
3.7.3

The context for current cost estimates

Recall that CO2 capture, while practiced today in some industrial

applications, is not currently a commercial technology used at
large electric power plants, which are the focus of most CCS
studies. Thus, cost estimates for CO2 capture systems rely
mainly on studies of hypothetical plants. Published studies also
differ significantly in the assumptions used for cost estimation.
Equation (7), for example, shows that the plant capacity factor
has a major impact on the cost of electric power generation,
as do the plant lifetime and discount rate used to compute the
fixed charge factor. The COE, in turn, is a key element of CO2
avoidance cost, Equation (8). Thus, a high plant capacity factor
or a low fixed charge rate will lower the cost of CO2 capture
per kWh. The choice of other important parameters, such as
the plant size, efficiency, fuel type and CO2 removal rate will
similarly affect the CO2 capture cost. Less apparent, but often
equally important, are assumptions about parameters such as the
contingency cost factors embedded in capital cost estimates
to account for unspecified costs anticipated for technologies at
an early stage of development, or for commercial systems that
have not yet been demonstrated for the application, location, or
plant scale under study.
Because of the variability of assumptions employed in
different studies of CO2 capture, a systematic comparison of cost
results is not straightforward (or even possible in most cases).
Moreover, there is no universally correct set of assumptions
that apply to all the parameters affecting CO2 capture cost. For
example, the quality and cost of natural gas or coal delivered
to power plants in Europe and the United States may differ
markedly. Similarly, the cost of capital for a municipal or
government-owned utility may be significantly lower than for a
privately-owned utility operating in a competitive market. These
and other factors lead to real differences in CO2 capture costs
for a given technology or power generation system. Thus, we
seek in this report to elucidate the key assumptions employed
in different studies of similar systems and technologies and
their resulting impact on the cost of CO2 capture. Analyses
comparing the costs of alternative systems on an internally
consistent basis (within a particular study) also are highlighted.
Nor are all studies equally credible, considering their vintage,
data sources, level of detail and extent of peer review. Thus,
the approach adopted here is to rely as much as possible on
recent peer-reviewed literature, together with other publiclyavailable studies by governmental and private organizations
heavily involved in the field of CO2 capture. Later, in Chapter 8,
the range of capture costs reported here are combined with cost
estimates for CO2 transport and storage to arrive at estimates
of the overall cost of CCS for selected power systems and
industrial processes.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 3.6 Confidence levels for technology and system cost estimates.
Confidence Level

Description

High

Commercially deployed in applications similar to the system under study, but at a smaller scale and/or with limited
operating experience; no major problems or issues anticipated in this application; commercial guarantees available.

Very High

Moderate
Low
Very Low

3.7.4

Mature technology with multiple commercial replications for this application and scale of operation; considerable
operating experience and data under a variety of conditions.

No commercial application for the system and/or scale of interest, but technology is commercially deployed in other
applications; issues of scale-up, operability and reliability remain to be demonstrated for this application.
Experience and data based on pilot plant or proof-of-concept scale; no commercial applications or full-scale
demonstrations; significant technical issues or cost-related questions still to be resolved for this application.

A new concept or process not yet tested, or with operational data limited to the laboratory or bench-scale level; issues
of large-scale operability, effectiveness, reliability and manufacturability remain to be demonstrated.

Overview of technologies and systems evaluated

Economic studies of CO2 capture have focused mainly on

electric power generation, a major source of CO2 emissions.
To a lesser extent, CO2 capture from industrial processes also
has been subject to economic evaluations, especially processes
producing hydrogen, often in combination with other products.
The sections below review and summarize recent estimates
of CO2 capture costs for major systems of interest. Sections
3.7.5 to 3.7.8 focus first on the cost of current CO2 capture
technologies, while Sections 3.7.10 to 3.7.12 go on to discuss
improved or advanced technologies promising lower costs in
the future. In all cases the system boundary is defined as a single
facility at which CO2 is captured and compressed for delivery
to a transport and storage system. To reflect different levels of
confidence (or uncertainty) in cost estimates for technologies
at different stages of development, the qualitative descriptors
shown in Table 3.6 are applied in summarizing published cost
estimates. The studies reviewed typically report costs in US
dollars for reference years ranging from 2000 to early 2004.
Because inflation effects generally have been small during this
period no adjustments have been made in summarizing ranges
of reported costs.
3.7.5

Post-combustion CO2 capture cost for electric

power plants (current technology)

Most of the worlds electricity is currently generated from

the combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal and (to an
increasing extent) natural gas. Hence, the ability to capture and
store the CO2 emitted by such plants has been a major focus
of investigation. This section of the report focuses on the cost
of currently available technology for CO2 capture. Because
of the relatively low CO2 concentration in power plant flue
gases, chemical absorption systems have been the dominant
technology of interest for post-combustion capture (see Section
3.3.2). However, the cost of CO2 capture depends not only on
These descriptions are used in subsequent tables to characterize systems with
CO2 capture. In most cases the cost estimates for reference plants (without
capture) would rank as high (e.g., IGCC power plants) or very high (e.g., PC
and NGCC power plants).

the choice of capture technology, but also - and often more

importantly - on the characteristics and design of the overall
power plant. For purposes of cost reporting, we distinguish
between coal-fired and gas-fired plant designs and between new
and existing facilities.
3.7.5.1 New coal-fired power plants
Table 3.7 summarizes the key assumptions and results of recent
studies of post-combustion CO2 capture at new coal-fired
power plants. Assumed plant sizes with CO2 capture range from
approximately 300-700 MW net power output. In all cases,
CO2 capture is accomplished using an amine-based absorption
system, typically MEA. Capture efficiencies range from 85-95%
with the most common value being 90%. The studies employ
different assumptions about other key parameters such as the
base power plant efficiency, coal properties, coal cost, plant
capacity factor, CO2 product pressure and financial parameters
such as the fixed charge factor. All of these factors have a direct
influence on total plant cost and the cost of CO2 capture.
Table 3.7 summarizes several measures of CO2 capture cost,
both in absolute and relative terms. Across the full set of studies,
CO2 capture adds 44-87% to the capital cost of the reference
plant (US$ kW-1) and 42-81% to the cost of electricity (US$
MWh-1), while achieving CO2 reductions of approximately
80-90% per net kWh produced. The cost of CO2 avoided for
these cases varies from 29-51 US$/tCO2. The absolute values
of capital cost, COE and incremental cost of electricity in
Table 3.7 reflect the different assumptions employed in each
study. The result is an incremental COE of 18-38 US$ MWh-1
(or US$ 0.018-0.038 kWh-1) for CO2 capture. The total COE
for plants with capture ranges from 62-87 US$ MWh-1. In all
cases, a significant portion of the total CO2 capture cost is due
to the energy requirement for CO2 capture and compression. For
the studies in Table 3.7, the plants with CO2 capture require
24-42% more fuel input per MWh of plant output relative to
a similar reference plant without capture. Roughly half the
energy is required for solvent regeneration and a third for CO2
compression.
While many factors contribute to the cost differences
observed in Table 3.7, systematic studies of the influence of
different factors indicate that the most important sources of
variability in reported cost results are assumptions about the

2002b

Parsons

2004

IEA GHG

2004

IEA GHG
2005

Rubin
et al.

ultra
bit, 1% S
FGD, SCR
520
80
44.5
0.98
0.76
MEA
408
34.9
85
0.145
2.360

506
65
44.8
0.736
MEA
367
32.5
90
0.101
2.350

4.061

MEA
666
34.8
87.5
0.117

758
85
44.0
1.50
0.743

ultra
bit, 1% S
FGD, SCR

4.168

KS-1
676
35.4
90
0.092

754
85
43.7
1.50
0.747

ultra
bit, 1% S
FGD, SCR

3.102

MEA
492
31.1
90
0.107

524
75
40.9
1.25
0.811

super
bit, 2.1% S
FGD, SCR

SUPERCRITICAL UNITS / BITUMINOUS COALS

2002

Simbeck

ultra
bit, 2.5% S
FGD, SCR

2002b

Parsons

676
35
90
0.15
4.17

1.83

758
85
45
1.50
0.81

max

329
30
85
0.09

462
65
41
0.98
0.74

min

Range

2.346

MEA
283
27.7
95
0.059

397
85
38.9
1.03
0.835

subcritical
bit, 2.5%S
FGD

2.580

MEA
326
25.4
90
0.133

462
75
36.1
1.25
0.941

subcritical
sub-bit, 0.5%S
FGD, SCR

2002

Rao &
Rubin
2005

Stobbs & Clark

2.795

MEA
311.0
31.8
95
0.060

424
90
43.4
0.88
0.883

super
lignite
FGD, SCR, LoTOx

SUBCRIT UNITS / LOW RANK COALS

2002

NETL

8.4
8.4
13.7
11.0
11.0
13.9
8
14
10.3
13.9
13.9
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
CCS energy requirement (% more
40
38
28
26
24
31
24
40
40
42
36
input MWh-1)
86
86
81
84
88
87
81
88
93
86
93
CO2 reduction per kWh (%)
***
**
**
***
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
2000
2000
2000
2004
2004
2002
2002
2000
2003
Fixed charge factor (%)
15.5
15.5
12.7
11.0
11.0
14.8
11.0
15.5
14.8
15.0
1281
1161
1486
1319
1265
1205
1161
1486
1268
1236
1891
Reference plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Capture plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
2219
1943
2578
1894
2007
1936
1894
2578
2373
2163
3252
938
782
1092
575
742
731
575
1092
1105
927
1361
Incremental TCR for capture
(US$ kW-1)
Reference plant COE (US$
51.5
51.0
42.9
43.9
42.8
46.1
43
52
42.3
49.2
44.5
MWh1)
85.6
82.4
70.9
62.4
63.0
74.1
62
86
76.6
87.0
74.3
Capture plant COE (US$ MWh1)
Incremental COE for capture
34.1
31.4
28
18.5
20.2
28
18
34
37.8
37.8
29.8
(US$ MWh1)
% increase in capital cost (over ref.
73
67
74
44
59
61
44
74
87
75
72
plant)
% increase in COE (over ref.
66
62
65
42
47
61
42
66
81
77
67
plant)
35
28
34
23
24
29
23
35
31
31
26
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
51
49
43
29
31
40
29
51
43
47
36
Capture cost confidence level (see
moderate
moderate
Table 3.6)
Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming LHV/HHV =
0.96 for coal. ** Reported capital costs increased by 8% to include interest during construction. ***Reported capital costs increased by 15% to estimate interest during construction and other owners costs.

Boiler type (subcritical, super, ultra)

super
Coal type (bit, sub-bit, lig) and %S bit, 2.5% S
FGD, SCR
Emission control technologies
(SO2/NOx)
Reference plant net output (MW)
462
Plant capacity factor (%)
65
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
42.2
1.29
Coal cost, LHV (US$ GJ-1)
0.774
Reference plant emission rate (t
CO2 MWh-1)
Capture Plant Design
MEA
CO2 capture technology
Net plant output with capture (MW)
329
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
30.1
90
CO2 capture system efficiency (%)
CO2 emission rate after capture (t
0.108
MWh-1)
1.830
CO2 captured (Mt yr-1)

Reference Plant (without capture)

Study Assumptions and Results

Table 3.7 CO2 capture costs: new pulverized-coal power plants using current technology.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

151

152
CO2 capture system energy requirement, power plant efficiency,
fuel type, plant capacity factor and fixed charge rate (Rao and
Rubin, 2002). In this regard, it is useful to note that the lowestcost capture systems in Table 3.7 (in terms of COE and cost of
CO2 avoided) come from a recent study (IEA GHG, 2004) that
combines an efficient supercritical power plant design using
bituminous coal, with high plant utilization, lowest fixed charge
rate and more energy-efficient amine system designs, as recently
announced by two major vendors (but not yet demonstrated on
coal-fired power plants). In contrast, the highest reported COE
values are for less efficient subcritical plant designs using low
rank coal, combined with lower capacity factors, higher fixed
charge rates and employing amine system designs typical of
units currently in operation at small power plants.
Recent increases in world coal prices, if sustained, also
would affect the levelized COE values reported here. Based on
one recent study (IEA GHG, 2004), each 1.00 US$ GJ-1 increase
in coal price would increase the COE by 8.2 US$ MWh-1 for a
new PC plant without capture and by 10.1US$ MWh-1 for a
plant with capture.
These results indicate that new power plants equipped
with CO2 capture are likely to be high-efficiency supercritical
units, which yield lowest overall costs. The worldwide use of
supercritical units (without capture) with current usage at 155
GWe (Section 3.1.2.2), is rapidly increasing in several regions of
the world and, as seen in Table 3.7, the preponderance of recent
studies of CO2 capture are based on supercritical units using
bituminous coals. For these plants, Table 3.7 shows that capture
systems increase the capital cost by 44-74% and the COE by
42-66% (18-34 US$ MWh-1). The major factors contributing
to these ranges were differences in plant size, capacity factor
and fixed charge factor. New or improved capture systems and
power plant designs that promise to further reduce the costs of
CO2 capture are discussed later in Section 3.7.7. First, however,
we examine CO2 capture costs at existing plants.
3.7.5.2 Existing coal-fired plants
Compared to the study of new plants, CO2 capture options for
existing power plants have received relatively little study to date.
Table 3.8 summarizes the assumptions and results of several
studies estimating the cost of retrofitting an amine-based CO2
capture system to an existing coal-fired power plant. Several
factors significantly affect the economics of retrofits, especially
the age, smaller sizes and lower efficiencies typical of existing
plants relative to new builds. The energy requirement for CO2
capture also is usually higher because of less efficient heat
integration for sorbent regeneration. All of these factors lead to
higher overall costs. Existing plants not yet equipped with a flue
gas desulphurization (FGD) system for SO2 control also must
be retrofitted or upgraded for high-efficiency sulphur capture in
addition to the CO2 capture device. For plants with high NOx
levels, a NO2 removal system also may be required to minimize
solvent loss from reactions with acid gases. Finally, site-specific
difficulties, such as land availability, access to plant areas and
the need for special ductwork, tend to further increase the
capital cost of any retrofit project relative to an equivalent new

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

plant installation. Nonetheless, in cases where the capital cost
of the existing plant has been fully or substantially amortized,
Table 3.8 shows that the COE of a retrofitted plant with capture
(including all new capital requirements) can be comparable to
or lower than that of a new plant, although the incremental COE
is typically higher because of the factors noted above.
Table 3.8 further shows that for comparable levels of
about 85% CO2 reduction per kWh, the average cost of CO2
avoided for retrofits is about 35% higher than for the new plants
analyzed in Table 3.7. The incremental capital cost and COE
depend strongly on site-specific assumptions, including the
degree of amortization and options for providing process energy
needs. As with new plants, heat and power for CO2 capture are
usually assumed to be provided by the base (reference) plant,
resulting in a sizeable (30 to 40%) plant output reduction. Other
studies assume that an auxiliary gas-fired boiler is constructed
to provide the CO2 capture steam requirements and (in some
cases) additional power. Low natural gas prices can make this
option more attractive than plant output reduction (based on
COE), but such systems yield lower CO2 reductions (around
60%) since the emissions from natural gas combustion are
typically not captured. For this reason, the avoided cost values
for this option are not directly comparable to those with higher
CO2 reductions.
Also reflected in Table 3.8 is the option of rebuilding
an existing boiler and steam turbine as a supercritical unit
to gain efficiency improvements in conjunction with CO2
capture. One recent study (Gibbins et al., 2005) suggests this
option could be economically attractive in conjunction with
CO2 capture since the more efficient unit minimizes the cost
of capture and yields a greater net power output and a lower
COE compared to a simple retrofit. The use of a new and less
energy-intensive capture unit yields further cost reductions
in this study. Another recent study similarly concluded that
the most economical approach to CO2 capture for an existing
coal-fired plant was to combine CO2 capture with repowering
the unit with an ultra-supercritical steam system (Simbeck,
2004). One additional option, repowering an existing unit
with a coal gasifier, is discussed later in Section 3.7.6.2.
3.7.5.3 Natural gas-fired power plants
Power plants fuelled by natural gas may include gas-fired
boilers, simple-cycle gas turbines, or natural gas combined cycle
(NGCC) units. The current operating capacity in use globally
is 333 GWe for gas-fired boilers, 214 GWe for simple cycle
gas turbines and 339 GWe for NGCC (IEA WEO, 2004). The
absence of sulphur and other impurities in natural gas reduces
the capital costs associated with auxiliary flue gas clean-up
systems required for amine-based CO2 capture technology. On
the other hand, the lower concentration of CO2 in gas-fired units
tends to increase the cost per tonne of CO2 captured or avoided
relative to coal-fired units.
Table 3.9 summarizes the assumptions and cost results of
several recent studies of CO2 capture at gas-fired combined
cycle power plants ranging in size from approximately 300-700
MW. Relative to reference plants without capture, to achieve net

61.7

42
73

189
35
45

271
59

67

18.0
66.7
48.7

2000
15.0

83

291

18.0
70.4
52.4

2000
15.0

n/a
13.0
1941
1602

84

94

13.9

13.9
71

87
**
1999
12.8
112
1059
947
18.8
54.3
35.5

21.4
90
0.16

21.4
90
0.155

21.3
96
0.059
2.228
13.9
70

275
none

MEA
FGD
upgrade

275
none

MEA
New
FGD

255
none

MEA
FGD
upgrade

MEA
new FGD
294
NG. $4.51
GJ-1
25.3
90
0.113
2.090
13.7
43

36.2
1.30
0.908

36.2
0.98
0.901

434
67

292
80

225
31
56

2000
14.8
0
837
837
20.6
66.8
46.2

82

18.7
90
0.177
1.480
13.9
77

140
none

149
41
48
moderate

2000
14.8
0
647
647
20.6
51.1
30.6

203
56
66

2000
14.8
0
654
654
20.6
62.2
41.7

63

90
0.369
1.480
13.9

90
0.369
1.480
13.9
63

282
NG. $5.06
GJ-1

282
NG. $2.59
GJ-1

MEA
MEA
MEA
FGD FGD upgrade FGD upgrade
upgrade

40
55

33.2

65
**
2001
9.4
0
846
846

90
0.324
2.664

400
NG.
$3.79 GJ-1

MEA
FGD

Rao &
Rao &
Chen
Chen
Chen
Singh
Rubin
Rubin
et al.
et al.
et al.
et al.
2002
2002
2003
2003
2003
2003
AMINE SYSTEM RETROFITS TO EXISTING BOILERS
*
*
*
*
*
sub
sub
sub
sub
sub
sub-bit,
sub-bit, sub-bit,
sub-bit,
sub-bit,
sub-bit
0.5%
0.5%
1.1%S
1.1%S
1.1%S
none
FGD
FGD
FGD
FGD
not
reported
470
470
248
248
248
400
76
91.3
75
75
80
76
(Capture= 80) (Capture=80)
36.6
33.1
33.1
33.1
1.25
1.25
1.20
1.20
1.20
0.941
0.95
1.004
1.004
1.004
0.925

150

11.8
160
1028
868
26.0
65.0
39.0

10.0
50

24.0

none

MEA

36.0
3.07

80

not
reported

sub

Gibbins
et al.
2005

149
31
45

9.4
0
647
647
18
51
31

291
56
73

15.0
160
1941
1602
26
70
62

94

25
96
0.37
2.66
14
77

19
90
0.06
1.48
10
43
63

400

37
3.07
1.00

33
0.98
0.90

140

470
91

max

248
67

min

Range

43.5
3.07

80

115

11.8
480
1282
802
27.0
58.0
31.0

10.0
38

31.5

none

96

11.8
480
1170
690
27.0
53.0
26.0

10.0
26

34.5

none

1.20
1.004

248
80

FGD

sub

46

196

15
0
1493
1493
21
62.2
41.2

32.6
90
0.099
3.684
14.5

590
none

Selexol
IGCC (Texaco Q) repower
+current steam turbine

moderate

MEA
KS
Advanced
Advanced
supercrit
supercrit boiler
boiler retrofit
retrofit

43.5
3.07

80

not reported

super

Gibbins
Chen
et al.
et al.
2006
2003
REPOWERING + CO2 CAPTURE

not reported

super

Gibbins
et al.
2006

Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming LHV/HHV = 0.96 for coal and 0.90
for natural gas. **Reported capital costs increased by 15% to estimate interest during construction and other owners costs.

Net plant size with capture (MW)

Auxilary boiler/fuel used? (type, LHV
cost)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
CO2 capture system efficiency (%)
CO2 emission rate after capture (t MWh-1)
CO2 captured (Mt yr-1)
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
CCS energy requirement
(% more input MWh-1)
CO2 reduction per kWh (%)
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
Fixed charge factor (%)
Reference plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Capture plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Incremental TCR for capture (US$ kW-1)
Reference plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
Capture plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
Incremental COE for capture
(US$ MWh-1)
% increase in capital cost (over ref. plant)
% increase in COE (over ref. plant)
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
Capture cost confidence level
(see Table 3.6)

Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)

Coal cost, LHV (US$ GJ-1)
Reference plant emission rate
(t CO2 MWh-1)
Capture Plant Design
CO2 capture technology
Other equipment included

FGD

none

*
sub
sub
sub-bit, 0.5% bit, 2.7%S

Reference Plant (without capture)

Boiler type (subcritical, super, ultra)
Coal type (bit, sub-bit, lig) and %S

Emission control technologies

(SO2/NOx)
Reference plant size (MW)
Plant capacity factor (%)

Simbeck &
McDonald
2000

Study Assumptions and Results

Alstom
et al.
2001

Table 3.8 CO2 capture costs: existing pulverized-coal power plants using current technology.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

153

MEA
327
49.9
90
0.040
0.875
10.3
16
88
2002
515
911
396
34.7
48.3
13.6
77
39
38
45

2000
549
1099
550
34.2
57.9
23.7
100
69
57
74

2004
11.0
539
938
399
31.3
44
12.7
74
41
34
41

MEA
662
47.4
85
0.066
1.844
11.0
15
83

3.00
0.379

MEA
399
47.4
90
0.045
0.949
8.4
16
88

3.55
0.344

comb.cycle
776
85
55.6

comb.cycle
379
85
57.9

2.82
0.364

IEA GHG
2004

NETL
2002

Parsons
2002(b)
*
comb.cycle
509
65
55.1

2004
11.0
539
958
419
31.3
43.1
11.8
78
38
33
37

KS-1
692
49.6
85
0.063
1.844
11.0
11
83

3.00
0.379

comb.cycle
776
85
55.6

IEA GHG
2004

11.0
724
1261
537
34.2
51.8
17.6
74
51
46
57
moderate

22
83

MEA
323
47.4
86
0.063
1.09

2.96
0.37

comb.cycle
392
95
57.6

CCP
2005

2001
14.8
554
909
355
43.1
58.9
15.8
64
37
41
49

MEA
432
47.6
90
0.043
1.099
13.7
17
88

4.44
0.367

Rubin et al.
2005
*
comb.cycle
507
75
55.8

2001
14.8
554
909
355
50
72
22
64
44
57
68

MEA
432
47.6
90
0.043
0.733
13.7
17
88

4.44
0.367

Rubin et al.
2005
*
comb.cycle
507
50
55.8

11.0
515
909
355
31
43
12
64
37
33
37

323
47
85
0.040
0.733
8
11
83

2.82
0.344

379
50
55

min

14.8
724
1261
550
50
72
24
100
69
57
74

692
50
90
0.066
1.844
14
22
88

776
95
58

max

4.44
0.379

Range

Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming
LHV/HHV = 0.90 for natural gas.

Fuel cost, LHV (US$ GJ-1)

Reference plant emission rate (tCO2 MWh-1)
Capture Plant Design
CO2 capture technology
Net plant size with capture (MW)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
CO2 capture system efficiency (%)
CO2 emission rate after capture (t MWh-1)
CO2 captured (Mt yr-1)
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
CCS energy requirement (% more input MWh-1)
CO2 reduction per kWh (%)
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
Fixed charge factor (%)
Reference plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Capture plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Incremental TCR for capture (US$ kW-1)
Reference plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
Capture plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
Incremental COE for capture (US$ MWh-1)
% increase in capital cost (over ref. plant)
% increase in COE (over ref. plant)
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
Capture cost confidence level (see Table 3.6)

Reference Plant (without capture)

Plant type (boiler, gas turbine, comb.cycle)
Reference plant size (MW)
Plant capacity factor (%)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)

Study Assumptions and Results

Table 3.9 CO2 capture costs: natural gas-fired power plants using current technology.

154
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

155

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

CO2 reductions (per kWh) of the order of 83-88%, the capital
cost per kW increases by 64-100%, while the COE increases
by 37-69%, or by 12-24 US$ MWh-1 on an absolute basis. The
corresponding cost of CO2 avoided ranges from 37-74 US$/
tCO2, while the CCS energy requirement increases plant fuel
consumption per kWh by 11-22%.
As seen earlier in Equations (7) to (9), assumptions about
the plant fuel cost have an especially important influence on the
COE for gas-fired plants because the contribution of capital costs
is relatively low compared to coal plants. The studies in Table
3.9 assume stable gas prices of 2.82-4.44 US$ GJ-1 (LHV basis)
over the life of the plant, together with high capacity factors
(65-95%) representing base load operation. These assumptions
result in relatively low values of COE for both the reference
plant and capture plant. Since about 2002, however, natural gas
prices have increased significantly in many parts of the world,
which has also affected the outlook for future prices. Based
on the assumptions of one recent study (IEA GHG, 2004), the
COE for an NGCC plant without capture would increase by
6.8 US$ MWh-1 for each 1.00 US$ GJ-1 increase in natural gas
price (assuming no change in plant utilization or other factors
of production). An NGCC plant with CCS would see a slightly
higher increase of 7.3 US$ MWh-1. The price of natural gas,
and its relation to the price of competing fuels like coal, is
an important determinant of which type of power plant will
provide the lowest cost electricity in the context of a particular
situation. However, across a twofold increase in gas price (from
3-6 US$ GJ-1), the incremental cost of CO2 capture changed by
only 2US$ MWh-1 (US$ 0.002 kWh-1) with all other factors
held constant.
In countries like the US, higher gas prices have also resulted
in lower utilization rates (averaging 30-50%) for plants originally
designed for base-load operation, but where lower-cost coal
plants are available for dispatch. This further raises the average
cost of electricity and CO2 capture for those NGCC plants, as
reflected in one case in Table 3.9 with a capacity factor of 50%.
In other parts of the world, however, lower-cost coal plants may
not be available, or gas supply contracts might limit the ability
to curtail gas use. Such situations again illustrate that options
for power generation with or without CO2 capture should be
evaluated in the context of a particular situation or scenario.
Studies of commercial post-combustion CO2 capture
applied to simple-cycle gas turbines have been conducted for
the special case of retrofitting an auxiliary power generator in
a remote location (CCP, 2005). This study reported a relatively
high cost of 88 US$/tCO2 avoided. Studies of post-combustion
capture for gas-fired boilers have been limited to industrial
applications, as discussed later in Section 3.7.8.
3.7.5.4 Biomass-firing and co-firing systems
Power plants can be designed to be fuelled solely by biomass,
or biomass can be co-fired in conventional coal-burning plants.
The requirement to reduce net CO2 emissions could lead to
an increased use of biomass fuel, because plants that utilize
biomass as a primary or supplemental fuel may be able to take
credit for the carbon removed from the atmosphere during the

biomass growth cycle. If the biomass carbon released during

combustion (as CO2) is then captured and stored, the net
quantity of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere could in principle
be negative.
The most important factor affecting the economics of biomass
use is the cost of the biomass. This can range from a negative
value, as in the case of some biomass wastes, to costs substantially
higher than coal, as in the case of some purposely-grown biomass
fuels, or wastes that have to be collected from diffuse sources.
Power plants that use only biomass are typically smaller than
coal-fired plants because local availability of biomass is often
limited and biomass is more bulky and hence more expensive
to transport than coal. The smaller sizes of biomass-fired plants
would normally result in lower energy efficiencies and higher
costs of CO2 capture. Biomass can be co-fired with coal in
larger plants (Robinson et al., 2003). In such circumstances the
incremental costs of capturing biomass-derived CO2 should be
similar to costs of capturing coal-derived CO2. Another option is
to convert biomass into pellets or refined liquid fuels to reduce
the cost of transporting it over long distances. However, there are
costs and emissions associated with production of these refined
fuels. Information on costs of CO2 capture at biomass-fired
plants is sparse but some information is given in Section 3.7.8.4.
The overall economics of CCS with biomass combustion will
depend very much on local circumstances, especially biomass
availability and cost and (as with fossil fuels) proximity to
potential CO2 storage sites.
3.7.6

Pre-combustion CO2 capture cost for electric

power plants (current technology)

Studies of pre-combustion capture for electric power plants

have focused mainly on IGCC systems using coal or other
solid fuels such as petroleum coke. This section of the report
focuses on currently available technology for CO2 capture at
such plants. As before, the cost of CO2 capture depends not
only on the choice of capture technology, but more importantly
on the characteristics and design of the overall power plant,
including the fuel type and choice of gasifier. Because IGCC
is not widely used for electric power generation at the present
time, economic studies of IGCC power plants typically employ
design assumptions based on the limited utility experience
with IGCC systems and the more extensive experience with
gasification in industrial sectors such as petroleum refining and
petrochemicals. For oxygen-blown gasifiers, the high operating
pressure and relatively high CO2 concentrations achievable in
IGCC systems makes physical solvent absorption systems the
predominant technology of interest for pre-combustion CO2
capture (see Section 3.5.2.11). For purposes of cost reporting,
we again distinguish between new plant designs and the
retrofitting of existing facilities.
3.7.6.1 New coal gasification combined cycle power plants
Table 3.10 summarizes the key assumptions and results of
several recent studies of CO2 capture costs for new IGCC
power plants ranging in size from approximately 400-800 MW

2002

2002

2002

NETL

2002b

Parsons

*
*
*
*
E-gas,
E-gas,
Texaco
Shell,
O2 blown
O2 blown, O2 blown, quench,
CGCU
CGUC
O2 blown
Illinois #6 Illinois #6 Illinois #6 bit, 2.5% S
413
401
571
425
85
85
65
65
47.4
46.7
39.1
44.8
1.03
1.03
1.28
1.29
0.682
0.692
0.846
0.718

NETL

NETL

Rubin
Rubin
Nsakala, IEA GHG IEA GHG IEA GHG
et al.
et al.
et al.
2002
2003
2003
2003
2003
2005
2005
min
PLANTS WITH BITUMINOUS COAL FEEDSTOCK
*
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Shell,
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
quench, syngas cooler, quench,
quench,
O2 blown quench, O2 quench,
O2 blown
O2 blown
O2 blown O2 blown
blown
O2 blown
bit, 1% S
bit
bit, 1%S
bit, 1%S
bit, 1%S bit, 2.1%S bit, 2.1%S
521
827
827
776
527
527
401
80
80
85
85
85
75
65
65
44.6
38.0
38.0
43.1
39.1
39.1
38
0.98
1.23
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.25
1.25
0.98
0.725
0.833
0.833
0.763
0.817
0.817
0.68

Simbeck

66
55
32
37

17
1565
2270
900
61
79
22

91

4.73
14
25

742
40
91
0.15

827
85
47
1.50
0.85

max

Range

Fuel type (bit, subbit, lig; other) and %S

Reference plant size (MW)
Plant capacity factor (%)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
Fuel cost, LHV (US$ GJ-1)
Reference plant emission rate
(tCO2 MWh-1)
Capture Plant Design
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol Selexol. NS
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
CO2 capture technology
Net plant size, with capture (MW)
351
359
457
404
455
730
742
676
492
492
351
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
40.1
40.1
31.3
38.5
39.0
31.5
31.5
32.0
34.5
33.8
33.8
31
89.2
87.0
89.0
91.0
91.2
85
85
85
90
90
85
CO2 capture system efficiency (%)
CO2 emission rate after capture
0.087
0.105
0.116
0.073
0.065
0.104
0.152
0.151
0.142
0.097
0.097
0.07
(t MWh-1)
1.803
1.870
2.368
1.379
2.151
4.682
4.728
4.050
2.749
2.383
1.38
CO2 captured (Mt/yr)
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
14.5
14.5
8.3
8.3
11.0
11.0
11.0
13.7
13.7
8
18
16
25
16
14
21
19
25
16
16
14
CCS energy requirement (% more input
MWh-1)
CO2 reduction per kWh (%)
87
85
86
90
91
82
82
81
88
88
81
Cost Results
**
**
**
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
2002
2002
2002
2000
2000
2002
2002
2002
2001
2001
Fixed charge factor (%)
14.8
14.8
15.0
13.8
13.0
11.0
11.0
11.0
14.8
17.3
11
1370
1374
1169
1251
1486
1565
1187
1187
1371
1311
1311
1169
Reference plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
2270
1897
1549
1844
2067
2179
1495
1414
1860
1748
1748
1414
Capture plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Incremental TCR for capture (US$ kW-1)
900
523
380
593
581
614
308
227
489
437
437
227
Reference plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
40.6
40.9
43.4
47.7
43.0
53.0
45.0
45.0
48.0
48.3
61
41
62.9
54.4
59.9
65.8
57.7
71.5
56.0
54.0
63.0
62.6
79
54
Capture plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
Incremental COE for capture
22.3
13.5
16.5
18.1
14.7
18.5
11
9
15
14.3
18.2
9
(US$ MWh-1)
% increase in capital cost (over ref. plant)
66
38
33
47
39
39
26
19
36
33
33
19
% increase in COE (over ref. plant)
55
33
38
38
34
35
24
20
31
30
30
20
32
19
18
30
21
13
11
19
17
21
11
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
37
23
23
28
22
23
16
13
24
20
25
13
Capture cost confidence level
moderate
(see Table 3.6)
Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming
LHV/HHV = 0.96 for coal. ** Reported capital costs increased by 8% to include interest during construction. **Reported capital costs increased by 15% to estimate interest during construction
and other owners costs.

Reference Plant without capture)

Gasifier name or type

Study Assumptions and Results

Table 3.10 CO2 capture costs: new IGCC power plants using current technology.

156
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

157

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Table 3.10. Continued.
Study Assumptions and Results

Stobbs & Clark

2005

Reference Plant without capture)

Gasifier name or type

Stobbs & Clark

Stobbs & Clark
2005
2005
PLANTS WITH OTHER FEEDSTOCKS
Texaco quench,
O2 blown
Sub-bit
[No IGCC Reference Plants]
90

Shell,
O2 blown
Lignite

IEA GHG
2000b
O2 blown,
partial oxidation
Natural gas
790
90
56.2
2.00
0.370

Fuel type (bit, subbit, lig; other) and %S

bit
Reference plant size (MW)
Plant capacity factor (%)
90
90
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
1.90
0.48
0.88
Fuel cost, LHV (US$ GJ-1)
Reference plant emission rate (tCO2 MWh-1)
Capture Plant Design
CO2 capture technology
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
Selexol
Net plant size, with capture (MW)
445
437
361
820
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
32.8
27.0
28.3
48.3
87
92
86
85
CO2 capture system efficiency (%)
0.130
0.102
0.182
0.065
CO2 emission rate after capture (t MWh-1)
CO2 captured (Mt/yr)
3.049
4.040
3.183
2.356
13.9
13.9
13.9
11.0
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
14
CCS energy requirement (% more input MWh-1)
82
CO2 reduction per kWh (%)
***
***
***
**
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
2003
2003
2003
2000
Fixed charge factor (%)
11.0
447
Reference plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
2205
2518
3247
978
Capture plant TCR (US$ kW-1)
Incremental TCR for capture (US$ kW-1)
531
21.6
Reference plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
Capture plant COE (US$ MWh-1)
68.4
62.1
83.9
34.4
12.8
Incremental COE for capture (US$ MWh-1)
% increase in capital cost (over ref. plant)
119
% increase in COE (over ref. plant)
59
35
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
31
33
56
42
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
Capture cost confidence level (see Table 3.6)
moderate
moderate
Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV
values converted to LHV assuming LHV/HHV = 0.96 for coal. ** Reported capital costs increased by 8% to include interest during construction. ***Reported
capital costs increased by 15% to estimate interest during construction and other owners costs.

net power output. While several gasifiers and coal types are
represented, most studies focus on the oxygen-blown Texaco
quench system,10 and all but one assume bituminous coals. CO2
capture efficiencies across these studies range from 85-92%
using commercially available physical absorption systems.
The energy requirements for capture increase the overall plant
heat rate (energy input per kWh) by 16-25%, yielding net CO2
reductions per kWh of 81-88%. Other study variables that
influence total plant cost and the cost of CO2 capture include
the fuel cost, CO2 product pressure, plant capacity factor and
fixed charge factor. Many of the recent studies also include the
cost of a spare gasifier to ensure high system reliability.
Table 3.10 indicates that for studies based on the Texaco
or E-Gas gasifiers, CO2 capture adds approximately 20-40%
to both the capital cost (US$ kW-1) and the cost of electricity
(US$ MWh-1) of the reference IGCC plants, while studies
10
In 2004, the Texaco gasifier was re-named as the GE gasifier following
acquisition by GE Energy (General Electric). However, this report uses the
name Texaco, as it is referred to in the original references cited.

using the Shell gasifier report increases of roughly 30-65%.

The total COE reported for IGCC systems ranges from 4161 US$ MWh-1 without capture and 54-79 US$ MWh-1 with
capture. With capture, the lowest COE is found for gasifier
systems with quench cooling designs that have lower thermal
efficiencies than the more capital-intensive designs with heat
recovery systems. Without capture, however, the latter system
type has the lowest COE in Table 3.10. Across all studies, the
cost of CO2 avoided ranges from 13-37 US$/tCO2 relative to
an IGCC without capture, excluding transport and storage
costs. Part of the reason for this lower incremental cost of CO2
capture relative to coal combustion plants is the lower average
energy requirement for IGCC systems. Another key factor is the
smaller gas volume treated in oxygen-blown gasifier systems,
which substantially reduces equipment size and cost.
As with PC plants, Table 3.10 again emphasizes the
importance of plant financing and utilization assumptions on
the calculated cost of electricity, which in turn affects CO2capture costs. The lowest COE values in this table are for plants
with a low fixed charge rate and high capacity factor, while

158
substantially higher COE values result from high financing costs
and lower plant utilization. Similarly, the type and properties
of coal assumed has a major impact on the COE, as seen in
a recent Canadian Clean Power Coalition study, which found
substantially higher costs for low-rank coals using a Texacobased IGCC system (Stobbs and Clark, 2005, Table 3.10).
EPRI also reports higher IGCC costs for low-rank coals (Holt
et al., 2003). On the other hand, where plant-level assumptions
and designs are similar across studies, there is relatively little
difference in the estimated costs of CO2 capture based on current
commercial technology. Similarly, the several studies in Tables
3.7 and 3.10 that estimate costs for both IGCC and PC plants
on an internally consistent basis, all find that IGCC plants with
capture have a lower COE than PC plants with capture. There
is not yet a high degree of confidence in these cost estimates,
however (see Table 3.6).
The costs in Table 3.10 also reflect efforts in some studies
to identify least-cost CO2 capture options. For example, one
recent study (IEA GHG, 2003) found that capture and disposal
of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) along with CO2 can reduce overall
capture costs by about 20% (although this may increase
transport and storage costs, as discussed in Chapters 4 and
5). The feasibility of this approach depends in a large part on
applicable regulatory and permitting requirements. Advanced
IGCC designs that may further reduce future CO2 capture costs
are discussed in Section 3.7.7.
3.7.6.2 Repowering of existing coal-fired plants with IGCC
For some existing coal-fired power plants, an alternative to the
post-combustion capture systems discussed earlier is repowering
with an IGCC system. In this case - depending on site-specific
circumstances - some existing plant components, such as the
steam turbine, might be refurbished and utilized as part of an
IGCC plant. Alternatively, the entire combustion plant might be
replaced with a new IGCC system while preserving other site
facilities and infrastructure.
Although repowering has been widely studied as an option to
improve plant performance and increase plant output, there are
relatively few studies of repowering motivated by CO2 capture.
Table 3.8 shows results from one recent study (Chen et al.,
2003) which reports CO2 capture costs for IGCC repowering of
a 250 MW coal-fired unit that is assumed to be a fully amortized
(hence, a low COE of 21 US$ MWh-1). IGCC repowering
yielded a net plant capacity of 600 MW with CO2 capture and
a COE of 62-67 US$ MWh -1 depending on whether or not the
existing steam turbine can be reused. The cost of CO2 avoided
was 46-51 US$/tCO2. Compared to the option of retrofitting
the existing PC unit with an amine-based capture system and
retaining the existing boiler (Table 3.8), the COE for IGCC
repowering was estimated to be 10-30% lower. These findings
are in general agreement with earlier studies by Simbeck (1999).
Because the addition of gas turbines roughly triples the gross
plant capacity of a steam-electric plant, candidates for IGCC
repowering are generally limited to smaller existing units (e.g.,
100-300 MW). Taken together with the post-combustion retrofit
studies in Table 3.8, the most cost-effective options for existing

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

plants involve combining CO2 capture with plant upgrades that
increase overall efficiency and net output. Additional studies
would be needed to systematically compare the feasibility and
cost of IGCC repowering to supercritical boiler upgrades at
existing coal-fired plants.
3.7.7

CO2 capture cost for hydrogen production and

multi-product plants (current technology)

While electric power systems have been the dominant

technologies of interest for CO2 capture studies, other industrial
processes, including hydrogen production and multi-product
plants producing a mix of fuels, chemicals and electricity also
are of interest. Because CO2 capture cost depends strongly
on the production process in question, several categories of
industrial processes are discussed below.
3.7.7.1 Hydrogen production plants
Section 3.5 discussed the potential role of hydrogen as an
energy carrier and the technological options for its production.
Here we examine the cost of capturing CO2 normally released
during the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels. Table 3.11
shows the key assumptions and cost results of recent studies of
CO2 capture costs for plants with hydrogen production rates of
155,000-510,000 Nm3 h-1 (466-1531 MWt), employing either
natural gas or coal as a feedstock. The CO2 capture efficiency
for the hydrogen plant ranges from 87-95% using commercially
available chemical and physical absorption systems. The CO2
reduction per unit of product is lower, however, because of the
process energy requirements and because of additional CO2
emitted by an offsite power plant assumed in some of these
studies. As hydrogen production requires the separation of H2
from CO2, the incremental cost of capture is mainly the cost of
CO2 compression.
At present, hydrogen is produced mainly from natural gas.
Two recent studies (see Table 3.11) indicate that CO2 capture
would add approximately 18-33% to the unit cost of hydrogen
while reducing net CO2 emissions per unit of H2 product by
72-83% (after accounting for the CO2 emissions from imported
electricity). The total cost of hydrogen is sensitive to the cost of
feedstock, so different gas prices would alter both the absolute
and relative costs of CO2 capture.
For coal-based hydrogen production, a recent study
(NRC,2004) projects an 8% increase in the unit cost of hydrogen
for an 83% reduction in CO2 emissions per unit of product.
Again, this figure includes the CO2 emissions from imported
electricity.
3.7.7.2 Multi-product plants
Multi-product plants (also known as polygeneration plants)
employ fossil fuel feedstocks to produce a variety of products
such as electricity, hydrogen, chemicals and liquid fuels. To
calculate the cost of any particular product (for a given rate
of return), economic analyses of multi-product plants require
that the selling price of all other products be specified over the
operating life of the plant. Such assumptions, in addition to

159

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

Table 3.11. CO2 capture costs: Hydrogen and multi-product plants using current or near-commercial technology. (Continued on next page)
Study Assumptions and Results
Reference Plant (without capture)
Plant products (primary/secondary)
Production process or type
Feedstock
Feedstock cost, LHV (US$ GJ1)
Ref. plant input capacity, LHV (GJ h1)
Ref plant output capacity, LHV: Fuels (GJ
h1)
Electricity (MW)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
Plant capacity factor (%)
CO2emitted (MtCO2 yr1)
Carbon exported in fuels (MtC yr1)
Total carbon released (kg CO2 GJ1 products)
Capture Plant Design
CO2 capture/separation technology
Capture plant input capacity, LHV
(GJ h1)
Capture plant output capacity, LHV: Fuels
(GJ h1)
Electricity (MW)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
CO2 capture efficiency (%)**
CO2 emitted (MtCO2 yr1)***
Carbon exported in fuels (MtC yr1)
Total carbon released
(kgCO2 GJ1 products)
CO2 captured (MtCO2 yr1)
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
CCS energy requirement (% more input/GJ
plant output)
CO2 reduction per unit product (%)
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
Fixed charge rate (%)
Reference plant TCR (million US$)****
Capture plant TCR (million US$)****
% increase in capital cost (%)
Ref. plant electricity price (US$ MWh1)
Capture plant electricity price
(US$ MWh1)
% increase in assumed electricity price
Ref. plant fuel product cost, LHV
(US$ GJ1)
Capture plant fuel product cost, LHV
(US$ GJ1)
Increase in fuel product cost
(US$ GJ1)
% increase in fuel product cost
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
Confidence level (see Table 3.6)

Simbeck

NRC

2005
*
H2

2004

Steam reforming

Steam
reforming

Natural gas
5.26
9848
7504

H2

HYDROGEN AND ELECTRICITY PRODUCTS

Kreutz
Parsons
Mitretek
et al.
2004
2002a
2003
2005
*
*
H2
H2+
H2+
H 2+
electricity
electricity
electricity

NRC

Kreutz
et al.
2005

Range
min

max

H2+
electricity

Conv E-Gas,
CGCU, H2SO4
co-product
Pgh #8 Coal
0.89
2627
1419

Texaco quench,
CGCU, Claus/Scot
sulphur co-product
Coal
1.03
2954
1579

Texaco
quench

Natural gas
4.73
7235
5513

Texaco
quench,
CGCU
Coal
1,20
8861
6004

Coal
1.26
6706
3853

Coal
1.26
6706
3853

0.89
2627
1419

5.26
9848
7504

-44
74.6
90
4.693
0
81

-32
74.6
90
3.339
0
78

-121
62.9
90
7.399
0
168

38
59.2
80
1.795
0
164

20
55.9
85
2.148
0
174

78
61.7
80
4.215
0
145

78
61.7
80
4.215
0
145

-121
55.9
80
1.80
0
78

78
74.6
90
7.40
0
174

Amine scrubber,
SMR flue gas

MEA
scrubber

Not
reported

Selexol

Not reported

Selexol

11495

8339

8861

2627

2954

6706

CO2 H2S cocapture,

Selexol
6706

2627

11495

7504

6004

6004

1443

1434

3853

3853

1434

7504

-129
61.2
90
1.280
0
23.0

-91
68.1
90
0.604
0
13.5

-187
60.2
90
1.181
0
28.1

12
56.6
92
0.143
0
13.7

27
51.8
87
0.279
0
24.5

39
59.5
91
0.338
0
12.1

35
59.3
95
0.182
0
6.5

-187
51.8
87
0.14
0.0
6.5

39
68.1
95
1.280
0
28.1

4.658
13.7
21.8

3.378
13.7
9.5

6.385
13.7
4.5

1.654
13.4
4.7

1.869
20
7.9

3.882
15
3.6

4.037
15
3.9

1.7
13.4
3.6

6.4
20.0
21.8

72

83

83

92

86

92

96

72

96

2003
20.0
668
1029
54.1
50.0
50.0

2000
16.0
469
646
37.7
45.0
45.0

2000
16.0
1192
1218
2.2
45.0
45.0

2000
14.3
357
415
16.5
30.8
30.8

2000
13.0
365
409
11.9
35.6
53.6

2002
15.0
887
935
5.4
46.2
62.3

2002
15.0
887
872
-1.7
46.2
60.5

13.0
357
409
-1.7
30.8
30.8

20.0
1192
1218
54.1
50.0
62.3

0.0
10.03

0.0
8.58

0.0
7.99

0.0
6.51

50.6
7.29

34.8
7.19

31.0
7.19

0.0
6.51

50.6
10.03

13.29

10.14

8.61

7.90

8.27

7.86

7.52

7.52

13.29

3.26

1.56

0.62

1.38

0.98

0.67

0.32

0.32

3.26

32.5
38.9
56.3

18.2
20.7
24.1

7.7
4.1
4.4
high

21.1
8.7
9.2

13.4
6.0
6.5
moderate

9.3
4.8
5.0

4.5
2.2
2.3

4.5
2.2
2.3

32.5
38.9
56.3

high

Texaco
quench

Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV
values converted to LHV assuming LHV/HHV = 0.96 for coal, 0.846 for hydrogen, and 0.93 for F-T liquids. ** CO2 capture efficiency = (C in CO2 captured)
/(C in fossil fuel input to plant - C in carbonaceous fuel products of plant) x100; C associated with imported electricity is not included. ***Includes CO2 emitted
in the production of electricity imported by the plant. ****Reported total plant investment values increased by 3.5% to estimate total capital requirement.

those discussed earlier, can significantly affect the outcome of

cost calculations when there is not one dominant product at the
facility.
Several of the coal-based hydrogen production plants in
Table 3.11 also produce electricity, albeit in small amounts
(in fact, smaller than the electricity quantities purchased by
the stand-alone plants). Most of these studies assume that
the value of the electricity product is higher under a carbon
capture regime than without CO2 capture. The result is a 5-33%

increase in hydrogen production cost for CO2 reductions of 7296% per unit of product. The case with the lowest incremental
product cost and highest CO2 reduction assumes co-disposal of
H2S with CO2, thus eliminating the costs of sulphur capture and
recovery. As noted earlier (Section 3.7.6.1), the feasibility of
this option depends strongly on local regulatory requirements;
nor are higher costs for transport and storage reflected in the
Table 3.11 cost estimate for this case.
Table 3.11 also presents examples of multi-product plants

160

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 3.11. Continued.

Study Assumptions and
Results

Reference Plant
(without capture)
Plant products
(primary/secondary)
Production process or type

Feedstock
Feedstock cost, LHV (US$
GJ1)
Ref. plant input capacity, LHV
(GJ h1)
Ref plant output capacity,
LHV: Fuels (GJ h1)
Electricity (MW)
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
Plant capacity factor (%)
CO2 emitted (MtCO2 yr1)
Carbon exported in fuels
(MtC yr1)
Total carbon released
(kgCO2 GJ1 products)
Capture Plant Design
CO2 capture/separation
technology

Mitretek
2003
*

Larson/Ren
2003

Larson/Ren
2003

LIQUID FUEL AND ELECTRICITY PRODUCTS

Larson/Ren Larson/Ren Celik et al.
Celik et al.
2003
2003
2005
2005

Celik et al.
2005

Celik et al.
2005

Range
min max

F-T liquids
MeOH
MeOH
DME
DME
DME +
DME +
DME +
DME +
+ electricity +electricity
+electricity
+electricity
+electricity
electricity
electricity
electricity
electricity
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Texaco
Unspecified
O2-blown
quench,
quench,
quench,
quench,
quench,
quench,
quench,
quench,
gasifier,
Liquid phase Liquid phase Liquid phase Liquid phase Liquid phase Liquid phase Liquid phase Liquid phase
unspecified
reactor,
reactor,
reactor,
reactor,
reactor,
reactor,
reactor,
reactor,
synthesis Once-through Once-through Once-through Once-through Once-through Once-through Once-through Once-through
reactor
config,
config,
config,
config,
config,
config,
config,
config,
Coal
Coal
Coal
Coal
Coal
Coal
Coal
Coal
Coal
1,09
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00

1.09

16136

9893

9893

8690

8690

7931

7931

7931

7931

7931 16136

7161

2254

2254

2160

2160

2161

2161

2161

2161

2160

7161

697
59.9
90
8.067
1.190

625
45.5
85
5.646
0.317

625
45.5
85
5.646
0.317

552
47.7
85
4.895
0.334

552
47.7
85
4.895
0.334

490
49.5
80
4.077
0.274

490
49.5
80
4.077
0.274

490
49.5
80
4.077
0.274

490
49.5
80
4.077
0.274

490
45.5
80
4.08
0.27

697
59.9
90
8.07
1.19

163

203

203

198

198

185

185

185

185

163

203

Amine
scrubber

Selexol

CO2 H2S
co-capture.
Selexol
9893

Selexol

CO2 H2S
co-capture.
Selexol
Coal

CO2 H2S
co-capture.
Rectisol
7931

CO2 H2S
co-capture.
Rectisol
7931

CO2 H2S
co-capture.
Rectisol
7931

CO2 H2S
co-capture.
Rectisol
7931

16136
9893
8690
7931 16136
Capture plant input capacity,
LHV (GJ h1)
7242
2254
2254
2160
2160
2161
2160
2160
2160
2160 7242
Capture plant output capacity
LHV: Fuels (GJ h1)
Electricity (MW)
510
582
577
531
527
469
367
365
353
353
582
56.3
44.0
43.8
46.9
48.5
43.9
43.8
43.2
43
56
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
91
58
63
32
37
36
89
92
97
32
97
CO2 capture efficiency (%)**
1
0.733
2.377
2.099
3.320
3.076
2.598
0.390
0.288
0.028
0.03 3.32
CO2 emitted (MtCO2 yr )***
1.2
0.317
0.317
0.294
0.294
0.274
0.274
0.274
0.274
0.274 1.200
Carbon exported in fuels
(MtC yr1)
71.7
109.2
101.0
144.9
137.4
134
57
53
43
43
145
Total carbon released
(kgCO2 GJ1 products)
7.260
3.269
3.547
1.574
1.819
1.479
3.692
3.790
4.021
1.48 7.26
CO2 captured (MtCO2 yr1)
13.8
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
14
15
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
CCS energy requirement. (%
6.5
3.6
4.0
1.9
2.0
12.8
13.0
14.5
1.9
14.5
more input/GJ plant output)
56
46
50
27
31
27
56
CO2 reduction/unit product
(%)
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant
2003
2003
2003
2003
dollars)
Fixed charge rate (%)
12.7
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
12.7 15.0
Reference plant TCR (million
2160
1351
1351
1215
1215
1161
1161
1161
1161
1161 2160
US$)****
Capture plant TCR (million
2243
1385
1220
1237
1090
1066
1128
1164
1172
1066 2243
US$)****
% increase in capital cost (%)
3.8
2.6
-9.7
1.8
-10.3
-8.1
-2.8
0.2
0.9
-10.3
3.8
35.6
42.9
42.9
42.9
42.9
44.1
44.1
44.1
44.1
35.6 44.1
Ref. plant electricity price
(US$ MWh1)
53.6
42.9
42.9
42.9
42.9
58.0
58.0
58.0
58.0
42.9 58.0
Capture plant electricity price
(US$ MWh1)
% increase in assumed elec.
50.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
31.5
31.5
31.5
31.5
0.0
50.5
price
5.58
9.12
9.12
8.68
8.68
7.41
7.41
7.41
7.41
5.6
9.1
Ref. plant fuel product cost,
LHV (US$ GJ1)
5.43
10.36
8.42
9.37
7.57
6.73
7.18
7.65
8.09
5.4
10.4
Capture plant fuel product
cost, LHV (US$ GJ1)
-0.15
1.24
-0.70
0.69
-1.11
-0.68
-0.23
0.24
0.68
-1.1
1.2
Increase in fuel product cost
(US$ GJ1)
% increase in fuel product
-5.7
13.6
-7.7
7.9
-12.8
-9.2
-3.1
3.2
9.2
-12.8 13.6
cost
12.3
-6.4
13.3
-18.4
-12.4
-1.5
1.5
4.1
-18.4 13.3
Cost of CO2 captured
(US$/tCO2)
13.2
-6.9
13.0
-18.3
-13.3
-1.8
1.8
4.8
-18.3 13.2
Cost of CO2 avoided
(US$/tCO2)
Confidence level (see Table 3.6) moderate
moderate
moderate
low to moderate
Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted
to LHV assuming LHV/HHV = 0.96 for coal, 0.846 for hydrogen, and 0.93 for F-T liquids. ** CO2 capture efficiency = (C in CO2 captured)/(C in fossil fuel input to plant - C in
carbonaceous fuel products of plant) x100; C associated with imported electricity is not included. ***Includes CO2 emitted in the production of electricity imported by the plant.
****Reported total plant investment values increased by 3.5% to estimate total capital requirement.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

161

producing liquid fuels plus electricity. In these cases the

amounts of electricity produced are sizeable compared to the
liquid products, so the assumed selling price of electricity has
a major influence on the product cost results. So too does the
assumption in two of the cases of co-disposal of H2S with CO2
(as described above). For these reasons, the incremental cost
of CO2 capture ranges from a 13% decrease to a 13% increase
in fuel product cost relative to the no-capture case. Note too
that the overall level of CO2 reductions per unit of product is
only 27-56%. This is because a significant portion of carbon
in the coal feedstock is exported with the liquid fuel products.
Nonetheless, an important benefit of these fuel-processing
schemes is a reduction (of 30-38%) in the carbon content per
unit of fuel energy relative to the feedstock fuel. To the extent
these liquid fuels displace other fuels with higher carbon per unit
of energy, there is a net benefit in end-use CO2 emissions when
the fuels are burned. However, no credit for such reductions is
taken in Table 3.11 because the system boundary considered is
confined to the fuel production plant.

factors, particularly the scale of operation and the electricity

price. Based on 2 MtCO2 yr-1 and an electricity price of US$ 0.05
kWh-1, the cost is estimated to be around 10 US$/tCO2 emissions
avoided. Electricity accounts for over half of the total cost.

3.7.8

3.7.8.3 Integrated steel mills

Integrated steel mills are some of the worlds largest emitters
of CO2, as described in Chapter 2. About 70% of the carbon
introduced into an integrated steel mill is contained in the blast
furnace gas in the form of CO2 and CO, each of which comprise
about 20% by volume of the gas. The cost of capturing CO2
from blast furnace gas was estimated to be 35 US$/tCO2 avoided
(Farla et al., 1995) or 18 US$/tCO2 captured (Gielen, 2003).
Iron ore can be reacted with synthesis gas or hydrogen
to produce iron by direct reduction (Cheeley, 2000). Direct
reduction processes are already used commercially but further
development work would be needed to reduce their costs so as
to make them more widely competitive with conventional iron
production processes. The cost of capturing CO2 from a direct
reduction iron (DRI) production processes was estimated to be
10 US$/tCO2 (Gielen, 2003). CO2 also could be captured from
other gases in iron and steel mills but costs would probably be
higher as they are more dilute or smaller in scale.

Capture costs for other industrial processes

(current technology)

CO2 can be captured in other industrial processes using the

techniques described earlier for power generation. While the
costs of capture may vary considerably with the size, type and
location of industrial processes, such costs will be lowest for
processes or plants having: streams with relatively high CO2
concentrations; process plants that normally operate at high load
factors; plants with large CO2 emission rates; and, processes
that can utilize waste heat to satisfy the energy requirements
of CO2 capture systems. Despite these potential advantages,
little detailed work has been carried out to estimate costs of
CO2 capture at industrial plants, with most work focused on
oil refineries and petrochemical plants. A summary of currently
available cost studies appears in Table 3.12.
3.7.8.1 Oil refining and petrochemical plants
Gas-fired process heaters and steam boilers are responsible
for the bulk of the CO2 emitted from typical oil refineries and
petrochemical plants. Although refineries and petrochemical
plants emit large quantities of CO2, they include multiple
emission sources often dispersed over a large area. Economies
of scale can be achieved by using centralized CO2 absorbers or
amine regenerators but some of the benefits are offset by the cost
of pipes and ducts. Based on Table 3.14, the cost of capturing
and compressing CO2 from refinery and petrochemical plant
heaters using current technology is estimated to be 50-60 US$/
tCO2 captured. Because of the complexity of these industrial
facilities, along with proprietary concerns, the incremental cost
of plant products is not normally reported.
High purity CO2 is currently vented to the atmosphere by
some gas processing and petrochemical plants, as described in
Chapter 2. The cost of CO2 capture in such cases would be simply
the cost of drying and compressing the CO2 to the pressure
required for transport. The cost would depend on various

3.7.8.2 Cement plants

As noted in Chapter 2, cement plants are the largest industrial
source of CO2 apart from power plants. Cement plants normally
burn lower cost high-carbon fuels such as coal, petroleum coke
and various wastes. The flue gas typically has a CO2 concentration
of 14-33% by volume, significantly higher than at power plants,
because CO2 is produced in cement kilns by decomposition of
carbonate minerals as well as by fuel combustion. The high CO2
concentration would tend to reduce the specific cost of CO2
capture from flue gas. Pre-combustion capture, if used, would
only capture the fuel-related CO2, so would be only a partial
solution to CO2 emissions. Oxy-fuel combustion and capture
using calcium sorbents are other options, which are described
in Sections 3.2.4 and 3.7.11.

3.7.8.4 Biomass plants

The main large point sources of biomass-derived CO2 are
currently wood pulp mills, which emit CO2 from black liquor
recovery boilers and bark-fired boilers, and sugar/ethanol mills,
which emit CO2 from bagasse-fired boilers. Black liquor is a
byproduct of pulping that contains lignin and chemicals used
in the pulping process. The cost of post-combustion capture
was estimated to be 34US$/tCO2 avoided in a plant that
captures about 1 MtCO2 yr-1 (Mllersten et al., 2003). Biomass
gasification is under development as an alternative to boilers.
CO2 could be captured from sucrose fermentation and from
combustion of sugar cane bagasse at a cost of about 53 US$/
tCO2 avoided for a plant capturing 0.6 MtCO2 yr-1 avoided
(Mllersten et al., 2003). CO2 from sugar cane fermentation has
a high purity, so only drying and compression is required. The
overall cost is relatively high due to an annual load factor that
is lower than that of most power stations and large industrial

2000c

1995
Pulp mill

2000c

IEA GHG

Blast furnace
gas

MDEA

Coke

90

Pulp mill

Boiler

Amine

Black liquor
and bark
17.9 kg s1
pulp
90.4
US$3 GJ1
LHV

Ethanol
fermentation

Physical
solvent
IGCC

17.9 kg s
pulp
90.4
US$3 GJ1
LHV

Refinery
heaters &
boilers
Black liquor

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY
IEA GHG
Mllersten Mllersten
et al.
et al.
2002b
2003
2003

PreCompression
combustion
only
Fired heaters Fired heaters
and H2 plant and H2 plant

MEA

Refinery gas/ Refinery gas/

natural gas
natural gas
315 kg s1 315 kg s1
168 kg s iron
crude oil
crude oil
95.3
90
90

Iron production
Oil refining
High purity
petrochemical CO2 sources

IEA GHG

Farla et al.

Fermentation
and bagasse
boiler

9.1 kg s
ethanol
49.3
1

Sugar cane

Small gas
turbines

Mllersten
et al.
2003
Refinery
heaters &
boilers
NG

2005

CCP

0.82

98.5

MEA
MEA
Baseline Baseline
(post(postcomb.)
comb.)
1351 MWt 358 MWt

0.22

90.4

1351 MWt 358 MWt

Mixed

2005

CCP

Mixed

Small gas
turbines

2005

0.22

90.4

0.82

98.5

Membrane Flue Gas Very LargeWater Gas Recycle & scale ATR
Shift (pre- ITM (oxy- (pre-comb.)
comb.)
fuel)
1351 MWt 1351 MWt 358 MWt

0.22

90.4

358 MWt

Natural gas

2005

Sorption Enhanced
Water Gas Shift (precomb.)

0.82

98.5

358 MWt

Natural gas

2005

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
CCP
CCP
CCP

1351 MWt 1351 MWt

Mixed

Small gas
turbines

2005

CCP

Capture unit size (specify units)

392 MW fuel 338 MW fuel
358 MWt
90
95
91
90
90
100/90
CO2capture system efficiency (%)
Energy source(s) for capture (type
+onsite or offsite)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Are all energy-related CO2 emissions
included?
0.09
0.19
0.09
0.05
0.10
0.14
CO2emission rate after capture
(kgCO2 MWh1)
1
2.795
1.013
1.175
1.970
0.969
0.399
0.560
CO2 captured (Mt yr )
11.0
11.0
11.0
8.0
10.0
10.0
10.0
CO2product pressure (MPa)
60.3
76.5
58.4
75.8
87.4
82.2
CO2 reduction per unit of product
(%)
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
Fixed charge factor (%)
15
15
15
11.0
11.0
11.0
11.0
11.0
11.0
Ref. plant capital cost (US$ per unit
capacity)
Capture plant capital cost
(US$ per unit capacity)
3.8
4.1
4.9
0.3
3.2
1.9
2.6
Incremental capital cost
(million US$ per kg s1 CO2)*
Ref. plant cost of product (US$/unit)
10.2
55.1
6.1
6.8
54.2
48.2
Capture plant cost of product
(US$/unit)
Incremental cost of product (US$/
10.2
55.1
6.1
6.8
54.2
48.2
unit)
% increase in capital cost (over ref.
plant)
% increase in unit cost of product (over
ref. plant)
50
60
55.3
90.9
36.4
38.2
59.0
60.5
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
35
74
116
10
34
23
53
78.1
88.2
48.1
41.0
76.0
71.8
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
Capture cost confidence level
moderate
low
(see Table 3.6)
Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. *Capital costs are incremental costs of capture, excluding cost of make-up steam and power
generation and also excluding interest during construction and other owners costs.

Location of CO2 capture

Ref. plant emission rate (kgCO2 MWh1)

Capture Plant Design
CO2 capture/separation technology

Plant capacity factor (%)

Feedstock cost (US$ per unit specified)

Plant size (specify units)

Feedstock type

Reference Plant (without capture)

Industrial process
Oil refining petrochemical

Study Assumptions and Cost Results

Table 3.12. Capture costs: Other industrial processes using current or advanced technology.

162
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

163

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

plants.
CO2 could be captured at steam-generating plants or power
plants that use other biomass byproducts and/or purpose-grown
biomass. At present most biomass plants are relatively small.
The cost of capturing 0.19 MtCO2 yr-1 in a 24 MW biomasspowered IGCC plant, compared to a biomass IGCC plant
without capture, is estimated to be about 70 US$/tCO2 (Audus
and Freund, 2005). Larger plants using purpose-grown biomass
may be built in the future and biomass can be co-fired with
fossil fuels to give economies of scale, as discussed in Chapter
2. Biomass fuels produce similar or slightly greater quantities
of CO2 per unit of fuel energy as bituminous coals; thus, the
CO2 concentration of flue gases from these fuels will be broadly
similar. This implies that the cost of capturing CO2 at large
power plants using biomass may be broadly similar to the cost
of capturing CO2 in large fossil fuel power plants in cases where
plant size, efficiency, load factor and other key parameters are
similar. The costs of avoiding CO2 emissions in power plants
that use biomass are discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.

uncertain,11 and that cost estimates for technologies at the early

stages of development are often unreliable and overly optimistic
(Merrow et al., 1981). Qualitative descriptions of cost trends
for advanced technologies and energy systems typically show
costs increasing from the research stage through full-scale
demonstration; only after one or more full-scale commercial
plants are deployed do costs begin to decline for subsequent
units (EPRI, 1993; NRC, 2003). Case studies of the SO2 and
NOx capture systems noted above showed similar behaviour,
with large (factor of two or more) increases in the cost of early
full-scale FGD and SCR installations before costs subsequently
declined (Rubin et al., 2004b). Thus, cost estimates for CO2
capture systems should be viewed in the context of their current
stage of development. Here we try to provide a perspective on
potential future costs that combines qualitative judgments with
the quantitative cost estimates offered by technology developers
and analysts. The sections below revisit the areas of power
generation and other industrial processes to highlight some of
the major prospects for CO2 capture cost reductions.

3.7.9

3.7.10 CO2 capture costs for electric power plants

(advanced technology)

Outlook for future CO2 capture costs

The following sections focus on advanced technologies that

are not yet commercial available, but which promise to lower
CO2 capture costs based on preliminary data and design studies.
Earlier sections of Chapter 3 discussed some of the efforts
underway worldwide to develop lower-cost options for CO2
capture. Some of these developments are based on new process
concepts, while others represent improvements to current
commercial processes. Indeed, the history of technology
innovation indicates that incremental technological change,
sustained over many years (often decades), is often the most
successful path to substantial long-term improvements in
performance and reductions in cost of a technology (Alic et al.,
2003). Such trends are commonly represented and quantified
in the form of a learning curve or experience curve showing
cost reductions as a function of the cumulative adoption of a
particular technology (McDonald and Schrattenholzer, 2001).
One recent study relevant to CO2 capture systems found that
over the past 25 years, capital costs for sulphur dioxide (SO2)
and nitrogen oxides (NOx) capture systems at US coal-fired
power plants have decreased by an average of 12% for each
doubling of installed worldwide capacity (a surrogate for
cumulative experience, including investments in R&D) (Rubin
et al., 2004a). These capture technologies bear a number of
similarities to current systems for CO2 capture. Another recent
study (IEA, 2004) suggests a 20% cost reduction for a doubling
of the unit capacity of engineered processes due to technological
learning. For CCS systems the importance of costs related to
energy requirements is emphasized, since reductions in such
costs are required to significantly reduce the overall cost of CO2
capture.
At the same time, a large body of literature on technology
innovation also teaches us that learning rates are highly

This section first examines oxy-fuel combustion, which avoids

the need for CO2 capture by producing a concentrated CO2
stream for delivery to a transport and storage system. Following
this we examine potential advances in post-combustion and
pre-combustion capture.
3.7.10.1 Oxy-fuel combustion systems
It is first important to distinguish between two types of oxy-fuel
systems: an oxy-fuel boiler (either a retrofit or new design) and
oxy-fuel combustion-based gas turbine cycles. The former are
close to demonstration at a commercial scale, while the latter
(such as chemical looping combustion systems and novel power
cycles using CO2/water as working fluid) are still at the design
stage. Table 3.13 summarizes the key assumptions and cost
results of several recent studies of CO2 capture costs for oxyfuel combustion systems applied to new or existing coal-fired
units. As discussed earlier in Section 3.4, oxygen combustion
produces a flue gas stream consisting primarily of CO2 and
water vapour, along with smaller amounts of SO2, nitrogen and
other trace impurities. These designs eliminate the capital and
operating costs of a post-combustion CO2 capture system, but
new costs are incurred for the oxygen plant and other system
design modifications. Because oxy-fuel combustion is still under
development and has not yet been utilized or demonstrated for
large-scale power generation, the design basis and cost estimates
for such systems remain highly variable and uncertain. This is
reflected in the wide range of oxy-fuel cost estimates in Table
3.13. Note, however, that cost estimates for advanced design
11
In their study of 42 energy-related technologies, McDonald and Schrattenholzer
(2001) found learning rates varying from -14% to 34%, with a median value of
16%. These rates represent the average reduction in cost for each doubling of
installed capacity. A negative learning rate indicates that costs increased rather
than decreased over the period studied.

54

44.5

1198

1527

13.0

**

13.9

273

23.4

oxy-fuel

0.908

1.30

67

434

bit, 2.7%S

RETROFIT
subcrit PC

2001

Alstom
et al.

35

29

23.9

909

909

9.4

2001

**

74

15

2.664

0.238

400

oxy-fuel

0.925

91

400

sub-bit

RETROFIT
PC + aux
NGCC

2003

Singh
et al.

72

low

119

53

44.5

97.5

4570

2000

13.7

0.145

oxy-fuel

0.883

300

lignite

RETROFIT
PC

2005

Stobbs
&Clark

Dillon
et al.

Nsakala
et al.

27

39

47

17.2

61.2

44

597

1857

1260

11

88.2

11

25

0.085

about 91

532

35.4

oxy-fuel

0.722

1.50

44.2

85

bit

677

New PC

2005

45

82

90

37.2

82.5

45.3

1354

2853

1500

2003

90.5

43

0.086

135

25.8

oxy-fuel

0.909

1.23

37.0

80

193

bit, 2.3%S

Air-fired CFB

2003

197

30

very low

56

82

25.2

70.5

45.3

1232

2731

1500

2003

92.0

18

0.073

31.3

oxy-fuel with
CMB

0.909

1.23

37.0

80

193

bit, 2.3%S

Air-fired CFB

2003

Nsakala
et al.

165

14

very low

29

28

13.1

58.4

45.3

413

1912

1500

2003

99.5

15

0.005

32.2

chemical looping
with CMB

0.909

1.23

37.0

80

193

bit, 2.3%S

Air-fired CFB

2003

Nsakala
et al.

65

75

24

61

37

762

1784

11.0

1022

33

11.0

34.3

MEA

1.50

85

45.6

54

64

20

57

37

656

1678

11.0

1022

25

11.0

36.5

KS-1

1.50

85

45.6

Double reheat supercrit

PC

2005

Gibbins
et al.

low to moderate

Double reheat
supercrit PC

2005

Gibbins
et al.

ADVANCED PC

Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming LHV/HHV =
0.96 for coal. ** Reported value increased by 15% to estimate interest during construction and other owners costs.

Capture cost confidence level (see Table 3.6)

Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2 )

Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2 )

% increase in COE (over ref. plant)

% increase in capital cost (over ref. plant)

Incremental COE for capture (US$ MWh1)

Capture plant COE (US$ MWh1)

Reference plant COE (US$ MWh )

Incremental TCR for capture (US$ kW1)

Capture plant TCR (US$ kW1)

Reference plant TCR (US$ kW1)

Fixed charge factor (%)

Cost year basis (constant dollars)

Cost Results

CO2 reduction per kWh (%)

CCS energy requirement (% more input MWh1)

CO2 product pressure (MPa)

CO2 captured (Mt yr )

CO2 emission rate after capture (t MWh1)

CO2 capture system efficiency (%)

Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)

Net plant size with capture (MW)

CO2 capture technology

Capture Plant Design

Reference plant emission rate (tCO2 MWh )

Fuel cost, LHV (US$ GJ1)

Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)

Plant capacity factor (%)

Reference plant net size (MW)

Fuel type (bit, sub-bit, lig; NG, other) and %S

Power plant type

Reference Plant (without capture)

Study Assumptions and Results

OXY-FUEL COMBUSTION

Table 3.13 Capture costs: Advanced technologies for electric power plants. (continued on next page)

164
IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

comb.
cycle
H-class
turbine

2002

2002b

comb. comb.
cycle
cycle
H-class H-class
turbine turbine

2002b

Simbeck Parsons Parsons

0.37

388
85
56.0
3.00

NETL

ADVANCED IGCC
NETL
CCP

CCP

425
80
41.1
1.23

Selexol

0.712

326
85
43.8
1.03
0.568

408
85
54.9
1.03

IGCC with IGCC with

capture (pre- advanced
comb.)
capture (precomb.)
699
734

0.95

2.96

2.96
0.95

588
91.3

588
91.3

2002b
2002
2002
2005
2005
*
*
*
E-gas,
E-gas, O2,
E-gas, O2,
Canada coke Canada coke
O2, water
CGCU,
CGCU,
gasification gasification
scrubber; Hydraulic air Hydraulic air
H-class compression compression with
turbine
open loop water
system
Illinois #6 Illinois #6
Illinois #6
Coke
Coke

Parsons

Selexol

0.37

507
95
57.6%
2.96

NG

NGCC

Dillon
et al.
2005

MEA low- Membrane

Hydrogen
Sorption
Oxycost/ CCGT- Contactor; Membrane Enhanced Water fuel
Gas Shift- Air
integrated KS-1 (post- Reformer
(post-comb.)
comb.)
(pre-comb.) ATR (pre-comb.)
345
335
361
424
440
50.6
49.2
53.0
48.2
44.7
86
86
100
90
0.06
0.06
0.00
0.04
0.011

0.37

0.37

392
95
57.6%
2.96

NG

2005

CCP

0.720

392
95
57.6%
2.96

392
95
57.6%
2.96

NG

2005

CCP

0.371

NG

2005

NG

2005

ADVANCED NGCC
CCP
CCP

Selexol

0.572

644
85
56.4
1.03

Illinois #6

2002
*
E-gas, O2,
HGCU, G
GT, SOFC

0.302

557
80
66.2
2.82

Nat. gas

CHAT
SOFC

2002b

ADVANCED HYBRIDS
NETL
Parsons

Net plant size with capture (MW)

413
311
311
387
312
404
755
517
51.7
48.1
48.1
33.8
35.2
45.4
49.7
46.1
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
85
90
90
91.5
92.7
92.7
90
86.8
CO2capture system efficiency (%)
0.06
0.042
0.042
0.074
0.065
0.050
0.27
0.28
0.046
0.043
CO2 emission rate after capture
(t/MWh)
0.980
0.669
0.823
1.09
1.09
1.27
1.47
2.074
1.984
1.984
6.80
6.44
3.390
CO2 captured (Mt yr1)
13.7
8.3
8.3
11
8.3
14.5
14.5
14.5
8.3
CO2 product pressure (MPa)
16
24
24
25
22
24
21
13
44
CCS energy requirement(% more
input MWh1)
82
88
88
84.1
83.6
100
87.9
97.0
90
91
91
71.2
71.1
92
86
CO2 reduction per kWh (%)
Cost Results
Cost year basis (constant dollars)
2001
2000
2000
2000
2002
2002
2002
2000
Fixed charge factor (%)
15.0
11.0
11.0
11.0
11.0
11
15.0
14.8
14.8
11.0
11.0
14.8
1
582
539
496
724
724
724
724
559
1249
1436
881.4
1398
1398
1508
623
Reference plant TCR (US$ kW )
1216
1026
943
1002
1225
1058
1089
1034
1698
2189
1450
1919
1823
1822
Capture plant TCR (US$ kW1)
Incremental TCR for capture
634
487
447
278
501
334
365
475
449
753
568
521
425
314
(US$ kW1)
42.9
33.5
30.7
34.2
34.2
34.2
34.2
33.5
41.0
47.0
28.5
32.3
32.3
41.1
Reference plant COE (US$ MWh1)
1
65.9
54.1
48.8
45.1
48.9
43.2
45.4
50.3
53.6
65.5
41.8
42.1
40.5
48.8
Capture plant COE (US$ MWh )
Incremental COE for capture
1
23
20.6
18.1
10.9
14.7
9.0
11.2
16.8
12.6
18.5
13.3
9.8
8.2
7.7
(US$ MWh )
% increase in capital cost (over ref.
109
90
90
38
69
46
50
85
36
52
64
37
30
21
plant)
% increase in COE
54
61
59
32
43
26
33
50
31
39
47
30
25
19
(over ref. plant)
48
30.2
39.5
22.5
28.2
16
22
20
11
10
13
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
82
70
61
35.1
47.5
24.4
34.4
47
19
29
26
14
12
15
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
Capture cost confidence level (see
low to moderate
low to very low
low
very low
Table 3.6)
Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming LHV/HHV = 0.96 for coal and LHV/HHV =
0.90 for natural gas. **Reported value increased by 15% to estimate interest during construction and other owners costs.

Fuel type (bit, sub-bit, lig; NG, other) Nat. gas Nat. gas Nat. gas
and %S
Reference plant net size (MW)
480
384
384
Plant capacity factor (%)
80
65
80
60.0
59.5
59.5
Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)
1
4.86
2.82
2.82
Fuel cost, LHV (US$ GJ )
Reference plant emission rate
1
0.342
0.338
0.338
(tCO2 MWh )
Capture Plant Design
MEA
MEA
MEA
CO2 capture technology

Reference Plant (without capture)

Power plant type

Study Assumptions and Results

Table 3.13 Continued.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

165

166
concepts based on oxy-fuel combustion gas turbine cycles
are more uncertain at this time than cost estimates for new or
retrofitted boilers employing oxy-fuel combustion.
For new plant applications, the data in Table 3.13 indicate
that oxy-fuel combustion adds about 30-90% to the capital cost
and 30-150% to the COE of a conventional plant, while reducing
CO2 emissions per kWh by 75-100%. Retrofit applications
exhibit higher relative costs in cases where the existing plant is
wholly or partially amortized. The lowest-cost oxy-fuel system
in Table 3.13 is one that employs chemical looping to achieve
nearly a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions. While this concept
thus appears promising (see Section 3.4.6), it has yet to be tested
and verified at a meaningful scale. Thus cost estimates based on
conceptual designs remain highly uncertain at this time.
To judge the potential cost savings of oxy-fuels relative to
current CO2 capture systems, it is useful to compare the costs
of alternative technologies evaluated within a particular study
based on a particular set of premises. In this regard, the COE
for the oxy-fuel retrofit system reported by Alstom et al. (2001)
in Table 3.13 is 20% lower than the cost of an amine system
retrofit (Table 3.13) for the same 255 MW plant, while the cost
of CO2 avoided is 26% lower. In contrast, a recent study by
the Canadian Clean Power Coalition (Stobbs and Clark, 2005)
reports that the COE for an oxy-fuel system at a large lignitefired plant (Table 3.13) is 36% higher than for an amine CO2
capture system, while the cost of CO2 avoided is more than
twice as great. The major source of that cost difference was a
specification in the CCPC study that the oxy-fuelled unit also
be capable of full air firing. This resulted in a much higher
capital cost than for a new unit designed solely for oxy-fuel
operation. A more recent study sponsored by IEA GHG (Dillon
et al., 2005) found that a large new supercritical coal-fired
boiler with oxy-fuel combustion had a COE slightly (2-3%)
lower than a state-of-the-art coal plant with post-combustion
analyzed in a separate study employing similar assumptions
(IEA GHG, 2004). Further cost reductions could be achieved
with the successful development of new lower-cost oxygen
production technology (see Section 3.4.5). At the current time,
the optimum designs of oxy-fuel combustion systems are not
yet well established and costs of proposed commercial designs
remain uncertain. This is especially true for advanced design
concepts that employ components which are not yet available
or still in the development stage, such as CO2 gas turbines or
high temperature ceramic membranes for oxygen production.
3.7.10.2 Advanced systems with post-combustion capture
Improvements to current amine-based systems for postcombustion CO2 capture are being pursued by a number of
process developers (Mimura et al., 2003; Muramatsu and
Iijima, 2003; Reddy et al., 2003) and may offer the nearestterm potential for cost reductions over the systems currently
in use. The newest systems summarized earlier in Table 3.7
reportedly reduce the cost of CO2 avoided by approximately
20-30% (IEA GHG, 2004). Table 3.13 indicates that additional
advances in plant heat integration could further reduce the COE
of capture plants by about 5%. These results are consistent with

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

a recent study by Rao et al. (2003), who used expert elicitations
and a plant simulation model to quantify the improvements
likely achievable by 2015 for four key process parameters:
sorbent concentration, regeneration energy requirements,
sorbent loss and sorbent cost. The most likely improvement
was an 18% reduction in COE, while the optimistic estimates
yielded a 36% cost reduction from improvements in just these
four parameters. The cost of CO2 avoided was reduced by
similar amounts. Advances in more efficient heat integration
(for sorbent regeneration) and higher power plant efficiency
could lead to even greater reductions in CO2 capture cost.
Advances in gas turbine technology produce similar benefits
for NGCC systems. Table 3.13 shows several cases based on
the H-turbine design. Relative to the cases in Table 3.9, these
systems offer higher efficiency and greater CO2 reductions
per kWh. The higher COEs for the advanced NGCC systems
reflects the higher natural gas prices assumed in more recent
studies.
Table 3.13 indicates that other advanced technologies for
post-combustion applications, such as membrane separation
systems, may also lower the future cost of CO2 capture (see
Section 3.3.3). Reliable cost estimates for such technologies
should await their further development and demonstration.
3.7.10.3 Advanced systems with pre-combustion capture
The cost of gasification-based systems with CO2 capture also
can be expected to fall as a result of continued improvements
in gas turbine technology, gasifier designs, oxygen production
systems, carbon capture technology, energy management and
optimization of the overall facility. One recent study (IEA
GHG, 2003) estimates a 20% reduction in the cost of electricity
generation from a coal-based IGCC plant with CO2 capture by
2020. This takes into account improvements in gasification,
oxygen production, physical solvent scrubbing and combined
cycle processes, but does not take into account any possible
radical innovations in CO2 separation technology. The additional
IGCC cases shown in Table 3.13, including recent results of the
CO2 Capture Project (CCP, 2005), foresee similar reductions in
the COE of advanced IGCC systems compared to the systems
in Table 3.10.
3.7.11

CO2 capture costs for hydrogen production and

multi-product plants (advanced technology)

Table 3.14 shows results of several recent studies that have

projected the performance and cost of new or improved ways
of producing hydrogen and electricity from fossil fuels.
Compared to the current commercial plants in Table 3.11,
the advanced single-product systems with CO2 capture have
hydrogen cost reductions of 16% (for natural gas feedstock) to
26% (for coal feedstock). Additional cases in Table 3.14 show
multi-product systems producing hydrogen and electricity.
These cases indicate the potential for substantial reductions in
the future cost of hydrogen production with CO2 capture. As
before, the results are sensitive to the assumed selling price of
co-product electricity. More importantly, these cases assume

Feedstock

Electricity (MW)

low

Capture plant fuel product cost, LHV (US$ GJ1)

Capture cost confidence level (see Table 3.6)

45.0
low

8.53

low

6.39

45.0

921

16

2000

13.7

5.853

19.45

0.873

90

70.0

88

6004

8121

90

1.20

Coal

H2

Gasifier LHV=
75-->80%, Adv
ASU, membrane
sep, adv CO2
compressor

2004

NRC

5.79

30.8

398

14.3

2000

13.4

1.855

8.45

0.117

94

70.9

1956

2794

Oxy-fuel

80

0.89

Pgh #8 Coal

H2+electricity

High-pressure
E-gas, HGCU,
HTMR, H2SO4
co-product

2002a

Parsons

low to very low

6.24

53.6

441

12.7

2000

20

1.918

0.00

0.000

100

66.0

25

1904

3020

Oxy-fuel

85

1.03

Coal

Advanced
E-gas, HGCU,
HTMR

H2+electricity

2003

Mitretek

3.27

53.6

950

12.7

2000

20

3.846

0.00

0.000

100

55.2

416

1844

6051

Oxy-fuel

85

1.03

Coal

H2+electricity

very low

1.13

53.6

1023

12.7

2000

20

3.652

6.96

0.191

95

60.7

519

1808

6051

Oxy-fuel

85

1.03

Coal

H2+electricity

2003

Mitretek

Advanced E-gas, Advanced E-gas,

HGCU, HTMR, HGCU, HTMR,
large elec. co- SOFC, large elec.
product
co-product

2003

Mitretek

1.13

31

398

12.7

13.4

1.9

0.0

0.000

90

55

-88

1808

2794

80

min

9.84

54

1023

20.0

20.0

5.9

19.5

0.873

100

78

519

7504

9527

90

max

Range

Notes: All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. * Reported HHV values converted to LHV assuming LHV/
HHV = 0.96 for coal and 0.846 for hydrogen. **CO2 capture efficiency = (C in CO2 captured)/(C in fossil fuel input to plant - C in carbonaceous fuel products of plant) x100; C associated with imported
electricity is not included. ***Includes CO2 emitted in the production of electricity imported by the plant. ****Reported total plant investment values increased by 3.5% to estimate total capital requirement.

50.0
9.84

Capture plant electricity price (US$ MWh1)

441

16

20
725

Fixed charge rate (%)

2000

13.7

3.119

11.10

2003

13.7

4.074

1.46

0.505

90

0.086

95

66
74.9

13

6004

78.3

Capture plant TCR (million US$)****

Cost year basis (constant dollars)

Cost Results

CO2 product pressure (MPa)

CO2 captured (MtCO2 yr1)

Total carbon released (kgCO2 GJ1 products)

Carbon exported in fuels (MtC yr1)

CO2 emitted (MtCO2 yr1)***

CO2 capture efficiency (%)**

Net plant efficiency, LHV (%)

9527
7504

Capture plant output capacity, LHV: Fuels (GJ h1)

7697

90

90
Oxy-fuel

4.73

Natural gas

5.26

Natural gas

Capture plant input capacity, LHV (GJ h1)

CO2 capture/separation technology

Plant capacity factor (%)

Feedstock cost, LHV (US$ GJ1)

H2

78% efficient
ATR/SMR,
adv CO2
compressor

Autothermal
reforming with
O2 provided by
ITM

H2

Production process or type

Plant products (primary/secondary)

2004

2005
*

NRC

Simbeck

Capture Plant Design

Study Assumptions and Results

Table 3.14 CO2 capture costs: Multi-product plants using advanced technology.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

167

168

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

the successful scale-up and commercialization of technologies

that have not yet been demonstrated, or which are still under
development at relatively small scales, such as solid oxide fuel
cells (SOFC). Published cost estimates for these systems thus
have a very high degree of uncertainty.
3.7.12

CO2 capture costs for other industrial processes

(advanced technology)

As noted earlier, CO2 capture for industrial processes has not

been widely studied. The most extensive analyses have focused
on petroleum refineries, especially CO2 capture options for
heaters and other combustion-based processes (see Table 3.12).
The use of oxy-fuel combustion offers potential cost savings in
several industrial applications. The CO2 Capture Project reports
the cost of capturing CO2 in refinery heaters and boilers, with
an ion transport membrane oxygen plant, to be 31 US$/tCO2
avoided. The cost of pre-combustion capture based on shift and
membrane gas separation was predicted to be 41 US$/tCO2
avoided (CCP, 2005).
It also may be possible to apply oxy-fuel combustion to
cement plants, but the CO2 partial pressure in the cement kiln
would be higher than normal and the effects of this on the
calcination reactions and the quality of the cement product
would need to be investigated. The quantity of oxygen required
per tonne of CO2 captured in a cement plant would be only about
half as much as in a power plant, because only about half of the
CO2 is produced by fuel combustion. This implies that the cost
of CO2 capture by oxy-fuel combustion at large cement plants
would be lower than at power plants, but a detailed engineering
cost study is lacking. Emerging technologies that capture CO2
using calcium-based sorbents, described in Section 3.3.3.4, may
be cost competitive in cement plants in the future.
3.7.13

Summary of CO2 capture cost estimates

Table 3.15 summarizes the range of current CO2 capture costs

for the major electric power systems analyzed in this report.
These costs apply to case studies of large new plants employing
current commercial technologies. For the PC and IGCC systems,
the data in Table 3.15 apply only to plants using bituminous
coals and the PC plants are for supercritical units only. The cost
ranges for each of the three systems reflect differences in the
technical, economic and operating assumptions employed in
different studies. While some differences in reported costs can
be attributed to differences in the CO2 capture system design,
the major sources of variability are differences in the assumed
design, operation and financing of the reference plant to which
the capture technology is applied (i.e., factors such as plant size,
location, efficiency, fuel type, fuel cost, capacity factor and cost
of capital). Because no single set of assumptions applies to all
situations or all parts of the world, we display the ranges of cost
represented by the studies in Tables 3.8, 3.10, 3.11 and 3.12.
For the power plant studies reflected in Table 3.15, current
CO2 capture systems reduce CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour
by approximately 85-90% relative to a similar plant without

capture. The cost of electricity production attributed to CO2

capture increases by 35-70% for a natural gas combined cycle
plant, 40-85% for a new pulverized coal plant and 20-55% for an
integrated gasification combined cycle plant. Overall, the COE
for fossil fuel plants with capture ranges from 43-86 US$ MWh1
, as compared to 31-61 US$ MWh-1 for similar plants without
capture. These costs include CO2 compression but not transport
and storage costs. In most studies to date, NGCC systems
typically have a lower COE than new PC and IGCC plants (with
or without capture) for large base load plants with high capacity
factors (75% or more) and gas prices below about 4US$ GJ-1
over the life of the plant. However, for higher gas prices and/
or lower capacity factors, NGCC plants typically have higher
COEs than coal-based plants, with or without capture. Recent
studies also found that IGCC plants were on average slightly
more costly without capture and slightly less costly with capture
than similarly sized PC plants. However, the difference in cost
between PC and IGCC plants with or without CO2 capture can
vary significantly with coal type and other local factors, such
as the cost of capital. Since neither PC nor IGCC systems have
yet been demonstrated with CO2 capture and storage for a large
modern power plant (e.g., 500 MW), neither the absolute or
relative costs of these systems (nor comparably sized NGCC
systems with capture and storage) can be stated with a high degree
of confidence at this time, based on the criteria of Table 3.6.
Table 3.15 also shows that the lowest CO2 capture costs with
current technology (as low as 2US$/tCO2 captured or avoided)
were found for industrial processes such as coal-based hydrogen
production plants that produce concentrated CO2 streams as
part of the production process. Such industrial processes may
represent some of the earliest opportunities for CCS.
Figure 3.20 displays the normalized power plant cost and
emissions data from Table 3.15 in graphical form. On this
graph, the cost of CO2 avoided corresponds to the slope of a line
connecting any two plants (or points) of interest. While Table
3.15 compares a given capture plant to a similar plant without
capture, in some cases comparisons may be sought between
a given capture plant and a different type of reference plant.
Several cases are illustrated in Figure 3.20 based on either a
PC or NGCC reference plant. In each case, the COE and CO2
emission rate are highly dependent upon technical, economic
and financial factors related to the design and operation of the
power systems of interest at a particular location. The cost of
CO2 avoided is especially sensitive to these site-specific factors
and can vary by an order of magnitude or more when different
types of plants are compared. Comparisons of different plant
types, therefore, require a specific context and geographical
location to be meaningful and should be based on the full COE
including CO2 transport and storage costs. Later, Chapter 8
presents examples of full CCS costs for different plant types
and storage options.
In contrast to new plants, CO2 capture options and costs for
existing power plants have not been extensively studied. Current
studies indicate that these costs are extremely site-specific and
fall into two categories (see Table 3.8). One is the retrofitting of
a post-combustion capture system to the existing unit.

New NGCC Plant

Range
Rep.
low high Value
344 - 379
367

85
33
31
1286
2096
63
46
73
27

81 - 88
30 - 35
24 - 40
1161 - 1486
1894 - 2578
44 - 74
43 - 52
62 - 86
18 - 34
42 - 66
57
23 - 35
29
29 - 51
41
moderate

112

92 - 145

New PC Plant
Range
Rep.
low
high Value
736 - 811
762

47
62
16

37

1825

1326

19

35

86

108

20 - 55
33
11 - 32
20
13 - 37
23
moderate

41 - 61
54 - 79
9 - 22

19 - 66

1414 - 2270

1169 - 1565

14 - 25

31 - 40

81 - 91

65 - 152

New IGCC Plant

Range
Rep.
low
high Value
682 - 846
773

60

86

17

% more energy input GJ1 product

Capture plant efficiency (% LHV)

% reduction/unit of product

kgCO2 GJ1 (with capture)

kgCO2 GJ1 (without capture)

(Units for H2 Plant)

7.8
9.1
1.3

18

5 - 33
15
2 - 39
12
2 - 56
15
moderate to high

6.5 - 10.0
7.5 - 13.3
0.3 - 3.3

-2 - 54

% increase in H2 cost
US$/tCO2 captured
US$/tCO2 avoided
Confidence Level (see Table 3.6)

H2 cost without capture (US$ GJ1)

H2 cost with capture (US$ GJ1)
Increase in H2 cost (US$ GJ1)

% increase in capital cost

Capital requirement without capture

(No unique normalization
for multi-product plants) Capital requirement with capture

4 - 22

52 - 68

72 - 96

7 - 28

New Hydrogen Plant

Range
Rep.
Value
low
high
78 - 174
137

Notes: See Section 3.6.1 for calculation of energy requirement for capture plants. Values in italics were adjusted from original reported values as explained below.(a) Ranges and representative values are
based on data from Tables 3.8, 3.11, 3.11 and 3.12. All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. (b) All PC and
IGCC data are for bituminous coals only at costs of US$1.0-1.5 GJ1 (LHV); all PC plants are supercritical units. (c) NGCC data based on natural gas prices of US$2.8-4.4 GJ1 (LHV basis). (d) Cost are
in constant US dollars (approx. year 2002 basis). (e) Power plant sizes range from approximately 400-800 MW without capture and 300-700 MW with capture. (f) Capacity factors vary from 65-85% for
coal plants and 50-95% for gas plants (average for each = 80%). (g) Hydrogen plant feedstocks are natural gas (US$ 4.7-5.3 GJ1) or coal (US$ 0.9-1.3 GJ1); some plants in data set produce electricity in
addition to hydrogen. (h) Fixed charge factors vary from 11-16% for power plants and 13-20% for hydrogen plants. (i) All costs include CO2 compression but not additional CO2 transport and storage costs
(see Chapter 8 for full CCS costs).

Emission rate without capture

(kgCO2 MWh1)
Emission rate with
40 - 66
52
capture (kgCO2 MWh1)
Percent CO2 reduction
83 - 88
86
per kWh (%)
Plant efficiency with
47 - 50
48
capture, LHV basis (% )
Capture energy requirement
11 - 22
16
(% more input MWh1)
Total capital requirement without capture 515 - 724
568
(US$ kW1)
Total capital requirement with capture
909 - 1261 998
(US$ kW1)
Percent increase in capital cost with
64 - 100
76
capture (%)
COE without capture (US$ MWh1)
31 - 50
37
COE with capture only (US$ MWh1)
43 - 72
54
Increase in COE with capture (US$
12 - 24
17
MWh1)
Percent increase in COE with capture (%) 37 - 69
46
Cost of CO2 captured (US$/tCO2)
33 - 57
44
Cost of CO2 avoided (US$/tCO2)
37 - 74
53
Capture cost confidence level (see Table
moderate
3.6)

Performance and Cost Measures

Table 3.15 Summary of new plant performance and CO2 capture cost based on current technology.

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

169

170

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 3.20 Cost of electricity (excluding transport and storage costs) compared to CO2 emission rate for different reference and capture plants
based on current technology. The shaded areas show the Table 3.15 ranges of CO2 emission rates and levelized cost of electricity (COE) for new
PC, IGCC and NGCC plants with and without CO2 capture. All coal plant data are for bituminous coals only. PC plants are supercritical units only
(see Tables 3.7, 3.9, 3.10 and 3.15 for additional assumptions). The cost of CO2 avoided corresponds to the slope of a line connecting a plant with
capture and a reference plant without capture (i.e., the change in electricity cost divided by the change in emission rate). Avoidance costs for the
same type of plant with and without capture plant are given in Table 3.15. When comparing different plant types, the reference plant represents
the least-cost plant that would normally be built at a particular location in the absence of a carbon constraint. In many regions today, this would
be either a PC plant or an NGCC plant. The cost per tonne of CO2 avoided can be highly variable and depends strongly on the costs and emissions
of new plants being considered in a particular situation. See Chapter 8 for the full COE and full cost of CO2 avoided for different plant types.

The other category combines CO2 capture with upgrading

or repowering the existing plant to significantly improve
its efficiency and net power output (see Sections 3.7.4.2 and
3.7.5.2). In general, the latter option appears to be more costeffective. However, further site-specific studies are required
to systematically assess the feasibility and cost of alternative
repowering options in conjunction with CO2 capture for existing
power plants.
New or improved methods of CO2 capture, combined with
advanced power systems and industrial process designs, promise
to significantly reduce CO2 capture costs and associated energy
requirements. Tables 3.12 to 3.14 summarize the results from
recent studies that examine future options. As discussed earlier,
there is considerable uncertainty about the magnitude and
timing of future cost reductions, as well as the potential for costs
to rise above current estimates, especially for technologies still
in the early stages of research and development. The current
assessment is based on studies of the specific technologies
in Tables 3.12 to 3.14 (and the supporting discussions and
literature cited in Sections 3.7.9 to 3.7.12), as well as analyses
of historical cost trends for related energy and environmental

technologies. This assessment suggests that improvements to

current commercial technologies can reduce CO2 capture costs
by at least 20-30% over approximately the next decade, while
new technologies under development promise more substantial
cost reductions. Achieving future cost reductions, however, will
require deployment and adoption of commercial technologies
in the marketplace as well as sustained R&D.
3.8

Gaps in knowledge

Gaps in knowledge are related to differences in the stages of

development of component technologies for the capture systems
reviewed in Sections 3.2 to 3.5. For CO2 capture from industrial
processes, a number of technologies that are commonly used
in natural gas sweetening and ammonia production are already
used on a commercial scale. For other types of industrial systems
capturing CO2 from steel and cement production, further work
is still needed. For CO2 capture that might be reliant on postcombustion capture or oxy-fuel combustion, options are less
well developed, or are available at a smaller scale than those
required for applications such as in power generation, where

171

Chapter 3: Capture of CO2

much larger gas flows are handled. For pre-combustion capture
many of the required systems have been developed and applied
in industry already.
Although many of the component and/or enabling
technologies required for CO2 capture in post-combustion,
pre-combustion and oxy-fuel combustion are well known,
gaps in knowledge are in the practical and/or commercial
demonstration of integrated systems. This demonstration is
essential to prove the cost of CO2 capture and its use on a large
scale, particularly in power generation applications, but also for
cement, steel and other large industries. Operating experience
is also needed to test system reliability, improved methods of
system integration, methods to reduce the energy requirements
for CO2 capture, improved process control strategies and the
use of optimized functional materials for the implementation
of capture processes with advanced, higher efficiency power
cycles. As such developments are realized, environmental
issues associated with the capture of CO2 and other deleterious
pollutants in these systems should also be re-assessed from
a perspective involving the whole capture-transport-storage
operation.
In an ongoing search to implement existing, new or improved
methods of CO2 capture, most capture systems also rely on the
application of a range of enabling technologies that influence the
attractiveness of a given system. These enabling technologies
have their own critical gaps of knowledge. For example,
improved processes for the effective removal of sulphur,
nitrogen, chlorine, mercury and other pollutants are needed for
the effective performance of unit operations for CO2 separation
in post- and pre-combustion capture systems, especially when
coal is used as the primary fuel. Improved gasification reactors
for coals and biomass, the availability of hydrogen-burning gas
turbines and fuel cells for stationary power generation also need
further development in the pre-combustion route. Combustors
and boilers operating at higher temperatures, or a new class of
CO2 turbines and compressors, are important requirements for
oxy-fuel systems.
With reference to the development of novel CO2 capture
and/or other enabling technologies, a wide range of options
are currently being investigated worldwide. However, many
technical details of the specific processes proposed or under
development for these emerging technologies are still not well
understood. This makes the assessment of their performance
and cost highly uncertain. This is where intense R&D is needed
to develop and bring to pilot scale testing the most promising
concepts for commercial application. Membranes for H2, CO2
or O2 separation, new sorbents, O2 or CO2 solid carriers and
materials for advanced combustors, boilers and turbines all
require extensive performance testing. Multi-pollutant emission
controls in these novel systems and the impact of fuel impurities
and temperature on the functional materials, should also be an
area of future work.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

4
Transport of CO2

Coordinating Lead Authors

Richard Doctor (United States), Andrew Palmer (United Kingdom)
Lead Authors
David Coleman (United States), John Davison (United Kingdom), Chris Hendriks (The Netherlands),
Olav Kaarstad (Norway), Masahiko Ozaki (Japan)
Contributing Author
Michael Austell (United Kingdom)
Review Editors
Ramon Pichs-Madruga (Cuba), Svyatoslav Timashev (Russian Federation)

180

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

181

4.1 Introduction

181

4.2
4.2.1
4.2.2
4.2.3
4.2.4
4.2.5
4.2.6

Pipeline systems
Pipeline transportation systems
Existing experience
Design
Construction of land pipelines
Underwater pipelines
Operations

181
181
182
184
184
185
185

4.3
4.3.1
4.3.2
4.3.3
4.3.4
4.3.5

Ships for CO2 transportation

Marine transportation system
Existing experience
Design
Construction
Operation

186
186
186
186
186
187

4.4
4.4.1
4.4.2
4.4.3
4.4.4

Risk, safety and monitoring

Introduction
Land pipelines
Marine pipelines
Ships

187
187
187
188
188

4.5 Legal issues, codes and standards

4.5.1 International conventions
4.5.2 National codes and standards

189
189
189

4.6 Costs
4.6.1 Costs of pipeline transport
4.6.2 Costs of marine transportation systems

190
190
190

References

192

Chapter 4: Transport of CO2

181

Executive Summary

(liquefied petroleum gas) and LNG (liquefied natural gas).

This existing technology and experience can be transferred to
liquid CO2 transport. Solidification needs much more energy
compared with other options, and is inferior from a cost and
energy viewpoint. Each of the commercially viable technologies
is currently used to transport carbon dioxide.
Research and development on a natural gas hydrate carrying
system intended to replace LNG systems is in progress, and the
results might be applied to CO2 ship transport in the future. In
pipeline transportation, the volume is reduced by transporting
at a high pressure: this is routinely done in gas pipelines, where
operating pressures are between 10 and 80 MPa.
A transportation infrastructure that carries carbon dioxide
in large enough quantities to make a significant contribution
to climate change mitigation will require a large network of
pipelines. As growth continues it may become more difficult
to secure rights-of-way for the pipelines, particularly in highly
populated zones that produce large amounts of carbon dioxide.
Existing experience has been in zones with low population
densities, and safety issues will become more complex in
populated areas.
The most economical carbon dioxide capture systems
appear to favour CO2 capture, first, from pure stream sources
such as hydrogen reformers and chemical plants, and then from
centralized power and synfuel plants: Chapter 2 discusses this
issue in detail. The producers of natural gas speak of stranded
reserves from which transport to market is uneconomical. A
movement towards a decentralized power supply grid may make
CO2 capture and transport much more costly, and it is easy to
envision stranded CO2 at sites where capture is uneconomic.
A regulatory framework will need to emerge for the lowgreenhouse-gas-emissions power industry of the future to guide
investment decisions. Future power plant owners may find the
carbon dioxide transport component one of the leading issues in
their decision-making.

Transport is that stage of carbon capture and storage that links

sources and storage sites. The beginning and end of transport
may be defined administratively. Transport is covered by
the regulatory framework concerned for public safety that
governs pipelines and shipping. In the context of long-distance
movement of large quantities of carbon dioxide, pipeline
transport is part of current practice. Pipelines routinely carry
large volumes of natural gas, oil, condensate and water over
distances of thousands of kilometres, both on land and in the
sea. Pipelines are laid in deserts, mountain ranges, heavilypopulated areas, farmland and the open range, in the Arctic and
sub-Arctic, and in seas and oceans up to 2200 m deep.
Carbon dioxide pipelines are not new: they now extend
over more than 2500 km in the western USA, where they carry
50 MtCO2 yr-1 from natural sources to enhanced oil recovery
projects in the west Texas and elsewhere. The carbon dioxide
stream ought preferably to be dry and free of hydrogen sulphide,
because corrosion is then minimal, and it would be desirable to
establish a minimum specification for pipeline quality carbon
dioxide. However, it would be possible to design a corrosionresistant pipeline that would operate safely with a gas that
contained water, hydrogen sulphide and other contaminants.
Pipeline transport of carbon dioxide through populated areas
requires attention be paid to design factors, to overpressure
protection, and to leak detection. There is no indication that the
problems for carbon dioxide pipelines are any more challenging
than those set by hydrocarbon pipelines in similar areas, or that
they cannot be resolved.
Liquefied natural gas and petroleum gases such as propane
and butane are routinely transported by marine tankers; this
trade already takes place on a very large scale. Carbon dioxide
is transported in the same way, but on a small scale because of
limited demand. The properties of liquefied carbon dioxide are
not greatly different from those of liquefied petroleum gases,
and the technology can be scaled up to large carbon dioxide
carriers. A design study discussed later has estimated costs
for marine transport of 1 MtCO2 yr-1 by one 22,000 m3 marine
tanker over a distance of 1100 km, along with the associated
liquefaction, loading and unloading systems.
Liquefied gas can also be carried by rail and road tankers,
but it is unlikely that they be considered attractive options for
large-scale carbon dioxide capture and storage projects.
4.1 Introduction
CO2 is transported in three states: gas, liquid and solid.
Commercial-scale transport uses tanks, pipelines and ships for
gaseous and liquid carbon dioxide.
Gas transported at close to atmospheric pressure occupies
such a large volume that very large facilities are needed. Gas
occupies less volume if it is compressed, and compressed
gas is transported by pipeline. Volume can be further reduced
by liquefaction, solidification or hydration. Liquefaction is
an established technology for gas transport by ship as LPG

4.2

Pipeline systems

4.2.1

Pipeline transportation systems

CO2 pipeline operators have established minimum specifications

for composition. Box 4.1 gives an example from the Canyon
Reef project (Section 4.2.2.1). This specification is for gas for
an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project, and parts of it would
not necessarily apply to a CO2 storage project. A low nitrogen
content is important for EOR, but would not be so significant
for CCS. A CO2 pipeline through populated areas might have a
lower specified maximum H2S content.
Dry carbon dioxide does not corrode the carbon-manganese
steels generally used for pipelines, as long as the relative humidity
is less than 60% (see, for example, Rogers and Mayhew, 1980);
this conclusion continues to apply in the presence of N2, NOx
and SOx contaminants. Seiersten (2001) wrote:
The corrosion rate of carbon steel in dry supercritical CO2
is low. For AISI 1080 values around 0.01 mm yr-1 have been
measured at 90120 bar and 160C180C for 200 days. Short-

182
term tests confirm this. In a test conducted at 3C and 22C at
140 bar CO2, and 800 to 1000 ppm H2S, the corrosion rate for
X-60 carbon steel was measured at less than 0.5 m yr-1 (0.0005
mm yr-1). Field experience also indicates very few problems
with transportation of high-pressure dry CO2 in carbon steel
pipelines. During 12 years, the corrosion rate in an operating
pipeline amounts to 0.25-2.5 m yr-1 (0.00025 to (0.0025 mm
yr-1).
The water solubility limit in high-pressure CO2 (500 bar) is
5000 ppm at 75C and 2000 ppm at 30C. Methane lowers the
solubility limit, and H2S, O2 and N2 may have the same effect.
Corrosion rates are much higher if free water is present;
hydrates might also form. Seiersten (2001) measured a corrosion
rate of 0.7 mm yr-1 corrosion rate in 150 to 300 hours exposure
at 40C in water equilibrated with CO2 at 95 bar, and higher
rates at lower pressures. She found little difference between
carbon-manganese steel (American Petroleum Institute grade
X65) and 0.5 chromium corrosion-resistant alloy. It is unlikely
to be practicable to transport wet CO2 in low-alloy carbon
steel pipelines because of this high corrosion rate. If the CO2
cannot be dried, it may be necessary to build the pipeline of a
corrosion-resistant alloy (stainless steel). This is an established
technology. However the cost of steel has greatly increased
recently and this may not be economical.
Once the CO2 has been dried and meets the transportation
criteria, the CO2 is measured and transported to the final use
site. All the pipelines have state-of-the-art metering systems that
accurately account for sales and deliveries on to and out of each
line, and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)
systems for measuring pressure drops, and redundancies
built in to allow for emergencies. In the USA, these pipelines
are governed by Department of Transportation regulations.
Movement of CO2 is best accomplished under high pressure:
the choice of operating pressure is discussed in an example

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

below, and the reader is referred to Annex I for a discussion of
the physical properties of CO2.
4.2.2

Existing experience

Table 4.1 lists existing long-distance CO2 pipelines. Most of the

projects listed below are described in greater detail in a report by
the UK Department of Trade and Industry (2002). While there
are CO2 pipelines outside the USA, the Permian Basin contains
over 90% of the active CO2 floods in the world (O&GJ, April
15, 2002, EOR Survey). Since then, well over 1600 km of new
CO2 pipelines has been built to service enhanced oil recovery
(EOR) in west Texas and nearby states.
4.2.2.1 Canyon Reef
The first large CO2 pipeline in the USA was the Canyon Reef
Carriers, built in 1970 by the SACROC Unit in Scurry County,
Texas. Its 352 km moved 12,000 tonnes of anthropogenically
produced CO2 daily (4.4 Mt yr-1) from Shell Oil Company gas
processing plants in the Texas Val Verde basin.
4.2.2.2 Bravo Dome Pipeline
Oxy Permian constructed this 508 mm (20-inch) line connecting
the Bravo Dome CO2 field with other major pipelines. It is
capable of carrying 7.3 MtCO2 yr-1 and is operated by Kinder
Morgan.
4.2.2.3 Cortez Pipeline
Built in 1982 to supply CO2 from the McElmo Dome in S.E.
Colorado, the 762 mm (30-inch), 803 km pipeline carries
approximately 20 Mt CO2 yr-1 to the CO2 hub at Denver City,
Texas. The line starts near Cortez, Colorado, and crosses the
Rocky Mountains, where it interconnects with other CO2 lines.
In the present context, recall that one 1000 MW coal-fired

Box 4.1 Specimen CO2 quality specifications

The Product delivered by Seller or Sellers representative to Buyer at the Canyon Reef Carriers Delivery Meter shall meet the
following specifications, which herein are collectively called Quality Specifications:
(a) Carbon Dioxide. Product shall contain at least ninety-five mole percent (95%) of Carbon Dioxide as measured at the

SACROC delivery meter.
(b) Water. Product shall contain no free water, and shall not contain more than 0.48 9 m-3 in the vapour phase.
(c) Hydrogen Sulphide. Product shall not contain more than fifteen hundred (1500) parts per million, by weight, of

hydrogen sulphide.
(d) Total Sulphur. Product shall not contain more than fourteen hundred and fifty (1450) parts per million, by weight, of

total sulphur.
(e) Temperature. Product shall not exceed a temperature of 48.9 oC.
(f) Nitrogen. Product shall not contain more than four mole percent (4%) of nitrogen.
(g) Hydrocarbons. Product shall not contain more than five mole percent (5%) of hydrocarbons and the dew point

of Product (with respect to such hydrocarbons) shall not exceed 28.9 oC.
(h) Oxygen. Product shall not contain more than ten (10) parts per million, by weight, of oxygen.
(i) Glycol. Product shall not contain more than 4 x 10-5 L m-3 of glycol and at no time shall such glycol be present in a

liquid state at the pressure and temperature conditions of the pipeline.

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Table 4.1 Existing long-distance CO2 pipelines (Gale and Davison, 2002) and CO2 pipelines in North America (Courtesy of Oil and Gas
Journal).
Pipeline

Location

Operator

Capacity

(MtCO2 yr )
-1

Cortez

Weyburn
Total

1984

McElmoDome

BP Amoco

7.3

350

1984

Bravo Dome

USA

Petrosource

2.5

130

1998

Val Verde Gas Plants

USA & Canada

North Dakota
Gasification Co.

USA

Bati Raman

808

(km)

USA

Canyon Reef Carriers

Val Verde

Origin of CO2

Kinder Morgan

USA

Bravo

Year finished

USA

Sheep Mountain

Turkey

BP Amoco

Kinder Morgan

Turkish Petroleum

power station produces about 7 Mt CO2 yr-1, and so one Cortez

pipeline could handle the emissions of three of those stations.
The Cortez Pipeline passes through two built-up areas,
Placitas, New Mexico (30 km north of Albuquerque, New
Mexico) and Edgewood/Moriarty, New Mexico (40 km east
of Albuquerque). The line is buried at least 1 m deep and is
marked within its right of way. Near houses and built-up areas
it is marked more frequently to ensure the residents are aware
of the pipeline locations. The entire pipeline is patrolled by air
every two weeks, and in built-up areas is frequently patrolled
by employees in company vehicles. The public education

19.3

Length

9.5
5.2
1.1

660

225
90

328

49.9

2591

1972
1983
2000

Sheep Mountain

Gasification plants
Dodan Field

Gasification Plant

programme includes the mailing of a brochure describing CO2,

signs of a leak and where to report a suspected leak, together
with information about the operator and the one-call centre.
4.2.2.4 Sheep Mountain Pipeline
BP Oil constructed this 610 mm (24-inch) 772 km line capable
of carrying 9.2 MtCO2 yr-1 from another naturally occurring
source in southeast Colorado. It connects to the Bravo Dome
line and into the other major carriers at Denver City and now is
operated by Kinder Morgan.

Figure 4.1 CO2 pipelines in North America. (Courtesy of Oil and Gas Journal).

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

4.2.2.5 Weyburn Pipeline

This 330 km, (305-356 mm diameter) system carries more than
5000 tonne day-1 (1.8 Mt yr-1) of CO2 from the Great Plains
Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota to the Weyburn EOR
project in Saskatchewan. The composition of the gas carried by
the pipeline is typically CO2 96%, H2S 0.9%, CH4 0.7%, C2+
hydrocarbons 2.3%, CO 0.1%, N2 less than 300 ppm, O2 less
than 50 ppm and H2O less than 20 ppm (UK Department of
Trade and Industry, 2002). The delivery pressure at Weyburn is
15.2 MPa. There are no intermediate compressor stations. The
amount allocated to build the pipeline was 110 US $ million
(0.33 x 106 US$ km-1) in 1997.
4.2.3

Design

The physical, environmental and social factors that determine

the design of a pipeline are summarized in a design basis, which
then forms the input for the conceptual design. This includes a
system definition for the preliminary route and design aspects
for cost-estimating and concept-definition purposes. It is also
necessary to consider the process data defining the physical
characteristics of product mixture transported, the optimal
sizing and pressures for the pipeline, and the mechanical
design, such as operating, valves, pumps, compressors, seals,
etc. The topography of the pipeline right-of-way must be
examined. Topography may include mountains, deserts, river
and stream crossings, and for offshore pipelines, the differing
challenges of very deep or shallow water, and uneven seabed.
It is also important to include geotechnical considerations.
For example, is this pipeline to be constructed on thin soil
overlaying granite? The local environmental data need to be
included, as well as the annual variation in temperature during
operation and during construction, potentially unstable slopes,
frost heave and seismic activity. Also included are water depth,
sea currents, permafrost, ice gouging in Arctic seas, biological
growth, aquifers, and other environmental considerations such
as protected habitats. The next set of challenges is how the
pipeline will accommodate existing and future infrastructure
road, rail, pipeline crossings, military/governmental restrictions
and the possible impact of other activities as well as shipping
lanes, rural or urban settings, fishing restrictions, and conflicting
uses such as dredging. Finally, this integrated study will serve
as the basis for a safety review.
Conceptual design
The conceptual design includes the following components:
Mechanical design: follows standard procedures, described
in detail in (Palmer et al., 2004).
Stability design: standard methods and software are used to
perform stability calculations, offshore (Veritec, 1988) or
onshore, though the offshore methods have been questioned.
New guidelines for stability will be published in 2005 by
Det Norske Veritas and will be designated DNV-RP-F109
On-Bottom Stability
Protection against corrosion: a well-understood subject of
which the application to CO2 pipelines is described below.

Trenching and backfilling: onshore lines are usually buried

to depth of 1 m. Offshore lines are almost always buried
in shallow water. In deeper water pipelines narrower than
400 mm are trenched and sometimes buried to protect them
against damage by fishing gear.
CO2 pipelines may be more subject to longitudinal running
fracture than hydrocarbon gas pipelines. Fracture arresters
are installed at intervals of about 500 m.
West (1974) describes the design of the SACROC CO2 pipeline
(Section 4.2.2.1 above). The transportation options examined
were:
(i) a low-pressure CO2 gas pipeline operating at a maximum
pressure of 4.8MPa;
(ii) a high-pressure CO2 gas pipeline operating at a minimum
pressure of 9.6MPa, so that the gas would remain in a
dense phase state at all temperatures;
(iii) a refrigerated liquid CO2 pipeline;
(iv) road tank trucks;
(v) rail tankers, possibly in combination with road tank
trucks.
The tank truck and rail options cost more than twice as
much as a pipeline. The refrigerated pipeline was rejected
because of cost and technical difficulties with liquefaction. The
dense phase (Option ii) was 20% cheaper than a low-pressure
CO2 gas pipeline (Option i). The intermediate 4.8 to 9.6 MPa
pressure range was avoided so that two-phase flow would not
occur. An added advantage of dense-phase transport was that
high delivery pressures were required for CO2 injection.
The final design conforms to the ANSI B31.8 code for gas
pipelines and to the DOT regulations applicable at the time. The
main 290 km section is 406.4 mm (16 inch) outside diameter
and 9.53 mm wall thickness made from grade X65 pipe
(specified minimum yield stress of 448 MPa). A shorter 60 km
section is 323.85 mm (12.75 inch) outside diameter, 8.74 mm
wall thickness, grade X65. Tests showed that dry CO2 would
not corrode the pipeline steel; 304L corrosion-resistant alloy
was used for short sections upstream of the glycol dehydrator.
The line is buried to a minimum of 0.9 m, and any point on the
line is within 16 km of a block valve.
There are six compressor stations, totalling 60 MW, including
a station at the SACROC delivery point. The compressor
stations are not equally spaced, and the longest distance between
two stations is about 160 km. This is consistent with general
practice, but some long pipelines have 400 km or more between
compressor stations.
Significant nitrogen and oxygen components in CO2 would
shift the boundary of the two-phase region towards higher
pressures, and would require a higher operating pressure to
avoid two-phase flow.
4.2.4

Construction of land pipelines

Construction planning can begin either before or after rights

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of way are secured, but a decision to construct will not come
before a legal right to construct a pipeline is secured and all
governmental regulations met. Onshore and underwater CO2
pipelines are constructed in the same way as hydrocarbon
pipelines, and for both there is an established and wellunderstood base of engineering experience. Subsection 4.2.5
describes underwater construction.
The construction phases of a land pipeline are outlined
below. Some of the operations can take place concurrently.
Environmental and social factors may influence the season
of the year in which construction takes place. The land is
cleared and the trench excavated. The longest lead items come
first: urban areas, river and road crossings. Pipe is received
into the pipe yard and welded into double joints (24 m long);
transported to staging areas for placement along the pipe route,
welded, tested, coated and wrapped, and then lowered into the
trench. A hydrostatic test is carried out, and the line is dried.
The trench is then backfilled, and the land and the vegetation
restored.
4.2.5

Underwater pipelines

Most underwater pipelines are constructed by the lay-barge

method, in which 12 or 24 m lengths of pipe are brought to a
dynamically positioned or anchored barge, and welded one by
one to the end of the pipeline. The barge moves slowly forward,
and the pipeline leaves the barge over the stern, and passes first
over a support structure (stinger) and then down through the
water in a suspended span, until it reaches the seabed. Some
lines up to 450 mm diameter are constructed by the reel method,
in which the pipeline is welded together onshore, wound onto
a reel on a ship, and then unwound from the reel into its final
position. Some short lines and lines for shore crossings in
shallow water are constructed by various tow and pull methods,
in which the line is welded together onshore and then pulled
into its final location.
If the design requires that the pipeline be trenched, that is
usually done after it has been laid on the seabed, by a jetting
sled, a plough or a mechanical cutting device that is pulled
along the line. On the other hand, in shore crossings and in very
shallow water the trench is often excavated before the pipeline
is laid, and that is done by dredgers, backhoes or draglines in
soft sediments, or in rock by blasting followed by clamshell
excavators. Many shore crossings are drilled horizontally
from the shore; this procedure eliminates many uncertainties
associated with the surf zone, and reduces the environmental
impact of construction.
Underwater connections are made by various kinds of
mechanical connection systems, by hyperbaric welding (in
air under the local hydrostatic pressure) or by lifting the pipe
ends above the surface, welding them together and lowering the
connected line to the bottom.
These technologies are established and understood (Palmer
and King, 2004). Underwater pipelines up to 1422 mm in
diameter have been constructed in many different environments,
and pipelines have been laid in depths up to 2200 m. Figure 4.2

plots the diameters and maximum depths of major deepwater

pipelines constructed up to 2004. The difficulty of construction
is roughly proportional to the depth multiplied by the diameter,
and the maximum value of that product has multiplied fourfold
since 1980. Still larger and deeper pipelines are technically
feasible with todays technology.
4.2.6

Operations

Operational aspects of pipelines are divided into three areas: daily

operations, maintenance, and health, safety and environment.
Operations of a CO2 pipeline in the USA, for instance, must
follow federal operations guidelines (49 CFR 195). Overall
operational considerations include training, inspections, safety
integration, signs and pipeline markers, public education,
damage prevention programmes, communication, facility
security and leak detection. Pipelines outside the USA generally
have similar regulatory operational requirements.
Personnel form a central part of operations and must be
qualified. Personnel are required to be continuously trained and
updated on safety procedures, including safety procedures that
apply to contractors working on or near the pipeline, as well as
to the public.
Operations include daily maintenance, scheduled planning
and policies for inspecting, maintaining and repairing all
equipment on the line and the pipeline itself, as well as supporting
the line and pipeline. This equipment and support includes
valves, compressors, pumps, tanks, rights of way, public signs
and line markers as well as periodic pipeline flyovers.
Long-distance pipelines are instrumented at intervals so that
the flow can be monitored. The monitoring points, compressor
stations and block valves are tied back to a central operations
centre. Computers control much of the operation, and manual
intervention is necessary only in unusual upsets or emergency
conditions. The system has inbuilt redundancies to prevent loss
of operational capability if a component fails.

Figure 4.2 Pipelines in deep water.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Pipelines are cleaned and inspected by pigs, piston-like

devices driven along the line by the gas pressure. Pigs have
reached a high level of sophistication, and can measure internal
corrosion, mechanical deformation, external corrosion, the
precise position of the line, and the development of spans in
underwater lines. Further functionality will develop as pig
technology evolves, and there is no reason why pigs used for
hydrocarbon pipelines should not be used for carbon dioxide.
Pipelines are also monitored externally. Land pipelines
are inspected from the air, at intervals agreed between the
operator and the regulatory authorities. Inspection from the
air detects unauthorized excavation or construction before
damage occurs. Currently, underwater pipelines are monitored
by remotely operated vehicles, small unmanned submersibles
that move along the line and make video records, and in the
future, by autonomous underwater vehicles that do not need to
be connected to a mother ship by a cable. Some pipelines have
independent leak detection systems that find leaks acoustically
or by measuring chemical releases, or by picking up pressure
changes or small changes in mass balance. This technology is
available and routine.
4.3

Ships for CO2 transportation

4.3.1

Marine transportation system

Carbon dioxide is continuously captured at the plant on land,

but the cycle of ship transport is discrete, and so a marine
transportation system includes temporary storage on land
and a loading facility. The capacity, service speed, number
of ships and shipping schedule will be planned, taking into
consideration, the capture rate of CO2, transport distance, and
social and technical restrictions. This issue is, of course, not
specific to the case of CO2 transport; CO2 transportation by ship
has a number of similarities to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
transportation by ship.
What happens at the delivery point depends on the CO2
storage system. If the delivery point is onshore, the CO2 is
unloaded from the ships into temporary storage tanks. If the
delivery point is offshore as in the ocean storage option ships
might unload to a platform, to a floating storage facility (similar
to a floating production and storage facility routinely applied
to offshore petroleum production), to a single-buoy mooring or
directly to a storage system.
4.3.2

Existing experience

The use of ships for transporting CO2 across the sea is today in
an embryonic stage. Worldwide there are only four small ships
used for this purpose. These ships transport liquefied foodgrade CO2 from large point sources of concentrated carbon
dioxide such as ammonia plants in northern Europe to coastal
distribution terminals in the consuming regions. From these
distribution terminals CO2 is transported to the customers either
by tanker trucks or in pressurized cylinders. Design work is
ongoing in Norway and Japan for larger CO2 ships and their

associated liquefaction and intermediate storage facilities.

4.3.3

Design

For the design of hull and tank structure of liquid gas transport
ships, such as LPG carriers and LNG carriers, the International
Maritime Organization adopted the International Gas Carrier
Code in order to prevent the significant secondary damage
from accidental damage to ships. CO2 tankers are designed and
constructed under this code.
There are three types of tank structure for liquid gas transport
ships: pressure type, low temperature type and semi-refrigerated
type. The pressure type is designed to prevent the cargo gas from
boiling under ambient air conditions. On the other hand, the
low temperature type is designed to operate at a sufficiently low
temperature to keep cargo gas as a liquid under the atmospheric
pressure. Most small gas carriers are pressure type, and large
LPG and LNG carriers are of the low temperature type. The
low temperature type is suitable for mass transport because
the tank size restriction is not severe. The semi-refrigerated
type, including the existing CO2 carriers, is designed taking
into consideration the combined conditions of temperature and
pressure necessary for cargo gas to be kept as a liquid. Some
tankers such as semi-refrigerated LPG carriers are designed for
applicability to the range of cargo conditions between normal
temperature/high pressure and low temperature/atmospheric
pressure.
Annex I to this report includes the CO2 phase diagram. At
atmospheric pressure, CO2 is in gas or solid phase, depending
on the temperature. Lowering the temperature at atmospheric
pressure cannot by itself cause CO2 to liquefy, but only to make
so-called dry ice or solid CO2. Liquid CO2 can only exist at
a combination of low temperature and pressures well above
atmospheric pressure. Hence, a CO2 cargo tank should be of the
pressure-type or semi-refrigerated. The semi-refrigerated type
is preferred by ship designers, and the design point of the cargo
tank would be around 54 C per 6 bar to 50C per 7 bar, which
is near the point of CO2. In a standard design, semi-refrigerated
type LPG carriers operate at a design point of 50C and 7 bar,
when transporting a volume of 22,000 m3.
Carbon dioxide could leak into the atmosphere during
transportation. The total loss to the atmosphere from ships is
between 3 and 4% per 1000 km, counting both boil-off and
exhaust from the ships engines; both components could be
reduced by capture and liquefaction, and recapture onshore
would reduce the loss to 1 to 2% per 1000 km.
4.3.4

Construction

Carbon dioxide tankers are constructed using the same

technology as existing liquefied gas carriers. The latest LNG
carriers reach more than 200,000 m3 capacity. (Such a vessel
could carry 230 kt of liquid CO2.) The same type of yards that
today build LPG and LNG ships can carry out the construction
of a CO2 tanker. The actual building time will be from one to
two years, depending on considerations such as the ships size.

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Chapter 4: Transport of CO2

4.3.5

Operation

4.3.5.1 Loading
Liquid CO2 is charged from the temporary storage tank to
the cargo tank with pumps adapted for high pressure and low
temperature CO2 service. The cargo tanks are first filled and
pressurized with gaseous CO2 to prevent contamination by
humid air and the formation of dry ice.
4.3.5.2 Transport to the site
Heat transfer from the environment through the wall of the
cargo tank will boil CO2 and raise the pressure in the tank. It
is not dangerous to discharge the CO2 boil-off gas together
with the exhaust gas from the ships engines, but doing so
does, of course, release CO2 to the air. The objective of zero
CO2 emissions during the process of capture and storage can
be achieved by using a refrigeration unit to capture and liquefy
boil-off and exhaust CO2.
4.3.5.3 Unloading
Liquid CO2 is unloaded at the destination site. The volume
occupied by liquid CO2 in the cargo tanks is replaced with dry
gaseous CO2, so that humid air does not contaminate the tanks.
This CO2 could be recycled and reliquefied when the tank is
refilled.
4.3.5.4 Return to port in ballast, and dry-docking
The CO2 tanker will return to the port for the next voyage. When
the CO2 tanker is in dock for repair or regular inspection, gas
CO2 in cargo tank should be purged with air for safe working.
For the first loading after docking, cargo tanks should be fully
dried, purged and filled with CO2 gas.
Ships of similar construction with a combination of cooling
and pressure are currently operated for carrying other industrial
gases.
4.4

Risk, safety and monitoring

4.4.1

Introduction

There are calculable and perceivable risks for any transportation

option. We are not considering perceivable risks because this
is beyond the scope of the document. Risks in special cases
such as military conflicts and terrorist actions have now been
investigated. At least two conferences on pipeline safety and
security have taken place, and additional conferences and
workshops are planned. However, it is unlikely that these will
lead to peer-reviewed journal articles because of the sensitivity
of the issue.
Pipelines and marine transportation systems have an
established and good safety record. Comparison of CO2
systems with these existing systems for long-distance pipeline
transportation of gas and oil or with marine transportation of
oil, yidds that risks should be comparable in terms of failure and
accident rates.For the existing transport system these incidents
seem to be perceived by the broad community as acceptable in

spite of occasional serious pollution incidents such as the Exxon

Valdes and Torrey Canyon disasters (van Bernem and Lubbe,
1997). Because the consequences of CO2 pipeline accidents
potentially are of significant concern, stricter regulations for
CO2 pipelines than those for natural gas pipelines currently are
in force in the USA.
4.4.2

Land pipelines

Land pipelines are built to defined standards and are subject

to regulatory approval. This sometimes includes independent
design reviews. Their routes are frequently the subject of public
inquiries. The process of securing regulatory approval generally
includes approval of a safety plan, of detailed monitoring and
inspection procedures and of emergency response plans. In
densely populated areas the process of planning, licensing and
building new pipelines may be difficult and time-consuming. In
some places it may be possible to convert existing hydrocarbon
pipelines into CO2 pipelines.
Pipelines in operation are monitored internally by pigs
(internal pipeline inspection devices) and externally by
corrosion monitoring and leak detection systems. Monitoring is
also done by patrols on foot and by aircraft.
The incidence of failure is relatively small. Guijt (2004)
and the European Gas Pipeline Incident Data Group (2002)
show that the incidence of failure has markedly decreased.
Guijt quotes an incident rate of almost 0.0010 km-1 year-1 in
1972 falling to below 0.0002 km-1 year-1 in 2002. Most of the
incidents refer to very small pipelines, less than 100 mm in
diameter, principally applied to gas distribution systems. The
failure incidence for 500 mm and larger pipelines is very much
lower, below 0.00005 km-1 year-1. These figures include all
unintentional releases outside the limits of facilities (such as
compressor stations) originating from pipelines whose design
pressures are greater than 1.5 MPa. They cover many kinds
of incidents, not all of them serious, and there is substantial
variation between pipelines, reflecting factors such as system
age and inspection frequency.
The corresponding incident figures for western European
oil pipelines have been published by CONCAWE (2002).
In 1997-2001 the incident frequency was 0.0003 km-1 yr-1.
The corresponding figure for US onshore gas pipelines was
0.00011 km-1 yr-1 for the 1986-2002 period, defining an incident
as an event that released gas and caused death, inpatient
hospitalization or property loss of US$50,000: this difference
in reporting threshold is thought to account for the difference
between European and US statistics (Guijt, 2004).
Lelieveld et al. (2005) examined leakage in 2400 km of
the Russian natural gas pipeline system, including compressor
stations, valves and machine halls, and concluded that ...overall,
the leakage from Russian natural gas transport systems is about
1.4% (with a range of 1.0-2.5%), which is comparable with the
amount lost from pipelines in the United States (1.50.5%).
Those numbers refer to total leakage, not to leakage per
kilometre.
Gale and Davison (2002) quote incident statistics for CO2

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

pipelines in the USA. In the 1990-2002 period there were 10

incidents, with property damage totalling US$469,000, and no
injuries nor fatalities. The incident rate was 0.00032 km-1 yr-1.
However, unlike oil and gas, CO2 does not form flammable or
explosive mixtures with air. Existing CO2 pipelines are mainly
in areas of low population density, which would also tend to
result in lower average impacts. The reasons for the incidents
at CO2 pipelines were relief valve failure (4 failures), weld/
gasket/valve packing failure (3), corrosion (2) and outside
force (1). In contrast, the principal cause of incidents for natural
gas pipelines is outside force, such as damage by excavator
buckets. Penetration by excavators can lead to loss of pipeline
fluid and sometimes to fractures that propagate great distances.
Preventative measures such as increasing the depth of cover
and use of concrete barriers above a pipeline and warning tape
can greatly reduce the risk. For example, increasing cover from
1 m to 2 m reduces the damage frequency by a factor of 10 in
rural areas and by 3.5 in suburban areas (Guijt, 2004).
Carbon dioxide leaking from a pipeline forms a potential
physiological hazard for humans and animals. The consequences
of CO2 incidents can be modelled and assessed on a site-specific
basis using standard industrial methods, taking into account
local topography, meteorological conditions, population density
and other local conditions. A study by Vendrig et al. (2003)
has modelled the risks of CO2 pipelines and booster stations.
A property of CO2 that needs to be considered when selecting
a pipeline route is the fact that CO2 is denser than air and can
therefore accumulate to potentially dangerous concentrations in
low lying areas. Any leak transfers CO2 to the atmosphere.
If substantial quantities of impurities, particularly H2S, are
included in the CO2, this could affect the potential impacts of a
pipeline leak or rupture. The exposure threshold at which H2S
is immediately dangerous to life or health, according to the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, is 100
ppm, compared to 40,000 ppm for CO2.
If CO2 is transported for significant distances in densely
populated regions, the number of people potentially exposed to
risks from CO2 transportation facilities may be greater than the
number exposed to potential risks from CO2 capture and storage
facilities. Public concerns about CO2 transportation may form
a significant barrier to large-scale use of CCS. At present most
electricity generation or other fuel conversion plants are built
close to energy consumers or sources of fuel supply. New plants
with CO2 capture could be built close to CO2 storage sites, to
minimize CO2 transportation. However, this may necessitate
greater transportation of fuels or electricity, which have their
own environmental impacts, potential risks and public concerns.
A gathering system would be needed if CO2 were brought from
distributed sources to a trunk pipeline, and for some storage
options a distribution system would also be needed: these
systems would need to be planned and executed with the same
regard for risk outlined here.
4.4.3

Marine pipelines

Marine pipelines are subject to a similar regulatory regime.

The incidence of failure in service is again low. Dragging ships

anchors causes some failures, but that only occurs in shallow
water (less than 50 m). Very rarely do ships sink on to pipelines,
or do objects fall on to them. Pipelines of 400 mm diameter
and larger have been found to be safe from damage caused by
fishing gear, but smaller pipelines are trenched to protect them.
Damage to underwater pipelines was examined in detail at a
conference reported on in Morris and Breaux (1995). Palmer
and King (2004) examine case studies of marine pipeline
failures, and the technologies of trenching and monitoring.
Most failures result from human error. Ecological impacts from
a CO2 pipeline accident have yet to be assessed.
Marine pipelines are monitored internally by inspection
devices called pigs (as described earlier in Section 4.2.5), and
externally by regular visual inspection from remotely operated
vehicles. Some have independent leak detection systems.
4.4.4

Ships

Ship systems can fail in various ways: through collision,

foundering, stranding and fire. Perrows book on accidents
(1984) includes many thought-provoking case studies. Many
of the ships that he refers to were old, badly maintained and
crewed by inadequately trained people. However, it is incorrect
to think that marine accidents happen only to poorly regulated
flag-of-convenience ships. Gottschalch and Stadler (1990)
share Perrows opinion that many marine accidents can be
attributed to system failures and human factors, whereas
accidents arising as a consequence of purely technical factors
are relatively uncommon.
Ship casualties are well summarized by Lloyds Maritime
Information Service. Over 22.5 years between 1978 and 2000,
there were 41,086 incidents of varying degrees of severity
identified, of which 2,129 were classified as serious (See Table
4.2).
Tankers can be seen to have higher standards than ships in
general. Stranding is the source of most of the tanker incidents
that have led to public concern. It can be controlled by careful
navigation along prescribed routes, and by rigorous standards
of operation. LNG tankers are potentially dangerous, but are
carefully designed and appear to be operated to very high
standards. There have been no accidental losses of cargo from
LNG ships. The LNG tanker El Paso Paul Kaiser ran aground
at 17 knots in 1979, and incurred substantial hull damage, but
the LNG tanks were not penetrated and no cargo was lost. There
is extensive literature on marine transport of liquefied gas, with
a strong emphasis on safety, for example, in Ffooks (1993).
Carbon dioxide tankers and terminals are clearly much less
at risk from fire, but there is an asphyxiation risk if collision
should rupture a tank. This risk can be minimized by making
certain that the high standards of construction and operation
currently applied to LPG are also applied to carbon dioxide.
An accident to a liquid CO2 tanker might release liquefied
gas onto the surface of the sea. However, consideration of such
an event is a knowledge gap that requires further study. CO2
releases are anticipated not to have the long-term environmental

189

Chapter 4: Transport of CO2

Table 4.2 Statistics of serious incidents, depending on the ship type.
Ship type
LPG tankers

Number of ships
2000

LNG tankers
Oil tankers

Cargo/bulk carriers

982

Frequency
(incidents/ship year)

0.00037

20

121

9678

314

21407

impacts of crude oil spills. CO2 would behave differently from

LNG, because liquid CO2 in a tanker is not as cold as LNG but
much denser. Its interactions with the sea would be complex:
hydrates and ice might form, and temperature differences would
induce strong currents. Some of the gas would dissolve in the
sea, but some would be released to the atmosphere. If there
were little wind and a temperature inversion, clouds of CO2 gas
might lead to asphyxiation and might stop the ships engines.
The risk can be minimized by careful planning of routes,
and by high standards of training and management.
4.5 Legal issues, codes and standards
Transportation of CO2 by ships and sub-sea pipelines, and across
national boundaries, is governed by various international legal
conventions. Many jurisdictions/states have environmental
impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment
legislation that will come into consideration in pipeline building.
If a pipeline is constructed across another countrys territory
(e.g. landlocked states), or if the pipeline is laid in certain zones
of the sea, other countries may have the right to participate
in the environmental assessment decision-making process or
challenge another states project.
4.5.1

Serious incidents
1978-2000

International conventions

Various international conventions could have implications

for storage of CO2, the most significant being the UN Law of
the Sea Convention, the London Convention, the Convention
on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary
Context (Espoo Convention) and OSPAR (see Chapter 5).
The Espoo convention covers environmental assessment, a
procedure that seeks to ensure the acquisition of adequate and
early information on likely environmental consequences of
development projects or activities, and on measures to mitigate
harm. Pipelines are subject to environmental assessment. The
most significant aspect of the Convention is that it lays down
the general obligation of states to notify and consult each other
if a project under consideration is likely to have a significant
environmental impact across boundaries. In some cases the
acceptability of CO2 storage under these conventions could
depend on the method of transportation to the storage site.
Conventions that are primarily concerned with discharge and
placement rather than transport are discussed in detail in the
chapters on ocean and geological storage.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary

1203

0.00091
0.00144
0.00250

Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal came

into force in 1992 (UNEP, 2000). The Basel Convention
was conceived partly on the basis that enhanced control of
transboundary movement of wastes will act as an incentive
for their environmentally sound management and for the
reduction of the volume of movement. However, there is no
indication that CO2 will be defined as a hazardous waste under
the convention except in relation to the presence of impurities
such as heavy metals and some organic compounds that may
be entrained during the capture of CO2. Adoption of schemes
where emissions of SO2 and NOx would be included with
the CO2 may require such a review. Accordingly, the Basel
Convention does not appear to directly impose any restriction
on the transportation of CO2 (IEA GHG, 2003a).
In addition to the provisions of the Basel Convention, any
transport of CO2 would have to comply with international
transport regulations. There are numerous specific agreements,
some of which are conventions and others protocols of other
conventions that apply depending on the mode of transport.
There are also a variety of regional agreements dealing with
transport of goods. International transport codes and agreements
adhere to the UN Recommendations on the Transport of
Dangerous Goods: Model Regulations published by the United
Nations (2001). CO2 in gaseous and refrigerated liquid forms
is classified as a non-flammable, non-toxic gas; while solid
CO2 (dry ice) is classified under the heading of miscellaneous
dangerous substances and articles. Any transportation of
CO2 adhering to the Recommendations on the Transport of
Dangerous Goods: Model Regulations can be expected to meet
all relevant agreements and conventions covering transportation
by whatever means. Nothing in these recommendations would
imply that transportation of CO2 would be prevented by
international transport agreements and conventions (IEA GHG,
2003a).
4.5.2

National codes and standards

The transport of CO2 by pipeline has been practiced for over 25

years. Internationally adopted standards such as ASME B31.4,
Liquid transportation systems for hydrocarbons, liquid petroleum
gas, anhydrous ammonia and alcohols and the widely-applied
Norwegian standard (DNV, 2000) specifically mention CO2.
There is considerable experience in the application and use of
these standards. Existing standards and codes vary between
different countries but gradual unification of these documents
is being advanced by such international bodies as ISO and CEN

190

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

as part of their function. A full review of relevant standards

categorized by issues is presented in IEA GHG, 2003b.
Public concern could highlight the issue of leakage of CO2
from transportation systems, either by rupture or minor leaks,
as discussed in Section 4.4. It is possible that standards may be
changed in future to address specific public concerns. Odorants
are often added to domestic low-pressure gas distribution
systems, but not to gas in long-distance pipelines; they could,
in principle, be added to CO2 in pipelines. Mercaptans,
naturally present in the Weyburn pipeline system, are the
most effective odorants but are not generally suitable for this
application because they are degraded by O2 , even at very low
concentrations (Katz, 1959). Disulphides, thioethers and ring
compounds containing sulphur are alternatives. The value and
impact of odorization could be established by a quantitative risk
assessment.
4.6

Costs

4.6.1

Costs of pipeline transport

The costs of pipelines can be categorized into three items

Construction costs
- Material/equipment costs (pipe, pipe coating, cathodic
protection, telecommunication equipment; possible
booster stations)
- Installation costs (labour)
Operation and maintenance costs
- Monitoring costs
- Maintenance costs
- (Possible) energy costs
Other costs (design, project management, regulatory filing
fees, insurances costs, right-of-way costs, contingencies
allowances)
The pipeline material costs depend on the length of the pipeline,
the diameter, the amount of CO2 to be transported and the
quality of the carbon dioxide. Corrosion issues are examined in
Section 4.2.2 For costs it is assumed that CO2 is delivered from
the capture system at 10 MPa.
Figure 4.3 shows capital investment costs for pipelines.
Investments are higher when compressor station(s) are required
to compensate for pressure loss along the pipeline, or for
longer pipelines or for hilly terrain. Compressor stations may
be avoided by increasing the pipeline diameter and reducing
the flow velocity. Reported transport velocity varies from 1
to 5 m s-1. The actual design will be optimized with regard to
pipeline diameter, pressure loss (required compressor stations
and power) and pipeline wall thickness.
Costs depend on the terrain. Onshore pipeline costs may
increase by 50 to 100% or more when the pipeline route
is congested and heavily populated. Costs also increase in
mountains, in nature reserve areas, in areas with obstacles
such as rivers and freeways, and in heavily urbanized areas
because of accessibility to construction and additional required
safety measures. Offshore pipelines generally operate at higher

pressures and lower temperatures than onshore pipelines, and

are often, but not always, 40 to 70% more expensive.
It is cheaper to collect CO2 from several sources into a single
pipeline than to transport smaller amounts separately. Early and
smaller projects will face relatively high transport costs, and
therefore be sensitive to transport distance, whereas an evolution
towards higher capacities (large and wide-spread application)
may result in a decrease in transport costs. Implementation of
a backbone transport structure may facilitate access to large
remote storage reservoirs, but infrastructure of this kind will
require large initial upfront investment decisions. Further study
is required to determine the possible advantages of such pipeline
system.
Figure 4.4 presents onshore and offshore transport costs
versus pipeline diameter; where costs are based on investment
cost information from various sources. Figure 4.5 gives a cost
window for specific transport as function of the flow. Steel is a
cost component for both pipelines and ships, and steel prices
doubled in the two years up to 2005: this may be temporary.
4.6.2

Costs of marine transportation systems

Costs of a marine transport system comprise many cost

elements. Besides investments for ships, investments are
required for loading and unloading facilities, intermediate
storage and liquefaction units. Further costs are for operation
(e.g. labour, ship fuel costs, electricity costs, harbour fees),
and maintenance. An optimal use of installations and ships in
the transport cycle is crucial. Extra facilities (e.g. an expanded
storage requirement) have to be created to be able to anticipate
on possible disruptions in the transport system.
The cost of marine transport systems is not known in detail
at present, since no system has been implemented on a scale
required for CCS projects (i.e. in the range of several million
tonnes of carbon dioxide handling per year). Designs have been
submitted for tender, so a reasonable amount of knowledge is
available. Nevertheless, cost estimates vary widely, because
CO2 shipping chains of this size have never been built and
economies of scale may be anticipated to have a major impact
on the costs.
A ship designed for carrying CO2 from harbour to harbour
may cost about 30-50% more than a similar size semirefrigerated LPG ship (Statoil, 2004). However, since the
density of liquid CO2 is about 1100 kg m-3, CO2 ships will carry
more mass than an equivalent LNG or LPG ship, where the
cargo density is about 500 kg m-3. The estimated cost of ships
of 20 to 30 kt capacity is between 50 and 70 M$ (Statoil, 2004).
Another source (IEA GHG, 2004) estimates ship construction
costs at US$ 34 million for 10 kt-sized ship, US$ 60 million
with a capacity of 30 kt, or US$ 85 million with a capacity of
50 kt. A time charter rate of about 25,000 US$ day-1 covering
capital charges, manning and maintenance is not unreasonable
for a ship in the 20 kt carrying capacity range.
The cost for a liquefaction facility is estimated by Statoil
(2004) at US$ 35 to US$ 50 million for a capacity of 1 Mt
per year. The present largest liquefaction unit is 0.35 Mt yr-1.

Chapter 4: Transport of CO2

191

Figure 4.3 Total investment costs for pipelines from various information sources for offshore and onshore pipelines. Costs exclude possible
booster stations (IEA GHG, 2002; Hendriks et al., 2005; Bock, 2003; Sarv, 2000; 2001a; 2001b; Ormerod, 1994; Chandler, 2000; O&GJ,
2000).

Figure 4.4 Transport costs derived from various information sources for offshore and onshore pipelines. Costs exclude possible booster stations,
applying a capital charge rate of 15% and a load factor of 100% (IEA GHG, 2002; Hendriks et al., 2005; Bock, 2003; Sarv, 2000; 2001a; 2001b;
Ormerod, 1994; Chandler, 2000; O&GJ, 2000)

192
IEA GHG (2004) estimates a considerable lower investment for
a liquefaction facility, namely US$ 80 million for 6.2 Mt yr-1.
Investment costs are reduced to US$ 30 million when carbon
dioxide at 100 bar is delivered to the plant. This pressure level
is assumed to be delivered from the capture unit. Cost estimates
are influenced by local conditions; for example, the absence of
sufficient cooling water may call for a more expensive ammonia
driven cooling cycle. The difference in numbers also reflects
the uncertainty accompanied by scaling up of such facilities
A detailed study (Statoil, 2004) considered a marine
transportation system for 5.5 Mt yr-1. The base case had 20 kt
tankers with a speed of 35 km h-1, sailing 7600 km on each
trip; 17 tankers were required. The annual cost was estimated
at US$ 188 million, excluding linquefaction and US$ 300

Figure 4.5 Transport costs for onshore and offshore pipelines per
250 km. High (broken lines) and low range (continuous lines) are
indicated.

Figure 4.6 Costs, plotted as transportation cost in US$/tCO2 against

distance, for onshore and offshore pipelines, and ship transport. The
costs include intermediate storage facilities, harbour fees, fuel costs
and loading/unloading activities. Costs also include additional costs
for liquefaction compared to compression. There is a capital charge
factor of 11% for all transport options.

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

million, including liquefaction, decreasing to US$ 232 million
if compression is allowed (to avoid double counting). The
corresponding specific transport costs are 34, 55, and 42 US$
t-1. The study also considered sensitivity to distance: for the case
excluding liquefaction, the specific costs were 20 US$ t-1 for
500 km, 22 US$ t-1 for 1500 km, and 28 US$ t-1 for 4500 km.
A study on a comparable ship transportation system carried
out for the IEA shows lower costs. For a distance of 7600 km
using 30 kt ships, the costs are estimated at 35 US$ t-1. These
costs are reduced to 30 US$ tonne-1 for 50 kt ships. The IEA
study also showed a stronger cost dependency on distance than
the Statoil (2004) study.
It should be noted that marine transport induces more
associated CO2 transport emissions than pipelines due to
additional energy use for liquefaction and fuel use in ships.
IEA GHG (2004) estimated 2.5% extra CO2 emissions for a
transport distance of 200 km and about 18% for 12,000 km.
The extra CO2 emissions for each 1000 km pipelines come to
about 1 to 2%.
Ship transport becomes cost-competitive with pipeline
transport over larger distances. Figure 4.6 shows an estimate
of the costs for transporting 6 Mt yr-1 by offshore pipeline and
by ship. The break-even distance, i.e. the distance for which the
costs per transport mode are the same, is about 1000 km for this
example. Transport of larger quantities will shift the break-even
distance towards larger distances. However, the cross-over
point beyond which ship transportation becomes cheaper than
pipeline transportation is not simply a matter of distance alone.
It involves many other factors, including loading terminals,
pipeline shore crossings, water depth, seabed stability, fuel
cost, construction costs, different operating costs in different
locations, security, and interaction between land and marine
transportation routes.
References
Bock, B.R., R. Rhudy, H. Herzog, M. Klett, J. Davison, D.G. de la
Torre Ugarte, and D. Simbeck, 2003: Economic Evaluation of
CO2 Storage and Sink Enhancement Options. TVA Public Power
Institute, February 2003.
Chandler, H.M. 2000: Heavy Construction Cost Data - 14th Annual
Editions. R.S. Means Company, Inc. Kingston, MA, USA.
Concawe, 2002: Western European cross-country oil pipelines 30year performance statistics, CONCAWE report.
European Gas Pipeline Incident Data Group, 2002: 5th EGIG
report 1970-2001 Gas Pipeline Incidents, document EGIG
02.R.0058.
Ffooks, R., 1993: Natural gas by sea, the development of a new
technology. Royal Institution of Naval Architects, London.
Gale, J. and J. Davison, 2002: Transmission of CO2 - safety and
economic considerations. GHGT-6.
Gottschalch, H. and M. Stadler, 1990: Seefahrtspsychologie
(Psychology of navigation). Kasing, Bielefeld.
Guijt, W., 2004: Analyses of incident data show US, European
pipelines becoming safer. Oil and Gas Journal, January 26,
pp.68-73.

Chapter 4: Transport of CO2

Hendriks, C.A., T. Wildenborg, P. Feron, and W. Graus, 2005:
Capture and Storage, prepared for EC, DG-ENV, Ecofys Energy
and Environment, report nr. M70066.
IEA GHG, 2002: Transmission of CO2 and Energy, IEA Greenhouse
Gas R&D Programme, Report PH4/6, IEA GHG, Cheltenham,
UK (March).
IEA GHG, 2003a: Review of International Conventions having
Implications for the Storage of Carbon Dioxide in the Ocean and
Beneath the Seabed, Report PH4/16, IEA GHG, Cheltenham,
UK, 1641 pp.
IEA GHG, 2003b: Barriers to Overcome in Implementation of CO2
Capture and Storage (2): Rules and Standards for Transmission
and Storage of CO2, Report PH4/23, IEA GHG, Cheltenham,
UK, 165 pp.
IEA GHG, 2004: Ship Transport of CO2, Report PH4/30, IEA GHG,
Cheltenham, UK, July 2004-11-16.
Katz, D.L., 1959: Handbook of natural gas engineering. McGrawHill, New York, 802 pp.
Lelieveld, J., S. Lechtenbhmer, S.S. Assonov, C.A.M.
Brenninkmeijer, C. Dienst, M. Fischedick, and T. Hanke, 2005:
Low methane leakage from gas pipelines. Nature, 434, 841-842.
Morris, D. and K. Breaux, 1995: Proceedings of the International
Workshop on Damage to Underwater Pipelines, New Orleans,
LA, Minerals Management Service.
O&GJ, 2000: Pipeline Economics. Oil and Gas Journal, 98(36),
68-86.
Ormerod, B., 1994: The disposal of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel
fired power stations. IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme,
Cheltenham, Technical Rep. IEAGHG/SR3, June 1994.
Palmer, A.C. and R.A. King, 2004: Subsea pipeline engineering.
Pennwell, Tulsa, OK.
Perrow, C., 1984: Normal accidents. Basic Books, 386 pp.
Rogers, G.F.C. and Y.R. Mayhew, 1980: Engineering
thermodynamics and heat transfer. Longman, New York.
Sarv, H. and J. John, 2000: Deep ocean sequestration of captured
CO2. Technology, 7S, 125-135.
Sarv, H., 2001a: Further Technological Evaluation of CO2 Storage
in Deep Oceans. Presented at the 26th International Technical
Conference on Coal Utilisation & Fuel Systems, March 5-8,
2001, Clearwater, Florida.
Sarv, H., 2001b: Large-scale CO2 transportation and deep ocean
sequestration - Phase II final report. McDermott Technology
Inc., Ohio. Technology Report DE-AC26-98FT40412, 2001.
Seiersten, M., 2001: Material selection for separation, transportation
and disposal of CO2. Proceedings Corrosion 2001, National
Association of Corrosion Engineers, paper 01042.
Statoil, 2004: Written communication O. Kaarstad, Trondheim,
Norway, January.
UK Department of Trade and Industry, 2002: Carbon Capture
and Storage, report of DTI International Technology Service
Mission to the USA and Canada, Advanced Power Generation
Technology Forum.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2000: Text of
the Basel Convention and Decisions of the Conference of the
Parties (COP 1 to 5), United Nations Publications, Switzerland.

193
United Nations, 2001: Recommendations on the Transport of
Dangerous Goods: Model Regulations, Twelfth Edition, United
Nations Publications ST/SG/AC.10/Rev12, United Nations, New
York and Geneva, 732 pp.
Van Bernem, C. and T. Lubbe, 1997: l im Meer (Oil in the sea)
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt.
Vendrig, M., J. Spouge, A. Bird, J. Daycock, and O. Johnsen, 2003:
Risk analysis of the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide,
Report no. R, Department of Trade and Industry, London, UK.
Veritec, 1988: On-bottom stability design of submarine pipelines.
Recommended Practice E305.
West, J.M., 1974: Design and operation of a supercritical CO2
pipeline-compression system, SACROC unit, Scurry County,
Texas. Society of Petroleum Engineers Permian Basin Oil and
Gas Recovery Conference, paper SPE 4804.

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

195

Underground geological storage

Coordinating Lead Authors

Sally Benson (United States), Peter Cook (Australia)
Lead Authors
Jason Anderson (United States), Stefan Bachu (Canada), Hassan Bashir Nimir (Sudan), Biswajit Basu (India),
John Bradshaw (Australia), Gota Deguchi (Japan), John Gale (United Kingdom), Gabriela von Goerne
(Germany), Wolfgang Heidug (Germany), Sam Holloway (United Kingdom), Rami Kamal (Saudi Arabia),
David Keith (Canada), Philip Lloyd (South Africa), Paulo Rocha (Brazil), Bill Senior (United Kingdom),
Jolyon Thomson (United Kingdom), Tore Torp (Norway), Ton Wildenborg (Netherlands), Malcolm Wilson
(Canada), Francesco Zarlenga (Italy), Di Zhou (China)
Contributing Authors
Michael Celia (United States), Bill Gunter (Canada), Jonathan Ennis King (Australia), Erik Lindeberg
(Norway), Salvatore Lombardi (Italy), Curt Oldenburg (United States), Karsten Pruess (United States) andy
Rigg (Australia), Scott Stevens (United States), Elizabeth Wilson (United States), Steve Whittaker (Canada)
Review Editors
Gnther Borm (Germany), David Hawkins (United States), Arthur Lee (United States)

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

197

5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 What is geological storage?
5.1.2 Existing and planned CO2 projects
5.1.3 Key questions

199
199
200
204

5.2
5.2.1
5.2.2
5.2.3
5.2.4
5.2.5

205
205
208
210
211

Storage mechanisms and storage security

CO2 flow and transport processes
CO2 storage mechanisms in geological formations
Natural geological accumulations of CO2
Industrial analogues for CO2 storage
Security and duration of CO2 storage in geological
formations

5.3 Storage formations, capacity and geographical

distribution
5.3.1 General site-selection criteria
5.3.2 Oil and gas fields
5.3.3 Saline formations
5.3.4 Coal seams
5.3.5 Other geological media
5.3.6 Effects of impurities on storage capacity
5.3.7 Geographical distribution and storage capacity
estimates
5.3.8 Matching of CO2 sources and geological storage
sites
5.4 Characterization and performance prediction
for identified sites
5.4.1 Characterization of identified sites
5.4.2 Performance prediction and optimization

modelling
5.4.3 Examples of storage site characterization and
performance prediction
5.5 Injection well technology and field operations
5.5.1 Injection well technologies
5.5.2 Well abandonment procedures
5.5.3 Injection well pressure and reservoir constraints
5.5.4 Field operations and surface facilities
5.6 Monitoring and verification technology
5.6.1 Purposes for monitoring
5.6.2 Technologies for monitoring injection rates and
pressures
5.6.3 Technologies for monitoring subsurface
distribution of CO2
5.6.4 Technologies for monitoring injection well

integrity
5.6.5 Technologies for monitoring local environmental
effects

212
213
213
215
217
217
219
220

5.6.6 Monitoring network design

241
5.6.7 Long-term stewardship monitoring
241
5.6.8 Verification of CO2 injection and storage inventory 242
5.7 Risk management, risk assessment and
remediation
242
5.7.1 Framework for assessing environmental risks
242
5.7.2 Processes and pathways for release of CO2 from
geological storage sites
242
5.7.3 Probability of release from geological storage sites 244
5.7.4 Possible local and regional environmental hazards 246
5.7.5 Risk assessment methodology
250
5.7.6 Risk management
251
5.7.7 Remediation of leaking storage projects
252
5.8
5.8.1
5.8.2
5.8.3
5.8.4
5.8.5

Legal issues and public acceptance

International law
National regulations and standards
Subsurface property rights
Long-term liability
Public perception and acceptance

225
225

Costs of geological storage

Cost elements for geological storage
Cost estimates
Cost estimates for CO2 geological storage
Cost estimates for storage with enhanced oil and
gas recovery
5.9.5 Cost of monitoring
5.9.6 Cost of remediation of leaky storage projects
5.9.7 Cost reduction

261
263
263
263

228

5.10 Knowledge gaps

264

229
230
230
231
232
233

References

265

220
224

234
234
235
235
239
239

5.9
5.9.1
5.9.2
5.9.3
5.9.4

252
252
255
256
256
257
259
259
259
261

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

197

Executive Summary
Underground accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a
widespread geological phenomenon, with natural trapping of CO2
in underground reservoirs. Information and experience gained
from the injection and/or storage of CO2 from a large number
of existing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and acid gas projects,
as well as from the Sleipner, Weyburn and In Salah projects,
indicate that it is feasible to store CO2 in geological formations
as a CO2 mitigation option. Industrial analogues, including
underground natural gas storage projects around the world and
acid gas injection projects, provide additional indications that
CO2 can be safely injected and stored at well-characterized and
properly managed sites. While there are differences between
natural accumulations and engineered storage, injecting CO2 into
deep geological formations at carefully selected sites can store
it underground for long periods of time: it is considered likely
that 99% or more of the injected CO2 will be retained for 1000
years. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs, possibly coal formations
and particularly saline formations (deep underground porous
reservoir rocks saturated with brackish water or brine), can
be used for storage of CO2. At depths below about 8001000
m, supercritical CO2 has a liquid-like density that provides the
potential for efficient utilization of underground storage space
in the pores of sedimentary rocks. Carbon dioxide can remain
trapped underground by virtue of a number of mechanisms, such
as: trapping below an impermeable, confining layer (caprock);
retention as an immobile phase trapped in the pore spaces
of the storage formation; dissolution in the in situ formation
fluids; and/or adsorption onto organic matter in coal and shale.
Additionally, it may be trapped by reacting with the minerals
in the storage formation and caprock to produce carbonate
minerals. Models are available to predict what happens when
CO2 is injected underground. Also, by avoiding deteriorated
wells or open fractures or faults, injected CO2 will be retained
for very long periods of time. Moreover, CO2 becomes less
mobile over time as a result of multiple trapping mechanisms,
further lowering the prospect of leakage.
Injection of CO2 in deep geological formations uses
technologies that have been developed for and applied by,
the oil and gas industry. Well-drilling technology, injection
technology, computer simulation of storage reservoir dynamics
and monitoring methods can potentially be adapted from
existing applications to meet the needs of geological storage.
Beyond conventional oil and gas technology, other successful
underground injection practices including natural gas storage,
acid gas disposal and deep injection of liquid wastes as well as
the industrys extensive experience with subsurface disposal of
oil-field brines, can provide useful information about designing
programmes for long-term storage of CO2. Geological storage
of CO2 is in practice today beneath the North Sea, where nearly
1 MtCO2 has been successfully injected annually at Sleipner
since 1996 and in Algeria at the In-Salah gas field. Carbon
dioxide is also injected underground to recover oil. About 30
Mt of non-anthropogenic CO2 are injected annually, mostly
in west Texas, to recover oil from over 50 individual projects,
some of which started in the early 1970s. The Weyburn Project

in Canada, where currently 12 MtCO2 are injected annually,

combines EOR with a comprehensive monitoring and modelling
programme to evaluate CO2 storage. Several more storage
projects are under development at this time.
In areas with suitable hydrocarbon accumulations, CO2EOR may be implemented because of the added economic
benefit of incremental oil production, which may offset some
of the costs of CO2 capture, transport and injection. Storage
of CO2 in coal beds, in conjunction with enhanced coal bed
methane (ECBM) production, is potentially attractive because
of the prospect of enhanced production of methane, the
cleanest of the fossil fuels. This technology, however, is not
well developed and a better understanding of injection and
storage processes in coals is needed. Carbon dioxide storage
in depleted oil and gas reservoirs is very promising in some
areas, because these structures are well known and significant
infrastructures are already in place. Nevertheless, relatively
few hydrocarbon reservoirs are currently depleted or near
depletion and CO2 storage will have to be staged to fit the time
of reservoir availability. Deep saline formations are believed to
have by far the largest capacity for CO2 storage and are much
more widespread than other options.
While there are uncertainties, the global capacity to store
CO2 deep underground is large. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs
are estimated to have a storage capacity of 675900 GtCO2.
Deep saline formations are very likely to have a storage capacity
of at least 1000 GtCO2 and some studies suggest it may be an
order of magnitude greater than this, but quantification of the
upper range is difficult until additional studies are undertaken.
Capacity of unminable coal formations is uncertain, with
estimates ranging from as little as 3 GtCO2 up to 200 GtCO2.
Potential storage sites are likely to be broadly distributed in
many of the worlds sedimentary basins, located in the same
region as many of the worlds emission sources and are likely to
be adequate to store a significant proportion of those emissions
well into the future.
The cost of geological storage of CO2 is highly site-specific,
depending on factors such as the depth of the storage formation,
the number of wells needed for injection and whether the
project is onshore or offshore but costs for storage, including
monitoring, appear to lie in the range of 0.68.3 US$/tCO2
stored. This cost is small compared to present-day costs of CO2
capture from flue gases, as indicated in Chapter 3. EOR could
lead to negative storage costs of 1016 US$/tCO2 for oil prices
of 1520 US$ per barrel and more for higher oil prices.
Potential risks to humans and ecosystems from geological
storage may arise from leaking injection wells, abandoned
wells, leakage across faults and ineffective confining layers.
Leakage of CO2 could potentially degrade the quality
of groundwater, damage some hydrocarbon or mineral
resources, and have lethal effects on plants and sub-soil animals.
Release of CO2 back into the atmosphere could also create
local health and safety concerns. Avoiding or mitigating these
impacts will require careful site selection, effective regulatory
oversight, an appropriate monitoring programme that provides

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 5.1 Location of sites where activities relevant to CO2 storage are planned or under way.

early warning that the storage site is not functioning as

anticipated
Figuur 5.1 and implementation of remediation methods to stop
or control CO2 releases. Methods to accomplish these are being
developed and tested.
There are few, if any, national regulations specifically
dealing with CO2 storage, but regulations dealing with oil and
gas, groundwater and the underground injection of fluids can
in many cases be readily adapted and/or adopted. However,
there are no regulations relating specifically to long-term
responsibility for storage. A number of international laws that
predate any consideration of CO2 storage are relevant to offshore
geological storage; consideration of whether these laws do or
do not permit offshore geological storage is under way.
There are gaps in our knowledge, such as regional storagecapacity estimates for many parts of the world. Similarly, better
estimation of leakage rates, improved cost data, better intervention
and remediation options, more pilot and demonstration projects
and clarity on the issue of long-term stewardship all require
consideration. Despite the fact that more work is needed to
improve technologies and decrease uncertainty, there appear to
be no insurmountable technical barriers to an increased uptake
of geological storage as an effective mitigation option.

Figure 5.2 Variation of CO2 density with depth, assuming hydrostatic

pressure and a geothermal gradient of 25C km1 from 15C at the
surface (based on the density data of Angus et al., 1973). Carbon
dioxide density increases rapidly at approximately 800 m depth, when
the CO2 reaches a supercritical state. Cubes represent the relative
volume occupied by the CO2 and down to 800 m, this volume can be
seen to dramatically decrease with depth. At depths below 1.5 km, the
density and specific volume become nearly constant.

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

5.1 Introduction
5.1.1

What is geological storage?

Capture and geological storage of CO2 provide a way to avoid

emitting CO2 into the atmosphere, by capturing CO2 from
major stationary sources (Chapter 3), transporting it usually
by pipeline (Chapter 4) and injecting it into suitable deep rock
formations. This chapter explores the nature of geological
storage and considers its potential as a mitigation option.
The subsurface is the Earths largest carbon reservoir, where
the vast majority of the worlds carbon is held in coals, oil, gas
organic-rich shales and carbonate rocks. Geological storage of
CO2 has been a natural process in the Earths upper crust for
hundreds of millions of years. Carbon dioxide derived from
biological activity, igneous activity and chemical reactions
between rocks and fluids accumulates in the natural subsurface
environment as carbonate minerals, in solution or in a gaseous
or supercritical form, either as a gas mixture or as pure CO2.
The engineered injection of CO2 into subsurface geological
formations was first undertaken in Texas, USA, in the early
1970s, as part of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects and has
been ongoing there and at many other locations ever since.
Geological storage of anthropogenic CO2 as a greenhouse

gas mitigation option was first proposed in the 1970s, but little
research was done until the early 1990s, when the idea gained
credibility through the work of individuals and research groups
(Marchetti, 1977; Baes et al., 1980; Kaarstad, 1992; Koide et al.,
1992; van der Meer, 1992; Gunter et al., 1993; Holloway and
Savage, 1993; Bachu et al., 1994; Korbol and Kaddour, 1994).
The subsurface disposal of acid gas (a by-product of petroleum
production with a CO2 content of up to 98%) in the Alberta
Basin of Canada and in the United States provides additional
useful experience. In 1996, the worlds first large-scale storage
project was initiated by Statoil and its partners at the Sleipner
Gas Field in the North Sea.
By the late 1990s, a number of publicly and privately
funded research programmes were under way in the United
States, Canada, Japan, Europe and Australia. Throughout this
time, though less publicly, a number of oil companies became
increasingly interested in geological storage as a mitigation
option, particularly for gas fields with a high natural CO2
content such as Natuna in Indonesia, In Salah in Algeria and
Gorgon in Australia. More recently, coal mining companies
and electricity-generation companies have started to investigate
geological storage as a mitigation option of relevance to their
industry.
In a little over a decade, geological storage of CO2 has

Figure 5.3 Options for storing CO2 in deep underground geological formations (after Cook, 1999).

200
grown from a concept of limited interest to one that is quite
widely regarded as a potentially important mitigation option
(Figure 5.1). There are several reasons for this. First, as research
has progressed and as demonstration and commercial projects
have been successfully undertaken, the level of confidence
in the technology has increased. Second, there is consensus
that a broad portfolio of mitigation options is needed. Third,
geological storage (in conjunction with CO2 capture) could help
to make deep cuts to atmospheric CO2 emissions. However,
if that potential is to be realized, the technique must be safe,
environmentally sustainable, cost-effective and capable of
being broadly applied. This chapter explores these issues.
To geologically store CO2, it must first be compressed,
usually to a dense fluid state known as supercritical (see
Glossary). Depending on the rate that temperature increases
with depth (the geothermal gradient), the density of CO2 will
increase with depth, until at about 800 m or greater, the injected
CO2 will be in a dense supercritical state (Figure 5.2).
Geological storage of CO2 can be undertaken in a variety
of geological settings in sedimentary basins. Within these
basins, oil fields, depleted gas fields, deep coal seams and saline
formations are all possible storage formations (Figure 5.3).
Subsurface geological storage is possible both onshore
and offshore, with offshore sites accessed through pipelines
from the shore or from offshore platforms. The continental
shelf and some adjacent deep-marine sedimentary basins are
potential offshore storage sites, but the majority of sediments
of the abyssal deep ocean floor are too thin and impermeable
to be suitable for geological storage (Cook and Carleton,
2000). In addition to storage in sedimentary formations, some
consideration has been given to storage in caverns, basalt and
organic-rich shales (Section 5.3.5).
Fluids have been injected on a massive scale into the deep
subsurface for many years to dispose of unwanted chemicals,
pollutants or by-products of petroleum production, to enhance
the production of oil and gas or to recharge depleted formations
(Wilson et al., 2003). The principles involved in such activities
are well established and in most countries there are regulations
governing these activities. Natural gas has also been injected
and stored in the subsurface on a large scale in many parts of the
world for many years. Injection of CO2 to date has been done at
a relatively small scale, but if it were to be used to significantly
decrease emissions from existing stationary sources, then the
injection rates would have to be at a scale similar to other
injection operations under way at present.
But what is the worlds geological storage capacity and
does it occur where we need it? These questions were first
raised in Chapter 2, but Section 5.3.8 of this chapter considers
geographical matching of CO2 sources to geological storage
sites in detail. Not all sedimentary basins are suitable for CO2
storage; some are too shallow and others are dominated by
rocks with low permeability or poor confining characteristics.
Basins suitable for CO2 storage have characteristics such as
thick accumulations of sediments, permeable rock formations
saturated with saline water (saline formations), extensive covers
of low porosity rocks (acting as seals) and structural simplicity.

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

While many basins show such features, many others do not.
Is there likely to be sufficient storage capacity to meet the
worlds needs in the years ahead? To consider this issue, it is useful
to draw parallels with the terms resources and reserves used
for mineral deposits (McKelvey, 1972). Deposits of minerals or
fossil fuels are often cited with very large resource figures, but
the proven reserve is only some fraction of the resource. The
resource figures are based on the selling price of the commodity,
the cost of exploiting the commodity, the availability of
appropriate technologies, proof that the commodity exists
and whether the environmental or social impact of exploiting
the commodity is acceptable to the community. Similarly, to
turn technical geological storage capacity into economical
storage capacity, the storage project must be economically
viable, technically feasible, safe, environmentally and socially
sustainable and acceptable to the community. Given these
constraints, it is inevitable that the storage capacity that will
actually be used will be significantly less than the technical
potential. Section 5.3 explores this issue. It is likely that usable
storage capacity will exist in many areas where people live and
where CO2 is generated from large stationary sources. This
geographical congruence of storage-need and storage-capacity
should not come as a surprise, because much of the worlds
population is concentrated in regions underlain by sedimentary
basins (Gunter et al., 2004).
It is also important to know how securely and for how long
stored CO2 will be retained for decades, centuries, millennia or
for geological time? To assure public safety, storage sites must
be designed and operated to minimize the possibility of leakage.
Consequently, potential leakage pathways must be identified
and procedures must be established, to set appropriate design
and operational standards as well as monitoring, measurement
and verification requirements. Sections 5.4, 5.6 and 5.7 consider
these issues.
In this chapter, we primarily consider storage of pure
or nearly pure, CO2. It has been suggested that it may be
economically favourable to co-store CO2 along with H2S, SO2
or NO2. Since only a few scientific studies have evaluated the
impacts of these added constituents on storage performance or
risks, they are not addressed comprehensively here. Moreover,
the limited information gained from practical experience with
acid gas injection in Canada is insufficient to assess the impacts
of the added components on storage security.
5.1.2

Existing and planned CO2 projects

A number of pilot and commercial CO2 storage projects are under

way or proposed (Figure 5.1). To date, most actual or planned
commercial projects are associated with major gas production
facilities that have gas streams containing CO2 in the range of
1015% by volume, such as Sleipner in the North Sea, Snohvit
in the Barents Sea, In Salah in Algeria and Gorgon in Australia
(Figure 5.1), as well as the acid gas injection projects in Canada
and the United States. At the Sleipner Project, operated by
Statoil, more than 7 MtCO2 has been injected into a deep subsea saline formation since 1996 (Box 5.1). Existing and planned

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Table 5.1 A selection of current and planned geological storage projects.
Project

Country

Scale of
Project

Storage type

Geological
storage
formation

Age of
formation

Lithology

Monitoring

Sleipner

Norway

Commercial Statoil, IEA

1996

Aquifer

Utsira
Formation

Tertiary

Sandstone

4D seismic plus
gravity

Weyburn

Canada

Commercial EnCana, IEA

May 2000 3-5000 t day-1 20 Mt

planned

CO2-EOR

Midale
Formation

Mississippian

Carbonate

Comprehensive

MinamiNagoaka

Japan

Demo

Research
2002
Institute of
Innovative
Technology for
the Earth

Max 40
t day-1

10,000 t
planned

Aquifer (Sth.
Nagoaka Gas
Field)

Haizume
Formation

Pleistocene

Sandstone

Crosswell seismic
+ well monitoring

Yubari

Japan

Demo

Japanese
2004
Ministry of
Economy, Trade
and Industry

10 t day-1

200 t
Planned

CO2-ECBM

Yubari
Tertiary
Formation
(Ishikari Coal
Basin)

Coal

Comprehensive

In Salah

Algeria

Commercial Sonatrach, BP,

Statoil

3-4000
t day-1

17 Mt
planned

Depleted
hydrocarbon
reservoirs

Krechba
Formation

Sandstone

Planned
comprehensive

Frio

USA

Pilot

Bureau of
4-13 Oct.
Economic
2004
Geology of the
University of
Texas

Approx. 177
t day-1 for 9
days

1600t

Saline
formation

Frio Formation Tertiary

Brine-bearing Comprehensive
sandstoneshale

K12B

Netherlands Demo

Gaz de France

2004

Approx
100-1000 t
day-1 (2006+) 8 Mt

EGR

Rotleigendes

Permian

Sandstone

Comprehensive

Fenn Big
Valley

Canada

Pilot

Alberta
Research
Council

1998

50 t day-1

200 t

CO2-ECBM

Mannville
Group

Cretaceous

Coal

P, T, flow

Recopol

Poland

Pilot

TNO-NITG
(Netherlands)

2003

1 t day-1

10 t

CO2-ECBM

Silesian
Basin

Carboniferous

Coal

Qinshui
Basin

China

Pilot

Alberta
Research
Council

2003

30 t day-1

150 t

CO2-ECBM

Shanxi
Formation

CarboniferousPermian

Coal

P, T, flow

Commercial Anadarko

2004

5-6000
t day-1

27 Mt

CO2-EOR

Frontier

Cretaceous

Sandstone

Under
development

Salt Creek USA

Lead
organizations

Injection Approximate Total

start date average daily storage
injection rate

2004

3000 t day-1

20 Mt
planned

Carboniferous

Planned Projects (2005 onwards)

Snhvit

Norway

Decided
Statoil
Commercial

2006

2000 t day-1

Saline
formation

Tubaen
Formation

Lower Jurassic

Sandstone

Under
development

Gorgon

Australia

Planned
Chevron
Commercial

Planned
2009

Approx.
10,000 t day-1

Saline
formation

Dupuy
Formation

Late Jurassic

Massive
sandstone
with shale
seal

Under
development

Ketzin

Germany

Demo

GFZ Potsdam

2006

100 t day-1

Saline
formation

Stuttgart
Formation

Triassic

Sandstone

Comprehensive

Otway

Australia

Pilot

CO2CRC

Planned
late 2005

160 t day-1 for 0.1 Mt

2 years

Saline fm and
depleted gas
field

Waarre
Formation

Cretaceous

Sandstone

Comprehensive

Teapot
Dome

USA

Proposed
Demo

RMOTC

Proposed
2006

170 t day-1 for 10 kt

3 months

Saline fm and
CO2-EOR

Tensleep and
Red Peak Fm

Permian

Sandstone

Comprehensive

CSEMP

Canada

Pilot

Suncor Energy

2005

50 t day-1

10 kt

CO2-ECBM

Ardley Fm

Tertiary

Coal

Comprehensive

Pembina

Canada

Pilot

Penn West

2005

50 t day-1

50 kt

CO2-EOR

Cardium Fm

Cretaceous

Sandstone

Comprehensive

60 kt

storage projects are also listed in Table 5.1.

At the In Salah Gas Field in Algeria, Sonatrack, BP and
Statoil inject CO2 stripped from natural gas into the gas reservoir
outside the boundaries of the gas field (Box 5.2). Statoil is
planning another project in the Barents Sea, where CO2 from the
Snohvit field will be stripped from the gas and injected into a
geological formation below the gas field. Chevron is proposing
to produce gas from the Gorgon field off Western Australia,
containing approximately 14% CO2. The CO2 will be injected

into the Dupuy Formation at Barrow Island (Oen, 2003). In The

Netherlands, CO2 is being injected at pilot scale into the almost
depleted K12-B offshore gas field (van der Meer et al., 2005).
Forty-four CO2-rich acid gas injection projects are currently
operating in Western Canada, ongoing since the early 1990s
(Bachu and Haug, 2005). Although they are mostly small scale,
they provide important examples of effectively managing
injection of CO2 and hazardous gases such as H2S (Section
5.2.4.2).

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Box 5.1 The Sleipner Project, North Sea.

The Sleipner Project, operated by Statoil in the North Sea about 250 km off the coast of Norway, is the first commercialscale project dedicated to geological CO2 storage in a saline formation. The CO2 (about 9%) from Sleipner West Gas Field
is separated, then injected into a large, deep, saline formation 800 m below the seabed of the North Sea. The Saline Aquifer
CO2 Storage (SACS) project was established to monitor and research the storage of CO2. From 1995, the IEA Greenhouse
Gas R&D Programme has worked with Statoil to arrange the monitoring and research activities. Approximately 1 MtCO2 is
removed from the produced natural gas and injected underground annually in the field. The CO2 injection operation started
in October 1996 and, by early 2005, more than 7 MtCO2 had been injected at a rate of approximately 2700 t day1. Over the
lifetime of the project, a total of 20 MtCO2 is expected to be stored. A simplified diagram of the Sleipner scheme is given in
Figure 5.4.

The saline formation into which the CO2 is injected is a brine-saturated unconsolidated sandstone about 8001000 m
below the sea floor. The formation also contains secondary thin shale layers, which influence the internal movement of injected
CO2. The saline formation has a very large storage capacity, on the order of 110 GtCO2. The top of the formation is fairly flat
on a regional scale, although it contains numerous small, low-amplitude closures. The overlying primary seal is an extensive,
thick, shale layer.

This project is being carried out in three phases. Phase-0 involved baseline data gathering and evaluation, which was
completed in November 1998. Phase-1 involved establishment of project status after three years of CO2 injection. Five main
project areas involve descriptions of reservoir geology, reservoir simulation, geochemistry, assessment of need and cost for
monitoring wells and geophysical modelling. Phase-2, involving data interpretation and model verification, began in April
2000.

The fate and transport of the CO2 plume in the storage formation has been monitored successfully by seismic time-lapse
surveys (Figure 5.16). The surveys also show that the caprock is an effective seal that prevents CO2 migration out of the storage
formation. Today, the footprint of the plume at Sleipner extends over an area of approximately 5 km2. Reservoir studies and
simulations covering hundreds to thousands of years have shown that CO2 will eventually dissolve in the pore water, which
will become heavier and sink, thus minimizing the potential for long-term leakage (Lindeberg and Bergmo, 2003).

Figure 5.4 Simplified diagram of the Sleipner CO2 Storage Project. Inset: location and extent of the Utsira formation.

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

203

Box 5.2 The In Salah, Algeria, CO2 Storage Project.

The In Salah Gas Project, a joint venture among Sonatrach, BP and Statoil located in the central Saharan region of Algeria,
is the worlds first large-scale CO2 storage project in a gas reservoir (Riddiford et al., 2003). The Krechba Field at In Salah
produces natural gas containing up to 10% CO2 from several geological reservoirs and delivers it to markets in Europe, after
processing and stripping the CO2 to meet commercial specifications. The project involves re-injecting the CO2 into a sandstone
reservoir at a depth of 1800 m and storing up to 1.2 MtCO2 yr-1. Carbon dioxide injection started in April 2004 and, over the
life of the project, it is estimated that 17 MtCO2 will be geologically stored. The project consists of four production and three
injection wells (Figure 5.5). Long-reach (up to 1.5 km) horizontal wells are used to inject CO2 into the 5-mD permeability
reservoir.

The Krechba Field is a relatively simple anticline. Carbon dioxide injection takes place down-dip from the gas/water
contact in the gas-bearing reservoir. The injected CO2 is expected to eventually migrate into the area of the current gas field
after depletion of the gas zone. The field has been mapped with three-dimensional seismic and well data from the field. Deep
faults have been mapped, but at shallower levels, the structure is unfaulted. The storage target in the reservoir interval therefore
carries minimal structural uncertainty or risk. The top seal is a thick succession of mudstones up to 950 m thick.

A preliminary risk assessment of CO2 storage integrity has been carried out and baseline data acquired. Processes that
could result in CO2 migration from the injection interval have been quantified and a monitoring programme is planned involving
a range of technologies, including noble gas tracers, pressure surveys, tomography, gravity baseline studies, microbiological
studies, four-dimensional seismic and geomechanical monitoring.

Figure 5.5 Schematic of the In Salah Gas Project, Algeria. One MtCO2 will be stored annually in the gas reservoir. Long-reach horizontal
wells with slotted intervals of up to 1.5 km are used to inject CO2 into the water-filled parts of the gas reservoir.

Opportunities for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) have

increased interest in CO2 storage (Stevens et al., 2001b;
Figuur 5.5
Moberg et al., 2003; Moritis, 2003; Riddiford et al., 2003;
Torp and Gale, 2003). Although not designed for CO2 storage,
CO2-EOR projects can demonstrate associated storage of CO2,
although lack of comprehensive monitoring of EOR projects
(other than at the International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas
(IEA-GHG) Weyburn Project in Canada) makes it difficult to
quantify storage. In the United States, approximately 73 CO2EOR operations inject up to 30 MtCO2 yr-1, most of which comes
from natural CO2 accumulations although approximately 3

MtCO2 is from anthropogenic sources, such as gas processing

and fertiliser plants (Stevens et al., 2001b). The SACROC
project in Texas was the first large-scale commercial CO2EOR project in the world. It used anthropogenic CO2 during
the period 1972 to 1995. The Rangely Weber project (Box
5.6) injects anthropogenic CO2 from a gas-processing plant in
Wyoming.
In Canada, a CO2-EOR project has been established by
EnCana at the Weyburn Oil Field in southern Saskatchewan
(Box 5.3). The project is expected to inject 23 MtCO2 and
extend the life of the oil field by 25 years (Moberg et al.,

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Box 5.3 The Weyburn CO2-EOR Project.

The Weyburn CO2-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) project is located in the Williston Basin, a geological structure extending
from south-central Canada into north-central United States. The project aims to permanently store almost all of the injected
CO2 by eliminating the CO2 that would normally be released during the end of the field life.

The source of the CO2 for the Weyburn CO2-EOR Project is the Dakota Gasification Company facility, located
approximately 325 km south of Weyburn, in Beulah, North Dakota, USA. At the plant, coal is gasified to make synthetic gas
(methane), with a relatively pure stream of CO2 as a by-product. This CO2 stream is dehydrated, compressed and piped to
Weyburn in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada, for use in the field. The Weyburn CO2-EOR Project is designed to take CO2
from the pipeline for about 15 years, with delivered volumes dropping from 5000 to about 3000 t day1 over the life of the
project.

The Weyburn field covers an area of 180 km2, with original oil in place on the order of 222 million m3 (1396 million
barrels). Over the life of the CO2-EOR project (2025 years), it is expected that some 20 MtCO2 will be stored in the field,
under current economic conditions and oil recovery technology. The oil field layout and operation is relatively conventional
for oil field operations. The field has been designed with a combination of vertical and horizontal wells to optimize the sweep
efficiency of the CO2. In all cases, production and injection strings are used within the wells to protect the integrity of the
casing of the well.

The oil reservoir is a fractured carbonate, 2027 m thick. The primary upper seal for the reservoir is an anhydrite zone.
At the northern limit of the reservoir, the carbonate thins against a regional unconformity. The basal seal is also anhydrite, but
is less consistent across the area of the reservoir. A thick, flat-lying shale above the unconformity forms a good regional barrier
to leakage from the reservoir. In addition, several high-permeability formations containing saline groundwater would form
good conduits for lateral migration of any CO2 that might reach these zones, with rapid dissolution of the CO2 in the formation
fluids.

Since CO2 injection began in late 2000, the EOR project has performed largely as predicted. Currently, some 1600 m3
(10,063 barrels) day1 of incremental oil is being produced from the field. All produced CO2 is captured and recompressed for
reinjection into the production zone. Currently, some 1000 tCO2 day1 is reinjected; this will increase as the project matures.
Monitoring is extensive, with high-resolution seismic surveys and surface monitoring to determine any potential leakage.
Surface monitoring includes sampling and analysis of potable groundwater, as well as soil gas sampling and analysis (Moberg
et al., 2003). To date, there has been no indication of CO2 leakage to the surface and near-surface environment (White, 2005;
Strutt et al., 2003).
2003; Law, 2005). The fate of the injected CO2 is being closely
monitored through the IEA GHG Weyburn Project (Wilson and
Monea, 2005). Carbon dioxide-EOR is under consideration for
the North Sea, although there is as yet little, if any, operational
experience for offshore CO2-EOR. Carbon dioxide-EOR
projects are also currently under way in a number of countries
including Trinidad, Turkey and Brazil (Moritis, 2002). Saudi
Aramco, the worlds largest producer and exporter of crude oil,
is evaluating the technical feasibility of CO2-EOR in some of its
Saudi Arabian reservoirs.
In addition to these commercial storage or EOR projects,
a number of pilot storage projects are under way or planned.
The Frio Brine Project in Texas, USA, involved injection and
storage of 1900 tCO2 in a highly permeable formation with a
regionally extensive shale seal (Hovorka et al., 2005). Pilot
projects are proposed for Ketzin, west of Berlin, Germany, for
the Otway Basin of southeast Australia and for Teapot Dome,
Wyoming, USA (Figure 5.1). The American FutureGen project,
proposed for late this decade, will be a geological storage
project linked to coal-fired electricity generation. A small-scale
CO2 injection and monitoring project is being carried out by
RITE at Nagoaka in northwest Honshu, Japan. Small-scale
injection projects to test CO2 storage in coal have been carried
out in Europe (RECOPOL) and Japan (Yamaguchi et al.,
2005). A CO2-enhanced coal bed methane (ECBM) recovery

demonstration project has been undertaken in the northern

San Juan Basin of New Mexico, USA (Reeves, 2003a) (Box
5.7). Further CO2-ECBM projects are under consideration for
China, Canada, Italy and Poland (Gale, 2003). In all, some 59
opportunities for CO2-ECBM have been identified worldwide,
the majority in China (van Bergen et al., 2003a).
These projects (Figure 5.1; Table 5.1) demonstrate that
subsurface injection of CO2 is not for the distant future, but is
being implemented now for environmental and/or commercial
reasons.
5.1.3

Key questions

In the previous section, the point is made that deep injection of

CO2 is under way in a number of places (Figure 5.1). However,
if CO2 storage is to be undertaken on the scale necessary to make
deep cuts to atmospheric CO2 emissions, there must be hundreds,
and perhaps even thousands, of large-scale geological storage
projects under way worldwide. The extent to which this is or
might be, feasible depends on the answers to the key questions
outlined below and addressed subsequently in this chapter:
H
ow is CO2 stored underground? What happens to the
CO2 when it is injected? What are the physico-chemical
and chemical processes involved? What are the geological

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

controls? (Sections 5.2 and 5.3)
H
ow long can CO2 remain stored underground? (Section
5.2)
How much and where can CO2 be stored in the subsurface,
locally, regionally, globally? Is it a modest niche opportunity
or is the total storage capacity sufficient to contain a large
proportion of the CO2 currently emitted to the atmosphere?
(Section 5.3)
Are there significant opportunities for CO2-enhanced oil and
gas recovery? (Section 5.3)
How is a suitable storage site identified and what are its
geological characteristics? (see Section 5.4)
What technologies are currently available for geological
storage of CO2? (Section 5.5)
Can we monitor CO2 once it is geologically stored? (Section
5.6)
Will a storage site leak and what would be the likely
consequences? (Sections 5.6 and 5.7)
Can a CO2 storage site be remediated if something does go
wrong? (Sections 5.6 and 5.7)
Can a geological storage site be operated safely and if so,
how? (Section 5.7)
Are there legal and regulatory issues for geological storage
and is there a legal/regulatory framework that enables it to
be undertaken? (Section 5.8)
What is the likely cost of geological storage of CO2? (Section
5.9)
After reviewing our current state of knowledge, are there
things that we still need to know? What are these gaps in
knowledge? (Section 5.10).
The remainder of this chapter seeks to address these questions.
5.2

Storage mechanisms and storage security

Geological formations in the subsurface are composed of

transported and deposited rock grains organic material and
minerals that form after the rocks are deposited. The pore space
between grains or minerals is occupied by fluid (mostly water,
with proportionally minute occurrences of oil and gas). Open
fractures and cavities are also filled with fluid. Injection of CO2
into the pore space and fractures of a permeable formation can
displace the in situ fluid or the CO2 may dissolve in or mix with
the fluid or react with the mineral grains or there may be some
combination of these processes. This section examines these
processes and their influence on geological storage of CO2.
5.2.1

CO2 flow and transport processes

Injection of fluids into deep geological formations is achieved

by pumping fluids down into a well (see Section 5.5). The part of
the well in the storage zone is either perforated or covered with
a permeable screen to enable the CO2 to enter the formation.
The perforated or screened interval is usually on the order of
10100 m thick, depending on the permeability and thickness
of the formation. Injection raises the pressure near the well,

205
allowing CO2 to enter the pore spaces initially occupied by the
in situ formation fluids. The amount and spatial distribution
of pressure buildup in the formation will depend on the rate
of injection, the permeability and thickness of the injection
formation, the presence or absence of permeability barriers
within it and the geometry of the regional underground water
(hydrogeological) system.
Once injected into the formation, the primary flow and
transport mechanisms that control the spread of CO2 include:
Fluid flow (migration) in response to pressure gradients
created by the injection process;
Fluid flow in response to natural hydraulic gradients;
Buoyancy caused by the density differences between CO2
and the formation fluids;
Diffusion;
Dispersion and fingering caused by formation heterogeneities
and mobility contrast between CO2 and formation fluid;
Dissolution into the formation fluid;
Mineralization;
Pore space (relative permeability) trapping;
Adsorption of CO2 onto organic material.
The rate of fluid flow depends on the number and properties of
the fluid phases present in the formation. When two or more
fluids mix in any proportion, they are referred to as miscible
fluids. If they do not mix, they are referred to as immiscible.
The presence of several different phases may decrease the
permeability and slow the rate of migration. If CO2 is injected
into a gas reservoir, a single miscible fluid phase consisting of
natural gas and CO2 is formed locally. When CO2 is injected into
a deep saline formation in a liquid or liquid-like supercritical
dense phase, it is immiscible in water. Carbon dioxide injected
into an oil reservoir may be miscible or immiscible, depending
on the oil composition and the pressure and temperature of the
system (Section 5.3.2). When CO2 is injected into coal beds, in
addition to some of the processes listed above, adsorption and
desorption of gases (particularly methane) previously adsorbed
on the coal take place, as well as swelling or shrinkage of the
coal itself (Section 5.3.4).
Because supercritical CO2 is much less viscous than water
and oil (by an order of magnitude or more), migration is
controlled by the contrast in mobility of CO2 and the in situ
formation fluids (Celia et al., 2005; Nordbotten et al., 2005a).
Because of the comparatively high mobility of CO2, only some
of the oil or water will be displaced, leading to an average
saturation of CO2 in the range of 3060%. Viscous fingering
can cause CO2 to bypass much of the pore space, depending on
the heterogeneity and anisotropy of rock permeability (van der
Meer, 1995; Ennis-King and Paterson, 2001; Flett et al., 2005).
In natural gas reservoirs, CO2 is more viscous than natural gas,
so the front will be stable and viscous fingering limited.
The magnitude of the buoyancy forces that drive vertical
flow depends on the type of fluid in the formation. In saline
formations, the comparatively large density difference (30
50%) between CO2 and formation water creates strong buoyancy
forces that drive CO2 upwards. In oil reservoirs, the density

206
difference and buoyancy forces are not as large, particularly if
the oil and CO2 are miscible (Kovscek, 2002). In gas reservoirs,
the opposite effect will occur, with CO2 migrating downwards
under buoyancy forces, because CO2 is denser than natural gas
(Oldenburg et al., 2001).
In saline formations and oil reservoirs, the buoyant plume of
injected CO2 migrates upwards, but not evenly. This is because
a lower permeability layer acts as a barrier and causes the
CO2 to migrate laterally, filling any stratigraphic or structural
trap it encounters. The shape of the CO2 plume rising through
the rock matrix (Figure 5.6) is strongly affected by formation
heterogeneity, such as low-permeability shale lenses (Flett et al.,
2005). Low-permeability layers within the storage formation
therefore have the effect of slowing the upward migration of
CO2, which would otherwise cause CO2 to bypass deeper parts
of the storage formation (Doughty et al., 2001).
As CO2 migrates through the formation, some of it will
dissolve into the formation water. In systems with slowly
flowing water, reservoir-scale numerical simulations show
that, over tens of years, a significant amount, up to 30% of the
injected CO2, will dissolve in formation water (Doughty et al.,
2001). Basin-scale simulations suggest that over centuries, the
entire CO2 plume dissolves in formation water (McPherson
and Cole, 2000; Ennis-King et al., 2003). If the injected
CO2 is contained in a closed structure (no flow of formation
water), it will take much longer for CO2 to completely dissolve
because of reduced contact with unsaturated formation water.
Once CO2 is dissolved in the formation fluid, it migrates along
with the regional groundwater flow. For deep sedimentary
basins characterized by low permeability and high salinity,
groundwater flow velocities are very low, typically on the order

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

of millimetres to centimetres per year (Bachu et al., 1994).
Thus, migration rates of dissolved CO2 are substantially lower
than for separate-phase CO2.
Water saturated with CO2 is slightly denser (approximately
1%) than the original formation water, depending on salinity
(Enick and Klara, 1990; Bachu and Adams, 2003). With
high vertical permeability, this may lead to free convection,
replacing the CO2-saturated water from the plume vicinity with
unsaturated water, producing faster rates of CO2 dissolution
(Lindeberg and Wessel-Berg, 1997; Ennis-King and Paterson,
2003). Figure 5.7 illustrates the formation of convection cells
and dissolution of CO2 over several thousand years. The
solubility of CO2 in brine decreases with increasing pressure,
decreasing temperature and increasing salinity (Annex 1).
Calculations indicate that, depending on the salinity and depth,
2060 kgCO2 can dissolve in 1 m3 of formation fluid (Holt et
al., 1995; Koide et al., 1995). With the use of a homogeneous
model rather than a heterogeneous one, the time required for
complete CO2 dissolution may be underestimated.
As CO2 migrates through a formation, some of it is retained
in the pore space by capillary forces (Figure 5.6), commonly
referred to as residual CO2 trapping, which may immobilize
significant amounts of CO2 (Obdam et al., 2003; Kumar et al.,
2005). Figure 5.8 illustrates that when the degree of trapping
is high and CO2 is injected at the bottom of a thick formation,
all of the CO2 may be trapped by this mechanism, even before
it reaches the caprock at the top of the formation. While this
effect is formation-specific, Holtz (2002) has demonstrated
that residual CO2 saturations may be as high as 1525% for
many typical storage formations. Over time, much of the
trapped CO2 dissolves in the formation water (Ennis-King and

Figure 5.6 Simulated distribution of CO2 injected into a heterogeneous formation with low-permeability layers that block upward migration of
CO2. (a) Illustration of a heterogeneous formation facies grid model. The location of the injection well is indicated by the vertical line in the lower
portion of the grid. (b) The CO2 distribution after two years of injection. Note that the simulated distribution of CO2 is strongly influenced by the
low-permeability layers that block and delay upward movement of CO2 (after Doughty and Pruess, 2004).

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

207

Figure 5.7 Radial simulations of CO2 injection into a homogeneous formation 100 m thick, at a depth of 1 km, where the pressure is 10 MPa and
the temperature is 40C. The injection rate is 1 MtCO2 yr-1 for 20 years, the horizontal permeability is 10 13 m2 (approximately 100 mD) and the
vertical permeability is one-tenth of that. The residual CO2 saturation is 20%. The first three parts of the figure at 2, 20 and 200 years, show the
gas saturation in the porous medium; the second three parts of the figure at 200, 2000 and 4000 years, show the mass fraction of dissolved CO2
in the aqueous phase (after Ennis-King and Paterson, 2003).

Figure 5.8 Simulation of 50 years of injection of CO2 into the base of a saline formation. Capillary forces trap CO2 in the pore spaces of
sedimentary rocks. (a) After the 50-year injection period, most CO2 is still mobile, driven upwards by buoyancy forces. (b) After 1000 years,
buoyancy-driven flow has expanded the volume affected by CO2 and much is trapped as residual CO2 saturation or dissolved in brine (not shown).
Little CO2 is mobile and all CO2 is contained within the aquifer (after Kumar et al., 2005).

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Paterson, 2003), although appropriate reservoir engineering can

accelerate or modify solubility trapping (Keith et al., 2005).
5.2.2

CO2 storage mechanisms in geological formations

The effectiveness of geological storage depends on a

combination of physical and geochemical trapping mechanisms
(Figure 5.9). The most effective storage sites are those where
CO2 is immobile because it is trapped permanently under a
thick, low-permeability seal or is converted to solid minerals
or is adsorbed on the surfaces of coal micropores or through a
combination of physical and chemical trapping mechanisms.
5.2.2.1 Physical trapping: stratigraphic and structural
Initially, physical trapping of CO2 below low-permeability seals
(caprocks), such as very-low-permeability shale or salt beds,
is the principal means to store CO2 in geological formations
(Figure 5.3). In some high latitude areas, shallow gas hydrates
may conceivably act as a seal. Sedimentary basins have such
closed, physically bound traps or structures, which are occupied
mainly by saline water, oil and gas. Structural traps include
those formed by folded or fractured rocks. Faults can act as
permeability barriers in some circumstances and as preferential
pathways for fluid flow in other circumstances (Salvi et al., 2000).
Stratigraphic traps are formed by changes in rock type caused
by variation in the setting where the rocks were deposited. Both
of these types of traps are suitable for CO2 storage, although,
as discussed in Section 5.5, care must be taken not to exceed
the allowable overpressure to avoid fracturing the caprock or
re-activating faults (Streit et al., 2005).

5.2.2.2 Physical trapping: hydrodynamic

Hydrodynamic trapping can occur in saline formations that do
not have a closed trap, but where fluids migrate very slowly
over long distances. When CO2 is injected into a formation, it
displaces saline formation water and then migrates buoyantly
upwards, because it is less dense than the water. When it reaches
the top of the formation, it continues to migrate as a separate
phase until it is trapped as residual CO2 saturation or in local
structural or stratigraphic traps within the sealing formation.
In the longer term, significant quantities of CO2 dissolve in
the formation water and then migrate with the groundwater.
Where the distance from the deep injection site to the end of the
overlying impermeable formation is hundreds of kilometres,
the time scale for fluid to reach the surface from the deep basin
can be millions of years (Bachu et al., 1994).
5.2.2.3 Geochemical trapping
Carbon dioxide in the subsurface can undergo a sequence of
geochemical interactions with the rock and formation water that
will further increase storage capacity and effectiveness. First,
when CO2 dissolves in formation water, a process commonly
called solubility trapping occurs. The primary benefit of
solubility trapping is that once CO2 is dissolved, it no longer
exists as a separate phase, thereby eliminating the buoyant
forces that drive it upwards. Next, it will form ionic species as
the rock dissolves, accompanied by a rise in the pH. Finally,
some fraction may be converted to stable carbonate minerals
(mineral trapping), the most permanent form of geological
storage (Gunter et al., 1993). Mineral trapping is believed to
be comparatively slow, potentially taking a thousand years
or longer. Nevertheless, the permanence of mineral storage,
combined with the potentially large storage capacity present in
some geological settings, makes this a desirable feature of longterm storage.
Dissolution of CO2 in formation waters can be represented by
the chemical reaction:
CO2 (g) + H2O H2CO3 HCO3 + H+ CO32 + 2H+
The CO2 solubility in formation water decreases as temperature
and salinity increase. Dissolution is rapid when formation water
and CO2 share the same pore space, but once the formation
fluid is saturated with CO2, the rate slows and is controlled by
diffusion and convection rates.
CO2 dissolved in water produces a weak acid, which reacts
with the sodium and potassium basic silicate or calcium,
magnesium and iron carbonate or silicate minerals in the
reservoir or formation to form bicarbonate ions by chemical
reactions approximating to:
+

Figure 5.9 Storage security depends on a combination of physical and

geochemical trapping. Over time, the physical process of residual CO2
trapping and geochemical processes of solubility trapping and mineral
trapping increase.

3 K-feldspar + 2H2O + 2CO2 Muscovite + 6 Quartz + 2K

+ 2HCO3

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Reaction of the dissolved CO2 with minerals can be rapid (days)
in the case of some carbonate minerals, but slow (hundreds to
thousands of years) in the case of silicate minerals.
Formation of carbonate minerals occurs from continued
reaction of the bicarbonate ions with calcium, magnesium
and iron from silicate minerals such as clays, micas, chlorites
and feldspars present in the rock matrix (Gunter et al., 1993,
1997).
Perkins et al. (2005) estimate that over 5000 years, all
the CO2 injected into the Weyburn Oil Field will dissolve
or be converted to carbonate minerals within the storage
formation. Equally importantly, they show that the caprock and
overlying rock formations have an even greater capacity for

209
mineralization. This is significant for leakage risk assessment
(Section 5.7) because once CO2 is dissolved, it is unavailable
for leakage as a discrete phase. Modelling by Holtz (2002)
suggests more than 60% of CO2 is trapped by residual CO2
trapping by the end of the injection phase (100% after 1000
years), although laboratory experiments (Section 5.2.1) suggest
somewhat lower percentages. When CO2 is trapped at residual
saturation, it is effectively immobile. However, should there be
leakage through the caprock, then saturated brine may degas
as it is depressurized, although, as illustrated in Figure 5.7
the tendency of saturated brine is to sink rather than to rise.
Reaction of the CO2 with formation water and rocks may result
in reaction products that affect the porosity of the rock and the

Box 5.4 Storage security mechanisms and changes over time.

When the CO2 is injected, it forms a bubble around the injection well, displacing the mobile water and oil both laterally
and vertically within the injection horizon. The interactions between the water and CO2 phase allow geochemical trapping
mechanisms to take effect. Over time, CO2 that is not immobilized by residual CO2 trapping can react with in situ fluid to form
carbonic acid (i.e., H2CO3 called solubility trapping dominates from tens to hundreds of years). Dissolved CO2 can eventually
react with reservoir minerals if an appropriate mineralogy is encountered to form carbon-bearing ionic species (i.e., HCO3 and
CO32 called ionic trapping dominates from hundreds to thousands of years). Further breakdown of these minerals could
precipitate new carbonate minerals that would fix injected CO2 in its most secure state (i.e., mineral trapping dominates over
thousands to millions of years).

Four injection scenarios are shown in Figure 5.10. Scenarios A, B and C show injection into hydrodynamic traps,
essentially systems open to lateral flow of fluids and gas within the injection horizon. Scenario D represents injection into a
physically restricted flow regime, similar to those of many producing and depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

In Scenario A, the injected CO2 is never physically
contained laterally. The CO2 plume migrates within the
injection horizon and is ultimately consumed via all types
of geochemical trapping mechanisms, including carbonate
mineralization. Mineral and ionic trapping dominate. The
proportions of CO2 stored in each geochemical trap will
depend strongly on the in situ mineralogy, pore space
structure and water composition.

In Scenario B, the migration of the CO2 plume is
similar to that of Scenario A, but the mineralogy and water
chemistry are such that reaction of CO2 with minerals is
minor and solubility trapping and hydrodynamic trapping
dominate.
In Scenario C, the CO2 is injected into a zone initially

similar to Scenario B. However, during lateral migration the
CO2 plume migrates into a zone of physical heterogeneity
in the injection horizon. This zone may be characterized
by variable porosity and permeability caused by a facies
change. The facies change is accompanied by a more
reactive mineralogy that causes an abrupt change in path. In
the final state, ionic and mineral trapping predominate.

Scenario D illustrates CO2 injection into a wellconstrained flow zone but, similar to Scenario B, it does
not have in-situ fluid chemistry and mineralogy suitable for Figure 5.10 Storage expressed as a combination of physical and
ionic or mineral trapping. The bulk of the injected CO2 is geochemical trapping. The level of security is proportional to distance
trapped geochemically via solubility trapping and physically from the origin. Dashed lines are examples of million-year pathways,
discussed in Box 5.4.
via stratigraphic or structural trapping.

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flow of solution through the pores. This possibility has not,

however, been observed experimentally and its possible effects
cannot be quantified.
Yet another type of fixation occurs when CO2 is preferentially
adsorbed onto coal or organic-rich shales (Section 5.3.4).
This has been observed in batch and column experiments in
the laboratory, as well as in field experiments at the Fenn Big
Valley, Canada and the San Juan Basin, USA (Box 5.7). A rather
different form of fixation can occur when CO2 hydrate is formed
in the deep ocean seafloor and onshore in permafrost regions
(Koide et al., 1997).
5.2.3

Natural geological accumulations of CO2

Natural sources of CO2 occur, as gaseous accumulations of CO2,

CO2 mixed with natural gas and CO2 dissolved in formation
water (Figure 5.11). These natural accumulations have been
studied in the United States, Australia and Europe (Pearce et
al., 1996; Allis et al., 2001; Stevens et al., 2003; Watson et al.,
2004) as analogues for storage of CO2, as well as for leakage
from engineered storage sites. Production of CO2 for EOR and
other uses provides operational experience relevant to CO2
capture and storage. There are, of course, differences between
natural accumulations of CO2 and engineered CO2 storage sites:
natural accumulations of CO2 collect over very long periods of

time and at random sites, some of which might be naturally

leaky. At engineered sites, CO2 injection rates will be rapid
and the sites will necessarily be penetrated by injection wells
(Celia and Bachu, 2003; Johnson et al., 2005). Therefore, care
must be taken to keep injection pressures low enough to avoid
damaging the caprock (Section 5.5) and to make sure that the
wells are properly sealed (Section 5.5).
Natural accumulations of relatively pure CO2 are found all
over the world in a range of geological settings, particularly
in sedimentary basins, intra-plate volcanic regions (Figure
5.11) and in faulted areas or in quiescent volcanic structures.
Natural accumulations occur in a number of different types
of sedimentary rocks, principally limestones, dolomites and
sandstones and with a variety of seals (mudstone, shale, salt
and anhydrite) and a range of trap types, reservoir depths and
CO2-bearing phases.
Carbon dioxide fields in the Colorado Plateau and Rocky
Mountains, USA, are comparable to conventional natural gas
reservoirs (Allis et al., 2001). Studies of three of these fields
(McElmo Dome, St. Johns Field and Jackson Dome) have
shown that each contains 1600 MtCO2, with measurable
leakage (Stevens et al., 2001a). Two hundred Mt trapped in the
Pisgah Anticline, northeast of the Jackson Dome, is thought to
have been generated more than 65 million years ago (Studlick
et al., 1990), with no evidence of leakage, providing additional

Figure 5.11 Examples of natural accumulations of CO2 around the world. Regions containing many occurrences are enclosed by a dashed
line. Natural accumulations can be useful as analogues for certain aspects of storage and for assessing the environmental impacts of leakage.
Data quality is variable and the apparent absence of accumulations in South America, southern Africa and central and northern Asia is probably
more a reflection of lack of data than a lack of CO2 accumulations.
Figuur 5.11

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evidence of long-term trapping of CO2. Extensive studies have
been undertaken on small-scale CO2 accumulations in the
Otway Basin in Australia (Watson et al., 2004) and in France,
Germany, Hungary and Greece (Pearce et al., 2003).
Conversely, some systems, typically spas and
volcanic systems, are leaky and not useful analogues for
geological storage. The Kileaua Volcano emits on average
4 MtCO2 yr-1. More than 1200 tCO2 day1 (438,000 tCO2 yr-1)
leaked into the Mammoth Mountain area, California, between
1990 and 1995, with flux variations linked to seismicity (USGS,
2001b). Average flux densities of 80160 tCO2 m2 yr1 are
observed near Matraderecske, Hungary, but along faults, the
flux density can reach approximately 6600 t m2 yr1 (Pearce et
al., 2003). These high seepage rates result from release of CO2
from faulted volcanic systems, whereas a normal baseline CO2
flux is of the order of 10100 gCO2 m2 day1 under temperate
climate conditions (Pizzino et al., 2002). Seepage of CO2 into
Lake Nyos (Cameroon) resulted in CO2 saturation of water
deep in the lake, which in 1987 produced a very large-scale and
(for more than 1700 persons) ultimately fatal release of CO2
when the lake overturned (Kling et al., 1987). The overturn of
Lake Nyos (a deep, stratified tropical lake) and release of CO2
are not representative of the seepage through wells or fractures
that may occur from underground geological storage sites.
Engineered CO2 storage sites will be chosen to minimize the
prospect of leakage. Natural storage and events such as Lake
Nyos are not representative of geological storage for predicting
seepage from engineered sites, but can be useful for studying
the health, safety and environmental effects of CO2 leakage
(Section 5.7.4).
Carbon dioxide is found in some oil and gas fields as a
separate gas phase or dissolved in oil. This type of storage is
relatively common in Southeast Asia, China and Australia,
less common in other oil and gas provinces such as in Algeria,

Figure 5.12 Location of some natural gas storage projects.

Russia, the Paradox Basin (USA) and the Alberta Basin (western
Canada). In the North Sea and Barents Sea, a few fields have
up to 10% CO2, including Sleipner and Snohvit (Figure 5.11).
The La Barge natural gas field in Wyoming, USA, has 3300 Mt
of gas reserves, with an average of 65% CO2 by volume. In the
Appennine region of Italy, many deep wells (13 km depth)
have trapped gas containing 90% or more CO2 by volume. Major
CO2 accumulations around the South China Sea include the
worlds largest known CO2 accumulation, the Natuna D Alpha
field in Indonesia, with more than 9100 MtCO2 (720 Mt natural
gas). Concentrations of CO2 can be highly variable between
different fields in a basin and between different reservoir zones
within the same field, reflecting complex generation, migration
and mixing processes. In Australias Otway Basin, the timing
of CO2 input and trapping ranges from 5000 years to a million
years (Watson et al., 2004).
5.2.4

Industrial analogues for CO2 storage

5.2.4.1 Natural gas storage

Underground natural gas storage projects that offer experience
relevant to CO2 storage (Lippmann and Benson, 2003; Perry,
2005) have operated successfully for almost 100 years and in
many parts of the world (Figure 5.12). These projects provide for
peak loads and balance seasonal fluctuations in gas supply and
demand. The Berlin Natural Gas Storage Project is an example
of this (Box 5.5). The majority of gas storage projects are in
depleted oil and gas reservoirs and saline formations, although
caverns in salt have also been used extensively. A number of
factors are critical to the success of these projects, including
a suitable and adequately characterized site (permeability,
thickness and extent of storage reservoir, tightness of caprock,
geological structure, lithology, etc.). Injection wells must be
properly designed, installed, monitored and maintained and
abandoned wells in and near the project must be located and
plugged. Finally, taking into account a range of solubility,
density and trapping conditions, overpressuring the storage
reservoir (injecting gas at a pressure that is well in excess of the
in situ formation pressure) must be avoided.
While underground natural gas storage is safe and effective,
some projects have leaked, mostly caused by poorly completed
or improperly plugged and abandoned wells and by leaky faults
(Gurevich et al., 1993; Lippmann and Benson, 2003; Perry,
2005). Abandoned oil and gas fields are easier to assess as
natural gas storage sites than are saline formations, because the
geological structure and caprock are usually well characterized
from existing wells. At most natural gas storage sites, monitoring
requirements focus on ensuring that the injection well is not
leaking (by the use of pressure measurements and through in
situ downhole measurements of temperature, pressure, noise/
sonic, casing conditions, etc.). Observation wells are sometimes
used to verify that gas has not leaked into shallower strata.

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Box 5.5 The Berlin Natural Gas Storage Facility.

The Berlin Natural Gas Storage Facility is located in central Berlin, Germany, in an area that combines high population density
with nature and water conservation reservations. This facility, with a capacity of 1085 million m, was originally designed to
be a reserve natural gas storage unit for limited seasonal quantity equalization. A storage production rate of 450,000 m h1 can
be achieved with the existing storage wells and surface facilities. Although the geological and engineering aspects and scale
of the facility make it a useful analogue for a small CO2 storage project, this project is more complex because the input and
output for natural gas is highly variable, depending on consumer demand. The risk profiles are also different, considering the
highly flammable and explosive nature of natural gas and conversely the reactive nature of CO2.

The facility lies to the east of the North German Basin, which is part of a complex of basin structures extending from
The Netherlands to Poland. The sandstone storage horizons are at approximately 800 m below sea level. The gas storage layers
are covered with layers of claystone, anhydrite and halite, approximately 200 m thick. This site has complicated tectonics and
heterogeneous reservoir lithologies.

Twelve wells drilled at three sites are available for natural gas storage operation. The varying storage sand types also
require different methods of completion of the wells. The wells also have major differences in their production behaviour. The
wellheads of the storage wells and of the water disposal wells are housed in 5 m deep cellars covered with concrete plates,
with special steel covers over the wellheads to allow for wireline logging. Because of the urban location, a total of 16 deviated
storage wells and water disposal wells were concentrated at four sites. Facilities containing substances that could endanger
water are set up within fluid-tight concrete enclosures and/or have their own watertight concrete enclosures.
5.2.4.2

Acid gas injection

Acid gas injection operations represent a commercial analogue

for some aspects of geological CO2 storage. Acid gas is a
mixture of H2S and CO2, with minor amounts of hydrocarbon
gases that can result from petroleum production or processing.
In Western Canada, operators are increasingly turning to acid
gas disposal by injection into deep geological formations.
Although the purpose of the acid gas injection operations is to
dispose of H2S, significant quantities of CO2 are injected at the
same time because it is uneconomic to separate the two gases.
Currently, regulatory agencies in Western Canada approve
the maximum H2S fraction, maximum wellhead injection
pressure and rate and maximum injection volume. Acid gas is
currently injected into 51 different formations at 44 different
locations across the Alberta Basin in the provinces of Alberta
and British Columbia (Figure 5.13). Carbon dioxide often
represents the largest component of the injected acid gas
stream, in many cases, 1498% of the total volume. A total of
2.5 MtCO2 and 2 MtH2S had been injected in Western Canada
by the end of 2003, at rates of 840500,720 m3 day1 per site,
with an aggregate injection rate in 2003 of 0.45 MtCO2 yr-1 and
0.55 MtH2S yr-1, with no detectable leakage.
Acid gas injection in Western Canada occurs over a wide
range of formation and reservoir types, acid gas compositions
and operating conditions. Injection takes place in deep saline
formations at 27 sites, into depleted oil and/or gas reservoirs at
19 sites and into the underlying water leg of depleted oil and gas
reservoirs at 4 sites. Carbonates form the reservoir at 29 sites
and quartz-rich sandstones dominate at the remaining 21 (Figure
5.13). In most cases, shale constitutes the overlying confining
unit (caprock), with the remainder of the injection zones being
confined by tight limestones, evaporites and anhydrites.
Since the first acid-gas injection operation in 1990, 51
different injection sites have been approved, of which 44 are

currently active. One operation was not implemented, three were

rescinded after a period of operation (either because injection
volumes reached the approved limit or because the gas plant
producing the acid gas was decommissioned) and three sites
were suspended by the regulatory agency because of reservoir
overpressuring.
5.2.4.3 Liquid waste injection
In many parts of the world, large volumes of liquid waste are
injected into the deep subsurface every day. For example, for
the past 60 years, approximately 9 billion gallons (34.1 million
m3) of hazardous waste is injected into saline formations in the
United States from about 500 wells each year. In addition, more
than 750 billion gallons (2843 million m3) of oil field brines
are injected from 150,000 wells each year. This combined
annual US injectate volume of about 3000 million m3, when
converted to volume equivalent, corresponds to the volume
of approximately 2 GtCO2 at a depth of 1 km. Therefore, the
experience gained from existing deep-fluid-injection projects is
relevant in terms of the style of operation and is of a similar
magnitude to that which may be required for geological storage
of CO2.
5.2.5

Security and duration of CO2 storage in geological

formations

Evidence from oil and gas fields indicates that hydrocarbons

and other gases and fluids including CO2 can remain trapped
for millions of years (Magoon and Dow, 1994; Bradshaw et
al., 2005). Carbon dioxide has a tendency to remain in the
subsurface (relative to hydrocarbons) via its many physicochemical immobilization mechanisms. World-class petroleum
provinces have storage times for oil and gas of 5100 million
years, others for 350 million years, while some minor petroleum

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

213

Figure 5.13 Locations of acid gas injection sites in the Alberta Basin, Canada: (a) classified by injection unit; (b) the same locations classified
by rock type (from Bachu and Haug, 2005).

accumulations have been stored for up to 1400 million years.

However, some natural traps do leak, which reinforces the need
for careful site selection (Section 5.3), characterization (Section
5.4) and injection practices (Section 5.5).
5.3 Storage formations, capacity and geographical
distribution
In this section, the following issues are addressed: In what
types of geological formations can CO2 be stored? Are such
formations widespread? How much CO2 can be geologically
stored?
5.3.1

General site-selection criteria

There are many sedimentary regions in the world (Figures 2.4

2.6 and Figure 5.14) variously suited for CO2 storage. In general,
geological storage sites should have (1) adequate capacity and
injectivity, (2) a satisfactory sealing caprock or confining unit
and (3) a sufficiently stable geological environment to avoid
compromising the integrity of the storage site. Criteria for
assessing basin suitability (Bachu, 2000, 2003; Bradshaw et al.,

2002) include: basin characteristics (tectonic activity, sediment

type, geothermal and hydrodynamic regimes); basin resources
(hydrocarbons, coal, salt), industry maturity and infrastructure;
and societal issues such as level of development, economy,
environmental concerns, public education and attitudes.
The suitability of sedimentary basins for CO2 storage
depends in part on their location on the continental plate. Basins
formed in mid-continent locations or near the edge of stable
continental plates, are excellent targets for long-term CO2
storage because of their stability and structure. Such basins are
found within most continents and around the Atlantic, Arctic
and Indian Oceans. The storage potential of basins found behind
mountains formed by plate collision is likely to be good and
these include the Rocky Mountain, Appalachian and Andean
basins in the Americas, European basins immediately north of
the Alps and Carpathians and west of the Urals and those located
south of the Zagros and Himalayas in Asia. Basins located in
tectonically active areas, such as those around the Pacific Ocean
or the northern Mediterranean, may be less suitable for CO2
storage and sites in these regions must be selected carefully
because of the potential for CO2 leakage (Chiodini et al., 2001;
Granieri et al., 2003). Basins located on the edges of plates

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Figure 5.14 Distribution of sedimentary basins around the world (after Bradshaw and Dance, 2005; and USGS, 2001a). In general, sedimentary
basins are likely to be the most prospective areas for storage sites. However, storage sites may also be found in some areas of fold belts and in
some of the highs. Shield areas constitute regions with low prospectivity for storage. The Mercator projection used here is to provide comparison
with Figures 5.1, 5.11 and 5.27. The apparent dimensions of the sedimentary basins, particularly in the northern hemisphere, should not be taken
Figuur
5.14 of their likely storage capacity.
as
an indication

where subduction is occurring or between active mountain

ranges, are likely to be strongly folded and faulted and provide
less certainty for storage. However, basins must be assessed on
an individual basis. For example, the Los Angeles Basin and
Sacramento Valley in California, where significant hydrocarbon
accumulations have been found, have demonstrated good
local storage capacity. Poor CO2 storage potential is likely to
be exhibited by basins that (1) are thin (1000 m), (2) have
poor reservoir and seal relationships, (3) are highly faulted and
fractured, (4) are within fold belts, (5) have strongly discordant
sequences, (6) have undergone significant diagenesis or (7)
have overpressured reservoirs.
The efficiency of CO2 storage in geological media, defined
as the amount of CO2 stored per unit volume (Brennan
and Burruss, 2003), increases with increasing CO2 density.
Storage safety also increases with increasing density, because
buoyancy, which drives upward migration, is stronger for a
lighter fluid. Density increases significantly with depth while
CO2 is in gaseous phase, increases only slightly or levels off
after passing from the gaseous phase into the dense phase and

may even decrease with a further increase in depth, depending

on the temperature gradient (Ennis-King and Paterson, 2001;
Bachu, 2003). Cold sedimentary basins, characterized by low
temperature gradients, are more favourable for CO2 storage
(Bachu, 2003) because CO2 attains higher density at shallower
depths (7001000 m) than in warm sedimentary basins,
characterized by high temperature gradients where dense-fluid
conditions are reached at greater depths (10001500 m). The
depth of the storage formation (leading to increased drilling and
compression costs for deeper formations) may also influence
the selection of storage sites.
Adequate porosity and thickness (for storage capacity)
and permeability (for injectivity) are critical; porosity usually
decreases with depth because of compaction and cementation,
which reduces storage capacity and efficiency. The storage
formation should be capped by extensive confining units (such
as shale, salt or anhydrite beds) to ensure that CO2 does not
escape into overlying, shallower rock units and ultimately to the
surface. Extensively faulted and fractured sedimentary basins
or parts thereof, particularly in seismically active areas, require

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

careful characterization to be good candidates for CO2 storage,
unless the faults and fractures are sealed and CO2 injection will
not open them (Holloway, 1997; Zarlenga et al., 2004).
The pressure and flow regimes of formation waters in a
sedimentary basin are important factors in selecting sites for CO2
storage (Bachu et al., 1994). Injection of CO2 into formations
overpressured by compaction and/or hydrocarbon generation
may raise technological and safety issues that make them
unsuitable. Underpressured formations in basins located midcontinent, near the edge of stable continental plates or behind
mountains formed by plate collision may be well suited for CO2
storage. Storage of CO2 in deep saline formations with fluids
having long residence times (millions of years) is conducive to
hydrodynamic and mineral trapping (Section 5.2).
The possible presence of fossil fuels and the exploration
and production maturity of a basin are additional considerations
for selection of storage sites (Bachu, 2000). Basins with little
exploration for hydrocarbons may be uncertain targets for CO2
storage because of limited availability of geological information
or potential for contamination of as-yet-undiscovered
hydrocarbon resources. Mature sedimentary basins may be
prime targets for CO2 storage because: (1) they have well-known
characteristics; (2) hydrocarbon pools and/or coal beds have
been discovered and produced; (3) some petroleum reservoirs
might be already depleted, nearing depletion or abandoned as
uneconomic; (4) the infrastructure needed for CO2 transport
and injection may already be in place. The presence of wells
penetrating the subsurface in mature sedimentary basins can
create potential CO2 leakage pathways that may compromise the
security of a storage site (Celia and Bachu, 2003). Nevertheless,
at Weyburn, despite the presence of many hundreds of existing
wells, after four years of CO2 injection there has been no
measurable leakage (Strutt et al., 2003).
5.3.2

Oil and gas fields

5.3.2.1 Abandoned oil and gas fields

Depleted oil and gas reservoirs are prime candidates for CO2
storage for several reasons. First, the oil and gas that originally
accumulated in traps (structural and stratigraphic) did not escape
(in some cases for many millions of years), demonstrating their
integrity and safety. Second, the geological structure and physical
properties of most oil and gas fields have been extensively
studied and characterized. Third, computer models have been
developed in the oil and gas industry to predict the movement,
displacement behaviour and trapping of hydrocarbons. Finally,
some of the infrastructure and wells already in place may be
used for handling CO2 storage operations. Depleted fields will
not be adversely affected by CO2 (having already contained
hydrocarbons) and if hydrocarbon fields are still in production,
a CO2 storage scheme can be optimized to enhance oil (or gas)
production. However, plugging of abandoned wells in many
mature fields began many decades ago when wells were simply
filled with a mud-laden fluid. Subsequently, cement plugs were
required to be strategically placed within the wellbore, but not
with any consideration that they may one day be relied upon to

215
contain a reactive and potentially buoyant fluid such as CO2.
Therefore, the condition of wells penetrating the caprock must
be assessed (Winter and Bergman, 1993). In many cases, even
locating the wells may be difficult and caprock integrity may
need to be confirmed by pressure and tracer monitoring.
The capacity of a reservoir will be limited by the need to
avoid exceeding pressures that damage the caprock (Section
5.5.3). Reservoirs should have limited sensitivity to reductions
in permeability caused by plugging of the near-injector region
and by reservoir stress fluctuations (Kovscek, 2002; BossieCodreanu et al., 2003). Storage in reservoirs at depths less than
approximately 800 m may be technically and economically
feasible, but the low storage capacity of shallow reservoirs,
where CO2 may be in the gas phase, could be problematic.
5.3.2.2 Enhanced oil recovery
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) through CO2 flooding (by
injection) offers potential economic gain from incremental
oil production. Of the original oil in place, 540% is usually
recovered by conventional primary production (Holt et al.,
1995). An additional 1020% of oil in place is produced by
secondary recovery that uses water flooding (Bondor, 1992).
Various miscible agents, among them CO2, have been used for
enhanced (tertiary) oil recovery or EOR, with an incremental
oil recovery of 723% (average 13.2%) of the original oil in
place (Martin and Taber, 1992; Moritis, 2003). Descriptions of
CO2-EOR projects are provided in Box 5.3 and Box 5.6, and an
illustration is given in Figure 5.15.
Many CO2 injection schemes have been suggested,
including continuous CO2 injection or alternate water and CO2
gas injection (Klins and Farouq Ali, 1982; Klins, 1984). Oil
displacement by CO2 injection relies on the phase behaviour
of CO2 and crude oil mixtures that are strongly dependent on
reservoir temperature, pressure and crude oil composition. These
mechanisms range from oil swelling and viscosity reduction for
injection of immiscible fluids (at low pressures) to completely
miscible displacement in high-pressure applications. In these
applications, more than 50% and up to 67% of the injected
CO2 returns with the produced oil (Bondor, 1992) and is
usually separated and re-injected into the reservoir to minimize
operating costs. The remainder is trapped in the oil reservoir by
various means, such as irreducible saturation and dissolution in
reservoir oil that it is not produced and in pore space that is not
connected to the flow path for the producing wells.
For enhanced CO2 storage in EOR operations, oil reservoirs
may need to meet additional criteria (Klins, 1984; Taber et
al., 1997; Kovscek, 2002; Shaw and Bachu, 2002). Generally,
reservoir depth must be more than 600 m. Injection of immiscible
fluids must often suffice for heavy- to-medium-gravity oils (oil
gravity 1225 API). The more desirable miscible flooding is
applicable to light, low-viscosity oils (oil gravity 2548 API).
For miscible floods, the reservoir pressure must be higher than
the minimum miscibility pressure (1015 MPa) needed for
achieving miscibility between reservoir oil and CO2, depending
on oil composition and gravity, reservoir temperature and CO2
purity (Metcalfe, 1982). To achieve effective removal of the

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Box 5.6 The Rangely, Colorado, CO2-EOR Project.

The Rangely CO2-EOR Project is located in Colorado, USA and is operated by Chevron. The CO2 is purchased from the
Exxon-Mobil LaBarge natural gas processing facility in Wyoming and transported 283 km via pipeline to the Rangely field.
Additional spurs carry CO2 over 400 km from LaBarge to Lost Soldier and Wertz fields in central Wyoming, currently ending
at the Salt Creek field in eastern Wyoming.
The sandstone reservoir of the Rangely field has been CO2 flooded, by the water alternating gas (WAG) process, since
1986. Primary and secondary recovery, carried out between 1944 and 1986, recovered 1.9 US billion barrels (302 million m3)
of oil (21% of the original oil in place). With use of CO2 floods, ultimate tertiary recovery of a further 129 million barrels (21
million m3) of oil (6.8% of original oil in place) is expected. Average daily CO2 injection in 2003 was equivalent to 2.97 MtCO2
yr-1, with production of 13,913 barrels oil per day. Of the total 2.97 Mt injected, recycled gas comprised around 2.29 Mt and
purchased gas about 0.74 Mt. Cumulative CO2 stored to date is estimated at 22.2 Mt. A simplified flow diagram for the Rangely
field is given in Figure 5.15.
The Rangely field, covering an area of 78 km2, is an asymmetric anticline. A major northeast-to-southwest fault in
the eastern half of the field and other faults and fractures significantly influence fluid movement within the reservoir. The
sandstone reservoirs have an average gross and effective thickness of 160 m and 40 m, respectively and are comprised of six
persistent producing sandstone horizons (depths of 16751980 m) with average porosity of 12%. Permeability averages 10 mD
(Hefner and Barrow, 1992).
By the end of 2003, there were 248 active injectors, of which 160 are used for CO2 injection and 348 active producers.
Produced gas is processed through two parallel single-column natural-gas-liquids recovery facilities and subsequently
compressed to approximately 14.5 MPa. Compressed-produced gas (recycled gas) is combined with purchased CO2 for
reinjection mostly by the WAG process.
Carbon dioxide-EOR operation in the field maintains compliance with government regulations for production, injection,
protection of potable water formations, surface use, flaring and venting. A number of protocols have been instituted to ensure
containment of CO2 for example, pre-injection well-integrity verification, a radioactive tracer survey run on the first injection,
injection-profile tracer surveys, mechanical integrity tests, soil gas surveys and round-the-clock field monitoring. Surface
release from the storage reservoir is below the detection limit of 170 t yr1 or an annual leakage rate of less than 0.00076% of
the total stored CO2 (Klusman, 2003). Methane leakage is estimated to be 400 t yr1, possibly due to increased CO2 injection
pressure above original reservoir pressure. The water chemistry portion of the study indicates that the injected CO2 is dissolving
in the water and may be responsible for dissolution of ferroan calcite and dolomite. There is currently no evidence of mineral
precipitation that may result in mineral storage of CO2.
oil, other preferred criteria for both types of flooding include
relatively thin reservoirs (less than 20 m), high reservoir angle,
homogenous formation and low vertical permeability. For
horizontal reservoirs, the absence of natural water flow, major
gas cap and major natural fractures are preferred. Reservoir
thickness and permeability are not critical factors.
Reservoir heterogeneity also affects CO2 storage efficiency.
The density difference between the lighter CO2 and the reservoir
oil and water leads to movement of the CO2 along the top of the
reservoir, particularly if the reservoir is relatively homogeneous
and has high permeability, negatively affecting the CO2 storage
and oil recovery. Consequently, reservoir heterogeneity may
have a positive effect, slowing down the rise of CO2 to the top
of the reservoir and forcing it to spread laterally, giving more
complete invasion of the formation and greater storage potential
(Bondor, 1992; Kovscek, 2002; Flett et al., 2005).
Figure 5.15 Injection of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
with some storage of retained CO2 (after IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D
Programme). The CO2 that is produced with the oil is separated and reinjected back into the formation. Recycling of produced CO2 decreases
the amount
Figuur
5.15of CO2 that must be purchased and avoids emissions to the
atmosphere.

5.3.2.3 Enhanced gas recovery

Although up to 95% of original gas in place can be produced,
CO2 could potentially be injected into depleted gas reservoirs to
enhance gas recovery by repressurizing the reservoir (van der
Burgt et al., 1992; Koide and Yamazaki, 2001; Oldenburg et
al., 2001). Enhanced gas recovery has so far been implemented
only at pilot scale (Gaz de France K12B project, Netherlands,

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Table 5.1) and some authors have suggested that CO2 injection
might result in lower gas recovery factors, particularly for very
heterogeneous fields (Clemens and Wit, 2002).
5.3.3

Saline formations

Saline formations are deep sedimentary rocks saturated with

formation waters or brines containing high concentrations of
dissolved salts. These formations are widespread and contain
enormous quantities of water, but are unsuitable for agriculture
or human consumption. Saline brines are used locally by the
chemical industry and formation waters of varying salinity are
used in health spas and for producing low-enthalpy geothermal
energy. Because the use of geothermal energy is likely to
increase, potential geothermal areas may not be suitable for CO2
storage. It has been suggested that combined geological storage
and geothermal energy may be feasible, but regions with good
geothermal energy potential are generally less favourable for
CO2 geological storage because of the high degree of faulting
and fracturing and the sharp increase of temperature with depth.
In very arid regions, deep saline formations may be considered
for future water desalinization.
The Sleipner Project in the North Sea is the best available
example of a CO2 storage project in a saline formation (Box 5.1).
It was the first commercial-scale project dedicated to geological
CO2 storage. Approximately 1 MtCO2 is removed annually from
the produced natural gas and injected underground at Sleipner.
The operation started in October 1996 and over the lifetime
of the project a total of 20 MtCO2 is expected to be stored. A
simplified diagram of the Sleipner scheme is given in Figure
5.4.
The CO2 is injected into poorly cemented sands about 800
1000 m below the sea floor. The sandstone contains secondary
thin shale or clay layers, which influence the internal movement
of injected CO2. The overlying primary seal is an extensive
thick shale or clay layer. The saline formation into which CO2
is injected has a very large storage capacity.
The fate and transport of the Sleipner CO2 plume has been
successfully monitored (Figure 5.16) by seismic time-lapse
surveys (Section 5.6). These surveys have helped improve
the conceptual model for the fate and transport of stored CO2.
The vertical cross-section of the plume shown in Figure 5.16
indicates both the upward migration of CO2 (due to buoyancy
forces) and the role of lower permeability strata within the
formation, diverting some of the CO2 laterally, thus spreading
out the plume over a larger area. The survey also shows that the
caprock prevents migration out of the storage formation. The
seismic data shown in Figure 5.16 illustrate the gradual growth of
the plume. Today, the footprint of the plume at Sleipner extends
over approximately 5 km2. Reservoir studies and simulations
(Section 5.4.2) have shown that the CO2-saturated brine will
eventually become denser and sink, eliminating the potential
for long-term leakage (Lindeberg and Bergmo, 2003).

5.3.4

Coal seams

Coal contains fractures (cleats) that impart some permeability

to the system. Between cleats, solid coal has a very large
number of micropores into which gas molecules from the cleats
can diffuse and be tightly adsorbed. Coal can physically adsorb
many gases and may contain up to 25 normal m3 (m3 at 1 atm
and 0C) methane per tonne of coal at coal seam pressures. It has
a higher affinity to adsorb gaseous CO2 than methane (Figure
5.17). The volumetric ratio of adsorbable CO2:CH4 ranges from
as low as one for mature coals such as anthracite, to ten or
more for younger, immature coals such as lignite. Gaseous CO2
injected through wells will flow through the cleat system of the
coal, diffuse into the coal matrix and be adsorbed onto the coal
micropore surfaces, freeing up gases with lower affinity to coal
(i.e., methane).
The process of CO2 trapping in coals for temperatures
and pressures above the critical point is not well understood
(Larsen, 2003). It seems that adsorption is gradually replaced by
absorption and the CO2 diffuses or dissolves in coal. Carbon
dioxide is a plasticizer for coal, lowering the temperature
required to cause the transition from a glassy, brittle structure
to a rubbery, plastic structure (coal softening). In one case, the
transition temperature was interpreted to drop from about 400C
at 3 MPa to <30C at 5.5 MPa CO2 pressure (Larsen, 2003). The
transition temperature is dependent on the maturity of the coal,
the maceral content, the ash content and the confining stress
and is not easily extrapolated to the field. Coal plasticization
or softening, may adversely affect the permeability that
would allow CO2 injection. Furthermore, coal swells as CO2
is adsorbed and/or absorbed, which reduces permeability and
injectivity by orders of magnitude or more (Shi and Durucan,
2005) and which may be counteracted by increasing the injection
pressures (Clarkson and Bustin, 1997; Palmer and Mansoori,
1998; Krooss et al., 2002; Larsen, 2003). Some studies suggest
that the injected CO2 may react with coal (Zhang et al., 1993),
further highlighting the difficulty in injecting CO2 into lowpermeability coal.
If CO2 is injected into coal seams, it can displace methane,
thereby enhancing CBM recovery. Carbon dioxide has been
injected successfully at the Allison Project (Box 5.7) and in the
Alberta Basin, Canada (Gunter et al., 2005), at depths greater
than that corresponding to the CO2 critical point. Carbon dioxideECBM has the potential to increase the amount of produced
methane to nearly 90% of the gas, compared to conventional
recovery of only 50% by reservoir-pressure depletion alone
(Stevens et al., 1996).
Coal permeability is one of several determining factors in
selection of a storage site. Coal permeability varies widely and
generally decreases with increasing depth as a result of cleat
closure with increasing effective stress. Most CBM-producing
wells in the world are less than 1000 m deep.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 5.16 (a) Vertical seismic sections through the CO2 plume in the Utsira Sand at the Sleipner gas field, North Sea, showing its development
over time. Note the chimney of high CO2 saturation (c) above the injection point (black dot) and the bright layers corresponding to high acoustic
response due to CO2 in a gas form being resident in sandstone beneath thin low-permeability horizons within the reservoir. (b) Horizontal seismic
sections through the developing CO2 plume at Sleipner showing its growth over time. The CO2 plume-specific monitoring was completed in
2001; therefore data for 2002 was not available (courtesy of Andy Chadwick and the CO2STORE project).

Original screening criteria proposed in selecting favourable

areas for CO2 ECBM (IEA-GHG, 1998) include:
Adequate permeability (minimum values have not yet been
determined);
Suitable coal geometry (a few, thick seams rather than
multiple, thin seams);
Simple structure (minimal faulting and folding);
Homogeneous and confined coal seam(s) that are laterally
continuous and vertically isolated;
Adequate depth (down to 1500 m, greater depths have not
yet been studied);
Suitable gas saturation conditions (high gas saturation for
ECBM);
Ability to dewater the formation.
Figure 5.17 Pure gas absolute adsorption in standard cubic feet per tonne
(SCF per tonne) on Tiffany Coals at 55C (after Gasem et al., 2002).

However, more recent studies have indicated that coal rank may
play a more significant role than previously thought, owing to
the dependence on coal rank of the relative adsorptive capacities

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

219

Box 5.7 The Allison Unit CO2-ECBM Pilot.

The Allison Unit CO2-ECBM Recovery Pilot Project, located in the northern New Mexico portion of the San Juan Basin,
USA, is owned and operated by Burlington Resources. Production from the Allison field began in July 1989 and CO2 injection
operations for ECBM recovery commenced in April 1995. Carbon dioxide injection was suspended in August 2001 to evaluate
the results of the pilot. Since this pilot was undertaken purely for the purposes of ECBM production, no CO2 monitoring
programme was implemented.
The CO2 was sourced from the McElmo Dome in Colorado and delivered to the site through a (then) Shell (now KinderMorgan) CO2 pipeline. The Allison Unit has a CBM resource of 242 million m3 km2. A total of 181 million m3 (6.4 Bcf) of
natural CO2 was injected into the reservoir over six years, of which 45 million m3 (1.6 Bcf) is forecast to be ultimately produced
back, resulting in a net storage volume of 277,000 tCO2. The pilot consists of 16 methane production wells, 4 CO2 injection
wells and 1 pressure observation well. The injection operations were undertaken at constant surface injection pressures on the
order of 10.4 MPa.
The wells were completed in the Fruitland coal, which is capped by shale. The reservoir has a thickness of 13 m, is
located at a depth of 950 m and had an original reservoir pressure of 11.5 MPa. In a study conducted under the Coal-Seq Project
performed for the US Department of Energy (www.coal-seq.com), a detailed reservoir characterization and modelling of the
pilot was developed with the COMET2 reservoir simulator and future field performance was forecast under various operating
conditions.
This study provides evidence of significant coal-permeability reduction with CO2 injection. This permeability reduction
resulted in a two-fold reduction in injectivity. This effect compromised incremental methane recovery and project economics.
Finding ways to overcome and/or prevent this effect is therefore an important topic for future research. The injection of CO2
at the Allison Unit has resulted in an increase in methane recovery from an estimated 77% of original gas in place to 95% of
the original gas in place within the project area. The recovery of methane was in a proportion of approximately one volume of
methane for every three volumes of CO2 injected (Reeves et al., 2004).
An economic analysis of the pilot indicated a net present value of negative US$ 627,000, assuming a discount rate
of 12% and an initial capital expenditure of US$ 2.6 million, but not including the beneficial impact of any tax credits for
production from non-conventional reservoirs. This was based on a gas price of 2.09 US$ GJ-1 (2.20 US$/MMbtu) (at the time)
and a CO2 price of 5.19 US$ t1 (0.30 US$/Mcf). The results of the financial analysis will change, depending on the cost of oil
and gas (the analysis indicated that the pilot would have yielded a positive net present value of US$2.6 million at todays gas
prices) and the cost of CO2. It was also estimated that if injectivity had been improved by a factor of four (but still using 2.09
US$ GJ-1 (2.20 US$/MMbtu)), the net present value would have increased to US$ 3.6 million. Increased injectivity and todays
gas prices combined would have yielded a net present value for the pilot of US$ 15 million or a profit of 34 US$/tCO2 retained
in the reservoir (Reeves et al., 2003).

of methane and CO2 (Reeves et al., 2004).

If the coal is never mined or depressurized, it is likely CO2
will be stored for geological time, but, as with any geological
storage option, disturbance of the formation could void any
storage. The likely future fate of a coal seam is, therefore, a
key determinant of its suitability for storage and in storage site
selection and conflicts between mining and CO2 storage are
possible, particularly for shallow coals.
5.3.5

Other geological media

Other geological media and/or structures including basalts, oil

or gas shale, salt caverns and abandoned mines may locally
provide niche options for geological storage of CO2.
5.3.5.1 Basalts
Flows and layered intrusions of basalt occur globally, with large
volumes present around the world (McGrail et al., 2003). Basalt
commonly has low porosity, low permeability and low pore
space continuity and any permeability is generally associated

with fractures through which CO2 will leak unless there is a

suitable caprock. Nonetheless, basalt may have some potential
for mineral trapping of CO2, because injected CO2 may react
with silicates in the basalt to form carbonate minerals (McGrail
et al., 2003). More research is needed, but in general, basalts
appear unlikely to be suitable for CO2 storage.
5.3.5.2 Oil or gas rich shale
Deposits of oil or gas shale or organic-rich shale, occur in many
parts of the world. The trapping mechanism for oil shale is
similar to that for coal beds, namely CO2 adsorption onto organic
material. Carbon dioxide-enhanced shale-gas production (like
ECBM) has the potential to reduce storage costs. The potential
for storage of CO2 in oil or gas shale is currently unknown, but
the large volumes of shale suggest that storage capacity may be
significant. If site-selection criteria, such as minimum depth, are
developed and applied to these shales, then volumes could be
limited, but the very low permeability of these shales is likely
to preclude injection of large volumes of CO2.

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5.3.5.3 Salt caverns

Storage of CO2 in salt caverns created by solution mining could
use the technology developed for the storage of liquid natural
gas and petroleum products in salt beds and domes in Western
Canada and the Gulf of Mexico (Dusseault et al., 2004). A single
salt cavern can reach more than 500,000 m3. Storage of CO2 in
salt caverns differs from natural gas and compressed air storage
because in the latter case, the caverns are cyclically pressurized
and depressurized on a daily-to-annual time scale, whereas
CO2 storage must be effective on a centuries-to-millennia time
scale. Owing to the creep properties of salt, a cavern filled with
supercritical CO2 will decrease in volume, until the pressure
inside the cavern equalizes the external stress in the salt bed
(Bachu and Dusseault, 2005). Although a single cavern 100 m
in diameter may hold only about 0.5 Mt of high density CO2,
arrays of caverns could be built for large-scale storage. Cavern
sealing is important in preventing leakage and collapse of cavern
roofs, which could release large quantities of gas (Katzung et al.,
1996). Advantages of CO2 storage in salt caverns include high
capacity per unit volume (kgCO2 m3), efficiency and injection
flow rate. Disadvantages are the potential for CO2 release in
the case of system failure, the relatively small capacity of most
individual caverns and the environmental problems of disposing
of brine from a solution cavity. Salt caverns can also be used for
temporary storage of CO2 in collector and distributor systems
between sources and sinks of CO2.
5.3.5.4 Abandoned mines
The suitability of mines for CO2 storage depends on the nature
and sealing capacity of the rock in which mining occurs.
Heavily fractured rock, typical of igneous and metamorphic
terrains, would be difficult to seal. Mines in sedimentary rocks
may offer some CO2-storage opportunities (e.g., potash and
salt mines or stratabound lead and zinc deposits). Abandoned
coal mines offer the opportunity to store CO2, with the added
benefit of adsorption of CO2 onto coal remaining in the minedout area (Piessens and Dusar, 2004). However, the rocks above
coal mines are strongly fractured, which increases the risk
of gas leakage. In addition, long-term, safe, high-pressure,
CO2-resistant shaft seals have not been developed and any
shaft failure could result in release of large quantities of CO2.
Nevertheless, in Colorado, USA, there is a natural gas storage
facility in an abandoned coal mine.
5.3.6

Effects of impurities on storage capacity

The presence of impurities in the CO2 gas stream affects the

engineering processes of capture, transport and injection
(Chapters 3 and 4), as well as the trapping mechanisms and
capacity for CO2 storage in geological media. Some contaminants
in the CO2 stream (e.g., SOx, NOx, H2S) may require classification
as hazardous, imposing different requirements for injection and
disposal than if the stream were pure (Bergman et al., 1997).
Gas impurities in the CO2 stream affect the compressibility of
the injected CO2 (and hence the volume needed for storing a
given amount) and reduce the capacity for storage in free phase,

because of the storage space taken by these gases. Additionally,

depending on the type of geological storage, the presence of
impurities may have some other specific effects.
In EOR operations, impurities affect the oil recovery
because they change the solubility of CO2 in oil and the ability
of CO2 to vaporize oil components (Metcalfe, 1982). Methane
and nitrogen decrease oil recovery, whereas hydrogen sulphide,
propane and heavier hydrocarbons have the opposite effect
(Alston et al., 1985; Sebastian et al., 1985). The presence of
SOx may improve oil recovery, whereas the presence of NOx
can retard miscibility and thus reduce oil recovery (Bryant
and Lake, 2005) and O2 can react exothermally with oil in the
reservoir.
In the case of CO2 storage in deep saline formations, the
presence of gas impurities affects the rate and amount of CO2
storage through dissolution and precipitation. Additionally,
leaching of heavy metals from the minerals in the rock matrix
by SO2 or O2 contaminants is possible. Experience to date with
acid gas injection (Section 5.2.4.2) suggests that the effect of
impurities is not significant, although Knauss et al. (2005)
suggest that SOx injection with CO2 produces substantially
different chemical, mobilization and mineral reactions. Clarity
is needed about the range of gas compositions that industry
might wish to store, other than pure CO2 (Anheden et al.,
2005), because although there might be environmental issues
to address, there might be cost savings in co-storage of CO2 and
contaminants.
In the case of CO2 storage in coal seams, impurities may also
have a positive or negative effect, similar to EOR operations. If
a stream of gas containing H2S or SO2 is injected into coal beds,
these will likely be preferentially adsorbed because they have
a higher affinity to coal than CO2, thus reducing the storage
capacity for CO2 (Chikatamarla and Bustin, 2003). If oxygen
is present, it will react irreversibly with the coal, reducing the
sorption surface and, hence, the adsorption capacity. On the
other hand, some impure CO2 waste streams, such as coal-fired
flue gas (i.e., primarily N2 + CO2), may be used for ECBM
because the CO2 is stripped out (retained) by the coal reservoir,
because it has higher sorption selectivity than N2 and CH4.
5.3.7

Geographical distribution and storage capacity

estimates

Identifying potential sites for CO2 geological storage and

estimating their capacity on a regional or local scale should
conceptually be a simple task. The differences between the
various mechanisms and means of trapping (Sections 5.2.2)
suggest in principle the following methods:
For volumetric trapping, capacity is the product of available
volume (pore space or cavity) and CO2 density at in situ
pressure and temperature;
For solubility trapping, capacity is the amount of CO2 that
can be dissolved in the formation fluid (oil in oil reservoirs,
brackish water or brine in saline formations);
For adsorption trapping, capacity is the product of coal
volume and its capacity for adsorbing CO2;

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F
or mineral trapping, capacity is calculated on the basis
of available minerals for carbonate precipitation and the
amount of CO2 that will be used in these reactions.
The major impediments to applying these simple methods for
estimating the capacity for CO2 storage in geological media
are the lack of data, their uncertainty, the resources needed
to process data when available and the fact that frequently
more than one trapping mechanism is active. This leads to two
situations:
Global capacity estimates have been calculated by
simplifying assumptions and using very simplistic methods
and hence are not reliable;
Country- and region- or basin-specific estimates are more
detailed and precise, but are still affected by the limitations
imposed by availability of data and the methodology used.
Country- or basin-specific capacity estimates are available
only for North America, Western Europe, Australia and
Japan.
The geographical distribution and capacity estimates are
presented below and summarized in Table 5.2.
5.3.7.1 Storage in oil and gas reservoirs
This CO2 storage option is restricted to hydrocarbon-producing
basins, which represent numerically less than half of the
sedimentary provinces in the world. It is generally assumed that
oil and gas reservoirs can be used for CO2 storage after their
oil or gas reserves are depleted, although storage combined
with enhanced oil or gas production can occur sooner. Short
of a detailed, reservoir-by-reservoir analysis, the CO2 storage
capacity can and should be calculated from databases of reserves
and production (e.g., Winter and Bergman, 1993; Stevens et
al., 2001b; Bachu and Shaw, 2003, 2005; Beecy and Kuuskra,
2005).
In hydrocarbon reservoirs with little water encroachment,
the injected CO2 will generally occupy the pore volume
previously occupied by oil and/or natural gas. However, not
all the previously (hydrocarbon-saturated) pore space will be
available for CO2 because some residual water may be trapped
in the pore space due to capillarity, viscous fingering and gravity
effects (Stevens et al., 2001c). In open hydrocarbon reservoirs
(where pressure is maintained by water influx), in addition to
the capacity reduction caused by capillarity and other local
effects, a significant fraction of the pore space will be invaded
by water, decreasing the pore space available for CO2 storage,

if repressuring the reservoir is limited to preserve reservoir

integrity. In Western Canada, this loss was estimated to be in
the order of 30% for gas reservoirs and 50% for oil reservoirs
if reservoir repressuring with CO2 is limited to the initial
reservoir pressure (Bachu et al., 2004). The capacity estimates
presented here for oil and gas reservoirs have not included any
discounting that may be appropriate for water-drive reservoirs
because detailed site-specific reservoir analysis is needed to
assess the effects of water-drive on capacity on a case-by-case
basis.
Many storage-capacity estimates for oil and gas fields do
not distinguish capacity relating to oil and gas that has already
been produced from capacity relating to remaining reserves yet
to be produced and that will become available in future years.
In some global assessments, estimates also attribute capacity
to undiscovered oil and gas fields that might be discovered in
future years. There is uncertainty about when oil and gas fields
will be depleted and become available for CO2 storage. The
depletion of oil and gas fields is mostly affected by economic
rather than technical considerations, particularly oil and gas
prices. It is possible that production from near-depleted fields
will be extended if future economic considerations allow more
hydrocarbons to be recovered, thus delaying access to such
fields for CO2 storage. Currently few of the worlds large oil
and gas fields are depleted.
A variety of regional and global estimates of storage capacity
in oil and gas fields have been made. Regional and national
assessments use a bottom-up approach that is based on field
reserves data from each areas existing and discovered oil and
gas fields. Although the methodologies used may differ, there is
a higher level of confidence in these than the global estimates,
for the reasons outlined previously. Currently, this type of
assessment is available only for northwestern Europe, United
States, Canada and Australia. In Europe, there have been three
bottom-up attempts to estimate the CO2 storage capacity of oil
and gas reservoirs covering parts of Europe, but comprising most
of Europes storage capacity since they include the North Sea
(Holloway, 1996; Wildenborg et al., 2005b). The methodology
used in all three studies was based on the assumption that
the total reservoir volume of hydrocarbons could be replaced
by CO2. The operators estimate of ultimately recoverable
reserves (URR) was used for each field where available or
was estimated. The underground volume occupied by the
URR and the amount of CO2 that could be stored in that space
under reservoir conditions was then calculated. Undiscovered
reserves were excluded. For Canada, the assumption was that

Table 5.2 Storage capacity for several geological storage options. The storage capacity includes storage options that are not economical.
Reservoir type

Oil and gas fields

Unminable coal seams (ECBM)

Deep saline formations
a

Lower estimate of storage capacity

(GtCO2)

Upper estimate of storage capacity

(GtCO2)

3-15

200

675a

1000

These numbers would increase by 25% if undiscovered oil and gas fields were included in this assessment.

900a

Uncertain, but possibly 104

222
the produced reserves (not the original oil or gas in place) could
be replaced by CO2 (theoretical capacity) for all reservoirs in
Western Canada, on the basis of in situ pressure, temperature
and pore volume. Reduction coefficients were then applied
to account for aquifer invasion and all other effects (effective
capacity). This value was then reduced for depth (9003500 m)
and size (practical capacity) (Bachu and Shaw, 2005).
The storage potential of northwestern Europe is estimated
at more than 40 GtCO2 for gas reservoirs and 7 GtCO2 for oil
fields (Wildenborg et al., 2005b). The European estimates are
based on all reserves (no significant fields occur above 800 m).
Carbon dioxide density was calculated from the depth, pressure
and temperature of fields in most cases; where these were not
available, a density of 700 kg m3 was used. No assumption was
made about the amount of oil recovered from the fields before
CO2 storage was initiated and tertiary recovery by EOR was not
included. In Western Canada, the practical CO2 storage potential
in the Alberta and Williston basins in reservoirs with capacity
more than 1 MtCO2 each was estimated to be about 1 GtCO2 in oil
reservoirs and about 4 GtCO2 in gas reservoirs. The capacity in
all discovered oil and gas reservoirs is approximately 10 GtCO2
(Bachu et al., 2004; Bachu and Shaw, 2005). For Canada, the
CO2 density was calculated for each reservoir from the pressure
and temperature. The oil and gas recovery was that provided
in the reserves databases or was based on actual production.
For reservoirs suitable for EOR, an analytical method was
developed to estimate how much would be produced and how
much CO2 would be stored (Shaw and Bachu, 2002). In the
United States, the total storage capacity in discovered oil and
gas fields is estimated to be approximately 98 GtCO2 (Winter
and Bergman, 1993; Bergman et al., 1997). Data on production
to date and known reserves and resources indicate that Australia
has up to 15 GtCO2 storage capacity in gas reservoirs and 0.7
GtCO2 in oil reservoirs. The Australian estimates used field data
to recalculate the CO2 that could occupy the producible volume
at field conditions. The total storage capacity in discovered fields
for these regions with bottom-up assessments is 170 GtCO2.
Although not yet assessed, it is almost certain that significant
storage potential exists in all other oil and gas provinces around
the world, such as the Middle East, Russia, Asia, Africa and
Latin America.
Global capacity for CO2-EOR opportunities is estimated to
have a geological storage capacity of 61123 GtCO2, although
as practised today, CO2-EOR is not engineered to maximize
CO2 storage. In fact, it is optimized to maximize revenues from
oil production, which in many cases requires minimizing the
amount of CO2 retained in the reservoir. In the future, if storing
CO2 has an economic value, co-optimizing CO2 storage and
EOR may increase capacity estimates. In European capacity
studies, it was considered likely that EOR would be attempted
at all oil fields where CO2 storage took place, because it would
generate additional revenue. The calculation in Wildenborg et
al. (2005b) allows for different recovery factors based on API
(American Petroleum Institute) gravity of oil. For Canada, all
10,000 oil reservoirs in Western Canada were screened for
suitability for EOR on the basis of a set of criteria developed

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

from EOR literature. Those oil reservoirs that passed were
considered further in storage calculations (Shaw and Bachu,
2002).
Global estimates of storage capacity in oil reservoirs vary
from 126 to 400 GtCO2 (Freund, 2001). These assessments,
made on a top-down basis, include potential in undiscovered
reservoirs. Comparable global capacity for CO2 storage in
gas reservoirs is estimated at 800 GtCO2 (Freund, 2001).
The combined estimate of total ultimate storage capacity in
discovered oil and gas fields is therefore very likely 675900
GtCO2. If undiscovered oil and gas fields are included, this
figure would increase to 9001200 GtCO2, but the confidence
level would decrease.
In comparison, more detailed regional estimates made for
northwestern Europe, United States, Australia and Canada
indicate a total of about 170 GtCO2 storage capacity in their
existing oil and gas fields, with the discovered oil and gas
reserves of these countries accounting for 18.9% of the world
total (USGS, 2001a). Global storage estimates that are based on
proportionality suggest that discovered worldwide oil and gas
reservoirs have a capacity of 900 GtCO2, which is comparable
to the global estimates by Freund (2001) of 800 GtCO2 for gas
(Stevens et al., 2000) and 123 GtCO2 for oil and is assessed as
a reliable value, although water invasion was not always taken
into account.
5.3.7.2 Storage in deep saline formations
Saline formations occur in sedimentary basins throughout the
world, both onshore and on the continental shelves (Chapter 2
and Section 5.3.3) and are not limited to hydrocarbon provinces
or coal basins. However, estimating the CO2 storage capacity of
deep saline formations is presently a challenge for the following
reasons:
There are multiple mechanisms for storage, including
physical trapping beneath low permeability caprock,
dissolution and mineralization;
These mechanisms operate both simultaneously and on
different time scales, such that the time frame of CO2
storage affects the capacity estimate; volumetric storage is
important initially, but later CO2 dissolves and reacts with
minerals;
Relations and interactions between these various mechanisms
are very complex, evolve with time and are highly dependent
on local conditions;
There is no single, consistent, broadly available methodology
for estimating CO2 storage capacity (various studies have
used different methods that do not allow comparison).
Only limited seismic and well data are normally available
(unlike data on oil and gas reservoirs).
To understand the difficulties in assessing CO2 storage capacity
in deep saline formations, we need to understand the interplay
Estimates of the undiscovered oil and gas are based on the USGS assessment
that 30% more oil and gas will be discovered, compared to the resources known
today.

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Figure 5.18 Schematic showing the time evolution of various CO2

storage mechanisms operating in deep saline formations, during
and after injection. Assessing storage capacity is complicated by the
different time and spatial scales over which these processes occur.

of the various trapping mechanisms during the evolution of

a CO2 plume (Section 5.2 and Figure 5.18). In addition, the
storage capacity of deep saline formations can be determined
only on a case-by-case basis.
To date, most of the estimates of CO2 storage capacity
in deep saline formations focus on physical trapping and/or
dissolution. These estimates make the simplifying assumption
that no geochemical reactions take place concurrent with CO2
injection, flow and dissolution. Some recent work suggests that
it can take several thousand years for geochemical reactions to
have a significant impact (Xu et al., 2003). The CO2 storage
capacity from mineral trapping can be comparable to the
capacity in solution per unit volume of sedimentary rock when
formation porosity is taken into account (Bachu and Adams,
2003; Perkins et al., 2005), although the rates and time frames
of these two processes are different.
More than 14 global assessments of capacity have been
made by using these types of approaches (IEA-GHG, 2004).
The range of estimates from these studies is large (20056,000
GtCO2), reflecting both the different assumptions used to make
these estimates and the uncertainty in the parameters. Most of
the estimates are in the range of several hundred Gtonnes of
CO2. Volumetric capacity estimates that are based on local,
reservoir-scale numerical simulations of CO2 injection suggest
occupancy of the pore space by CO2 on the order of a few percent
as a result of gravity segregation and viscous fingering (van
der Meer, 1992, 1995; Krom et al., 1993; Ispen and Jacobsen,
1996). Koide et al. (1992) used the areal method of projecting
natural resources reserves and assumed that 1% of the total area
of the worlds sedimentary basins can be used for CO2 storage.
Other studies considered that 26% of formation area can be
used for CO2 storage. However, Bradshaw and Dance (2005)
have shown there is no correlation between geographic area of a
sedimentary basin and its capacity for either hydrocarbons (oil
and gas reserves) or CO2 storage.
The storage capacity of Europe has been estimated as 30
577 GtCO2 (Holloway, 1996; Be et al., 2002; Wildenborg et
al., 2005b). The main uncertainties for Europe are estimates of

223
the amount trapped (estimated to be 3%) and storage efficiency,
estimated as 26% (2% for closed aquifer with permeability
barriers; 6% for open aquifer with almost infinite extent), 4%
if open/closed status is not known. The volume in traps is
assumed to be proportional to the total pore volume, which
may not necessarily be correct. Early estimates of the total US
storage capacity in deep saline formations suggested a total of
up to 500 GtCO2 (Bergman and Winter, 1995). A more recent
estimate of the capacity of a single deep formation in the United
States, the Mount Simon Sandstone, is 160800 GtCO2 (Gupta
et al., 1999), suggesting that the total US storage capacity
may be higher than earlier estimates. Assuming that CO2 will
dissolve to saturation in all deep formations, Bachu and Adams
(2003) estimated the storage capacity of the Alberta basin in
Western Canada to be approximately 4000 GtCO2, which is a
theoretical maximum assuming that all the pore water in the
Alberta Basin could become saturated with CO2, which is not
likely. An Australian storage capacity estimate of 740 GtCO2
was determined by a cumulative risked-capacity approach for
65 potentially viable sites from 48 basins (Bradshaw et al.,
2003). The total capacity in Japan has been estimated as 1.580
GtCO2, mostly in offshore formations (Tanaka et al., 1995).
Within these wide ranges, the lower figure is generally the
estimated storage capacity of volumetric traps within the deep
saline formations, where free-phase CO2 would accumulate. The
larger figure is based on additional storage mechanisms, mainly
dissolution but also mineral trapping. The various methods and
data used in these capacity estimates demonstrate a high degree
of uncertainty in estimating regional or global storage capacity
in deep saline formations. In the examples from Europe and
Japan, the maximum estimate is 15 to 50 times larger than the
low estimate. Similarly, global estimates of storage capacity
show a wide range, 100200,000 GtCO2, reflecting different
methodologies, levels of uncertainties and considerations of
effective trapping mechanisms.
The assessment of this report is that it is very likely that
global storage capacity in deep saline formations is at least 1000
GtCO2. Confidence in this assessment comes from the fact that
oil and gas fields discovered have a global storage capacity
of approximately 675900 GtCO2 and that they occupy only
a small fraction of the pore volume in sedimentary basins, the
rest being occupied by brackish water and brine. Moreover,
oil and gas reservoirs occur only in about half of the worlds
sedimentary basins. Additionally, regional estimates suggest
that significant storage capacity is available. Significantly
more storage capacity is likely to be available in deep saline
formations. The literature is not adequate to support a robust
estimate of the maximum geological storage capacity. Some
studies suggest that it might be little more than 1000 GtCO2,
while others indicate that the upper figure could be an order
of magnitude higher. More detailed regional and local capacity
assessments are required to resolve this issue.
5.3.7.3 Storage in coal
No commercial CO2-ECBM operations exist and a
comprehensive realistic assessment of the potential for CO2

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

storage in coal formations has not yet been made. Normally,

commercial CBM reservoirs are shallower than 1500 m, whereas
coal mining in Europe and elsewhere has reached depths of
1000 m. Because CO2 should not be stored in coals that could
be potentially mined, there is a relatively narrow depth window
for CO2 storage.
Assuming that bituminous coals can adsorb twice as much
CO2 as methane, a preliminary analysis of the theoretical CO2
storage potential for ECBM recovery projects suggests that
approximately 60200 GtCO2 could be stored worldwide
in bituminous coal seams (IEA-GHG, 1998). More recent
estimates for North America range from 60 to 90 GtCO2 (Reeves,
2003b; Dooley et al., 2005), by including sub-bituminous
coals and lignites. Technical and economic considerations
suggest a practical storage potential of approximately 7 GtCO2
for bituminous coals (Gale and Freund, 2001; Gale, 2004).
Assuming that CO2 would not be stored in coal seams without
recovering the CBM, a storage capacity of 315 GtCO2 is
calculated, for a US annual production of CBM in 2003 of
approximately 0.04 trillion m3 and projected global production
levels of 0.20 trillion m3 in the future. This calculation assumes
that 0.1 GtCO2 can be stored for every Tcf of produced CBM
(3.53 GtCO2 for every trillion m3) and compares well to Gale
(2004).
5.3.8

Matching of CO2 sources and geological storage

sites

Matching of CO2 sources with geological storage sites requires

detailed assessment of source quality and quantity, transport and
economic and environmental factors. If the storage site is far
from CO2 sources or is associated with a high level of technical
uncertainty, then its storage potential may never be realized.
5.3.8.1 Regional studies
Matching sources of CO2 to potential storage sites, taking into
account projections for future socio-economic development,
will be particularly important for some of the rapidly
developing economies. Assessment of sources and storage
sites, together with numerical simulations, emissions mapping
and identification of transport routes, has been undertaken for
a number of regions in Europe (Holloway, 1996; Larsen et
al., 2005). In Japan, studies have modelled and optimized the
linkages between 20 onshore emission regions and 20 offshore
storage regions, including both ocean storage and geological
storage (Akimoto et al., 2003). Preliminary studies have also
begun in India (Garg et al., 2005) and Argentina (Amadeo et
al., 2005). For the United States, a study that used a Geographic
Information System (GIS) and a broad-based economic analysis
(Dooley et al., 2005) shows that about two-thirds of power
stations are adjacent to potential geological storage locations,
but a number would require transportation of hundreds of
kilometres.
Studies of Canadian sedimentary basins that include
descriptions of the type of data and flow diagrams of the
assessment process have been carried out by Bachu (2003).

Results for the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin show

that, while the total capacity of oil and gas reservoirs in the
basin is several Gtonnes of CO2, the capacity of underlying
deep saline formations is two to three orders of magnitude
higher. Most major CO2 emitters have potential storage sites
relatively close by, with the notable exception of the oil sands
plants in northeastern Alberta (current CO2 emissions of about
20 MtCO2 yr-1).
In Australia, a portfolio approach was undertaken for the
continent to identify a range of geological storage sites (Rigg
et al., 2001; Bradshaw et al., 2002). The initial assessment
screened 300 sedimentary basins down to 48 basins and 65 areas.
Methodology was developed for ranking storage sites (technical
and economic risks) and proximity of large CO2 emission sites.
Region-wide solutions were sought, incorporating an economic
model to assess full project economics over 20 to 30 years,
including costs of transport, storage, monitoring and Monte
Carlo analysis. The study produced three storage estimates:
Total capacity of 740 GtCO2, equivalent to 1600 years
of current emissions, but with no economic barriers
considered;
Realistic capacity of 100115 MtCO2 yr-1 or 50% of annual
stationary emissions, determined by matching sources with
the closest viable storage sites and assuming economic
incentives for storage;
Cost curve capacity of 20180 MtCO2 yr-1, with increasing
storage capacity depending on future CO2 values.
5.3.8.2 Methodology and assessment criteria
Although some commonality exists in the various approaches for
capacity assessment, each study is influenced by the available
data and resources, the aims of the respective study and whether
local or whole-region solutions are being sought. The next level
of analysis covers regional aspects and detail at the prospect or
project level, including screening and selection of potential CO2
storage sites on the basis of technical, environmental, safety and
economic criteria. Finally, integration and analysis of various
scenarios can lead to identification of potential storage sites
that should then become targets of detailed engineering and
economic studies.
The following factors should be considered when selecting
CO2 storage sites and matching them with CO2 sources (Winter
and Bergman, 1993; Bergman et al., 1997; Kovscek, 2002):
volume, purity and rate of the CO2 stream; suitability of the
storage sites, including the seal; proximity of the source and
storage sites; infrastructure for the capture and delivery of
CO2; existence of a large number of storage sites to allow
diversification; known or undiscovered energy, mineral or
groundwater resources that might be compromised; existing
wells and infrastructure; viability and safety of the storage
site; injection strategies and, in the case of EOR and ECBM,
production strategies, which together affect the number of wells
and their spacing; terrain and right of way; location of population
centres; local expertise; and overall costs and economics.
Although technical suitability criteria are initial indicators
for identifying potential CO2 storage sites, once the best

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

candidates have been selected, further considerations will be
controlled by economic, safety and environmental aspects.
These criteria must be assessed for the anticipated lifetime of
the operation, to ascertain whether storage capacity can match
supply volume and whether injection rates can match the
supply rate. Other issues might include whether CO2 sources
and storage sites are matched on a one-to-one basis or whether
a collection and distribution system is implemented, to form
an integrated industrial system. Such deliberations affect cost
outcomes, as will the supply rates, through economies of
scale. Early opportunities for source-storage matching could
involve sites where an economic benefit might accrue through
the enhanced production of oil or gas (Holtz et al., 2001; van
Bergen et al., 2003b).
Assigning technical risks is important for matching of CO2
sources and storage sites, for five risk factors: storage capacity,
injectivity, containment, site and natural resources (Bradshaw
et al., 2002, 2003). These screening criteria introduce reality
checks to large storage-capacity estimates and indicate which
regions to concentrate upon in future detailed studies. The use of
cost curve capacity introduces another level of sophistication
that helps in identifying how sensitive any storage capacity
estimate is to the cost of CO2. Combining the technical criteria
into an economic assessment reveals that costs are quite
project-specific.
5.4 Characterization and performance prediction for
identified sites
Key goals for geological CO2 storage site characterization are
to assess how much CO2 can be stored at a potential storage site
and to demonstrate that the site is capable of meeting required
storage performance criteria (Figure 5.19). Site characterization
requires the collection of the wide variety of geological data
that are needed to achieve these goals. Much of the data will
necessarily be site-specific. Most data will be integrated into
geological models that will be used to simulate and predict the
performance of the site. These and related issues are considered
below.
5.4.1

Characterization of identified sites

Storage site requirements depend greatly upon the trapping

mechanism and the geological medium in which storage is
proposed (e.g., deep saline formation, depleted oil or gas field or
coal seam). Data availability and quality vary greatly between
each of these options (Table 5.3). In many cases, oil and gas
fields will be better characterized than deep saline formations
because a relevant data set was collected during hydrocarbon
exploration and production. However, this may not always be
the case. There are many examples of deep saline formations
whose character and performance for CO2 storage can be
predicted reliably over a large area (Chadwick et al., 2003;
Bradshaw et al., 2003).

5.4.1.1 Data types

The storage site and its surroundings need to be characterized
in terms of geology, hydrogeology, geochemistry and
geomechanics (structural geology and deformation in response
to stress changes). The greatest emphasis will be placed on the
reservoir and its sealing horizons. However, the strata above the
storage formation and caprock also need to be assessed because
if CO2 leaked it would migrate through them (Haidl et al., 2005).
Documentation of the characteristics of any particular storage
site will rely on data that have been obtained directly from the
reservoir, such as core and fluids produced from wells at or near
the proposed storage site, pressure transient tests conducted to
test seal efficiency and indirect remote sensing measurements
such as seismic reflection data and regional hydrodynamic
pressure gradients. Integration of all of the different types of
data is needed to develop a reliable model that can be used to
assess whether a site is suitable for CO2 storage.
During the site-selection process that may follow an initial
screening, detailed reservoir simulation (Section 5.4.2 will be
necessary to meaningfully assess a potential storage site. A range
of geophysical, geological, hydrogeological and geomechanical
information is required to perform the modelling associated
with a reservoir simulation. This information must be built into
a three-dimensional geological model, populated with known
and extrapolated data at an appropriate scale. Examples of the
basic types of data and products that may be useful are listed in
Table 5.3.
Financial constraints may limit the types of data that can be
collected as part of the site characterization and selection process.
Today, no standard methodology prescribes how a site must be
characterized. Instead, selections about site characterization data
will be made on a site-specific basis, choosing those data sets
that will be most valuable in the particular geological setting.
However, some data sets are likely to be selected for every
case. Geological site description from wellbores and outcrops
are needed to characterize the storage formation and seal
properties. Seismic surveys are needed to define the subsurface
geological structure and identify faults or fractures that could
create leakage pathways. Formation pressure measurements
are needed to map the rate and direction of groundwater flow.
Water quality samples are needed to demonstrate the isolation
between deep and shallow groundwater.
5.4.1.2

Assessment of stratigraphic factors affecting site

integrity
Caprocks or seals are the permeability barriers (mostly vertical
but sometimes lateral) that prevent or impede migration of
CO2 from the injection site. The integrity of a seal depends on
spatial distribution and physical properties. Ideally, a sealing
rock unit should be regional in nature and uniform in lithology,
especially at its base. Where there are lateral changes in the
basal units of a seal rock, the chance of migration out of the
primary reservoir into higher intervals increases. However, if
the seal rock is uniform, regionally extensive and thick, then
the main issues will be the physical rock strength, any natural or
anthropomorphic penetrations (faults, fractures and wells) and

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Figure 5.19 Life cycle of a CO2 storage project showing the importance of integrating site characterization with a range of regulatory, monitoring,
economic, risking and engineering issues.

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Table 5.3 Types of data that are used to characterize and select geological CO2 storage sites.

Seismic profiles across the area of interest, preferably three-dimensional or closely spaced two-dimensional surveys;
Structure contour maps of reservoirs, seals and aquifers;
Detailed maps of the structural boundaries of the trap where the CO2 will accumulate, especially highlighting potential spill points;
Maps of the predicted pathway along which the CO2 will migrate from the point of injection;
Documentation and maps of faults and fault;
Facies maps showing any lateral facies changes in the reservoirs or seals;
Core and drill cuttings samples from the reservoir and seal intervals;
Well logs, preferably a consistent suite, including geological, geophysical and engineering logs;
Fluid analyses and tests from downhole sampling and production testing;
Oil and gas production data (if a hydrocarbon field);
Pressure transient tests for measuring reservoir and seal permeability;
Petrophysical measurements, including porosity, permeability, mineralogy (petrography), seal capacity, pressure, temperature, salinity
and laboratory rock strength testing;
Pressure, temperature, water salinity;
In situ stress analysis to determine potential for fault reactivation and fault slip tendency and thus identify the maximum sustainable pore
fluid pressure during injection in regard to the reservoir, seal and faults;
Hydrodynamic analysis to identify the magnitude and direction of water flow, hydraulic interconnectivity of formations and pressure
decrease associated with hydrocarbon production;
Seismological data, geomorphological data and tectonic investigations to indicate neotectonic activity.

potential CO2-water-rock reactions that could weaken the seal

rock or increase its porosity and permeability.
Methods have been described for making field-scale
measurements of the permeability of caprocks for formation
gas storage projects, based on theoretical developments in the
1950s and 1960s (Hantush and Jacobs, 1955; Hantush, 1960).
These use water-pumping tests to measure the rate of leakage
across the caprock (Witherspoon et al., 1968). A related type
of test, called a pressure leak-off test, can be used to measure
caprock permeability and in situ stress. The capacity of a seal
rock to hold back fluids can also be estimated from core samples
by mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) analysis, a
method widely used in the oil and gas industry (Vavra et al.,
1992). MICP analysis measures the pressures required to move
mercury through the pore network system of a seal rock. The
resulting data can be used to derive the height of a column of
reservoir rock saturated by a particular fluid (e.g., CO2) that the
sealing strata would be capable of holding back (Gibson-Poole
et al., 2002).
5.4.1.3 Geomechanical factors affecting site integrity
When CO2 is injected into a porous and permeable reservoir
rock, it will be forced into pores at a pressure higher than
that in the surrounding formation. This pressure could lead to
deformation of the reservoir rock or the seal rock, resulting
in the opening of fractures or failure along a fault plane.
Geomechanical modelling of the subsurface is necessary in
any storage site assessment and should focus on the maximum
formation pressures that can be sustained in a storage site. As
an example, at Weyburn, where the initial reservoir pressure is
14.2 MPa, the maximum injection pressure (90% of fracture
pressure) is in the range of 2527 MPa and fracture pressure is in
the range of 2931 MPa. Coupled geomechanical-geochemical
modelling may also be needed to document fracture sealing by
precipitation of carbonates in fractures or pores. Modelling these
will require knowledge of pore fluid composition, mineralogy,

in situ stresses, pore fluid pressures and pre-existing fault

orientations and their frictional properties (Streit and Hillis,
2003; Johnson et al., 2005). These estimates can be made from
conventional well and seismic data and leak-off tests, but the
results can be enhanced by access to physical measurements
of rock strength. Application of this methodology at a regional
scale is documented by Gibson-Poole et al. (2002).
The efficacy of an oil or gas field seal rock can be
characterized by examining its capillary entry pressure and the
potential hydrocarbon column height that it can sustain (see
above). However, Jimenez and Chalaturnyk (2003) suggest that
the geomechanical processes, during depletion and subsequent
CO2 injection, may affect the hydraulic integrity of the seal
rock in hydrocarbon fields. Movement along faults can be
produced in a hydrocarbon field by induced changes in the preproduction stress regime. This can happen when fluid pressures
are substantially depleted during hydrocarbon production
(Streit and Hillis, 2003). Determining whether the induced
stress changes result in compaction or pore collapse is critical
in assessment of a depleted field. If pore collapse occurs, then
it might not be possible to return a pressure-depleted field to
its original pore pressure without the risk of induced failure.
By having a reduced maximum pore fluid pressure, the total
volume of CO2 that can be stored in a depleted field could be
substantially less than otherwise estimated.
5.4.1.4 Geochemical factors affecting site integrity
The mixing of CO2 and water in the pore system of the reservoir
rock will create dissolved CO2, carbonic acid and bicarbonate
ions. The acidification of the pore water reduces the amount
of CO2 that can be dissolved. As a consequence, rocks that
buffer the pore water pH to higher values (reducing the acidity)
facilitate the storage of CO2 as a dissolved phase (Section 5.2).
The CO2-rich water may react with minerals in the reservoir rock
or caprock matrix or with the primary pore fluid. Importantly, it
may also react with borehole cements and steels (see discussion

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below). Such reactions may cause either mineral dissolution

and potential breakdown of the rock (or cement) matrix or
mineral precipitation and plugging of the pore system (and thus,
reduction in permeability).
A carbonate mineral formation effectively traps stored CO2
as an immobile solid phase (Section 5.2). If the mineralogical
composition of the rock matrix is strongly dominated by quartz,
geochemical reactions will be dominated by simple dissolution
into the brine and CO2-water-rock reactions can be neglected.
In this case, complex geochemical simulations of rock-water
interactions will not be needed. However, for more complex
mineralogies, sophisticated simulations, based on laboratory
experimental data that use reservoir and caprock samples and
native pore fluids, may be necessary to fully assess the potential
effects of such reactions in more complex systems (Bachu et al.,
1994; Czernichowski-Lauriol et al., 1996; Rochelle et al., 1999,
2004; Gunter et al., 2000). Studies of rock samples recovered
from natural systems rich in CO2 can provide indications of
what reactions might occur in the very long term (Pearce et al.,
1996). Reactions in boreholes are considered by Crolet (1983),
Rochelle et al. (2004) and Schremp and Roberson (1975).
Natural CO2 reservoirs also allow sampling of solid and fluid
reactants and reaction products, thus allowing formulation
of geochemical models that can be verified with numerical
simulations, further facilitating quantitative predictions of
water-CO2-rock reactions (May, 1998).
5.4.1.5 Anthropogenic factors affecting storage integrity
As discussed at greater length in Section 5.7.2, anthropogenic
factors such as active or abandoned wells, mine shafts and
subsurface production can impact storage security. Abandoned
wells that penetrate the storage formation can be of particular
concern because they may provide short circuits for CO2 to leak
from the storage formation to the surface (Celia and Bachu,
2003; Gasda et al., 2004). Therefore, locating and assessing
the condition of abandoned and active wells is an important
component of site characterization. It is possible to locate
abandoned wells with airborne magnetometer surveys. In
most cases, abandoned wells will have metal casings, but this
may not be the case for wells drilled long ago or those never
completed for oil or gas production. Countries with oil and gas
production will have at least some records of the more recently
drilled wells, depth of wells and other information stored in
a geographic database. The consistency and quality of record
keeping of drilled wells (oil and gas, mining exploration and
water) varies considerably, from excellent for recent wells
to nonexistent, particularly for older wells (Stenhouse et al.,
2004).
5.4.2

Performance prediction and optimization

modelling

Computer simulation also has a key role in the design and

operation of field projects for underground injection of CO2.
Predictions of the storage capacity of the site or the expected
incremental recovery in enhanced recovery projects, are vital to

an initial assessment of economic feasibility. In a similar vein,

simulation can be used in tandem with economic assessments
to optimize the location, number, design and depth of injection
wells. For enhanced recovery projects, the timing of CO2
injection relative to production is vital to the success of the
operation and the effect of various strategies can be assessed
by simulation. Simulations of the long-term distribution of
CO2 in the subsurface (e.g., migration rate and direction and
rate of dissolution in the formation water) are important for
the design of cost-effective monitoring programmes, since the
results will influence the location of monitoring wells and the
frequency of repeat measurements, such as for seismic, soil gas
or water chemistry. During injection and monitoring operations,
simulation models can be adjusted to match field observations
and then used to assess the impact of possible operational
changes, such as drilling new wells or altering injection rates,
often with the goal of further improving recovery (in the context
of hydrocarbon extraction) or of avoiding migration of CO2 past
a likely spill-point.
Section 5.2 described the important physical, chemical
and geomechanical processes that must be considered when
evaluating a storage project. Numerical simulators currently
in use in the oil, gas and geothermal energy industries provide
important subsets of the required capabilities. They have served
as convenient starting points for recent and ongoing development
efforts specifically targeted at modelling the geological storage
of CO2. Many simulation codes have been used and adapted for
this purpose (White, 1995; Nitao, 1996; White and Oostrom,
1997; Pruess et al., 1999; Lichtner, 2001; Steefel, 2001; Xu et
al., 2003).
Simulation codes are available for multiphase flow processes,
chemical reactions and geomechanical changes, but most codes
account for only a subset of these processes. Capabilities
for a comprehensive treatment of different processes are
limited at present. This is especially true for the coupling of
multiphase fluid flow, geochemical reactions and (particularly)
geomechanics, which are very important for the integrity of
potential geological storage sites (Rutqvist and Tsang, 2002).
Demonstrating that they can model the important physical and
chemical processes accurately and reliably is necessary for
establishing credibility as practical engineering tools. Recently,
an analytical model developed for predicting the evolution of
a plume of CO2 injected into a deep saline formation, as well
as potential CO2 leakage rates through abandoned wells, has
shown good matching with results obtained from the industry
numerical simulator ECLIPSE (Celia et al., 2005; Nordbotten
et al., 2005b).
A code intercomparison study involving ten research
groups from six countries was conducted recently to evaluate
the capabilities and accuracy of numerical simulators for
geological storage of greenhouse gases (Pruess et al., 2004).
The test problems addressed CO2 storage in saline formations
and oil and gas reservoirs. The results of the intercomparison
were encouraging in that substantial agreement was found
between results obtained with different simulators. However,
there were also areas with only fair agreement, as well as some

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significant discrepancies. Most discrepancies could be traced to
differences in fluid property descriptions, such as fluid densities
and viscosities and mutual solubility of CO2 and water. The study
concluded that although code development work undoubtedly
must continue . . . codes are available now that can model the
complex phenomena accompanying geological storage of CO2
in a robust manner and with quantitatively similar results
(Pruess et al., 2004).
Another, similar intercomparison study was conducted
for simulation of storage of CO2 in coal beds, considering
both pure CO2 injection and injection of flue gases (Law et
al., 2003). Again, there was good agreement between the
simulation results from different codes. Code intercomparisons
are useful for checking mathematical methods and numerical
approximations and to provide insight into relevant phenomena
by using the different descriptions of the physics (or chemistry)
implemented. However, establishing the realism and accuracy
of physical and chemical process models is a more demanding
task, one that requires carefully controlled and monitored field
and laboratory experiments. Only after simulation models have
been shown to be capable of adequately representing real-world
observations can they be relied upon for engineering design and
analysis. Methods for calibrating models to complex engineered
subsurface systems are available, but validating them requires
field testing that is time consuming and expensive.
The principal difficulty is that the complex geological
models on which the simulation models are based are subject
to considerable uncertainties, resulting both from uncertainties
in data interpretation and, in some cases, sparse data sets.
Measurements taken at wells provide information on rock
and fluid properties at that location, but statistical techniques
must be used to estimate properties away from the wells. When
simulating a field in which injection or production is already
occurring, a standard approach in the oil and gas industry is
to adjust some parameters of the geological model to match
selected field observations. This does not prove that the model is
correct, but it does provide additional constraints on the model
parameters. In the case of saline formation storage, history
matching is generally not feasible for constraining uncertainties,
due to a lack of underground data for comparison. Systematic
parameter variation routines and statistical functions should
be included in future coupled simulators to allow uncertainty
estimates for numerical reservoir simulation results.
Field tests of CO2 injection are under way or planned in
several countries and these tests provide opportunities to validate
simulation models. For example, in Statoils Sleipner project,
simulation results have been matched to information on the
distribution of CO2 in the subsurface, based on the interpretation
of repeat three-dimensional seismic surveys (Lindeberg et al.,
2001; van der Meer et al., 2001; see also Section 5.4.3. At the
Weyburn project in Canada, repeat seismic surveys and water
chemistry sampling provide information on CO2 distribution
that can likewise be used to adjust the simulation models
(Moberg et al., 2003; White et al., 2004).
Predictions of the long-term distribution of injected CO2,
including the effects of geochemical reactions, cannot be

directly validated on a field scale because these reactions may

take hundreds to thousands of years. However, the simulation
of important mechanisms, such as the convective mixing
of dissolved CO2, can be tested by comparison to laboratory
analogues (Ennis-King and Paterson, 2003). Another possible
route is to match simulations to the geochemical changes
that have occurred in appropriate natural underground
accumulations of CO2, such as the precipitation of carbonate
minerals, since these provide evidence for the slow processes
that affect the long-term distribution of CO2 (Johnson et al.,
2005). It is also important to have reliable and accurate data
regarding the thermophysical properties of CO2 and mixtures
of CO2 with methane, water and potential contaminants such
as H2S and SO2. Similarly, it is important to have data on
relative permeability and capillary pressure under drainage
and imbibition conditions. Code comparison studies show that
the largest discrepancies between different simulators can be
traced to uncertainties in these parameters (Pruess et al., 2004).
For sites where few, if any, CO2-water-rock interactions occur,
reactive chemical transport modelling may not be needed and
simpler simulations that consider only CO2-water reactions will
suffice.
5.4.3

Examples of storage site characterization and

performance prediction

Following are examples and lessons learned from two case

studies of characterization of a CO2 storage site: one of an actual
operating CO2 storage site (Sleipner Gas Field in the North Sea)
and the other of a potential or theoretical site (Petrel Sub-basin
offshore northwest Australia). A common theme throughout
these studies is the integration and multidisciplinary approach
required to adequately document and monitor any injection
site. There are lessons to be learned from these studies, because
they have identified issues that in hindsight should be examined
prior to any CO2 injection.
5.4.3.1 Sleipner
Studies of the Sleipner CO2 Injection Project (Box 5.1)
highlighted the advantages of detailed knowledge of the
reservoir stratigraphy (Chadwick et al., 2003). After the initial
CO2 injection, small layers of low-permeability sediments within
the saline formation interval and sandy lenses near the base of
the seal were clearly seen to be exercising an important control
on the distribution of CO2 within the reservoir rock (Figure
5.16a,b). Time-lapse three-dimensional seismic imaging of the
developing CO2 plume also identified the need for precision
depth mapping of the bottom of the caprock interval. At Sleipner,
the top of the reservoir is almost flat at a regional scale. Hence,
any subtle variance in the actual versus predicted depth could
substantially affect migration patterns and rate. Identification
and mapping of a sand lens above what was initially interpreted
as the top of the reservoir resulted in a significant change to
the predicted migration direction of the CO2 (Figure 5.16a,b).
These results show the benefit of repeated three-dimensional
seismic monitoring and integration of monitoring results into

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modelling during the injection phase of the project. Refinement

of the storage-site characterization continues after injection has
started.
5.4.3.2

Petrel Sub-basin

A theoretical case study of the Petrel Sub-basin offshore

northwest Australia examined the basin-wide storage potential
of a combined hydrodynamic and solution trapping mechanism
and identified how sensitive a reservoir simulation will be to
the collected data and models built during the characterization
of a storage site (Gibson-Poole et al., 2002; Ennis-King et al.,
2003). As at Sleipner, the Petrel study identified that vertical
permeability and shale beds within the reservoir interval of
the geological model strongly influenced the vertical CO2
migration rate. In the reservoir simulation, use of coarser grids
overestimated the dissolution rate of CO2 during the injection
period, but underestimated it during the long-term migration
period. Lower values of residual CO2 saturation led to faster
dissolution during the long-term migration period and the rate
of complete dissolution depended on the vertical permeability.
Migration distance depended on the rate of dissolution and
residual CO2 trapping. The conclusion of the characterization
and performance prediction studies is that the Petrel Subbasin has a regionally extensive reservoir-seal pair suitable for
hydrodynamic trapping (Section 5.2). While the characterization
was performed on the basis of only a few wells with limited
data, analogue studies helped define the characteristics of the
formation. Although this is not the ideal situation, performing a
reservoir simulation by using geological analogues may often be
the only option. However, understanding which elements will
be the most sensitive in the simulation will help geoscientists
to understand where to prioritize their efforts in data collection
and interpretation.
5.5

Injection well technology and field operations

So far in this chapter, we have considered only the nature of

the storage site. But once a suitable site is identified, do we
have the technology available to inject large quantities of CO2
(110 MtCO2 yr-1) into the subsurface and to operate the site
effectively and safely? This section examines the issue of
technology availability.
5.5.1

Injection well technologies

As pointed out earlier in this chapter, many of the technologies

required for large-scale geological storage of CO2 already
exist. Drilling and completion technology for injection wells
in the oil and gas industry has evolved to a highly sophisticated
state, such that it is now possible to drill and complete vertical
and extended reach wells (including horizontal wells) in deep
formations, wells with multiple completions and wells able to
handle corrosive fluids. On the basis of extensive oil industry
experience, the technologies for drilling, injection, stimulations
and completions for CO2 injection wells exist and are being

practised with some adaptations in current CO2 storage projects.

In a CO2 injection well, the principal well design considerations
include pressure, corrosion-resistant materials and production
and injection rates.
The design of a CO2 injection well is very similar to that of
a gas injection well in an oil field or natural gas storage project.
Most downhole components need to be upgraded for higher
pressure ratings and corrosion resistance. The technology for
handling CO2 has already been developed for EOR operations
and for the disposal of acid gas (Section 5.2.4.) Horizontal and
extended reach wells can be good options for improving the rate
of CO2 injection from individual wells. The Weyburn field in
Canada (Box 5.3) is an example in which the use of horizontal
injection wells is improving oil recovery and increasing CO2
storage. The horizontal injectors reduce the number of injection
wells required for field development. A horizontal injection
well has the added advantage that it can create injection profiles
that reduce the adverse effects of injected-gas preferential flow
through high-permeability zones.
The number of wells required for a storage project will
depend on a number of factors, including total injection
rate, permeability and thickness of the formation, maximum
injection pressures and availability of land-surface area for
the injection wells. In general, fewer wells will be needed for
high-permeability sediments in thick storage formations and for
those projects with horizontal wells for injection. For example,
the Sleipner Project, which injects CO2 into a high-permeability,
200-m-thick formation uses only one well to inject 1 MtCO2 yr-1
(Korbol and Kaddour, 1994). In contrast, at the In Salah Project
in Algeria, CO2 is injected into a 20-m-thick formation with
much lower permeability (Riddiford et al., 2003). Here, three
long-reach horizontal wells with slotted intervals over 1 km
are used to inject 1 MtCO2 yr-1 (Figure 5.5). Cost will depend,
to some degree, on the number and completion techniques for
these wells. Therefore, careful design and optimization of the
number and slotted intervals is important for cost-effective
storage projects.
An injection well and a wellhead are depicted in Figure
5.20. Injection wells commonly are equipped with two valves
for well control, one for regular use and one reserved for safety
shutoff. In acid gas injection wells, a downhole safety valve
is incorporated in the tubing, so that if equipment fails at the
surface, the well is automatically shut down to prevent back
flow. Jarrell et al. (2002) recommend an automatic shutoff valve
on all CO2 wells to ensure that no release occurs and to prevent
CO2 from inadvertently flowing back into the injection system.
A typical downhole configuration for an injection well includes
a double-grip packer, an on-off tool and a downhole shutoff
valve. Annular pressure monitors help detect leaks in packers
and tubing, which is important for taking rapid corrective
action. To prevent dangerous high-pressure buildup on surface
equipment and avoid CO2 releases into the atmosphere, CO2
injection must be stopped as soon as leaks occur. Rupture disks
and safety valves can be used to relieve built-up pressure.
Adequate plans need to be in place for dealing with excess CO2
if the injection well needs to be shut in. Options include having

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

231

Figure 5.20 Typical CO2 injection well and wellhead configuration.

a backup injection well or methods to safely vent CO2 to the

atmosphere.
Proper maintenance of CO2 injection wells is necessary to
avoid leakage and well failures. Several practical procedures can
be used to reduce probabilities of CO2 blow-out (uncontrolled
flow) and mitigate the adverse effects if one should occur. These
include periodic wellbore integrity surveys on drilled injection
wells, improved blow-out prevention (BOP) maintenance,
installation of additional BOP on suspect wells, improved crew
awareness, contingency planning and emergency response
training (Skinner, 2003).
For CO2 injection through existing and old wells, key factors
include the mechanical condition of the well and quality of the
cement and well maintenance. A leaking wellbore annulus can
be a pathway for CO2 migration. Detailed logging programmes
for checking wellbore integrity can be conducted by the operator
to protect formations and prevent reservoir cross-flow. A well
used for injection (Figure 5.20) must be equipped with a packer
to isolate pressure to the injection interval. All materials used in
injection wells should be designed to anticipate peak volume,
pressure and temperature. In the case of wet gas (containing
free water), use of corrosion-resistant material is essential.
5.5.2

Well abandonment procedures

Abandonment procedures for oil, gas and injection wells are

designed to protect drinking water aquifers from contamination.
If a well remains open after it is no longer in use, brines,
hydrocarbons or CO2 could migrate up the well and into
shallow drinking water aquifers. To avoid this, many countries

have developed regulations for well abandonment or closure

(for example, United States Code of Federal Regulations 40
Part 144 and Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, 2003). These
procedures usually require placing cement or mechanical plugs
in all or part of the well. Extra care is usually taken to seal
the well adjacent to drinking water aquifers. Examples of well
abandonment procedures for cased and uncased wells are shown
in Figure 5.21. Tests are often required to locate the depth of the
plugs and test their mechanical strength under pressure.
It is expected that abandonment procedures for CO2 wells
could broadly follow the abandonment methodology used for
oil and gas wells and acid-gas disposal wells. However, special
care has to be taken to use sealing plugs and cement that are
resistant to degradation from CO2. Carbon dioxide-resistant
cements have been developed for oil field and geothermal
applications. It has been suggested that removing the casing and
the liner penetrating the caprock could avoid corrosion of the
steel that may later create channels for leakage. The production
casing can be removed by pulling or drilling (milling) it out.
After removing the casing, a cement plug can be put into the
open borehole, as illustrated in Figure 5.21.
The cement plug will act as the main barrier to future CO2
migration. A major issue is related to the sealing quality of
the cement plug and the bonding quality with the penetrated
caprock. Microchannels created near the wellbore during drilling
or milling operations should be sealed with cement. Fluid could
also be flushed into the storage reservoir to displace the CO2
and help to improve the cementing quality and bonding to the
sealing caprock. Casing protective materials and alternative
casing materials, such as composites, should also be evaluated

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Figure 5.21 Examples of how cased and uncased wells are abandoned today. Special requirements may be developed for abandoning CO2 storage
wells, including use of corrosion-resistant cement plugs and removing all or part of the casing in the injection interval and caprock.

for possible and alternative abandonment procedures. Sealing

performance of abandoned wells may need to be monitored for
some time after storage operations are completed.
5.5.3

Injection well pressure and reservoir constraints

Injectivity characterizes the ease with which fluid can be

injected into a geological formation and is defined as the
injection rate divided by the pressure difference between the
injection point inside the well and the formation. Although CO2
injectivity should be significantly greater than brine injectivity
(because CO2 has a much lower viscosity than brine), this is
not always the case. Grigg (2005) analyzed the performance
of CO2 floods in west Texas and concluded that, in more than
half of the projects, injectivity was lower than expected or
decreased over time. Christman and Gorell (1990) showed
that unexpected CO2-injectivity behaviour in EOR operations
is caused primarily by differences in flow geometry and fluid
properties of the oil. Injectivity changes can also be related to
insufficiently known relative permeability effects.
To introduce CO2 into the storage formation, the downhole
injection pressure must be higher than the reservoir fluid
pressure. On the other hand, increasing formation pressure
may induce fractures in the formation. Regulatory agencies

normally limit the maximum downhole pressure to avoid

fracturing the injection formation. Measurements of in-situ
formation stresses and pore fluid pressure are needed for
establishing safe injection pressures. Depletion of fluid pressure
during production can affect the state of stress in the reservoir.
Analysis of some depleted reservoirs indicated that horizontal
rock stress decreased by 5080% of the pore pressure decrease,
which increased the possibility of fracturing the reservoir (Streit
and Hillis, 2003).
Safe injection pressures can vary widely, depending on the
state of stress and tectonic history of a basin. Regulatory agencies
have determined safe injection pressures from experience in
specific oil and gas provinces. Van der Meer (1996) has derived
a relationship for the maximum safe injection pressure. This
relationship indicated that for a depth down to 1000 m, the
maximum injection pressure is estimated to be 1.35 times the
hydrostatic pressure and this increased to 2.4 for depths of
15 km. The maximum pressure gradient allowed for natural
gas stored in an aquifer in Germany is 16.8 kPa m1 (Sedlacek,
1999). This value exceeds the natural pressure gradients of
formation waters in northeastern Germany, which are on the
order of 10.513.1 kPa m1. In Denmark or Great Britain, the
maximum pressure gradients for aquifer storage of natural
gas do not exceed hydrostatic gradients. In the United States,

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

233

Figure 5.22 Comparison of the magnitude of CO2 injection activities illustrating that the storage operations from a typical 500-MW coal plant
will be the same order of magnitude as existing CO2 injection operations (after Heinrich et al., 2003).

for industrial waste-water injection wells, injection pressure

must not exceed fracture initiation or propagation pressures in
the injection formation (USEPA, 1994). For oil and gas field
injection wells, injection pressures must not exceed those that
would initiate or propagate fractures in the confining units. In
the United States, each state has been delegated authority to
establish maximum injection pressures. Until the 1990s, many
states set state-wide standards for maximum injection pressures;
values ranged from 13 to18 kPa m1. More recently, regulations
have changed to require site-specific tests to establish maximum
injection pressure gradients. Practical experience in the
USEPAs Underground Injection Control Program has shown
that fracture pressures range from 11 to 21 kPa m1.
5.5.4

Field operations and surface facilities

Injection rates for selected current CO2 storage projects in EOR

and acid gas injection are compared in Figure 5.22. As indicated,
the amount of CO2 injected from a 500-MW coal-fired power
plant would fall within the range of existing experience of CO2
injection operations for EOR. These examples therefore offer
a great deal of insight as to how a geological storage regime
might evolve, operate and be managed safely and effectively.
CO2-EOR operations fall into one of three groups (Jarrell et
al., 2002):
Reservoir management what to inject, how fast to inject,
how much to inject, how to manage water-alternating-gas
(WAG), how to maximize sweep efficiency and so on;
Well management producing method and remedial work,
including selection of workovers, chemical treatment and
CO2 breakthrough;

F
acility management reinjection plant, separation,
metering, corrosion control and facility organization.
Typically, CO2 is transported from its source to an EOR site
through a pipeline and is then injected into the reservoir through
an injection well, usually after compression. Before entering the
compressor, a suction scrubber will remove any residual liquids
present in the CO2 stream. In EOR operations, CO2 produced
from the production well along with oil and water is separated
and then injected back through the injection well.
The field application of CO2-ECBM technology is broadly
similar to that of EOR operations. Carbon dioxide is transported
to the CBM field and injected in the coal seam through dedicated
injection wells. At the production well, coal-seam gas and
formation water is lifted to the surface by electric pumps.
According to Jarrell et al. (2002), surface facilities for CO2EOR projects include:
Production systems-fluid separation, gas gathering,
production satellite, liquid gathering, central battery, field
compression and emergency shutdown systems;
Injection systems-gas repressurization, water injection and
CO2 distribution systems;
Gas processing systems-gas processing plant, H2S removal
systems and sulphur recovery and disposal systems.
Jarrell et al. (2002) point out that CO2 facilities are similar to
those used in conventional facilities such as for waterfloods.
Differences result from the effects of multiphase flow, selection
of different materials and the higher pressure that must be
handled. The CO2 field operation setup for the Weyburn Field is
shown in Figure 5.23.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

It is common to use existing facilities for new CO2 projects

to reduce capital costs, although physical restrictions are always
present. Starting a CO2 flood in an old oil field can affect almost
every process and facility (Jarrell et al., 2002); for example,
(1) the presence of CO2 makes the produced water much more
corrosive; (2) makeup water from new sources may interact
with formation water to create new problems with scale or
corrosion; (3) a CO2 flood may cause paraffins and asphaltenes
to precipitate out of the oil, which can cause plugging and
emulsion problems; and (4) the potentially dramatic increase
in production caused by the flood could cause more formation
fines to be entrained in the oil, potentially causing plugging,
erosion and processing problems.
5.6

Monitoring and verification technology

What actually happens to CO2 in the subsurface and how do

we know what is happening? In other words, can we monitor
CO2 once it is injected? What techniques are available for
monitoring whether CO2 is leaking out of the storage formation
and how sensitive are they? Can we verify that CO2 is safely
and effectively stored underground? How long is monitoring
needed? These questions are addressed in this section of the
report.

5.6.1

Purposes for monitoring

Monitoring is needed for a wide variety of purposes. Specifically,

monitoring can be used to:
Ensure and document effective injection well controls,
specifically for monitoring the condition of the injection
well and measuring injection rates, wellhead and formation
pressures. Petroleum industry experience suggests that
leakage from the injection well itself, resulting from
improper completion or deterioration of the casing, packers
or cement, is one of the most significant potential failure
modes for injection projects (Apps, 2005; Perry, 2005);
Verify the quantity of injected CO2 that has been stored by
various mechanisms;
Optimize the efficiency of the storage project, including
utilization of the storage volume, injection pressures and
drilling of new injection wells;
Demonstrate with appropriate monitoring techniques that
CO2 remains contained in the intended storage formation(s).
This is currently the principal method for assuring that the
CO2 remains stored and that performance predictions can be
verified;
Detect leakage and provide an early warning of any seepage
or leakage that might require mitigating action.

Figure 5.23 Typical CO2 field operation setup: Weyburn surface facilities.

235

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

In addition to essential elements of a monitoring strategy, other
parameters can be used to optimize storage projects, deal with
unintended leakage and address regulatory, legal and social
issues. Other important purposes for monitoring include assessing
the integrity of plugged or abandoned wells, calibrating and
confirming performance assessment models (including history
matching), establishing baseline parameters for the storage
site to ensure that CO2-induced changes are recognized (Wilson
and Monea, 2005), detecting microseismicity associated with a
storage project, measuring surface fluxes of CO2 and designing
and monitoring remediation activities (Benson et al., 2004).
Before monitoring of subsurface storage can take place
effectively, a baseline survey must be taken. This survey
provides the point of comparison for subsequent surveys.
This is particularly true of seismic and other remote-sensing
technologies, where the identification of saturation of fluids with
CO2 is based on comparative analysis. Baseline monitoring is also
a prerequisite for geochemical monitoring, where anomalies are
identified relative to background concentrations. Additionally,
establishing a baseline of CO2 fluxes resulting from ecosystem
cycling of CO2, both on diurnal and annual cycles, are useful
for distinguishing natural fluxes from potential storage-related
releases.
Much of the monitoring technology described below was
developed for application in the oil and gas industry. Most of
these techniques can be applied to monitoring storage projects
in all types of geological formations, although much remains
to be learned about monitoring coal formations. Monitoring
experience from natural gas storage in saline aquifers can also
provide a useful industrial analogue.

on most injection wells through orifices in the surface piping

near the wellhead. Downhole pressure measurements are
routine, but are used for injection well testing or under
special circumstances in which surface measurements do not
provide reliable information about the downhole pressure.
A wide variety of pressure sensors are available and suitable
for monitoring pressures at the wellhead or in the formation.
Continuous data are available and typically transmitted to
a central control room. Surface pressure gauges are often
connected to shut-off valves that will stop or curtail injection
if the pressure exceeds a predetermined safe threshold or if
there is a drop in pressure as a result of a leak. In effect, surface
pressures can be used to ensure that downhole pressures do not
exceed the threshold of reservoir fracture pressure. A relatively
recent innovation, fibre-optic pressure and temperature sensors,
is commercially available. Fibre-optic cables are lowered into
the wells, connected to sensors and provide real-time formation
pressure and temperature measurements. These new systems
are expected to provide more reliable measurements and well
control.
The current state of the technology is more than adequate
to meet the needs for monitoring injection rates, wellhead and
formation pressures. Combined with temperature measurements,
the collected data will provide information on the state of the
CO2 (supercritical, liquid or gas) and accurate measurement
of the amount of CO2 injected for inventories, reporting and
verification, as well as input to modelling. In the case of the
Weyburn project, for example, the gas stream is also analyzed to
determine the impurities in the CO2, thus allowing computation
of the volume of CO2 injected.

5.6.2

5.6.3

Technologies for monitoring injection rates and

pressures

Measurements of CO2 injection rates are a common oil

field practice and instruments for this purpose are available
commercially. Measurements are made by gauges either at
the injection wellhead or near distribution manifolds. Typical
systems use orifice meters or other devices that relate the
pressure drop across the device to the flow rate. The accuracy of
the measurements depends on a number of factors that have been
described in general by Morrow et al. (2003) and specifically
for CO2 by Wright and Majek (1998). For CO2, accurate
estimation of the density is most important for improving
measurement accuracy. Small changes in temperature, pressure
and composition can have large effects on density. Wright and
Majek (1998) developed an oil field CO2 flow rate system by
combining pressure, temperature and differential pressure
measurements with gas chromatography. The improved system
had an accuracy of 0.6%, compared to 8% for the conventional
system. Standards for measurement accuracy vary and are
usually established by governments or industrial associations.
For example, in the United States, current auditing practices for
CO2-EOR accept flow meter precision of 4%.
Measurements of injection pressure at the surface and in
the formation are also routine. Pressure gauges are installed

Technologies for monitoring subsurface

distribution of CO2

A number of techniques can be used to monitor the distribution

and migration of CO2 in the subsurface. Table 5.4 summarizes
these techniques and how they can be applied to CO2 storage
projects. The applicability and sensitivity of these techniques
are somewhat site-specific. Detailed descriptions, including
limitations and resolution, are provided in Sections 5.6.3.1 and
5.6.3.2.
5.6.3.1 Direct techniques for monitoring CO2 migration
Direct techniques for monitoring are limited in availability at
present. During CO2 injection for EOR, the injected CO2 spreads
through the reservoir in a heterogeneous manner, because of
permeability variations in the reservoir (Moberg et al., 2003). In
the case of CO2-EOR, once the CO2 reaches a production well,
its produced volume can be readily determined. In the case of
Weyburn, the carbon in the injected CO2 has a different isotopic
composition from the carbon in the reservoir (Emberley et al.,
2002), so the distribution of the CO2 can be determined on a
gross basis by evaluating the arrival of the introduced CO2 at
different production wells. With multiple injection wells in
any producing area, the arrival of CO2 can give only a general
indication of distribution in the reservoir.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 5.4 Summary of direct and indirect techniques that can be used to monitor CO2 storage projects.
Measurement technique

Introduced and natural tracers

Water composition

Subsurface pressure
Well logs
Time-lapse 3D seismic
imaging
Vertical seismic profiling and
crosswell seismic imaging
Passive seismic monitoring

Measurement parameters

Example applications

Travel time
Partitioning of CO2 into brine or oil
Identification sources of CO2

Tracing movement of CO2 in the storage formation

Quantifying solubility trapping
Tracing leakage

Formation pressure
Annulus pressure
Groundwater aquifer pressure

Control of formation pressure below fracture gradient

Wellbore and injection tubing condition
Leakage out of the storage formation

CO2, HCO3-, CO32-

Major ions
Trace elements
Salinity

Quantifying solubility and mineral trapping

Quantifying CO2-water-rock interactions
Detecting leakage into shallow groundwater aquifers

Brine salinity
Sonic velocity
CO2 saturation

Tracking CO2 movement in and above storage formation

Tracking migration of brine into shallow aquifers
Calibrating seismic velocities for 3D seismic surveys

P and S wave velocity

Reflection horizons
Seismic amplitude attenuation

Detecting detailed distribution of CO2 in the storage

formation
Detection leakage through faults and fractures

Tracking CO2 movement in and above storage formation

P and S wave velocity

Reflection horizons
Seismic amplitude attenuation

Location, magnitude and source characteristics

of seismic events

Electrical and electromagnetic Formation conductivity

techniques
Electromagnetic induction
Time-lapse gravity
measurements

Density changes caused by fluid displacement

Visible and infrared imaging

from satellite or planes

Hyperspectral imaging of land surface

Land surface deformation

CO2 land surface flux

monitoring using flux
chambers or eddycovariance

Soil gas sampling

Tilt
Vertical and horizontal displacement using
interferometry and GPS

Development of microfractures in formation or caprock

CO2 migration pathways

Tracking movement of CO2 in and above the storage

formation
Detecting migration of brine into shallow aquifers

Detect CO2 movement in or above storage formation

CO2 mass balance in the subsurface

Detect geomechanical effects on storage formation and

caprock
Locate CO2 migration pathways
Detect vegetative stress

CO2 fluxes between the land surface and

atmosphere

Detect, locate and quantify CO2 releases

Soil gas composition

Isotopic analysis of CO2

Detect elevated levels of CO2

Identify source of elevated soil gas CO2
Evaluate ecosystem impacts

A more accurate approach is to use tracers (gases or gas

isotopes not present in the reservoir system) injected into specific
wells. The timing of the arrival of the tracers at production
or monitoring wells will indicate the path the CO2 is taking
through the reservoir. Monitoring wells may also be used to
passively record the movement of CO2 past the well, although
it should be noted that the use of such invasive techniques
potentially creates new pathways for leakage to the surface. The
movement of tracers or isotopically distinct carbon (in the CO2)
to production or monitoring wells provides some indication of
the lateral distribution of the CO2 in a storage reservoir. In thick
formations, multiple sampling along vertical monitoring or
production wells would provide some indication of the vertical
distribution of the CO2 in the formation. With many wells and
frequently in horizontal wells, the lack of casing (open hole

completion) precludes direct measurement of the location of

CO2 influx along the length of the well, although it may be
possible to run surveys to identify the location of major influx.
Direct measurement of migration beyond the storage site
can be achieved in a number of ways, depending on where the
migration takes the CO2. Comparison between baseline surveys
of water quality and/or isotopic composition can be used to
identify new CO2 arrival at a specific location from natural CO2
pre-existing at that site. Geochemical techniques can also be used
to understand more about the CO2 and its movement through
the reservoir (Czernichowski-Lauriol et al., 1996; Gunter et al.,
2000; Wilson and Monea, 2005). The chemical changes that
occur in the reservoir fluids indicate the increase in acidity and
the chemical effects of this change, in particular the bicarbonate
ion levels in the fluids. At the surface, direct measurement can

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

be undertaken by sampling for CO2 or tracers in soil gas and
near surface water-bearing horizons (from existing water wells
or new observation wells). Surface CO2 fluxes may be directly
measurable by techniques such as infrared spectroscopy (Miles
et al., 2005; Pickles, 2005; Shuler and Tang, 2005).
5.6.3.2 Indirect techniques for monitoring CO2 migration
Indirect techniques for measuring CO2 distribution in the
subsurface include a variety of seismic and non-seismic
geophysical and geochemical techniques (Benson et al., 2004;
Arts and Winthaegen, 2005; Hoversten and Gasperikova, 2005).
Seismic techniques basically measure the velocity and energy
absorption of waves, generated artificially or naturally, through
rocks. The transmission is modified by the nature of the rock
and its contained fluids. In general, energy waves are generated
artificially by explosions or ground vibration. Wave generators
and sensors may be on the surface (conventional seismic) or
modified with the sensors in wells within the subsurface and
the source on the surface (vertical seismic profiling). It is also
possible to place both sensors and sources in the subsurface
to transmit the wave pulses horizontally through the reservoir
(inter-well or cross-well tomography). By taking a series of
surveys over time, it is possible to trace the distribution of
the CO2 in the reservoir, assuming the free-phase CO2 volume
at the site is sufficiently high to identify from the processed
data. A baseline survey with no CO2 present provides the basis
against which comparisons can be made. It would appear that
relatively low volumes of free-phase CO2 (approximately 5%
or more) may be identified by these seismic techniques; at
present, attempts are being made to quantify the amount of CO2
in the pore space of the rocks and the distribution within the
reservoir (Hoversten et al., 2003). A number of techniques have
been actively tested at Weyburn (Section 5.6.3.3), including
time-lapse surface three-dimensional seismic (both 3- and 9component), at one-year intervals (baseline and baseline plus
one and two years), vertical seismic profiling and cross-well
(horizontal and vertical) tomography between pairs of wells.
For deep accumulations of CO2 in the subsurface, where
CO2 density approaches the density of fluids in the storage
formation, the sensitivity of surface seismic profiles would
suggest that resolution on the order of 250010,000 t of freephase CO2 can be identified (Myer et al., 2003; White et al.,
2004; Arts et al., 2005). At Weyburn, areas with low injection
rates (<2% hydrocarbon pore volume) demonstrate little or no
visible seismic response. In areas with high injection rates (3
13% hydrocarbon pore volume), significant seismic anomalies
are observed. Work at Sleipner shows that the CO2 plume
comprises several distinct layers of CO2, each up to about 10
m thick. These are mostly beneath the strict limit of seismic
resolution, but amplitude studies suggest that layer thicknesses
as low as 1 m can be mapped (Arts et al., 2005; Chadwick et
al., 2005). Seismic resolution will decrease with depth and
certain other rock-related properties, so the above discussion of
resolution will not apply uniformly in all storage scenarios. One
possible way of increasing the accuracy of surveys over time
is to create a permanent array of sensors or even sensors and

237
energy sources (US Patent 6813566), to eliminate the problems
associated with surveying locations for sensors and energy
sources.
For CO2 that has migrated even shallower in the subsurface,
its gas-like properties will vastly increase the detection limit;
hence, even smaller threshold levels of resolution are expected.
To date, no quantitative studies have been performed to establish
precise detection levels. However, the high compressibility of
CO2 gas, combined with its low density, indicate that much
lower levels of detection should be possible.
The use of passive seismic (microseismic) techniques
also has potential value. Passive seismic monitoring detects
microseismic events induced in the reservoir by dynamic
responses to the modification of pore pressures or the
reactivation or creation of small fractures. These discrete
microearthquakes, with magnitudes on the order of -4 to 0 on
the Richter scale (Wilson and Monea, 2005), are picked up by
static arrays of sensors, often cemented into abandoned wells.
These microseismic events are extremely small, but monitoring
the microseismic events may allow the tracking of pressure
changes and, possibly, the movement of gas in the reservoir or
saline formation.
Non-seismic geophysical techniques include the use of
electrical and electromagnetic and self-potential techniques
(Benson et al., 2004; Hoversten and Gasperikova, 2005). In
addition, gravity techniques (ground or air-based) can be used
to determine the migration of the CO2 plume in the subsurface.
Finally, tiltmeters or remote methods (geospatial surveys from
aircraft or satellites) for measuring ground distortion may be
used in some environments to assess subsurface movement of
the plume. Tiltmeters and other techniques are most applicable
in areas where natural variations in the surface, such as frost
heave or wetting-drying cycles, do not mask the changes that
occur from pressure changes. Gravity measurements will
respond to changes in the subsurface brought on by density
changes caused by the displacement of one fluid by another of
different density (e.g., CO2 replacing water). Gravity is used
with numerical modelling to infer those changes in density
that best fit the observed data. The estimations of Benson et
al. (2004) suggest that gravity will not have the same level of
resolution as seismic, with minimum levels of CO2 needed for
detection on the order of several hundred thousand tonnes (an
order of magnitude greater than seismic). This may be adequate
for plume movement, but not for the early definition of possible
leaks. A seabed gravity survey was acquired at Sleipner in 2002
and a repeat survey is planned for 2005. Results from these
surveys have not yet been published.
Electrical and electromagnetic techniques measure the
conducting of the subsurface. Conductivity changes created
by a change in the fluid, particularly the displacement of high
conductivity saline waters with low-conductive CO2, can be
detected by electrical or electromagnetic surveys. In addition
to traditional electrical or electromagnetic techniques, the selfpotential the natural electrical potential of the Earth can be
measured to determine plume migration. The injection of CO2
will enhance fluid flow in the rock. This flow can produce an

238
electrical potential that is measured against a reference electrode.
This technique is low cost, but is also of low resolution. It can,
however, be a useful tool for measuring the plume movement.
According to Hoversten and Gasperikova (2005), this technique
will require more work to determine its resolution and overall
effectiveness.
5.6.3.3

Monitoring case study: IEA-GHG Weyburn

Monitoring and Storage Project
At Weyburn (Box 5.3), a monitoring programme was added to
a commercial EOR project to develop and evaluate methods
for tracking CO2. Baseline data was collected prior to CO2
injection (beginning in late 2000). These data included fluid
samples (water and oil) and seismic surveys. Two levels of
seismic surveys were undertaken, with an extensive threedimensional (3D), 3-component survey over the original
injection area and a detailed 3D, 9-component survey over a
limited portion of the injection area. In addition, vertical seismic
profiling and cross-well seismic tomography (between two
vertical or horizontal wells) was undertaken. Passive seismic
(microseismic) monitoring has recently been installed at the

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

site. Other monitoring includes surface gas surveys (Strutt et
al., 2003) and potable water monitoring (the Weyburn field
underlies an area with limited surface water availability, so
groundwater provides the major potable water supply). Injected
volumes (CO2 and water) were also monitored. Any leaks from
surface facilities are carefully monitored. Additionally, several
wells were converted to observation wells to allow access to the
reservoir. Subsequently, one well was abandoned, but seismic
monitors were cemented into place in the well for passive
seismic monitoring to be undertaken.
Since injection began, reservoir fluids have been regularly
collected and analyzed. Analysis includes chemical and isotopic
analyses of reservoir water samples, as well as maintaining an
understanding of miscibility relationships between the oil and
the injected CO2. Several seismic surveys have been conducted
(one year and two years after injection of CO2 was initiated) with
the processed data clearly showing the movement of CO2 in the
reservoir. Annual surface analysis of soil gas is also continuing
(Strutt et al., 2003), as is analysis of near-surface water.
The analyses are being synthesized to gain a comprehensive
knowledge of CO2 migration in the reservoir, to understand

Figure 5.24 The produced water chemistry before CO2 injection and the produced water chemistry after 12 months and 31 months of injection
at Weyburn has been contoured from fluid samples taken at various production wells. The black dots show the location of the sample wells:
(a) 13CHCO3 in the produced water, showing the effect of supercritical CO2 dissolution and mineral reaction. (b) Calcium concentrations in the
produced water, showing the result of mineral dissolution (after Perkins et al., 2005).

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

geochemical interactions with the reservoir rock and to clearly
identify the integrity of the reservoir as a container for longterm storage. Additionally, there is a programme to evaluate the
potential role of existing active and abandoned wells in leakage.
This includes an analysis of the age of the wells, the use of
existing information on cement type and bonding effectiveness
and work to better understand the effect of historical and
changing fluid chemistry on the cement and steel casing of the
well.
The Weyburn summary report (Wilson and Monea, 2005)
describes the overall results of the research project, in particular
the effectiveness of the seismic monitoring for determining
the spread of CO2 and of the geochemical analysis for
determining when CO2 was about to reach the production wells.
Geochemical data also help explain the processes under way
in the reservoir itself and the time required to establish a new
chemical equilibrium. Figure 5.24 illustrates the change in the
chemical composition of the formation water, which forms the
basis for assessing the extent to which solubility and mineral
trapping will contribute to long-term storage security (Perkins
et al., 2005). The initial change in 13CHCO3 is the result of the
supercritical CO2 dissolving into the water. This change is then
muted by the short-term dissolution of reservoir carbonate
minerals, as indicated by the increase of calcium concentration,
shown in Figure 5.24. In particular, the geochemistry confirms
the storage of CO2 in water in the bicarbonate phase and also
CO2 in the oil phase.
5.6.4

Technologies for monitoring injection well

integrity

A number of standard technologies are available for monitoring

the integrity of active injection wells. Cement bond logs are used
to assess the bond and the continuity of the cement around well
casing. Periodic cement bond logs can help detect deterioration
in the cemented portion of the well and may also indicate any
chemical interaction of the acidized formation fluids with the
cement. The initial use of cement bond logs as part of the wellintegrity testing can indicate problems with bonding and even
the absence of cement.
Prior to converting a well to other uses, such as CO2 injection,
the well usually undergoes testing to ensure its integrity under
pressure. These tests are relatively straightforward, with the
well being sealed top and bottom (or in the zone to be tested),
pressured up and its ability to hold pressure measured. In
general, particularly on land, the well will be abandoned if
it fails the test and a new well will be drilled, as opposed to
attempting any remediation on the defective well.
Injection takes place through a pipe that is lowered into the
well and packed off above the perforations or open-hole portion
of the well to ensure that the injectant reaches the appropriate
level. The pressure in the annulus, the space between the casing
and the injection pipe, can be monitored to ensure the integrity
of the packer, casing and the injection pipe. Changes in pressure
or gas composition in the annulus will alert the operator to
problems.

As noted above, the injection pressure is carefully

monitored to ensure that there are no problems. A rapid increase
in pressure could indicate problems with the well, although
industry interpretations suggest that it is more likely to be loss
of injectivity in the reservoir.
Temperature logs and noise logs are also often run on
a routine basis to detect well failures in natural gas storage
projects. Rapid changes in temperature along the length of
the wellbore are diagnostic of casing leaks. Similarly, noise
associated with leaks in the injection tubing can be used to
locate small leaks (Lippmann and Benson, 2003).
5.6.5

Technologies for monitoring local environmental

effects

5.6.5.1 Groundwater
If CO2 leaks from the deep geological storage formation
and migrates upwards into overlying shallow groundwater
aquifers, methods are available to detect and assess changes
in groundwater quality. Of course, it is preferable to identify
leakage shortly after it leaks and long before the CO2 enters
the groundwater aquifer, so that measures can be taken to
intervene and prevent further migration (see Section 5.7.6).
Seismic monitoring methods and potentially others (described
in Section 5.6.3.2), can be used to identify leaks before the CO2
reaches the groundwater zone.
Nevertheless, if CO2 does migrate into a groundwater
aquifer, potential impacts can be assessed by collecting
groundwater samples and analyzing them for major ions (e.g.,
Na, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Cl, Si, HCO3 and SO42), pH, alkalinity,
stable isotopes (e.g., 13C, 14C, 18O, 2H) and gases, including
hydrocarbon gases, CO2 and its associated isotopes (Gunter et
al., 1998). Additionally, if shallow groundwater contamination
occurs, samples could be analyzed for trace elements such as
arsenic and lead, which are mobilized by acidic water (Section
5.5). Methods such as atomic absorption and inductively
coupled plasma mass spectroscopy self-potential can be used
to accurately measure water quality. Less sensitive field tests
or other analytical methods are also available (Clesceri et al.,
1998). Standard analytical methods are available to monitor
all of these parameters, including the possibility of continuous
real-time monitoring for some of the geochemical parameters.
Natural tracers (isotopes of C, O, H and noble gases
associated with the injected CO2) and introduced tracers (noble
gases, SF6 and perfluorocarbons) also may provide insight into
the impacts of storage projects on groundwater (Emberley et al.,
2002; Nimz and Hudson, 2005). (SF6 and perfluorocarbons are
greenhouse gases with extremely high global warming potentials
and therefore caution is warranted in the use of these gases, to
avoid their release to the atmosphere.) Natural tracers such as
C and O isotopes may be able to link changes in groundwater
quality directly to the stored CO2 by fingerprinting the CO2,
thus distinguishing storage-induced changes from changes
in groundwater quality caused by other factors. Introduced
tracers such as perfluorocarbons that can be detected at very
low concentrations (1 part per trillion) may also be useful for

240
determining whether CO2 has leaked and is responsible for
changes in groundwater quality. Synthetic tracers could be
added periodically to determine movement in the reservoir or
leakage paths, while natural tracers are present in the reservoir
or introduced gases.
5.6.5.2 Air quality and atmospheric fluxes
Continuous sensors for monitoring CO2 in air are used in a
variety of applications, including HVAC (heating, ventilation
and air conditioning) systems, greenhouses, combustion
emissions measurement and environments in which CO2 is a
significant hazard (such as breweries). Such devices rely on
infrared detection principles and are referred to as infrared
gas analyzers. These gas analyzers are small and portable
and commonly used in occupational settings. Most use nondispersive infrared or Fourier Transform infrared detectors.
Both methods use light attenuation by CO2 at a specific
wavelength, usually 4.26 microns. For extra assurance and
validation of real-time monitoring data, US regulatory bodies,
such as NIOSH, OSHA and the EPA, use periodic concentration
measurement by gas chromatography. Mass spectrometry is the
most accurate method for measuring CO2 concentration, but
it is also the least portable. Electrochemical solid state CO2
detectors exist, but they are not cost effective at this time (e.g.,
Tamura et al., 2001).
Common field applications in environmental science
include the measurement of CO2 concentrations in soil air,
flux from soils and ecosystem-scale carbon dynamics. Diffuse
soil flux measurements are made by simple infrared analyzers
(Oskarsson et al., 1999). The USGS measures CO2 flux on
Mammoth Mountain, in California (Sorey et al., 1996; USGS,
2001b). Biogeochemists studying ecosystem-scale carbon
cycling use data from CO2 detectors on 2 to 5 m tall towers
with wind and temperature data to reconstruct average CO2 flux
over large areas.
Miles et al. (2005) concluded that eddy covariance is
promising for the monitoring of CO2 storage projects, both for
hazardous leaks and for leaks that would damage the economic
viability of geological storage. For a storage project of 100 Mt,
Miles et al. (2005) estimate that, for leakage rates of 0.01%
yr-1, fluxes will range from 1 to 104 times the magnitude of
typical ecological fluxes (depending on the size of the area
over which CO2 is leaking). Note that a leakage rate of 0.01%
yr-1 is equivalent to a fraction retained of 90% over 1000 years.
This should easily be detectable if background ecological
fluxes are measured in advance to determine diurnal and annual
cycles. However, with the technology currently available to us,
quantifying leakage rates for tracking returns to the atmosphere
is likely to be more of a challenge than identifying leaks in the
storage reservoir.
Satellite-based remote sensing of CO2 releases to the
atmosphere may also be possible, but this method remains
challenging because of the long path length through the
atmosphere over which CO2 is measured and the inherent

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

variability of atmospheric CO2. Infrared detectors measure
average CO2 concentration over a given path length, so a
diffuse or low-level leak viewed through the atmosphere by
satellite would be undetectable. As an example, even large
CO2 seeps, such as that at Mammoth Mountain, are difficult
to identify today (Martini and Silver, 2002; Pickles, 2005).
Aeroplane-based measurement using this same principle may
be possible. Carbon dioxide has been measured either directly
in the plume by a separate infrared detector or calculated from
SO2 measurements and direct ground sampling of the SO2:
CO2 ratio for a given volcano or event (Hobbs et al., 1991;
USGS, 2001b). Remote-sensing techniques currently under
investigation for CO2 detection are LIDAR (light detection and
range-finding), a scanning airborne laser and DIAL (differential
absorption LIDAR), which looks at reflections from multiple
lasers at different frequencies (Hobbs et al., 1991; Menzies et
al., 2001).
In summary, monitoring of CO2 for occupational safety
is well established. On the other hand, while some promising
technologies are under development for environmental
monitoring and leak detection, measurement and monitoring
approaches on the temporal and space scales relevant to
geological storage need improvement to be truly effective.
5.6.5.3 Ecosystems
The health of terrestrial and subsurface ecosystems can
be determined directly by measuring the productivity and
biodiversity of flora and fauna and in some cases (such as at
Mammoth Mountain in California) indirectly by using remotesensing techniques such as hyperspectral imaging (Martini
and Silver, 2002; Onstott, 2005; Pickles, 2005). In many areas
with natural CO2 seeps, even those with very low CO2 fluxes,
the seeps are generally quite conspicuous features. They are
easily recognized in populated areas, both in agriculture and
natural vegetation, by reduced plant growth and the presence
of precipitants of minerals leached from rocks by acidic
water. Therefore, any conspicuous site could be quickly and
easily checked for excess CO2 concentrations without any
large remote-sensing ecosystem studies or surveys. However,
in desert environments where vegetation is sparse, direct
observation may not be possible. In addition to direct ecosystem
observations, analyses of soil gas composition and soil
mineralogy can be used to indicate the presence of CO2 and its
impact on soil properties. Detection of elevated concentrations
of CO2 or evidence of excessive soil weathering would indicate
the potential for ecosystem impacts.
For aquatic ecosystems, water quality and in particular low
pH, would provide a diagnostic for potential impacts. Direct
measurements of ecosystem productivity and biodiversity can
also be obtained by using standard techniques developed for
lakes and marine ecosystems. See Chapter 6 for additional
discussion about the impact of elevated CO2 concentrations on
marine environments.

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5.6.6

Monitoring network design

There are currently no standard protocols or established network

designs for monitoring leakage of CO2. Monitoring network
design will depend on the objectives and requirements of the
monitoring programme, which will be determined by regulatory
requirements and perceived risks posed by the site (Chalaturnyk
and Gunter, 2005). For example, current monitoring for EOR
is designed to assess the sweep efficiency of the solvent flood
and to deal with health and safety issues. In this regard, the
monitoring designed for the Weyburn Project uses seismic
surveys to determine the lateral migration of CO2 over time.
This is compared with the simulations undertaken to design the
operational practices of the CO2 flood. For health and safety, the
programme is designed to test groundwater for contamination
and to monitor for gas buildup in working areas of the field to
ensure worker safety. The surface procedure also uses pressure
monitoring to ensure that the fracture pressure of the formation
is not exceeded (Chalaturnyk and Gunter, 2005).
The Weyburn Project is designed to assess the integrity of an
oil reservoir for long-term storage of CO2 (Wilson and Monea,
2005). In this regard, the demonstrated ability of seismic
surveys to measure migration of CO2 within the formation is
important, but in the long term it may be more important to
detect CO2 that has leaked out of the storage reservoir. In this
case, the monitoring programme should be designed to achieve
the resolution and sensitivity needed to detect CO2 that has
leaked out of the reservoir and is migrating vertically. The use of
geochemical monitoring will determine the rate of dissolution
of the CO2 into fluids and the capacity of the minerals within
the reservoir to react with the CO2 and permanently store it.
For identification of potential CO2 leaks, monitoring includes
soil gas and groundwater surveys. The soil gas surveys use a
grid pattern superimposed on the field to evaluate any change
in gas chemistry. Because grid patterns may miss narrow, linear
anomalies, the study also looks at the pattern of linear anomalies
on the surface that may reflect deeper fault and fracture systems,
which could become natural migration pathways.
Current projects, in particular Sleipner and Weyburn, are
testing a variety of techniques to determine those that are most
effective and least costly. In Western Canada, acid-gas injection
wells use pressure monitoring and set maximum wellhead
injection pressures to ensure that reservoir fracture pressures are
not exceeded. No subsurface monitoring is currently required
for these projects. Chalaturnyk and Gunter (2005) suggest that
an effectively designed monitoring programme should allow
decisions to be made in the future that are based on ongoing
interpretation of the data. The data from the programme should
also provide the information necessary to decrease uncertainties
over time or increase monitoring demand if things develop
unexpectedly. The corollary to this is that unexpected changes
may result in the requirement of increased monitoring until new
uncertainties are resolved.

5.6.7

Long-term stewardship monitoring

The purpose of long-term monitoring is to identify movement

of CO2 that may lead to releases that could impact long-term
storage security and safety, as well as trigger the need for
remedial action. Long-term monitoring can be accomplished
with the same suite of monitoring technologies used during
the injection phase. However, at the present time, there are
no established protocols for the kind of monitoring that will
be required, by whom, for how long and with what purpose.
Geological storage of CO2 may persist over many millions
of years. The long duration of storage raises some questions
about long-term monitoring an issue that is also addressed in
Section 5.8.
Several studies have attempted to address these issues. Keith
and Wilson (2002) have proposed that governments assume
responsibility for monitoring after the active phase of the storage
project is over, as long as all regulatory requirements have been
met during operation. This study did not, however, specify longterm requirements for monitoring. Though perhaps somewhat
impractical in terms of implementation, White et al. (2003)
suggested that monitoring might be required for thousands of
years. An alternative point of view is presented by Chow et al.
(2003) and Benson et al. (2004), who suggest that once it has
been demonstrated that the plume of CO2 is no longer moving,
further monitoring should not be required. The rationale for this
point of view is that long-term monitoring provides little value
if the plume is no longer migrating or the cessation of migration
can be accurately predicted and verified by a combination of
modelling and short- to mid-term monitoring.
If and when long-term monitoring is required, cost-effective,
easily deployed methods for monitoring will be preferred.
Methods that do not require wells that penetrate the plume will
be desirable, because they will not increase the risk of leakage
up the monitoring well itself. Technologies are available today,
such as 3D seismic imaging, that can provide satisfactory images
of CO2 plume location. While seismic surveys are perceived to
be costly, a recent study by Benson et al. (2004) suggests that
this may be a misconception and indicates that monitoring costs
on a discounted basis (10% discount rate) are likely to be no
higher than 0.10 US$/tCO2 stored. However, seismic imaging
has its limitations, as is evidenced by continued drilling of
non-productive hydrocarbon wells, but confidence in its ability
to meet most, but not all, of the needs of monitoring CO2
storage projects is growing. Less expensive and more passive
alternatives that could be deployed remotely, such as satellitebased systems, may be desirable, but are not currently able to
track underground migration. However, if CO2 has seeped to
the surface, associated vegetative stress can be detected readily
in some ecosystems (Martini and Silver, 2002).
Until long-term monitoring requirements are established
(Stenhouse et al., 2005), it is not possible to evaluate which
technology or combination of technologies for monitoring will
be needed or desired. However, todays technology could be
deployed to continue monitoring the location of the CO2 plume
over very long time periods with sufficient accuracy to assess

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the risk of the plume intersecting potential pathways, natural

or human, out of the storage site into overlying zones. If CO2
escapes from the primary storage reservoir with no prospect of
remedial action to prevent leakage, technologies are available to
monitor the consequent environmental impact on groundwater,
soils, ecosystems and the atmosphere.
5.6.8

Verification of CO2 injection and storage inventory

Verification as a topic is often combined with monitoring such

as in the Storage, Monitoring and Verification (SMV) project of
the Carbon Capture Project (CCP) or the Monitoring, Mitigation
and Verification (MMV) subsection of the DOE-NETL Carbon
Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan (NETL,
2004). In view of this frequently-used combination of terms,
there is some overlap in usage between the terms verification
and monitoring. For this report, verification is defined as
the set of activities used for assessing the amount of CO2 that
is stored underground and for assessing how much, if any, is
leaking back into the atmosphere.
No standard protocols have been developed specifically
for verification of geological storage. However, experience at
the Weyburn and Sleipner projects has demonstrated the utility
of various techniques for most if not all aspects of verification
(Wilson and Monea, 2005; Sleipner Best Practice Manual,
2004). At the very least, verification will require measurement
of the quantity of CO2 stored. Demonstrating that it remains
within the storage site, from both a lateral and vertical migration
perspective, is likely to require some combination of models
and monitoring. Requirements may be site-specific, depending
on the regulatory environment, requirements for economic
instruments and the degree of risk of leakage. The oversight
for verification may be handled by regulators, either directly
or by independent third parties contracted by regulators under
national law.
5.7

Risk management, risk assessment and

remediation

What are the risks of storing CO2 in deep geological formations?

Can a geological storage site be operated safely? What are the
safety concerns and environmental impact if a storage site leaks?
Can a CO2 storage site be fixed if something does go wrong?
These questions are addressed in this section of the report.
5.7.1

Framework for assessing environmental risks

The environmental impacts arising from geological storage fall

into two broad categories: local environmental effects and global
effects arising from the release of stored CO2 to the atmosphere.
Global effects of CO2 storage may be viewed as the uncertainty
in the effectiveness of CO2 storage. Estimates of the likelihood
of release to the atmosphere are discussed below (Section 5.7.3),
while the policy implications of potential release from storage
are discussed elsewhere (Chapters 1, 8 and 9).

Local health, safety and environmental hazards arise from three

distinct causes:
Direct effects of elevated gas-phase CO2 concentrations in
the shallow subsurface and near-surface environment;
Effects of dissolved CO2 on groundwater chemistry;
Effects that arise from the displacement of fluids by the
injected CO2.
In this section, assessment of possible local and regional
environmental hazards is organized by the kind of hazard (e.g.,
human health and ecosystem hazards are treated separately) and
by the underlying physical mechanism (e.g., seismic hazards).
For example, the discussion of hazards to groundwater quality
includes effects that arise directly from the effect of dissolved
CO2 in groundwater, as well as indirect effects resulting from
contamination by displaced brines.
Risks are proportional to the magnitude of the potential
hazards and the probability that these hazards will occur. For
hazards that arise from locally elevated CO2 concentrations in
the near-surface atmosphere, soil gas or in aqueous solution
the risks depend on the probability of leakage from the deep
storage site to the surface. Thus, most of the hazards described
in Section 5.7.4 should be weighted by the probability of release
described in Section 5.7.3. Regarding those risks associated
with routine operation of the facility and well maintenance, such
risks are expected to be comparable to CO2-EOR operations.
There are two important exceptions to the rule that risk is
proportional to the probability of release. First, local impacts
will be strongly dependent on the spatial and temporal
distribution of fluxes and the resulting CO2 concentrations.
Episodic and localized seepage will likely tend to have more
significant impacts per unit of CO2 released than will seepage
that is continuous and or spatially dispersed. Global impacts
arising from release of CO2 to the atmosphere depend only on
the average quantity released over time scales of decades to
centuries. Second, the hazards arising from displacement, such
as the risk of induced seismicity, are roughly independent of the
probability of release.
Although we have limited experience with injection of CO2
for the explicit purpose of avoiding atmospheric emissions, a
wealth of closely related industrial experience and scientific
knowledge exists that can serve as a basis for appropriate
risk management. In addition to the discussion in this section,
relevant industrial experience has been described in Sections
5.1 to 5.6.
5.7.2

Processes and pathways for release of CO2 from

geological storage sites

Carbon dioxide that exists as a separate phase (supercritical,

liquid or gas) may escape from formations used for geological
storage through the following pathways (Figure 5.25):
Through the pore system in low-permeability caprocks such
as shales, if the capillary entry pressure at which CO2 may
enter the caprock is exceeded;
Through openings in the caprock or fractures and faults;

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T
hrough anthropomorphic pathways, such as poorly
completed and/or abandoned pre-existing wells.
For onshore storage sites, CO2 that has leaked may reach the
water table and migrate into the overlying vadose zone. This
occurrence would likely include CO2 contact with drinkingwater aquifers. Depending on the mineral composition of
the rock matrix within the groundwater aquifer or vadose
zone, the reaction of CO2 with the rock matrix could release
contaminants. The US Environmental Protection Agency
(USEPA) has witnessed problems with projects designed to
replenish groundwater with rainfall wherein mineralized (fixed)
contaminants were inadvertently mobilized in concentrations
sufficient to cause undesirable contamination.
The vadose zone is only partly saturated with water; the
rest of the pore space is filled with soil gas (air). Because it is
heavier than air, CO2 will displace ambient soil gas, leading to
concentrations that locally may potentially approach 100% in
parts of the vadose zone, even for small leakage fluxes. The
dissipating effects of seepage into the surface layer are controlled
mostly by pressure-driven flow and diffusion (Oldenburg and
Unger, 2003). These occur predominantly in most shallow
parts of the vadose zone, leaving the deeper part of the vadose
zone potentially subject to accumulation of leaking CO2. The
processes of CO2 migration in the vadose zone can be modelled,
subject to limitations in the characterization of actual complex
vadose zone and CO2 leakage scenarios.
For storage sites that are offshore, CO2 that has leaked may
reach the ocean bottom sediments and then, if lighter than the
surrounding water, migrate up through the water column until
it reaches the atmosphere. Depending upon the leakage rate, it
may either remain as a separate phase or completely dissolve

into the water column. When CO2 dissolves, biological impacts

to ocean bottom and marine organisms will be of concern. For
those sites where separate-phase CO2 reaches the ocean surface,
hazards to offshore platform workers may be of concern for
very large and sudden release rates.
Once through the vadose zone, escaping CO2 reaches the
surface layer of the atmosphere and the surface environment,
where humans and other animals can be exposed to it. Carbon
dioxide dispersion and mixing result from surface winds and
associated turbulence and eddies. As a result, CO2 concentrations
diminish rapidly with elevation, meaning that ground-dwelling
animals are more likely to be affected by exposure than are
humans (Oldenburg and Unger, 2004). Calm conditions and
local topography capable of containing the dense gas will tend
to prevent mixing. But such conditions are the exception and in
general, the surface layer can be counted on to strongly dilute
seeping CO2. Nevertheless, potential concerns related to buildup
of CO2 concentrations on calm days must be carefully considered
in any risk assessment of a CO2 storage site. Additionally, high
subsurface CO2 concentrations may accumulate in basements,
subsurface vaults and other subsurface infrastructures where
humans may be exposed to risk.
Carbon dioxide injected into coal seams can escape only
if it is in free phase (i.e., not adsorbed onto the coal) via the
following pathways (Wo and Liang 2005; Wo et al. 2005): flow
into surrounding strata during injection when high pressures are
used to inject CO2 into low-permeability coal, either where the
cleat system reaches the top of the seam or via hydrofractures
induced to improve the contact between the cleat system and
CBM production wells; through faults or other natural pathways
intersecting the coal seam; via poorly abandoned coal or CBM
exploration wells; and through anthropomorphic pathways such

Figure 5.25 Some potential escape routes for CO2 injected into saline formations.

244
as coal mines or mining-induced subsidence cracks.
In general, however, CO2 retained by sorption onto coal will
remain confined to the seam even without caprocks, unless the
pressure in the coal seam is reduced (e.g., by mining). Changes
in pressure and/or temperature lead to changes in the maximum
gas content. If the pressure drops markedly, any excess CO2
may desorb from the coal and flow freely through cleats.
Injection wells and abandoned wells have been identified
as one of the most probable leakage pathways for CO2 storage
projects (Gasda et al., 2004; Benson, 2005). When a well is
drilled, a continuous, open conduit is created between the land
surface and the deep subsurface. If, at the time of drilling,
the operator decides that the target formation does not look
sufficiently productive, then the well is abandoned as a dry
hole, in accordance with proper regulatory guidelines. Current
guidelines typically require filling sections of the hole with
cement (Section 5.5 and Figure 5.21).
Drilling and completion of a well involve not only creation
of a hole in the Earth, but also the introduction of engineered
materials into the subsurface, such as well cements and well
casing. The overall effect of well drilling is replacement of
small but potentially significant cylindrical volumes of rock,
including low-permeability caprock, with anthropomorphic
materials that have properties different from those of the original
materials. A number of possible leakage pathways can occur
along abandoned wells, as illustrated in Figure 5.26 (Gasda et
al., 2004). These include leakage between the cement and the
outside of the casing (Figure 5.26a), between the cement and
the inside of the metal casing (Figure 5.26b), within the cement
plug itself (Figure 5.26c), through deterioration (corrosion) of

Figure 5.26 Possible leakage pathways in an abandoned well: (a) and

(b) between casing and cement wall and plug, respectively; (c) through
cement plugs; (d) through casing; (e) through cement wall; and (f)
between the cement wall and rock (after Gasda et al., 2004).

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

the metal casing (Figure 5.26d), deterioration of the cement in
the annulus (Figure 5.26e) and leakage in the annular region
between the formation and the cement (Figure 5.26f). The
potential for long-term degradation of cement and metal casing
in the presence of CO2 is a topic of extensive investigations at
this time (e.g., Scherer et al., 2005).
The risk of leakage through abandoned wells is proportional
to the number of wells intersected by the CO2 plume, their depth
and the abandonment method used. For mature sedimentary
basins, the number of wells in proximity to a possible injection
well can be large, on the order of many hundreds. For example,
in the Alberta Basin in western Canada, more than 350,000 wells
have been drilled. Currently, drilling continues at the rate of
approximately 20,000 wells per year. The wells are distributed
spatially in clusters, with densities that average around four
wells per km2 (Gasda et al., 2004). Worldwide well densities
are provided in Figure 5.27 and illustrate that many areas have
much lower well density. Nevertheless, the data provided in
Figure 5.27 illustrate an important point made in Section 5.3
namely that storage security in mature oil and gas provinces
may be compromised if a large number of wells penetrate the
caprocks. Steps need to be taken to address this potential risk.
5.7.3

Probability of release from geological storage sites

Storage sites will presumably be designed to confine all injected

CO2 for geological time scales. Nevertheless, experience with
engineered systems suggest a small fraction of operational
storage sites may release CO2 to the atmosphere. No existing
studies systematically estimate the probability and magnitude
of release across a sample of credible geological storage
systems. In the absence of such studies, this section synthesizes
the lines of evidence that enable rough quantitative estimates of
achievable fractions retained in storage. Five kinds of evidence
are relevant to assessing storage effectiveness:
Data from natural systems, including trapped accumulations
of natural gas and CO2, as well as oil;
Data from engineered systems, including natural gas storage,
gas re-injection for pressure support, CO2 or miscible
hydrocarbon EOR, disposal of acid gases and disposal of
other fluids;
Fundamental physical, chemical and mechanical processes
regarding the fate and transport of CO2 in the subsurface;
Results from numerical models of CO2 transport;
Results from current geological storage projects.
5.7.3.1 Natural systems
Natural systems allow inferences about the quality and quantity
of geological formations that could be used to store CO2. The
widespread presence of oil, gas and CO2 trapped in formations
for many millions of years implies that within sedimentary
basins, impermeable formations (caprocks) of sufficient quality
to confine CO2 for geological time periods are present. For
example, the about 200 MtCO2 trapped in the Pisgah Anticline,
northeast of the Jackson Dome (Mississippi), is thought to have
been generated in Late Cretaceous times, more than 65 million

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years ago (Studlick et al., 1990). Retention times longer than
10 million years are found in many of the worlds petroleum
basins (Bradshaw et al., 2005). Therefore evidence from natural
systems demonstrates that reservoir seals exist that are able to
confine CO2 for millions of years and longer.
5.7.3.2 Engineered systems
Evidence from natural gas storage systems enables performance
assessments of engineered barriers (wells and associated
management and remediation) and of the performance of natural
systems that have been altered by pressure cycling (Lippmann
and Benson, 2003; Perry, 2005). Approximately 470 natural gas
storage facilities are currently operating in the United States
with a total storage capacity exceeding 160 Mt natural gas
(Figure 5.12). There have been nine documented incidents of
significant leakage: five were related to wellbore integrity, each
of which was resolved by reworking the wells; three arose from
leaks in caprocks, two of which were remediated and one of
which led to project abandonment. The final incident involved
early project abandonment owing to poor site selection (Perry,
2005). There are no estimates of the total volumes of gas lost
resulting from leakage across all the projects. In one recent
serious example of leakage, involving wellbore failure at a
facility in Kansas, the total mass released was about 3000 t (Lee,
2001), equal to less than 0.002% of the total gas in storage in
the United States and Canada. The capacity-weighted median
age of the approximately 470 facilities exceeds 25 years. Given
that the Kansas failure was among the worst in the cumulative
operating history of gas storage facilities, the average annual
release rates, expressed as a fraction of stored gas released per
year, are likely below 105. While such estimates of the expected
(or statistical average) release rates are a useful measure of

storage effectiveness, they should not be interpreted as implying

that release will be a continuous process.
The performance of natural gas storage systems may be
regarded as a lower bound on that of CO2 storage. One reason for
this is that natural gas systems are designed for (and subject to)
rapid pressure cycling that increases the probability of caprock
leakage. On the other hand, CO2 will dissolve in pore waters (if
present), thereby reducing the risk of leakage. Perhaps the only
respect in which gas storage systems present lower risks is that
CH4 is less corrosive than CO2 to metallic components, such
as well casings. Risks are higher in the case of leakage from
natural gas storage sites because of the flammable nature of the
gas.
5.7.3.3

Fundamental physical, chemical and mechanical

processes regarding fate and transport of CO2 in the
subsurface
As described in Section 5.2, scientific understanding of CO2
storage and in particular performance of storage systems, rests
on a large body of knowledge in hydrogeology, petroleum
geology, reservoir engineering and related geosciences. Current
evaluation has identified a number of processes that alone or in
combination can result in very long-term storage. Specifically,
the combination of structural and stratigraphic trapping of
separate-phase CO2 below low-permeability caprocks, residual
CO2 trapping, solubility trapping and mineral trapping can
create secure storage over geological time scales.
5.7.3.4

Numerical simulations of long-term storage

performance
Simulations of CO2 confinement in large-scale storage projects
suggest that, neglecting abandoned wells, the movement of

Figure 5.27 World oil and gas well distribution and density (courtesy of IHS Energy).

246
CO2 through the subsurface will be slow. For example, Cawley
et al. (2005) studied the effect of uncertainties in parameters
such as the flow velocity in the aquifer and capillary entry
pressure into caprock in their examination of CO2 storage in
the Forties Oilfield in the North Sea. Over the 1000 year time
scale examined in their study, Cawley et al. (2005) found that
less than 0.2% of the stored CO2 enters into the overlying layers
and even in the worse case, the maximum vertical distance
moved by any of the CO2 was less than halfway to the seabed.
Similarly, Lindeberg and Bergmo (2003) studied the Sleipner
field and found that CO2 would not begin to migrate into the
North Sea for 100,000 years and that even after a million years,
the annual rate of release would be about 106 of the stored CO2
per year.
Simulations designed to explore the possible release of stored
CO2 to the biosphere by multiple routes, including abandoned
wells and other disturbances, have recently become available
as a component of more general risk assessment activities
(Section 5.7.5). Two studies of the Weyburn site, for example,
assessed the probability of release to the biosphere. Walton et
al. (2005) used a fully probabilistic model, with a simplified
representation of CO2 transport, to compute a probability
distribution for the cumulative fraction released to the biosphere.
Walton et al. found that after 5000 years, the probability was
equal that the cumulative amount released would be larger or
smaller than 0.1% (the median release fraction) and found a
95% probability that <1% of the total amount stored would be
released. Using a deterministic model of CO2 transport in the
subsurface, Zhou et al. (2005) found no release to the biosphere
in 5000 years. While using a probabilistic model of transport
through abandoned wells, they found a statistical mean release
of 0.001% and a maximum release of 0.14% (expressed as the
cumulative fraction of stored CO2 released over 5000 years).
In saline formations or oil and gas reservoirs with significant
brine content, much of the CO2 will eventually dissolve in the
brine (Figure 5.7), be trapped as a residual immobile phase
(Figure 5.8) or be immobilized by geochemical reactions.
The time scale for dissolution is typically short compared to
the time for CO2 to migrate out of the storage formation by
other processes (Ennis-King and Paterson, 2003; Lindeberg and
Bergmo, 2003; Walton et al., 2005). It is expected that many
storage projects could be selected and operated so that a very
large fraction of the injected CO2 will dissolve. Once dissolved,
CO2 can eventually be transported out of the injection site by
basin-scale circulation or upward migration, but the time scales
(millions of years) of such transport are typically sufficiently
long that they can (arguably) be ignored in assessing the risk of
leakage.
As described in Section 5.1, several CO2 storage projects are
now in operation and being carefully monitored. While no leakage
of stored CO2 out of the storage formations has been observed
in any of the current projects, time is too short and overall
monitoring too limited, to enable direct empirical conclusions
about the long-term performance of geological storage. Rather
than providing a direct test of performance, the current projects
improve the quality of long-duration performance predictions

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

by testing and sharpening understanding of CO2 transport and
trapping mechanisms.
5.7.3.5

Assessing the ability of operational geological

storage projects to retain CO2 for long time periods
Assessment of the fraction retained for geological storage
projects is highly site-specific, depending on (1) the storage
system design, including the geological characteristics of
the selected storage site; (2) the injection system and related
reservoir engineering; and (3) the methods of abandonment,
including the performance of well-sealing technologies. If
the above information is available, it is possible to estimate
the fraction retained by using the models described in Section
5.4.2 and risk assessment methods described in Section
5.7.5. Therefore, it is also possible, in principle, to estimate
the expected performance of an ensemble of storage projects
that adhere to design guidelines such as site selection, seal
integrity, injection depth and well closure technologies.
Table 5.5 summarizes disparate lines of evidence on the integrity
of CO2 storage systems.
For large-scale operational CO2 storage projects, assuming
that sites are well selected, designed, operated and appropriately
monitored, the balance of available evidence suggests the
following:
It is very likely the fraction of stored CO2 retained is more
than 99% over the first 100 years.
It is likely the fraction of stored CO2 retained is more than
99% over the first 1000 years.
5.7.4

Possible local and regional environmental hazards

5.7.4.1 Potential hazards to human health and safety

Risks to human health and safety arise (almost) exclusively from
elevated CO2 concentrations in ambient air, either in confined
outdoor environments, in caves or in buildings. Physiological
and toxicological responses to elevated CO2 concentrations are
relatively well understood (AI.3.3). At concentrations above
about 2%, CO2 has a strong effect on respiratory physiology and
at concentrations above 710%, it can cause unconsciousness
and death. Exposure studies have not revealed any adverse
health effect of chronic exposure to concentrations below 1%.
The principal challenge in estimating the risks posed by
CO2 that might seep from storage sites lies in estimating the
spatial and temporal distribution of CO2 fluxes reaching the
shallow subsurface and in predicting ambient CO2 concentration
resulting from a given CO2 flux. Concentrations in surface
air will be strongly influenced by surface topography and
atmospheric conditions. Because CO2 is 50% denser than air,
it tends to migrate downwards, flowing along the ground and
collecting in shallow depressions, potentially creating much
higher concentrations in confined spaces than in open terrain.
Seepage of CO2 is not uncommon in regions influenced by
volcanism. Naturally occurring releases of CO2 provide a basis
for understanding the transport of CO2 from the vadose zone
to the atmosphere, as well as providing empirical data that link
CO2 fluxes into the shallow subsurface with CO2 concentrations

247

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Table 5.5 Summary of evidence for CO2 retention and release rates.
Kind of evidence

Average annual fraction released

Representative references

Oil and gas

The presence of buoyant fluids trapped for geological timescales

demonstrates the widespread presence of geological systems (seals and
caprock) that are capable of confining gasses with release rates <10-7 yr-1.

Bradshaw et al., 2005

More than 100 MtCO2 has been injected for EOR. Data from the few sites
where surface fluxes have been measured suggest that fractional release rates
are near zero.

Moritis, 2002; Klusman,

2003

Evidence from a small number of risk assessment studies suggests that

average release of CO2 can be 10-5 to 10-7 yr-1 even in existing oil fields with
many abandoned wells, such as Weyburn. Simulations with idealized systems
with open wells show that release rates can exceed 10-2, though in practice
such wells would presumably be closed as soon as CO2 was detected.

Walton et al., 2005; Zhou et

al., 2005; Nordbotten et al.,
2005b

CO2 in natural formations

Natural gas storage

Enhanced oil recovery
(EOR)
Models of flow through the
undisturbed subsurface
Models of flow through
wells

Current CO2 storage

projects

The lifetime of CO2 in natural formations (>10 million yr in some cases)

suggests an average release fraction <10-7 yr-1 for CO2 trapped in sedimentary
basins. In highly fractured volcanic systems, rate of release can be many
orders of magnitude faster.

The cumulative experience of natural gas storage systems exceeds 10,000

facility-years and demonstrates that operational engineered storage systems
can contain methane with release rates of 10-4 to 10-6 yr-1.

Numerical models show that release of CO2 by subsurface flow through

undisturbed geological media (excluding wells) may be near zero at
appropriately selected storage sites and is very likely <10-6 in the few studies
that attempted probabilistic estimates.

Data from current CO2 storage projects demonstrate that monitoring

techniques are able to detect movement of CO2 in the storage reservoirs.
Although no release to the surface has been detected, little can be concluded
given the short history and few sites.

in the ambient air and the consequent health and safety

risks. Such seeps do not, however, provide a useful basis for
estimating the spatial and temporal distribution of CO2 fluxes
leaking from a deep storage site, because (in general) the seeps
occur in highly fractured volcanic zones, unlike the interiors of
stable sedimentary basins, the likely locations for CO2 storage
(Section 5.3).
Natural seeps are widely distributed in tectonically active
regions of the world (Morner and Etiope, 2002). In central Italy,
for example, CO2 is emitted from vents, surface degassing and
diffuse emission from CO2-rich groundwater. Fluxes from
vents range from less than 100 to more than 430 tCO2 day1,
which have shown to be lethal to animal and plants. At Poggio
dellUlivo, for example, a flux of 200 tCO2 day1 is emitted
from diffuse soil degassing. At least ten people have died from
CO2 releases in the region of Lazio over the last 20 years.
Natural and engineered analogues show that it is possible,
though improbable, that slow releases from CO2 storage
reservoirs will pose a threat to humans. Sudden, catastrophic
releases of natural accumulations of CO2 have occurred,
associated with volcanism or subsurface mining activities. Thus,
they are of limited relevance to understanding risks arising from
CO2 stored in sedimentary basins. However, mining or drilling
in areas with CO2 storage sites may pose a long-term risk after
site abandonment if institutional knowledge and precautions
are not in place to avoid accidentally penetrating a storage
formation.

5.7.4.2

Stevens et al., 2001a; Baines

and Worden, 2001

Lippmann and Benson, 2003;

Perry, 2005

Walton et al., 2005; Zhou

et al., 2005; Lindeberg and
Bergmo, 2003; Cawley et al.,
2005

Wilson and Monea, 2005;

Arts et al., 2005; Chadwick,
et al., 2005

Hazards to groundwater from CO2 leakage and

brine displacement
Increases in dissolved CO2 concentration that might occur
as CO2 migrates from a storage reservoir to the surface will
alter groundwater chemistry, potentially affecting shallow
groundwater used for potable water and industrial and
agricultural needs. Dissolved CO2 forms carbonic acid, altering
the pH of the solution and potentially causing indirect effects,
including mobilization of (toxic) metals, sulphate or chloride;
and possibly giving the water an odd odour, colour or taste.
In the worst case, contamination might reach dangerous levels,
excluding the use of groundwater for drinking or irrigation.
Wang and Jaff (2004) used a chemical transport model to
investigate the effect of releasing CO2 from a point source at
100 m depth into a shallow water formation that contained a
high concentration of mineralized lead (galena). They found
that in weakly buffered formations, the escaping CO2 could
mobilize sufficient dissolved lead to pose a health hazard
over a radius of a few hundred metres from the CO2 source.
This analysis represents an extreme upper bound to the risk
of metal leaching, since few natural formations have mineral
composition so susceptible to the effects of CO2-mediated
leaching and one of the expressed requirements of a storage
site is to avoid compromising other potential resources, such as
mineral deposits.
The injection of CO2 or any other fluid deep underground
necessarily causes changes in pore-fluid pressures and in the

248
geomechanical stress fields that reach far beyond the volume
occupied by the injected fluid. Brines displaced from deep
formations by injected CO2 can potentially migrate or leak
through fractures or defective wells to shallow aquifers and
contaminate shallower drinking water formations by increasing
their salinity. In the worst case, infiltration of saline water
into groundwater or into the shallow subsurface could impact
wildlife habitat, restrict or eliminate agricultural use of land and
pollute surface waters.
As is the case for induced seismicity, the experience with
injection of different fluids provides an empirical basis for
assessing the likelihood that groundwater contamination will
occur by brine displacement. As discussed in Section 5.5 and
shown in Figure 5.22, the current site-specific injection rates
of fluids into the deep subsurface are roughly comparable to
the rates at which CO2 would be injected if geological storage
were adopted for storage of CO2 from large-scale power plants.
Contamination of groundwater by brines displaced from injection
wells is rare and it is therefore expected that contamination
arising from large-scale CO2 storage activities would also be
rare. Density differences between CO2 and other fluids with
which we have extensive experience do not compromise this
conclusion, because brine displacement is driven primarily by
the pressure/hydraulic head differential of the injected CO2, not
by buoyancy forces.
5.7.4.3 Hazards to terrestrial and marine ecosystems
Stored CO2 and any accompanying substances, may affect the
flora and fauna with which it comes into contact. Impacts might
be expected on microbes in the deep subsurface and on plants
and animals in shallower soils and at the surface. The remainder
of this discussion focuses only on the hazards where exposures
to CO2 do occur. As discussed in Section 5.7.3, the probability
of leakage is low. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the
hazards should exposures occur.
In the last three decades, microbes dubbed extremophiles,
living in environments where life was previously considered
impossible, have been identified in many underground habitats.
These microorganisms have limited nutrient supply and exhibit
very low metabolic rates (DHondt et al., 2002). Recent studies
have described populations in deep saline formations (Haveman
and Pedersen, 2001), oil and gas reservoirs (Orphan et al., 2000)
and sediments up to 850 m below the sea floor (Parkes et al.,
2000). The mass of subsurface microbes may well exceed the
mass of biota on the Earths surface (Whitman et al., 2001). The
working assumption may be that unless there are conditions
preventing it, microbes can be found everywhere at the depths
being considered for CO2 storage and consequently CO2 storage
sites may generally contain microbes that could be affected by
injected CO2.
The effect of CO2 on subsurface microbial populations
is not well studied. A low-pH, high-CO2 environment may
favour some species and harm others. In strongly reducing
environments, the injection of CO2 may stimulate microbial
communities that would reduce the CO2 to CH4; while in other
reservoirs, CO2 injection could cause a short-term stimulation

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

of Fe(III)-reducing communities (Onstott, 2005). From an
operational perspective, creation of biofilms may reduce the
effective permeability of the formation.
Should CO2 leak from the storage formation and find its way
to the surface, it will enter a much more biologically active area.
While elevated CO2 concentrations in ambient air can accelerate
plant growth, such fertilization will generally be overwhelmed
by the detrimental effects of elevated CO2 in soils, because CO2
fluxes large enough to significantly increase concentrations
in the free air will typically be associated with much higher
CO2 concentrations in soils. The effects of elevated CO2
concentrations would be mediated by several factors: the type
and density of vegetation; the exposure to other environmental
stresses; the prevailing environmental conditions like wind
speed and rainfall; the presence of low-lying areas; and the
density of nearby animal populations.
The main characteristic of long-term elevated CO2 zones
at the surface is the lack of vegetation. New CO2 releases into
vegetated areas cause noticeable die-off. In those areas where
significant impacts to vegetation have occurred, CO2 makes up
about 2095% of the soil gas, whereas normal soil gas usually
contains about 0.24% CO2. Carbon dioxide concentrations
above 5% may be dangerous for vegetation and as concentration
approach 20%, CO2 becomes phytotoxic. Carbon dioxide can
cause death of plants through root anoxia, together with low
oxygen concentration (Leone et al., 1977; Flower et al., 1981).
One example of plant die-off occurred at Mammoth
Mountain, California, USA, where a resurgence of volcanic
activity resulted in high CO2 fluxes. In 1989, a series of small
earthquakes occurred near Mammoth Mountain. A year later, 4
ha of pine trees were discovered to be losing their needles and
by 1997, the area of dead and dying trees had expanded to 40
ha (Farrar et al., 1999). Soil CO2 levels above 1020% inhibit
root development and decrease water and nutrient uptake; soil
oil-gas testing at Mammoth Mountain in 1994 discovered soil
gas readings of up to 95% CO2 by volume. Total CO2 flux in the
affected areas averaged about 530 t day1 in 1996. Measurements
in 2001 showed soil CO2 levels of 1590%, with flux rates at
the largest affected area (Horseshoe Lake) averaging 90100
tCO2 day1 (Gerlach et al., 1999; Rogie et al., 2001). A study of
the impact of elevated CO2 on soils found there was a lower pH
and higher moisture content in summer. Wells in the high CO2
area showed higher levels of silicon, aluminum, magnesium
and iron, consistent with enhanced weathering of the soils.
Tree-ring data show that CO2 releases have occurred prior to
1990 (Cook et al., 2001). Data from airborne remote sensing
are now being used to map tree health and measure anomalous
CO2 levels, which may help determine how CO2 affects forest
ecosystems (Martini and Silver, 2002).
There is no evidence of any terrestrial impact from current
CO2 storage projects. Likewise, there is no evidence from
EOR projects that indicate impacts to vegetation such as those
described above. However, no systematic studies have occurred
to look for terrestrial impacts from current EOR projects.
Natural CO2 seepage in volcanic regions, therefore, provides
examples of possible impacts from leaky CO2 storage, although

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

(as mentioned in Section 5.2.3) seeps in volcanic provinces
provide a poor analogue to seepage that would occur from
CO2 storage sites in sedimentary basins. As described above,
CO2 seepage can pose substantial hazards. In the Alban Hills,
south of Rome (Italy), for example, 29 cows and 8 sheep were
asphyxiated in several separate incidents between September
1999 and October 2001 (Carapezza et al., 2003). The measured
CO2 flux was about 60 t day1 of 98% CO2 and up to 2%
H2S, creating hazardous levels of each gas in localized areas,
particularly in low-wind conditions. The high CO2 and H2S
fluxes resulted from a combination of magmatic activity and
faulting.
Human activities have caused detrimental releases of CO2
from the deep subsurface. In the late 1990s, vegetation died
off above an approximately 3-km deep geothermal field being
exploited for a 62 MW power plant, in Dixie Valley, Nevada,
USA (Bergfeld et al., 2001). A maximum flux of 570 gCO2 m2
day1 was measured, as compared to a background level of 7
gCO2 m-2 day1. By 1999, CO2 flow in the measured area ceased
and vegetation began to return.
The relevance of these natural analogues to leakage from
CO2 storage varies. For examples presented here, the fluxes and
therefore the risks, are much higher than might be expected from
a CO2 storage facility: the annual flow of CO2 at the Mammoth
Mountain site is roughly equal to a release rate on the order
of 0.2% yr-1 from a storage site containing 100 MtCO2. This
corresponds to a fraction retained of 13.5% over 1000 years
and, thus, is not representative of a typical storage site.
Seepage from offshore geological storage sites may
pose a hazard to benthic environments and organisms as the
CO2 moves from deep geological structures through benthic
sediments to the ocean. While leaking CO2 might be hazardous
to the benthic environment, the seabed and overlying seawater
can also provide a barrier, reducing the escape of seeping CO2
to the atmosphere. These hazards are distinctly different from
the environmental effects of the dissolved CO2 on aquatic life in
the water column, which are discussed in Chapter 6. No studies
specifically address the environmental effects of seepage from
sub-seabed geological storage sites.
5.7.4.4 Induced seismicity
Underground injection of CO2 or other fluids into porous rock
at pressures substantially higher than formation pressures can
induce fracturing and movement along faults (see Section 5.5.4
and Healy et al., 1968; Gibbs et al., 1973; Raleigh et al., 1976;
Sminchak et al., 2002; Streit et al., 2005; Wo et al., 2005).
Induced fracturing and fault activation may pose two kinds
of risks. First, brittle failure and associated microseismicity
induced by overpressuring can create or enhance fracture
permeability, thus providing pathways for unwanted CO2
migration (Streit and Hillis, 2003). Second, fault activation can,
in principle, induce earthquakes large enough to cause damage
(e.g., Healy et al., 1968).
Fluid injection into boreholes can induce microseismic
activity, as for example at the Rangely Oil Field in Colorado,
USA (Gibbs et al., 1973; Raleigh et al., 1976), in test sites

249
such as the drillholes of the German continental deep drilling
programme (Shapiro et al., 1997; Zoback and Harjes, 1997) or
the Cold Lake Oil Field, Alberta, Canada (Talebi et al., 1998).
Deep-well injection of waste fluids may induce earthquakes
with moderate local magnitudes (ML), as suggested for the
1967 Denver earthquakes (ML of 5.3; Healy et al., 1968; Wyss
and Molnar, 1972) and the 19861987 Ohio earthquakes (ML of
4.9; Ahmad and Smith, 1988) in the United States. Seismicity
induced by fluid injection is usually assumed to result from
increased pore-fluid pressure in the hypocentral region of the
seismic event (e.g., Healy et al., 1968; Talebi et al., 1998).
Readily applicable methods exist to assess and control
induced fracturing or fault activation (see Section 5.5.3). Several
geomechanical methods have been identified for assessing the
stability of faults and estimating maximum sustainable porefluid pressures for CO2 storage (Streit and Hillis, 2003). Such
methods, which require the determination of in situ stresses,
fault geometries and relevant rock strengths, are based on brittle
failure criteria and have been applied to several study sites for
potential CO2 storage (Rigg et al., 2001; Gibson-Poole et al.,
2002).
The monitoring of microseismic events, especially in the
vicinity of injection wells, can indicate whether pore fluid
pressures have locally exceeded the strength of faults, fractures
or intact rock. Acoustic transducers that record microseismic
events in monitoring wells of CO2 storage sites can be used
to provide real-time control to keep injection pressures below
the levels that induce seismicity. Together with the modelling
techniques mentioned above, monitoring can reduce the chance
of damage to top seals and fault seals (at CO2 storage sites)
caused by injection-related pore-pressure increases.
Fault activation is primarily dependent on the extent and
magnitude of the pore-fluid-pressure perturbations. It is
therefore determined more by the quantity and rate than by
the kind of fluid injected. Estimates of the risk of inducing
significant earthquakes may therefore be based on the diverse
and extensive experience with deep-well injection of various
aqueous and gaseous streams for disposal and storage. Perhaps
the most pertinent experience is the injection of CO2 for EOR;
about 30 MtCO2 yr-1 is now injected for EOR worldwide and
the cumulative total injected exceeds 0.5 GtCO2, yet there have
been no significant seismic effects attributed to CO2-EOR. In
addition to CO2, injected fluids include brines associated with
oil and gas production (>2 Gt yr1); Floridan aquifer wastewater
(>0.5 Gt yr1); hazardous wastes (>30 Mt yr1); and natural gas
(>100 Mt yr1) (Wilson et al., 2003).
While few of these cases may precisely mirror the
conditions under which CO2 would be injected for storage (the
peak pressures in CO2-EOR may, for example, be lower than
would be used in formation storage), these quantities compare
to or exceed, plausible flows of CO2 into storage. For example,
in some cases such as the Rangely Oil Field, USA, current
reservoir pressures even exceed the original formation pressure
(Raleigh et al., 1976). Thus, they provide a substantial body of
empirical data upon which to assess the likelihood of induced
seismicity resulting from fluid injection. The fact that only a few

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

individual seismic events associated with deep-well injection

have been recorded suggests that the risks are low. Perhaps more
importantly, these experiences demonstrate that the regulatory
limits imposed on injection pressures are sufficient to avoid
significant injection-induced seismicity. Designing CO2 storage
projects to operate within these parameters should be possible.
Nevertheless, because formation pressures in CO2 storage
formations may exceed those found in CO2-EOR projects, more
experience with industrial-scale CO2 storage projects will be
needed to fully assess risks of microseismicity.
5.7.4.5 Implications of gas impurity
Under some circumstances, H2S, SO2, NO2 and other trace
gases may be stored along with CO2 (Bryant and Lake, 2005;
Knauss et al., 2005) and this may affect the level of risk. For
example, H2S is considerably more toxic than CO2 and well
blow-outs containing H2S may present higher risks than well
blow-outs from storage sites that contain only CO2. Similarly,
dissolution of SO2 in groundwater creates a far stronger acid
than does dissolution of CO2; hence, the mobilization of metals
in groundwater and soils may be higher, leading to greater risk
of exposure to hazardous levels of trace metals. While there has
not been a systematic and comprehensive assessment of how
these additional constituents would affect the risks associated
with CO2 storage, it is worth noting that at Weyburn, one of
the most carefully monitored CO2 injection projects and one for
which a considerable effort has been devoted to risk assessment,
the injected gas contains approximately 2% H2S (Wilson
and Monea, 2005). To date, most risk assessment studies
have assumed that only CO2 is stored; therefore, insufficient
information is available to assess the risks associated with gas
impurities at the present time.
5.7.5

Risk assessment methodology

Risk assessment aims to identify and quantify potential risks

caused by the subsurface injection of CO2, where risk denotes
a combination (often the product) of the probability of an event
happening and the consequences of the event. Risk assessment
should be an integral element of risk-management activities,
spanning site selection, site characterization, storage system
design, monitoring and, if necessary, remediation.
The operation of a CO2 storage facility will necessarily
involve risks arising from the operation of surface facilities
such as pipelines, compressors and wellheads. The assessment
of such risks is routine practice in the oil and gas industry and
available assessment methods like hazard and operability and
quantitative risk assessment are directly applicable. Assessment
of such risks can be made with considerable confidence,
because estimates of failure probabilities and the consequences
of failure can be based directly on experience. Techniques
used for assessment of operational risks will not, in general, be
readily applicable to assessment of risks arising from long-term
storage of CO2 underground. However, they are applicable to
the operating phase of a storage project. The remainder of this
subsection addresses the long-term risks.

Risk assessment methodologies are diverse; new

methodologies arise in response to new classes of problems.
Because analysis of the risks posed by geological storage
of CO2 is a new field, no well-established methodology for
assessing such risks exists. Methods dealing with the long-term
risks posed by the transport of materials through the subsurface
have been developed in the area of hazardous and nuclear waste
management (Hodgkinson and Sumerling, 1990; North, 1999).
These techniques provide a useful basis for assessing the risks
of CO2 storage. Their applicability may be limited, however,
because the focus of these techniques has been on assessing
the low-volume disposal of hazardous materials, whereas the
geological storage of CO2 is high-volume disposal of a material
that involves comparatively mild hazards.
Several substantial efforts are under way to assess the
risks posed by particular storage sites (Gale, 2003). These risk
assessment activities cover a wide range of reservoirs, use a
diversity of methods and consider a very wide class of risks.
The description of a representative selection of these risk
assessment efforts is summarized in Table 5.6.
The development of a comprehensive catalogue of the
risks and of the mechanisms that underlie them, provides a
good foundation for systematic risk assessment. Many of
the ongoing risk assessment efforts are now cooperating to
identify, classify and screen all factors that may influence the
safety of storage facilities, by using the features, events and
processes (FEP) methodology. In this context, features includes
a list of parameters, such as storage reservoir permeability,
caprock thickness and number of injection wells. Events
includes processes such as seismic events, well blow-outs and
penetration of the storage site by new wells. Processes refers
to the physical and chemical processes, such as multiphase
flow, chemical reactions and geomechanical stress changes
that influence storage capacity and security. FEP databases tie
information on individual FEPs to relevant literature and allow
classification with respect to likelihood, spatial scale, time scale
and so on. However, there are alternative approaches.
Most risk assessments involve the use of scenarios that
describe possible future states of the storage facility and events
that result in leakage of CO2 or other risks. Each scenario may
be considered as an assemblage of selected FEPs. Some risk
assessments define a reference scenario that represents the most
probable evolution of the system. Variant scenarios are then
constructed with alternative FEPs. Various methods are used
to structure and rationalize the process of scenario definition
in an attempt to reduce the role of subjective judgements in
determining the outcomes.
Scenarios are the starting points for selecting and developing
mathematical-physical models (Section 5.4.2). Such performance
assessment models may include representations of all relevant
components including the stored CO2, the reservoir, the seal,
the overburden, the soil and the atmosphere. Many of the fluidtransport models used for risk assessment are derived from (or
identical to) well-established models used in the oil and gas or
groundwater management industries (Section 5.4.2). The detail
or resolution of various components may vary greatly. Some

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Table 5.6 Representative selection of risk assessment models and efforts.
Project title

Description and status

Weyburn/Monitor Scientific

Scenario-based modelling that uses an industry standard reservoir simulation tool (Eclipse3000) based on
a realistic model of known reservoir conditions. Initial treatment of wells involves assigning a uniform
permeability.

Weyburn/ECOMatters

NGCAS/ECL technology

SAMARCADS (safety
aspects of CO2 storage)
RITE

Battelle
GEODISC
UK-DTI

New model, CQUESTRA, developed to enable probabilistic risk assessment. A simple box model is used
with explicit representation of transport between boxes caused by failure of wells.

Probabilistic risk assessment using fault tree and FEP (features, events and processes) database. Initial study
focused on the Forties oil and gas field located offshore in the North Sea. Concluded that flow through
caprock transport by advection in formation waters not important, work on assessing leakage due to well
failures ongoing.
Methods and tools for HSE risk assessment applied to two storage systems an onshore gas storage facility
and an offshore formation.

Scenario-based analysis of leakage risks in a large offshore formation. Will assess scenarios involving rapid
release through faults activated by seismic events.
Probabilistic risk assessment of an onshore formation storage site that is intended to represent the
Mountaineer site.

Completed a quantitative risk assessment for four sites in Australia: the Petrel Sub-basin; the Dongra
depleted oil and gas field; the offshore Gippsland Basin; and, offshore Barrow Island. Also produced a risk
assessment report that addressed the socio-political needs of stakeholders.
Probabilistic risk assessment of failures in surface facilities that uses models and operational data.
Assessment of risk of release from geological storage that uses an expert-based Delphi process.

models are designed to allow explicit treatment of uncertainty

in input parameters (Saripalli et al., 2003; Stenhouse et al.,
2005; Wildenborg et al., 2005a).
Our understanding of abandoned-well behaviour over long
time scales is at present relatively poor. Several groups are
now collecting data on the performance of well construction
materials in high-CO2 environments and building wellbore
simulation models that will couple geomechanics, geochemistry
and fluid transport (Scherer et al., 2005; Wilson and Monea,
2005). The combination of better models and new data should
enable the integration of physically based predictive models
of wellbore performance into larger performance-assessment
models, enabling more systematic assessment of leakage from
wells.
The parameter values (e.g., permeability of a caprock)
and the structure of the performance assessment models (e.g.,
the processes included or excluded) will both be, in general,
uncertain. Risk analysis may or may not treat this uncertainty
explicitly. When risks are assessed deterministically, fixed
parameter values are chosen to represent the (often unknown)
probability distributions. Often the parameter values are
selected conservatively; that is, they are selected so that risks
are overestimated, although in practice such selections are
problematic because the relationship between the parameter
value and the risk may itself be uncertain.
Wherever possible, it is preferable to treat uncertainty
explicitly. In probabilistic risk assessments, explicit probability
distributions are used for some (or all) parameters. Methods such
as Monte Carlo analysis are then used to produce probability
distributions for various risks. The required probability
distributions may be derived directly from data or may involve

formal quantification of expert judgements (Morgan and

Henrion, 1999). In some cases, probabilistic risk assessment
may require that the models be simplified because of limitations
on available computing resources.
Studies of natural and engineered analogues provide a strong
basis for understanding and quantifying the health, safety and
environmental risks that arise from CO2 that seeps from the
shallow subsurface to the atmosphere. Natural analogues are
of less utility in assessing the likelihood of various processes
that transport CO2 from the storage reservoir to the near-surface
environment. This is because the geological character of such
analogues (e.g., CO2 transport and seepage in highly fractured
zones shaped by volcanism) will typically be very different
from sites chosen for geological storage. Engineered analogues
such as natural gas storage and CO2-EOR can provide a
basis for deriving quantitative probabilistic models of well
performance.
Results from actual risk and assessment for CO2 storage are
provided in 5.7.3.
5.7.6

Risk management

Risk management entails the application of a structured process

to identify and quantify the risks associated with a given
process, to evaluate these, taking into account stakeholder input
and context, to modify the process to remove excess risks and to
identify and implement appropriate monitoring and intervention
strategies to manage the remaining risks.
For geological storage, effective risk mitigation consists of
four interrelated activities:
Careful site selection, including performance and risk

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assessment (Section 5.4) and socio-economic and

environmental factors;
Monitoring to provide assurance that the storage project is
performing as expected and to provide early warning in the
event that it begins to leak (Section 5.6);
Effective regulatory oversight (Section 5.8);
Implementation of remediation measures to eliminate or
limit the causes and impacts of leakage (Section 5.7.7).
Risk management strategies must use the inputs from the
risk assessment process to enable quantitative estimates of
the degree of risk mitigation that can be achieved by various
measures and to establish an appropriate level of monitoring,
with intervention options available if necessary. Experience
from natural gas storage projects and disposal of liquid wastes
has demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach to risk
mitigation (Wilson et al., 2003; Apps, 2005; Perry, 2005).
5.7.7

Remediation of leaking storage projects

Geological storage projects will be selected and operated to

avoid leakage. However, in rare cases, leakage may occur and
remediation measures will be needed, either to stop the leak or to
prevent human or ecosystem impact. Moreover, the availability
of remediation options may provide an additional level of
assurance to the public that geological storage can be safe and
effective. While little effort has focused on remediation options
thus far, Benson and Hepple (2005) surveyed the practices
used to remediate natural gas storage projects, groundwater
and soil contamination, as well as disposal of liquid waste in
deep geological formations. On the basis of these surveys,
remediation options were identified for most of the leakage
scenarios that have been identified, namely:
Leaks within the storage reservoir;
Leakage out of the storage formation up faults and
fractures;
Shallow groundwater;
Vadose zone and soil;
Surface fluxes;
CO2 in indoor air, especially basements;
Surface water.
Identifying options for remediating leakage of CO2 from active
or abandoned wells is particularly important, because they
are known vulnerabilities (Gasda et al., 2004; Perry, 2005).
Stopping blow-outs or leaks from injection or abandoned
wells can be accomplished with standard techniques, such as
injecting a heavy mud into the well casing. If the wellhead
is not accessible, a nearby well can be drilled to intercept the
casing below the ground surface and then pump mud down into
the interception well. After control of the well is re-established,
the well can be repaired or abandoned. Leaking injection wells
can be repaired by replacing the injection tubing and packers. If
the annular space behind the casing is leaking, the casing can be
perforated to allow injection (squeezing) of cement behind the
casing until the leak is stopped. If the well cannot be repaired,

it can be abandoned by following the procedure outlined in

Section 5.5.2.
Table 5.7 provides an overview of the remediation options
available for the leakage scenarios listed above. Some methods
are well established, while others are more speculative.
Additional detailed studies are needed to further assess the
feasibility of applying these to geological storage projects
studies that are based on realistic scenarios, simulations and
field studies.
5.8

Legal issues and public acceptance

What legal and regulatory issues might be involved in CO2

storage? How do they differ from one country to the next and
from onshore to offshore? What international treaties exist that
have bearing on geological storage? How does and how will the
public view geological storage? These subjects are addressed
in this section, which is primarily concerned with geological
storage, both onshore and offshore.
5.8.1

International law

This section considers the legal position of geological CO2

storage under international law. Primary sources, namely the
relevant treaties, provide the basis for any assessment of the
legal position. While States, either individually or jointly, apply
their own interpretations to treaty provisions, any determination
of the correct interpretation will fall to the International Court
of Justice or an arbitral tribunal in accordance with the dispute
settlement mechanism under that treaty.
5.8.1.1 Sources and nature of international obligations
According to general principles of customary international
law, States can exercise their sovereignty in their territories
and therefore could engage in activities such as the storage
of CO2 (both geological and ocean) in those areas under their
jurisdiction. However, if such storage causes transboundary
impacts, States have the responsibility to ensure that activities
within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the
environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of
national jurisdiction.
More specifically, there exist a number of global and regional
environmental treaties, notably those on climate change and the
law of the sea and marine environment, which, as presently
drafted, could be interpreted as relevant to the permissibility
of CO2 storage, particularly offshore geological storage
(Table 5.8).
Before making any assessment of the compatibility of
CO2 storage with the international legal obligations under
these treaties, the general nature of such obligations should be
recalled namely that:
Obligations under a treaty fall only on the Parties to that
treaty;
States take such obligations seriously and so will look
to the provisions of such treaties before reaching policy
decisions;

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

253

Table 5.7. Remediation options for geological CO2 storage projects (after Benson and Hepple, 2005).
Scenario

Remediation options

Leakage through
active or
abandoned wells

Repair leaking injection wells with standard well recompletion techniques such as replacing the injection tubing and
packers;
Repair leaking injection wells by squeezing cement behind the well casing to plug leaks behind the casing;
Plug and abandon injection wells that cannot be repaired by the methods listed above;
Stop blow-outs from injection or abandoned wells with standard techniques to kill a well such as injecting a heavy
mud into the well casing. After control of the well is re-established, the recompletion or abandonment practices
described above can be used. If the wellhead is not accessible, a nearby well can be drilled to intercept the casing
below the ground surface and kill the well by pumping mud down the interception well (DOGGR, 1974).

Leakage up
faults, fractures
and spill points

Accumulation
of CO2 in the
vadose zone and
soil gas

Leakage into the

vadose zone and
accumulation in
soil gas (Looney
and Falta, 2000)

Large releases
of CO2 to the
atmosphere

Lower injection pressure by injecting at a lower rate or through more wells (Buschbach and Bond, 1974);
Lower reservoir pressure by removing water or other fluids from the storage structure;
Intersect the leakage with extraction wells in the vicinity of the leak;
Create a hydraulic barrier by increasing the reservoir pressure upstream of the leak;
Lower the reservoir pressure by creating a pathway to access new compartments in the storage reservoir;
Stop injection to stabilize the project;
Stop injection, produce the CO2 from the storage reservoir and reinject it back into a more suitable storage structure.

Accumulations of gaseous CO2 in groundwater can be removed or at least made immobile, by drilling wells that
intersect the accumulations and extracting the CO2. The extracted CO2 could be vented to the atmosphere or reinjected
back into a suitable storage site;
Residual CO2 that is trapped as an immobile gas phase can be removed by dissolving it in water and extracting it as a
dissolved phase through groundwater extraction well;
CO2 that has dissolved in the shallow groundwater could be removed, if needed, by pumping to the surface and
aerating it to remove the CO2. The groundwater could then either be used directly or reinjected back into the
groundwate;
If metals or other trace contaminants have been mobilized by acidification of the groundwater, pump-and-treat
methods can be used to remove them. Alternatively, hydraulic barriers can be created to immobilize and contain
the contaminants by appropriately placed injection and extraction wells. In addition to these active methods of
remediation, passive methods that rely on natural biogeochemical processes may also be used.
CO2 can be extracted from the vadose zone and soil gas by standard vapor extraction techniques from horizontal or
vertical wells;
Fluxes from the vadose zone to the ground surface could be decreased or stopped by caps or gas vapour barriers.
Pumping below the cap or vapour barrier could be used to deplete the accumulation of CO2 in the vadose zone;
Since CO2 is a dense gas, it could be collected in subsurface trenches. Accumulated gas could be pumped from the
trenches and released to the atmosphere or reinjected back underground;
Passive remediation techniques that rely only on diffusion and barometric pumping could be used to slowly deplete
one-time releases of CO2 into the vadose zone. This method will not be effective for managing ongoing releases
because it is relatively slow;
Acidification of the soils from contact with CO2 could be remediated by irrigation and drainage. Alternatively,
agricultural supplements such as lime could be used to neutralize the soil;

For releases inside a building or confined space, large fans could be used to rapidly dilute CO2 to safe levels;
For large releases spread out over a large area, dilution from natural atmospheric mixing (wind) will be the only
practical method for diluting the CO2;
For ongoing leakage in established areas, risks of exposure to high concentrations of CO2 in confined spaces (e.g.
cellar around a wellhead) or during periods of very low wind, fans could be used to keep the rate of air circulation
high enough to ensure adequate dilution.

Slow releases into structures can be eliminated by using techniques that have been developed for controlling release
Accumulation
of radon and volatile organic compounds into buildings. The two primary methods for managing indoor releases are
of CO2 in indoor
basement/substructure venting or pressurization. Both would have the effect of diluting the CO2 before it enters the
environments
with chronic lowindoor environment (Gadgil et al., 1994; Fischer et al., 1996).
level leakage
Accumulation in
surface water

Shallow surface water bodies that have significant turnover (shallow lakes) or turbulence (streams) will quickly
release dissolved CO2 back into the atmosphere;
For deep, stably stratified lakes, active systems for venting gas accumulations have been developed and applied at
Lake Nyos and Monoun in Cameroon (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mhalb/nyos/).

254

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 5.8 Main international treaties for consideration in the context of geological CO2 storage (full titles are given in the Glossary).
Treaty

UNFCCC

Kyoto Protocol (KP)

UNCLOS

London Convention (LC)

London Protocol (LP)

OSPAR

Basel Convention
a

Adoption (Signature)

Entry into Force

Number of Parties/Ratifications

1997

2005

132a

1992

1994

1982

1994

1972

1975

1996

1992

145
80

No

20a (26)

1992

162

1998

1989

189

15

Several other countries have also announced that their ratification is under way.

M
ost environmental treaties contain underlying concepts,
such as sustainable development, precautionary approach or
principles, that should be taken into account when applying
their provisions;
In terms of supremacy of different treaties, later treaties will
supersede earlier ones, but this will depend on lex specialis,
that is, provisions on a specific subject will supersede
general ones (relevant to the relationship between the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol (KP) and the marine
treaties);
Amendment of treaties, if needed to permit CO2 storage,
requires further negotiations, a minimum level of support
for their adoption and subsequent entry into force and will
amend earlier treaties only for those Parties that have ratified
the amendments.
5.8.1.2

Key issues in the application of the marine treaties

to CO2 storage
When interpreting the treaties for the purposes of determining the
permissibility of CO2 storage, particularly offshore geological
storage, it is important to bear in mind that the treaties were not
drafted to facilitate geological storage but to prohibit marine
dumping. Issues to bear in mind include the following:
Whether storage constitutes dumping, that is, it does not
if the placement of the CO2 is other than for the purposes
of the mere disposal thereof in accordance with the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the
London Convention (LC), the London Protocol (LP) and the
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment
of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR). Alternative scenarios
include experiments and storage for the purposes of
enhanced oil recovery;
Whether CO2 storage can benefit from treaty exemptions
concerning wastes arising from the normal operations of
offshore installations (LC/LP) or as discharges or emissions
from them (OSPAR);
Is storage in the seabed expressly covered in the treaties
or is it limited to the water column (UNCLOS, LC/LP,
OSPAR)?
Is CO2 (or the substance captured if containing impurities)
an industrial waste (LC), hazardous waste (Basel

Convention) or does the process of its storage constitute

pollution (UNCLOS) or is it none of these?
Does the method of the CO2 reaching the disposal site
involve pipelines, vessels or offshore structures (LC/LP,
OSPAR)?
5.8.1.3

Literature on geological storage under international

law
While it is necessary to look at and interpret the treaty
provisions themselves to determine the permissibility of CO2
storage, secondary sources contain States or authors individual
interpretations of the treaties.
In their analysis, Purdy and Macrory (2004) conclude that
since stored CO2 does not enter the atmosphere, it will not be
classed as an emission for the purposes of the UNFCCC/KP,
but as an emission reduction. Emission reductions by CO2
storage are permitted under the UNFCCC/KP, which allows
projects that reduce greenhouse gases at the source. However,
the authors consider a potential problem in UNFCCC/KP
providing for transparent verification of emission reductions
and there could be concerns over permanence, leakage and
security.
In terms of marine treaties and in relation to OSPAR, which
applies to the North East Atlantic, a report from the OSPAR
Group of Jurists and Linguists contains the State Parties
interpretation of OSPAR on the issue of geological (and ocean)
offshore storage (OSPAR Commission, 2004). It concludes
that, as there is the possibility of pollution or of other adverse
environmental effects, the precautionary principle must be
applied. More specifically, the report interprets OSPAR as
allowing CO2 placement in the North East Atlantic (including
seabed and subsoil) through a pipeline from land, provided it
does not involve subsequent activities through a vessel or an
offshore installation (e.g., an oil or gas platform). The report
states, however, that placement from a vessel is prohibited,
unless for the purpose of experimentation (which would then
require being carried out in accordance with other relevant
provisions of OSPAR). In the case of placement in the OSPAR
maritime area from an offshore installation, this depends upon
whether the CO2 to be stored results from offshore or land-based
activities. In the case of offshore-derived CO2, experimental
placement will again be subject to the Conventions provisions,

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Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

while placement for EOR, climate change mitigation or indeed
mere disposal will be strictly subject to authorization or
regulation. As regards onshore-derived CO2, placement only for
experimental or EOR purposes will be allowed, subject to the
same caveats as for offshore-derived CO2. The report concludes
that, since the applicable OSPAR regime is determined by
the method and purpose of placement and not by the effect of
placement on the marine environment, the results may well
be that placements with different impacts on the environment
(for example, placement in the water column and placement in
underground strata) may not be distinguished, while different
methods of placement having the same impact may be treated
differently. A similar analytical exercise concerning the LC/LP
has been initiated by Parties to that Convention.
There is uncertainty regarding the extent to which CO2
storage falls under the jurisdiction of the marine treaties. Some
authors argue they will probably not allow such storage or that
the LC (globally) and OSPAR (in the North East Atlantic) could
significantly restrict geological offshore storage (Lenstra and
van Engelenburg, 2002; Bewers, 2003). Specifically regarding
the issues raised above, the following propositions have been
suggested:
The long-term storage of CO2 amounts to dumping under
the conventions (Purdy and Macrory, 2004); if CO2 were to
be injected for an industrial purpose, that is, EOR, it would
not be considered dumping of waste and would be allowed
under the LC (Wall et al., 2005);
CO2 captured from an oil or natural gas extraction operation
and stored offshore in a geological formation would not be
considered dumping under the LC (Wall et al., 2005);
There remain some ambiguities in the provisions of some
conventions, especially in relation to the option of geological
storage under the seabed (Ducroux and Bewers, 2005).
UNCLOS provides the international legal basis for a range
of future uses for the seafloor that could potentially include
geological storage of CO2 (Cook and Carleton, 2000);
Under the LC, CO2 might fall under the industrial waste
category in the list of wastes prohibited for disposal, while
under the LP and OSPAR, it would probably not fall under
the categories approved for dumping and should therefore
be considered as waste and this is prohibited (Purdy and
Macrory, 2004).
If CO2 is transported by ship and then disposed of, either
directly from the ship or from an offshore installation, this will
be prohibited under the LC/LP (Wall et al., 2005) and OSPAR
(Purdy and Macrory, 2004). If CO2 is transported by pipeline
to an offshore installation and then disposed of, that would be
prohibited under the LC/LP, but not necessarily under OSPAR,
where prohibition against dumping applies only to installations
carrying out activities concerning hydrocarbons (Purdy and
Macrory, 2004). The option of storing CO2 transported through
a pipeline from land appears to remain open under most
conventions (Ducroux and Bewers, 2005); the LC/LP apply
only to activities that involve ships or platforms and contain no
further controls governing pipeline discharges from land-based

sources. Any such discharges would probably be excluded from

control by the LC because it would not involve disposal at sea
(Wall et al., 2005). Under OSPAR, however, States have general
environmental obligations with respect to land-based sources
(Purdy and Macrory, 2004) (and discharges from pipelines from
land will be regulated, although not prohibited).
5.8.2

National regulations and standards

States can regulate subsurface injection and storage of CO2

within their jurisdiction in accordance with their national rules
and regulations. Such rules and regulations could be provided by
the mining laws, resource conservation laws, laws on drinking
water, waste disposal, oil and gas production, treatment of highpressurized gases and others. An analysis of existing regulations
in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia highlights the
lack of regulations that are specifically relevant for CO2 storage
and the lack of clarity relating to post-injection responsibilities
(IEA-GHG, 2003; IOGCC, 2005).
Presently, CO2 is injected into the subsurface for EOR and
for disposal of acid gas (Section 5.2.4). Most of these recovery
or disposal activities inject relatively small quantities of CO2
into reasonably well-characterized formations. Generally, the
longevity of CO2 storage underground and the extent of longterm monitoring of the injected fluids are not specified in the
regulation of these activities, which are generally regulated
under the larger umbrella of upstream oil and gas production
and waste disposal regulations that do not specify storage time
and need for post-operational monitoring.
In Canada, the practice of deep-well injection of fluids in
the subsurface, including disposal of liquid wastes, is legal and
regulated. As a result of provincial jurisdiction over energy and
mineral resources, there are no generally applicable national
laws that specifically regulate deep-well injection of fluids.
Onshore CO2 geological storage would fall under provincial
laws and regulations, while storage offshore and in federally
administered territories would fall under federal laws and
regulations. In the western provinces that are major oil and
gas producers, substantive regulations specifically manage
the use of injection wells. In Alberta, for example, there are
detailed procedural regulations regarding well construction,
operation and abandonment, within which specific standards
are delineated for five classes of injection wells (Alberta Energy
and Utilities Board, 1994). In Saskatchewan, The Oil and Gas
Conservation Regulations 1985 (with Amendments through
2000) prescribe standards for disposal of oil field brine and other
wastes. In addition, capture, transport and operational injection
of fluids, including acid gas and CO2, are by and large covered
under existing regulations, but no regulations are in place for
monitoring the fate of the injected fluids in the subsurface and/
or for the post-abandonment stage of an injection operation.
In the United States, the Safe Drinking Water Act regulates
most underground injection activities. The USEPA Underground
Injection and Control (UIC) Program, created in 1980 to provide
minimum standards, helps harmonize regulatory requirements
for underground injection activities. The explicit goal of the UIC

256
programme is to protect current and potential sources of public
drinking water. The Safe Drinking Water Act expressly prohibits
underground injection that endangers an underground source
of drinking water. Endangerment is defined with reference to
national primary drinking water regulations and adverse human
health effects. For certain types or classes of wells, regulations
by the USEPA prohibit injection that causes the movement of
any contaminant into an underground source of drinking water.
Wells injecting hazardous wastes require the additional
development of a no-migration petition to be submitted to the
regulators. These petitions place the onus of proof on the project
proponent that injected fluid will not migrate from the disposal
site for 10,000 years or more. The fluids can exhibit buoyancy
effects, as disposed fluids can be less dense than the connate
fluids of the receiving formation. Operators are required to
use models to demonstrate they can satisfy the no-migration
requirement over 10,000 years. Wilson et al. (2003) suggests
that this process of proving containment could provide a model
for long-term storage of CO2. While detailed requirements exist
for siting, constructing and monitoring injection well operation,
there are no federal requirements for monitoring or verification
of the actual movement of fluids within the injection zone, nor
are there general requirements for monitoring in overlying zones
to detect leakage. However, there are requirements for ambient
monitoring in deep hazardous and industrial waste wells, with
the degree of rigour varying from state to state.
Vine (2004) provides an extensive overview of environmental
regulations that might affect geological CO2 storage projects in
California. Given that a developer may need to acquire up to 15
permits from federal, state and local authorities, Vine stresses
the need for research to quantitatively assess the impacts of
regulations on project development.
In Australia, permitting responsibility for onshore oil
and gas activities reside with the State Governments, while
offshore activities are primarily the responsibility of the Federal
Government. A comprehensive assessment of the Australian
regulatory regime is under way, but so far only South Australia
has adopted legislation regulating the underground injection
of gases such as CO2 for EOR and for storage. Stringent
environmental impact assessments are required for all
activities that could compromise the quality of surface water or
groundwater.
The 25 member states of the European Union (EU) have
to ensure that geological storage of CO2 is in conformity with
relevant EU Directives. A number of directives could have an
influence on CO2 geological storage in the EU, notably those on
waste (75/442/EEC), landfill (1999/31/EC), water (2000/60/EC),
environmental impact assessment (85/337/EEC) and strategic
environmental assessment (2001/42/EC). These directives were
designed in a situation where CO2 capture and storage was not
taken into account and is not specifically mentioned.
There is one comprehensive Dutch study detailing legal and
regulatory aspects of CO2 underground injection and storage
(CRUST Legal Task Force, 2001), including ownership of the
stored CO2, duty of care, liability and claim settlement. It has
as its basis the legal situation established by the Dutch Mining

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Act of 2003 that covers substances stored underground and
unites previously divided regulation of onshore and offshore
activities. Storage is defined as placing or keeping substances
at depth of more than 100 m below the surface of the earth.
Legal interpretation indicates that CO2 intended for storage
would have to be treated as waste, because it was collected with
the explicit purpose of disposal.
Regulating CO2 storage presents a variety of challenges: the
scale of the activity, the need to monitor and verify containment
and any leakage of a buoyant fluid and the long storage time
all of which require specific regulatory considerations.
Additionally, injecting large quantities of CO2 into saline
formations that have not been extensively characterized or
may be close to populated areas creates potential risks that will
need to be considered. Eventually, linkages between a CO2
storage programme and a larger national and international CO2
accounting regime will need to be credibly established.
5.8.3

Subsurface property rights

Storage of CO2 in the subsurface raises several questions:

Could rights to pore space be transferred to another party? Who
owns CO2 stored in pore space? How can storage of CO2 in
the pore space be managed so as to assure minimal damage
to other property rights (e.g., mineral resources, water rights)
sharing the same space? Rights to use subsurface pore space
could be granted, separating them from ownership of the
surface property. This, for example, appears to apply to most
European countries and Canada, whereas in the United States,
while there are currently no specific property-rights issues that
could govern CO2 storage, the rights to the subsurface can be
severed from the land.
Scale is also an important issue. Simulations have shown
that the areal extent of a plume of CO2 injected from a 1 GW
coal-fired power plant over 30 years into a 100-m-thick zone
will be approximately 100 km2 (Rutqvist and Tsang, 2002)
and may grow after injection ceases. The approach to dealing
with this issue will vary, depending on the legal framework for
ownership of subsurface pore space. In Europe, for example,
pore space is owned by the State and, therefore, utilization is
addressed in the licensing process. In the United States, on the
other hand, the determination of subsurface property rights on
non-federal lands will vary according to state jurisdiction. In
most jurisdictions, the surface owner is entitled to exclusive
possession of the space formerly occupied by the subsurface
minerals when the minerals are exhausted, that is, the pore
space. In other jurisdictions, however, no such precedent exists
(Wilson, 2004). Some guidance for answering these questions
can be found in the property rights arrangements associated
with natural gas storage (McKinnon, 1998).
5.8.4

Long-term liability

It is important that liabilities that may apply to a storage project

are clear to its proponent, including those liabilities that are
applicable after the conclusion of the project. While a White

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

Paper by the European Commission outlines the general
approach to environmental liability (EU, 2000), literature
specifically addressing liability regimes for CO2 storage is
sparse. De Figueiredo et al. (2005) propose a framework to
examine the implications of different types of liability on the
viability of geological CO2 storage and stress that the way in
which liability is addressed may have a significant impact on
costs and on public perception of CO2 geological storage.
A number of novel issues arise with CO2 geological storage.
In addition to long-term in-situ risk liability, which may become
a public liability after project decommissioning, global risks
associated with leakage of CO2 to the atmosphere may need
to be considered. Current injection practices do not require
any long-term monitoring or verification regime. The cost of
monitoring and verification regimes and risk of leakage will be
important in managing liability.
There are also considerations about the longevity of
institutions and transferability of institutional knowledge. If
long-term liability for CO2 geological storage is transformed
into a public liability, can ongoing monitoring and verification
be assured and who will pay for these actions? How will
information on storage locations be tracked and disseminated
to other parties interested in using the subsurface? What are
the time frames for storage? Is it realistic (or necessary) to put
monitoring or information systems in place for hundreds of
years?
Any discussion of long-term CO2 geological storage also
involves intergenerational liability and thus justification of
such activities involves an ethical dimension. Some aspects of
storage security, such as leakage up abandoned wells, may be
realized only over a long time frame, thus posing a risk to future
generations. Assumptions on cost, discounting and the rate of
technological progress can all lead to dramatically different
interpretations of liability and its importance and need to be
closely examined.
5.8.5

Public perception and acceptance

There is insufficient public knowledge of climate change issues

and of the various mitigation options, their potential impact and
their practicality. The study of public perceptions and perceived
acceptability of CO2 capture and storage is at an early stage with
few studies (Gough et al., 2002; Palmgren et al., 2004; Shackley
et al., 2004; Curry et al., 2005; Itaoka et al., 2005). Research on
perceptions of CO2 capture and storage is challenging because
of (1) the relatively technical and remote nature of the issue,
with few immediate points of connection in the lay publics
frame of reference to many key concepts; and (2) the early stage
of the technology, with few examples and experiences in the
public domain to draw upon as illustrations.
5.8.5.1 Survey research
Curry et al. (2005) surveyed more than 1200 people representing
a general population sample of the United States. They found
that less than 4% of the respondents were familiar with the
terms carbon dioxide capture and storage or carbon storage.

257
Moreover, there was no evidence that those who expressed
familiarity were any more likely to correctly identify that the
problem being addressed was global warming rather than
water pollution or toxic waste. The authors also showed that
there was a lack of knowledge of other power generation
technologies (e.g., nuclear power, renewables) in terms of their
environmental impacts and costs. Eurobarometer (2003) made
similar findings across the European Union. The preference of
the sample for different methods to address global warming
(do nothing, expand nuclear power, continue to use fossil fuels
with CO2 capture and storage, expand renewables, etc.) was
quite sensitive to information provided on relative costs and
environmental characteristics.
Itaoka et al. (2005) conducted a survey of approximately
a thousand people in Japan. They found much higher claimed
levels of awareness of CO2 capture and storage (31%) and
general support for this mitigation strategy as part of a broader
national climate change policy, but generally negative views
on specific implementation of CO2 capture and storage. Ocean
storage was viewed most negatively, while offshore geological
storage was perceived as the least negative. Part of the sample
was provided with more information about CO2 capture and
storage, but this did not appear to make a large difference in
the response. Factor analysis was conducted and revealed that
four factors were important in influencing public opinion,
namely perceptions of the environmental impacts and risks
(e.g., leakage), responsibility for reducing CO2 emissions, the
effectiveness of CO2 capture and storage as a mitigation option
and the extent to which it permits the continued use of fossil
fuels.
Shackley et al. (2004) conducted 212 face-to-face interviews
at a UK airport regarding offshore geological storage. They
found the sample was in general moderately supportive of the
concept of CO2 capture and storage as a contribution to a 60%
reduction in CO2 emissions in the UK by 2050 (the governments
policy target). Provision of basic information on the technology
increased the support that was given to it, though just under
half of the sample were still undecided or expressed negative
views. When compared with other mitigation options, support
for CO2 capture and storage increased slightly, though other
options (such as renewable energy and energy efficiency) were
strongly preferred. On the other hand, CO2 capture and storage
was much preferred to nuclear power or higher energy bills
(no information on price or the environmental impact of other
options was provided). When asked, unprompted, if they could
think of any negative effects of CO2 capture and storage, half
of the respondents mentioned leakage, while others mentioned
associated potential impacts upon ecosystems and human
health. Others viewed CO2 capture and storage negatively on
the grounds it was avoiding the real problem, was short-termist
or indicated a reluctance to change.
Huijts (2003) polled 112 individuals living in an area
above a gas field in The Netherlands that had experienced two
small earthquakes (in 1994 and 2001). She found the sample
was mildly positive about CO2 capture and storage in general
terms, but neutral to negative about storage in the immediate

258
neighbourhood. The respondents also thought that the risks
and drawbacks were somewhat larger than the benefits to the
environment and society. The respondents considered that the
personal benefits of CO2 capture and storage were small or
reasonably small. On the basis of her findings, Huijts (2003)
observed the storage location could make a large difference to
its acceptability; onshore storage below residential areas would
probably not be viewed positively, although it has to be borne
in mind that the study area had experienced recent earthquakes.
Huijts also notes that many respondents (25%) tended to choose
a neutral answer to questions about CO2 capture and storage,
suggesting they did not yet have a well-formed opinion.
Palmgren et al. (2004) conducted 18 face-to-face interviews
in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, area, followed by a closedform survey administered to a sample of 126 individuals. The
study found that provision of more information led the survey
respondents to adopt a more negative view towards CO2 capture
and storage. The study also found that, when asked in terms
of willingness to pay, the respondents were less favourable
towards CO2 capture and storage as a mitigation option than
they were to all the other options provided (which were rated,
in descending order, as follows: solar, hydro, wind, natural gas,
energy efficiency, nuclear, biomass, geological storage and
ocean storage). Ocean storage was viewed more negatively than
geological storage, especially after information was provided.
5.8.5.2 Focus-group research
Focus-group research on CO2 capture and storage was conducted
in the UK in 2001 and 2003 (Gough et al., 2002; Shackley et
al., 2004). Initial reactions tended to be sceptical; only within
the context of the broader discussion of climate change and the
need for large cuts in CO2 emissions, did opinions become more
receptive. Typically, participants in these groups were clear that
other approaches such as energy efficiency, demand-reduction
measures and renewable energy should be pursued as a priority
and that CO2 geological storage should be developed alongside
and not as a straight alternative to, these other options. There
was general support for use of CO2 capture and storage as a
bridging measure while other zero or low carbon energy
technologies are developed or as an emergency stop-gap
option if such technologies are not developed in time. There
was a moderate level of scepticism among participants towards
both government and industry and what may motivate their
promotion of CO2 storage, but there was also some distrust of
messages promoted by environmental groups. Levels of trust
in key institutions and the role of the media were perceived to
have a major influence on how CO2 capture and storage would
be received by the public, a point also made by Huijts (2003).
5.8.5.3 Implications of the research
The existing research described above has applied different
methodologies, research designs and terminology, making
direct comparisons impossible. Inconsistencies in results
have arisen concerning the effect of providing more detailed
information to respondents and the evaluation of CO2 capture
and storage in general terms and in comparison with other low-

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

carbon mitigation options. Explanations for these differences
might include the extent of concern expressed regarding future
climate change. Representative samples in the USA and EU
(Curry et al., 2005) and most of the smaller samples (Shackley
et al., 2004; Itaoka et al., 2005) find moderate to high levels
of concern over climate change, whereas respondents in
the Palmgren et al. (2004) study rated climate change as the
least of their environmental concerns. A further explanation
of the difference in perceptions might be the extent to which
perceptions of onshore and offshore geological storage have
been distinguished in the research.
From this limited research, it appears that at least three
conditions may have to be met before CO2 capture and storage
is considered by the public as a credible technology, alongside
other better known options: (1) anthropogenic global climate
change has to be regarded as a relatively serious problem; (2)
there must be acceptance of the need for large reductions in
CO2 emissions to reduce the threat of global climate change;
(3) the public has to accept this technology as a non-harmful
and effective option that will contribute to the resolution of (1)
and (2). As noted above, many existing surveys have indicated
fairly widespread concern over the problem of global climate
change and a prevailing feeling that the negative impact
outweighs any positive effects (e.g., Kempton et al., 1995;
Poortinga and Pidgeon, 2003). On the other hand, some survey
and focus-group research suggests that widespread acceptance
of the above factors amongst the public in particular the need
for large reduction in CO2 emissions is sporadic and variable
within and between national populations. Lack of knowledge
and uncertainty regarding the economic and environmental
characteristics of other principal mitigation options have also
been identified as an impediment to evaluating the CO2 capture
and storage option (Curry et al., 2005).
Acceptance of the three conditions does not imply support
for CO2 capture and storage. The technology may still be rejected
by some as too end of pipe, treating the symptoms not the
cause, delaying the point at which the decision to move away
from the use of fossil fuels is taken, diverting attention from the
development of renewable energy options and holding potential
long-term risks that are too difficult to assess with certainty.
Conversely, there may be little realization of the practical
difficulties in meeting existing and future energy needs from
renewables. Acceptance of CO2 capture and storage, where it
occurs, is frequently reluctant rather than enthusiastic and in
some cases reflects the perception that CO2 capture and storage
might be required because of failure to reduce CO2 emissions in
other ways. Furthermore, several of the studies above indicate
that an in principle acceptance of the technology can be very
different from acceptance of storage at a specific site.
5.8.5.4 Underground storage of other fluids
Given minimal experience with storage of CO2, efforts have been
made to find analogues that have similar regulatory (and hence
public acceptance) characteristics (Reiner and Herzog, 2004).
Proposals for underground natural gas storage schemes have
generated public opposition in some localities, despite similar

259

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

facilities operating close by without apparent concern (Gough et
al., 2002). Concern regarding the effects of underground natural
gas storage upon local property prices and difficult-to-assess
risks appear in one case to have been taken up and possibly
amplified by the local media. Public opposition to onshore
underground storage is likely to be heightened by accidents
such as the two deaths from explosions in 2001 in Hutchinson,
Kansas (USA), when compressed natural gas escaped from
salt cavern storage facilities (Lee, 2001). However, throughout
the world today, many hundreds of natural gas storage sites
are evidently acceptable to local communities. There has also
been a study of the Underground Injection Control programme
in the United States, because of the perceived similarity of the
governing regulatory regime (Wilson et al., 2003).
5.9

Costs of geological storage

How much will geological storage cost? What are the major
factors driving storage costs? Can costs be offset by enhanced
oil and gas production? These questions are covered in this
section. It starts with a review of the cost elements and factors
that affect storage costs and then presents estimated costs for
different storage options. The system boundary for the storage
costs used here is the delivery point between the transport system
and the storage site facilities. It is generally expected that CO2
will be delivered as a dense fluid (liquid or supercritical) under
pressure at this boundary. The costs of capture, compression
and transport to the site are excluded from the storage costs
presented here. The figures presented are levelized costs, which
incorporate economic assumptions such as the project lifetime,
discount rates and inflation (see Section 3.7.2). They incorporate
both capital and operating costs.
5.9.1

Cost elements for geological storage

The major capital costs for CO2 geological storage are drilling
wells, infrastructure and project management. For some storage
sites, there may be in-field pipelines to distribute and deliver
CO2 from centralized facilities to wells within the site. Where
required, these are included in storage cost estimates. For
enhanced oil, gas and coal bed methane options, additional
facilities may be required to handle produced oil and gas. Reuse
of infrastructure and wells may reduce costs at some sites.
At some sites, there may be additional costs for remediation
work for well abandonment that are not included in existing
estimates. Operating costs include manpower, maintenance
and fuel. The costs for licensing, geological, geophysical
and engineering feasibility studies required for site selection,
reservoir characterization and evaluation before storage
starts are included in the cost estimates. Bock et al. (2003)
estimate these as US$ 1.685 million for saline formation and
depleted oil and gas field storage case studies in the United
States. Characterization costs will vary widely from site to
site, depending on the extent of pre-existing data, geological
complexity of the storage formations and caprock and risks of
leakage. In addition, to some degree, economies of scale may

lower the cost per tonne of larger projects; this possibility has
not been considered in these estimates.
Monitoring of storage will add further costs and is usually
reported separately from the storage cost estimates in the
literature. These costs will be sensitive to the regulatory
requirements and duration of monitoring. Over the long
term, there may be additional costs for remediation and for
liabilities.
The cost of CO2 geological storage is site-specific, which
leads to a high degree of variability. Cost depends on the type
of storage option (e.g., oil or gas reservoir, saline formation),
location, depth and characteristics of the storage reservoir
formation and the benefits and prices of any saleable products.
Onshore storage costs depend on the location, terrain and
other geographic factors. The unit costs are usually higher
offshore, reflecting the need for platforms or sub-sea facilities
and higher operating costs, as shown in separate studies for
Europe (Hendriks et al., 2002) and Australia (Allinson et al.,
2003). The equipment and technologies required for storage are
already widely used in the energy industries, so that costs can
be estimated with confidence.
5.9.2

Cost estimates

There are comprehensive assessments of storage costs for the

United States, Australia and Europe (Hendriks et al., 2002;
Allinson et al., 2003; Bock et al., 2003). These are based on
representative geological characteristics for the regions. In
some cases, the original cost estimates include compression and
pipeline costs and corrections have been made to derive storage
costs (Table 5.9). These estimates include capital, operating
and site characterization costs, but exclude monitoring costs,
remediation and any additional costs required to address longterm liabilities.
The storage option type, depth and geological characteristics
affect the number, spacing and cost of wells, as well as the
facilities cost. Well and compression costs both increase with
depth. Well costs depend on the specific technology, the location,
the scale of the operation and local regulations. The cost of
wells is a major component; however, the cost of individual
wells ranges from about US$ 200,000 for some onshore sites
(Bock et al., 2003) to US$ 25 million for offshore horizontal
wells (Table 5.10; Kaarstad, 2002). Increasing storage costs
with depth have been demonstrated (Hendriks et al., 2002). The
geological characteristics of the injection formation are another
major cost driver, that is, the reservoir thickness, permeability
and effective radius that affect the amount and rate of CO2
injection and therefore the number of wells needed. It is more
costly to inject and store other gases (NOx, SOx, H2S) with CO2
because of their corrosive and hazardous nature, although the
capture cost may be reduced (Allinson et al., 2003).

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 5.9 Compilation of CO2 storage cost estimates for different options.
US$/tCO2 stored

Option type

On or offshore

Location

Low

Mid

High

Saline formation

Onshore

Australia

0.2

0.5

5.1

Comments
Statistics for 20 sitesa

Nature of Midpoint value

Median

Saline formation

Onshore

Europe

1.9

2.8

6.2

Representative range

Most likely value

Saline formation

Onshore

USA

0.4

0.5

4.5

Low/base/high cases for USAc

Base case for average parameters

Saline formation

Offshore

Australia

0.5

3.4

30.2

Statistics for 34 sites

Median

Saline formation

Offshore

N. Sea

4.7

7.7

12.0

Representative rangeb

Depleted oil field

Onshore

USA

0.5

1.3

Depleted gas field

Onshore

USA

0.5

2.4

Disused oil or gas field

Onshore

Europe

1.2

Disused oil or gas field

Offshore

N. Sea

3.8

Most likely value

4.0

Low/base/high cases for USA

Base case for average parameters

12.2

Low/base/high cases for USAc

Base case for average parameters

1.7

3.8

Representative range

Most likely value

6.0

8.1

Low/base/high cases for USAc

Most likely value

Note: The ranges and low, most likely (mid), high values reported in different studies were calculated in different ways. The estimates exclude monitoring
costs.
a. Figures from Allinson et al., (2003) are statistics for multiple cases from different sites in Australia. Low is the minimum value, most likely is median, high
is maximum value of all the cases. The main determinants of storage costs are rate of injection and reservoir characteristics such as permeability, thickness,
reservoir depth rather than reservoir type (such as saline aquifer, depleted field, etc.). The reservoir type could be high or low cost depending on these
characteristics. The figures are adjusted to exclude compression and transport costs.
b. Figures from Hendriks et al., (2002) are described as a representative range of values for storage options 1000-3000 m depth. The full range of costs is
acknowledged to be larger than shown. The figures are converted from Euros to US$.
c. Bock et al., (2003) define a base case, low- and high-cost cases from analysis of typical reservoirs for US sites. Each case has different depth, reservoir, cost
and oil/gas price parameters. The figures are adjusted to exclude compression and transport costs.

Table 5.10 Investment costs for industry CO2 storage projects.

Project

Country

Start

Sleipner

Snhvit

1996

2006

Norway

Norway

Storage type

Aquifer

Aquifer

Onshore/Offshore

Offshore

Offshore

160

79

143

none

73

Annual CO2 injection rate (MtCO2 yr-1)

Number of wells

Pipeline length (km)

Capital Investment Costs (US$ million)

Capture and Transport

Compression and dehydration

Pipeline
Storage

Drilling and well completion

Facilities
Other

Total capital investment costs (US$ million)

Operating Costs (US$ million)

Fuel and CO2 tax

References

79

15

15
a
a

94
7

Torp and Brown, 2005

0.7
1

70

48

25

12
11

191

Kaarstad, 2002

No further breakdown figures are available. Subset of a larger system of capital and operating costs for several processes, mostly natural gas and condensate
processing.
a

261

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

5.9.3

Cost estimates for CO2 geological storage

This section reviews storage costs for options without benefits

from enhanced oil or gas production. It describes the detailed
cost estimates for different storage options.
5.9.3.1 Saline formations
The comprehensive review by Allinson et al., (2003), covering
storage costs for more than 50 sites around Australia, illustrates the
variability that might occur across a range of sites at the national
or regional scale. Onshore costs for 20 sites have a median cost of
0.5 US$/tCO2 stored, with a range of 0.25.1 US$/tCO2 stored.
The 37 offshore sites have a median value of 3.4 US$/tCO2 stored
and a range of 0.530.2 US$/tCO2 stored. This work includes
sensitivity studies that use Monte Carlo analyses of estimated
costs to changes in input parameters. The main determinants of
storage costs are reservoir and injection characteristics such as
permeability, thickness and reservoir depth, that affect injection
rate and well costs rather than option type (such as saline
formation or depleted field).
Bock et al. (2003) have made detailed cost estimates on a
series of cases for storage in onshore saline formations in the
United States. Their assumptions on geological characteristics
are based on a statistical review of more than 20 different
formations. These formations represent wide ranges in depth
(7001800 m), thickness, permeability, injection rate and well
numbers. The base-case estimate for average characteristics
has a storage cost of 0.5 US$/tCO2 stored. High- and low-cost
cases representing a range of formations and input parameters
are 0.44.5 US$/tCO2 stored. This illustrates the variability
resulting from input parameters.
Onshore storage costs for saline formations in Europe for
depths of 10003000 m are 1.96.2 US$/tCO2, with a most
likely value of 2.8 US$/tCO2 stored (Hendriks et al., 2002). This
study also presents estimated costs for offshore storage over the
same depth range. These estimates cover reuse of existing oil
and gas platforms (Hendriks et al., 2002). The range is 4.712.0
US$/tCO2 stored, showing that offshore costs are higher than
onshore costs.
5.9.3.2 Disused oil and gas reservoirs
It has been shown that storage costs in disused oil and gas fields
in North America and Europe are comparable to those for saline
formations (Hendriks et al., 2002; Bock et al., 2003). Bock et
al. (2003) present costs for representative oil and gas reservoirs
in the Permian Basin (west Texas, USA). For disused gas fields,
the base-case estimate has a storage cost of 2.4 US$/tCO2
stored, with low and high cost cases of 0.5 and 12.2 US$/tCO2
stored. For depleted oil fields, the base-case cost estimate is 1.3
US$/tCO2 stored, with low- and highcost cases of 0.5 and 4.0
US$/tCO2 stored. Some reduction in these costs may be possible
by reusing existing wells in these fields, but remediation of
abandoned wells would increase the costs if required.
In Europe, storage costs for onshore disused oil and gas
fields at depths of 10003000 m are 1.23.8 US$/tCO2 stored.
The most likely value is 1.7 US$/tCO2 stored. Offshore oil

and gas fields at the same depths have storage costs of 3.88.1
US$/tCO2 stored (most likely value is 6.0 US$/tCO2 stored).
The costs depend on the depth of the reservoir and reuse of
platforms. Disused fields may benefit from reduced exploration
and monitoring costs.
5.9.3.3 Representative storage costs
The different studies for saline formations and disused oil and
gas fields show a very wide range of costs, 0.230.0 US$/tCO2
stored, because of the site-specific nature of the costs. This
reflects the wide range of geological parameters that occur in
any region or country. In effect, there will be multiple sites in
any geographic area with a cost curve, providing increasing
storage capacity with increasing cost.
The extensive Australian data set indicates that storage costs
are less than 5.1 US$/tCO2 stored for all the onshore sites and
more than half the offshore sites. Studies for USA and Europe
also show that storage costs are generally less than 8 US$/tCO2,
except for high-cost cases for offshore sites in Europe and
depleted gas fields in the United States. A recent study suggests
that 90% of European storage capacity could be used for costs
less that 2 US$/tCO2 (Wildenborg et al., 2005b).
Assessment of these cost estimates indicates that there is
significant potential for storage at costs in the range of 0.58
US$/tCO2 stored, estimates that are based on the median, base
case or most likely values presented for the different studies
(Table 5.9). These exclude monitoring costs, well remediation
and longer term costs.
5.9.3.4 Investment costs for storage projects
Some information is available on the capital and operating
costs of industry capture and storage projects (Table 5.10). At
Sleipner, the incremental capital cost for the storage component
comprising a horizontal well to inject 1 MtCO2 yr-1 was US$
15 million (Torp and Brown, 2005). Note that at Sleipner, CO2
had to be removed from the natural gas to ready it for sale on
the open market. The decision to store the captured CO2 was
at least in part driven by a 40 US$/tCO2 tax on offshore CO2
emissions. Details of the energy penalty and levelized costs
are not available. At the planned Snohvit project, the estimated
capital costs for storage are US$ 48 million for injection of
0.7 MtCO2 yr-1 (Kaarstad, 2002). This data set is limited and
additional data on the actual costs of industry projects is
needed.
5.9.4

Cost estimates for storage with enhanced oil and

gas recovery

The costs of CO2 geological storage may be offset by additional

revenues for production of oil or gas, where CO2 injection
and storage is combined with enhanced oil or gas recovery or
ECBM. At present, in commercial EOR and ECBM projects
that use CO2 injection, the CO2 is purchased for the project and
is a significant proportion of operating costs. The economic
benefits from enhanced production make EOR and ECBM
potential early options for CO2 geological storage.

262
5.9.4.1 Enhanced oil recovery
The costs of onshore CO2-flooding EOR projects in North
America are well documented (Klins, 1984; Jarrell et al., 2002).
Carbon dioxide EOR projects are business ventures to increase
oil recovery. Although CO2 is injected and stored, this is not
the primary driver and EOR projects are not optimized for CO2
storage.
The commercial basis of conventional CO2-EOR operations
is that the revenues from incremental oil compensate for the
additional costs incurred (including purchase of CO2) and
provide a return on the investment. The costs differ from project
to project. The capital investment components are compressors,
separation equipment and H2S removal, well drilling and well
conversions and completions. New wells are not required for
some projects. Operating costs are the CO2 purchase price, fuel
costs and field operating costs.
In Texas, the cost of CO2 purchase was 5575% of the total
cost for a number of EOR fields (averaging 68% of total costs)
and is a major investment uncertainty for EOR. Tax and fiscal
incentives, government regulations and oil and gas prices are
the other main investment uncertainties (e.g., Jarrell et al.,
2002).
The CO2 price is usually indexed to oil prices, with an
indicative price of 11.7 US$/tCO2 (0.62 US$/Mscf) at a West
Texas Intermediate oil price of 18 US$ per barrel, 16.3 US$/
tCO2 at 25 US$ per barrel of oil and 32.7 US$/tCO2 at 50 US$
per barrel of oil (Jarrell et al., 2002). The CO2 purchase price
indicates the scale of benefit for EOR to offset CO2 storage
costs.
5.9.4.2 Cost of CO2 storage with enhanced oil recovery
Recent studies have estimated the cost of CO2 storage in EOR
sites (Bock et al., 2003; Hendriks et al., 2002). Estimates of
CO2 storage costs for onshore EOR options in North America
have been made by Bock et al. (2003). Estimates for a 2-MtCO2
yr1 storage scenario are based on assumptions and parameters
from existing EOR operations and industry cost data. These
include estimates of the effectiveness of CO2-EOR, in terms of
CO2 injected for each additional barrel of oil. The methodology
for these estimates of storage costs is to calculate the breakeven CO2 price (0.3 tCO2).
Experience from field operations across North America
provides information about how much of the injected CO2
remains in the oil reservoir during EOR. An average of 170
standard m3 CO2 of new CO2 is required for each barrel of
enhanced oil production, with a range of 85 (0.15 tCO2) to 227
(0.4 tCO2) standard m3 (Bock et al., 2003). Typically, produced
CO2 is separated from the oil and reinjected back underground,
which reduces the cost of CO2 purchases.
The base case for a representative reservoir at a depth of
1219 m, based on average EOR parameters in the United States
with an oil price of 15 US$ per barrel, has a net storage cost
of 14.8 US$/tCO2 stored. Negative costs indicate the amount
of cost reduction that a particular storage option offers to the
overall capture and storage system. Low- and high-cost cases
representing a range of CO2 effectiveness, depth, transport

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

distance and oil price are 92.0 and +66.7 US$/tCO2 stored.
The low-cost case assumes favourable assumptions for all
parameters (effectiveness, reservoir depth, productivity) and
a 20 US$ per barrel oil price. Higher oil prices, such as the
50 US$ per barrel prices of 2005, will considerably change
the economics of CO2-EOR projects. No published studies are
available for these higher oil prices.
Other estimates for onshore EOR storage costs all show
potential at negative net costs. These include a range of 10.5
to +10.5 US$/tCO2 stored for European sites (Hendriks et
al., 2002). These studies show that use of CO2 enhanced oil
recovery for CO2 storage can be a lower cost option than saline
formations and disused oil and gas fields.
At present, there are no commercial offshore EOR
operations and limited information is available on CO2 storage
costs for EOR options in offshore settings. Indicative storage
cost estimates for offshore EOR are presented by Hendriks
et al. (2002). Their range is 10.5 to +21.0 US$/tCO2 stored.
For the North Sea Forties Field, it has been shown that CO2flooding EOR is technically attractive and could increase oil
recovery, although at present it is not economically attractive as
a stand-alone EOR project (Espie et al., 2003). Impediments are
the large capital requirement for adapting facilities, wells and
flowlines, as well as tax costs and CO2 supply. It is noted that
the economics will change with additional value for storage of
CO2.
The potential benefit of EOR can be deduced from the CO2
purchase price and the net storage costs for CO2-EOR storage
case studies. The indicative value of the potential benefit from
enhanced oil production to CO2 storage is usually in the range
of 016 US$/tCO2. In some cases, there is no benefit from EOR.
The maximum estimate of the benefit ranges up to $92 per tonne
of CO2 for a single case study involving favourable parameters.
In general, higher benefits will occur at high-oil-price scenarios
similar to those that have occurred since 2003 and for highly
favourable sites, as shown above. At 50 US$ per barrel of oil,
the range may increase up to 30 US$/tCO2.
5.9.4.3 Cost of CO2 storage with enhanced gas recovery
CO2-enhanced gas recovery is a less mature technology than
EOR and it is not in commercial use. Issues are the cost of
CO2 and infrastructure, concerns about excessive mixing and
the high primary recovery rates of many gas reservoirs. Cost
estimates show that CO2-EGR (enhanced gas recovery) can
provide a benefit of 416 US$/tCO2, depending on the price of
gas and the effectiveness of recovery (Oldenburg et al., 2002).
5.9.4.4

Cost of CO2 storage with enhanced coal bed

methane
The injection of CO2 for ECBM production is an immature
technology not yet in commercial use. In CO2-ECBM, the
revenues from the produced gas could offset the investment
costs and provide a source of income for investors. Cost data
are based on other types of CBM operations that are in use.
There is significant uncertainty in the effectiveness of CO2
storage in coal beds in conjunction with ECBM, because there

263

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

is no commercial experience. The suggested metric for CO2
retention is 1.510 m3 of CO2 per m3 of produced methane. The
revenue benefit of the enhanced production will depend on gas
prices.
Well costs are a major factor in ECBM because many
wells are required. In one recent study for an ECBM project
(Schreurs, 2002), the cost per production well was given as
approximately US$750,000 per well, plus 1500 US$ m1 of inseam drilling. The cost of each injection well was approximately
US$430,000.
The IEA-GHG (1998) developed a global cost curve for CO2ECBM, with storage costs ranging from 20 to +150 US$/tCO2.
It concluded that only the most favourable sites, representing
less than 10% of global capacity, could have negative costs.
Estimates of onshore CO2-ECBM storage costs in the United
States have been made by using the approach described for
EOR (Bock et al., 2003). They estimate the effectiveness of
ECBM in terms of CO2 injected for incremental gas produced,
ranging from 1.5 to 10 units (base case value of 2) of CO2 per
unit of enhanced methane. Other key inputs are the gas well
production rate, the ratio of producers to injectors, well depth
and the number of wells. The base case, storing 2.1 MtCO2 per
year for a representative reservoir at 610 m depth in a newly
built facility, requires 270 wells. The assumed gas price is
US$1.90 per GJ (US$2.00 per Mbtu). It has a net storage cost of
8.1 US$/tCO2 stored. Low- and high-cost cases representing
a range of parameters are 26.4 and +11.1 US$/tCO2 stored.
The range of these estimates is comparable to other estimates
for example, those for Canada (Wong et al., 2001) and Europe
(Hendriks et al., 2002), 0 to +31.5 US$/tCO2. Enhanced CBM
has not been considered in detail for offshore situations and cost
estimates are not available.
Only one industrial-scale CO2-ECBM demonstration project
has taken place to date, the Allison project in the United States
and it is no longer injecting CO2 (Box 5.7). One analysis of
the Allison project, which has extremely favourable geological
characteristics, suggests the economics of ECBM in the United
States are dubious under current fiscal conditions and gas prices
(IEA-GHG, 2004). The economic analyses suggest this would
be commercial, with high gas prices about 4 US$ per GJ) and
a credit of 1218 US$/tCO2. Alternatively, Reeves (2005) used
detailed modelling and economic analysis to show a break-even
gas price of US$2.44 per GJ (US$2.57 per Mbtu), including
costs of 5.19 US$/tCO2 for CO2 purchased at the field.
5.9.5

Cost of monitoring

While there has been extensive discussion of possible

monitoring strategies in the literature and technologies that may
be applicable, there is limited information on monitoring costs.
These will depend on the monitoring strategy and technologies
used and how these are adapted for the duration of storage
projects. Some of the technologies likely to be used are already
in widespread use in the oil and gas and CBM industries.
The costs of individual technologies in current use are well
constrained.

Repeated use of seismic surveys was found to be an

effective monitoring technology at Sleipner. Its applicability
will vary between options and sites. Seismic survey costs are
highly variable, according to the technology used, location
and terrain and complexity. Seismic monitoring costs have
been reviewed for an onshore storage project for a 1000 MW
power plant with a 30-year life (Myer et al., 2003). Assuming
repeat surveys at five-year intervals during the injection period,
monitoring costs are estimated as 0.03 US$/tCO2, suggesting
that seismic monitoring may represent only a small fraction of
overall storage costs. No discounting was used to develop this
estimate.
Benson et al. (2005) have estimated life-cycle monitoring
costs for two scenarios: (1) storage in an oil field with EOR and
(2) storage in a saline formation. For these scenarios, no explicit
leakage was considered. If leakage were to occur, the enhanced
monitoring programme should be sufficient to detect and locate
the leakage and may be sufficient to quantify leakage rates as
well. For each scenario, cost estimates were developed for the
basic and enhanced monitoring package. The basic monitoring
package included periodic seismic surveys, microseismicity,
wellhead pressure and injection-rate monitoring. The enhanced
package included all of the elements of the basic package and
added periodic well logging, surface CO2 flux monitoring and
other advanced technologies. For the basic monitoring package,
costs for both scenarios are 0.05 US$/tCO2, based on a discount
rate of 10% (0.160.19 US$/tCO2 undiscounted). The cost for
the enhanced monitoring package is 0.0690.085 US$/tCO2
(0.270.30 US$/tCO2 undiscounted). The assumed duration of
monitoring includes the 30-year period of injection, as well as
further monitoring after site closure of 20 years for EOR sites
and 50 years for saline formations. Increasing the duration of
monitoring to 1000 years increased the discounted cost by 10%.
These calculations are made assuming a discount rate of 10%
for the first 30 years and a discount rate of 1% thereafter.
5.9.6

Cost of remediation of leaky storage projects

No estimates have been made regarding the costs of remediation

for leaking storage projects. Remediation methods listed in
Table 5.7 have been used in other applications and, therefore,
could be extrapolated to CO2 storage sites. However, this has
not been done yet.
5.9.7

Cost reduction

There is little literature on cost-reduction potential for CO2

geological storage. Economies of scale are likely to be important
(Allinson et al., 2003). It is also anticipated that further cost
reduction will be achieved with application of learning from
early storage projects, optimization of new projects and
application of advanced technologies, such as horizontal and
multilateral wells, which are now widely used in the oil and gas
industry.

264
5.10

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Knowledge gaps

Knowledge regarding CO2 geological storage is founded on

basic knowledge in the earth sciences, on the experience of the
oil and gas industry (extending over the last hundred years or
more) and on a large number of commercial activities involving
the injection and geological storage of CO2 conducted over the
past 1030 years. Nevertheless, CO2 storage is a new technology
and many questions remain. Here, we summarize what we know
now and what gaps remain.
1. Current storage capacity estimates are imperfect:
There is need for more development and agreement on
assessment methodologies.
There are many gaps in capacity estimates at the global,
regional and local levels.
The knowledge base for geological storage is for the most
part based on Australian, Japanese, North American and
west European data.
There is a need to obtain much more information on
storage capacity in other areas, particularly in areas
likely to experience the greatest growth in energy use,
such as China, Southeast Asia, India, Russia/Former
Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and parts
of South America and southern Africa.
2. Overall, storage science is understood, but there is need for
greater knowledge of particular mechanisms, including:
The kinetics of geochemical trapping and the long-term
impact of CO2 on reservoir fluids and rocks.
The fundamental processes of CO2 adsorption and CH4
desorption on coal during storage operations.
3. Available information indicates that geological storage
operations can be conducted without presenting any greater
risks for health and the local environment than similar
operations in the oil and gas industry, when carried out
at high-quality and well-characterized sites. However,
confidence would be further enhanced by increased
knowledge and assessment ability, particularly regarding:
R
isks of leakage from abandoned wells caused by
material and cement degradation.
The temporal variability and spatial distribution of leaks
that might arise from inadequate storage sites.
Microbial impacts in the deep subsurface.
Environmental impact of CO2 on the marine seafloor.
M
ethods to conduct end-to-end quantitative assessment
of risks to human health and the local environment.
4. There is strong evidence that storage of CO2 in geological
storage sites will be long term; however, it would be
beneficial to have:
Quantification of potential leakage rates from more
storage sites.
Reliable coupled hydrogeological-geochemical-geo
mechanical simulation models to predict long-term
storage performance accurately.

Reliable probabilistic methods for predicting leakage

rates from storage sites.
Further knowledge of the history of natural accumulations
of CO2.
Effective and demonstrated protocols for achieving
desirable storage duration and local safety.

5. Monitoring technology is available for determining the

behaviour of CO2 at the surface or in the subsurface;
however, there is scope for improvement in the following
areas:
Quantification and resolution of location and forms of
CO2 in the subsurface, by geophysical techniques.
Detection and monitoring of subaquatic CO2 seepage.
Remote-sensing and cost-effective surface methods for
temporally variable leak detection and quantification,
especially for dispersed leaks.
Fracture detection and characterization of leakage
potential.
Development of appropriate long-term monitoring
approaches and strategies.
6. Mitigation and remediation options and technologies are
available, but there is no track record of remediation for
leaked CO2. While this could be seen as positive, some
stakeholders suggest it might be valuable to have an
engineered (and controlled) leakage event that could be
used as a learning experience.
7. The potential cost of geological storage is known reasonably
well, but:
There are only a few experience-based cost data from
non-EOR CO2 storage projects.
There is little knowledge of regulatory compliance
costs.
There is inadequate information on monitoring strategies
and requirements, which affect costs.
8. The regulatory and responsibility or liability framework for
CO2 storage is yet to be established or unclear. The following
issues need to be considered:
The role of pilot and demonstration projects in developing
regulations.
Approaches for verification of CO2 storage for accounting
purposes.
Approaches to regulatory oversight for selecting,
operating and monitoring CO2 storage sites, both in the
short and long term.
Clarity on the need for and approaches to long-term
stewardship.
Requirements for decommissioning a storage project.
Additional information on all of these topics would improve
technologies and decrease uncertainties, but there appear to be
no insurmountable technical barriers to an increased uptake of
geological storage as a mitigation option.

Chapter 5: Underground geological storage

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Xu, T., J.A. Apps and K. Pruess, 2003: Reactive geochemical
transport simulation to study mineral trapping for CO2 disposal
in deep arenaceous formations. Journal of Geophysical Research,
108(B2), 20712084.
Yamaguchi, S., K. Ohga, M. Fujioka and S. Muto, 2005: Prospect
of CO2 sequestration in Ishikari coal mine, Japan. Proceedings
of the 7th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control
Technologies (GHGT-7), 59 September 2004, Vancouver,
Canada, v.I, 423-430.
Zarlenga F., R. Vellone, G.P. Beretta, C. Calore, M.A. Chiaramonte,
D. De Rita, R. Funiciello, G. Gambolati, G. Gianelli, S. Grauso, S.
Lombardi, I. Marson, S. Persoglia, G. Seriani and S. Vercelli, 2004:
Il confinamento geologico della CO2: Possibilit e problematiche
aperte in Italia. Energia e Innovazione, In press (In Italian).
Zhang, C.J., M. Smith, M. and B.J. McCoy, 1993: Kinetics of
supercritical fluid extraction of coal: Physical and chemical
processes. In: Supercritical Fluid Engineering Science:
Fundamentals and Applications, E. Kiran and J.F. Brennecke (eds.),
American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, pp. 363379.
Zhou, W., M.J. Stenhouse, R. Arthur, S. Whittaker, D.H.-S. Law,
R. Chalaturnyk and W. Jazwari, 2005: The IEA Weyburn CO2
monitoring and storage projectModeling of the long-term
migration of CO2 from Weyburn. Proceedings of the 7th International
Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies (GHGT-7),
September 59, 2004, Vancouver, Canada, v.I, 721-730. Volume 1:
Peer-Reviewed Papers and Plenary Presentations, Elsevier, UK.
Zoback, M.D. and H.P. Harjes, 1997: Injection-induced earthquakes
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Germany. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 1847718491.

277

Ocean storage

Coordinating Lead Authors

Ken Caldeira (United States), Makoto Akai (Japan)
Lead Authors
Peter Brewer (United States), Baixin Chen (China), Peter Haugan (Norway), Toru Iwama (Japan),
Paul Johnston (United Kingdom), Haroon Kheshgi (United States), Qingquan Li (China), Takashi Ohsumi
(Japan), Hans Prtner (Germany), Chris Sabine (United States), Yoshihisa Shirayama (Japan), Jolyon
Thomson (United Kingdom)
Contributing Authors
Jim Barry (United States), Lara Hansen (United States)
Review Editors
Brad De Young (Canada), Fortunat Joos (Switzerland)

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

279

281

6.7

6.7.1
6.7.2
6.7.3
6.7.4

6.1 Introduction and background

6.1.1 Intentional storage of CO2 in the ocean
6.1.2 Relevant background in physical and chemical
oceanography

279
279

6.2 Approaches to release CO2 into the ocean

282
6.2.1 Approaches to releasing CO2 that has been captured,
compressed, and transported into the ocean
282
6.2.2 CO2 storage by dissolution of carbonate minerals 290
6.2.3 Other ocean storage approaches
291

6.7.5

6.7.6
6.7.7
6.7.8

6.3
6.3.1
6.3.2
6.3.3

Environmental impacts, risks, and risk

management
Introduction to biological impacts and risk
Physiological effects of CO2
From physiological mechanisms to ecosystems
Biological consequences for water column release
scenarios
Biological consequences associated with CO2
lakes
Contaminants in CO2 streams
Risk management
Social aspects; public and stakeholder perception

298
298
301
305
306
307
307
307
307

Capacity and fractions retained

Capacity
Measures of fraction retained
Estimation of fraction retained from ocean
observations
6.3.4 Estimation of fraction retained from model results

291
291
291

6.8 Legal issues

6.8.1 International law
6.8.2 National laws

308
308
309

292
292

6.4
6.4.1
6.4.2
6.4.3
6.4.4

292
292
294
295
295

6.9
6.9.1
6.9.2
6.9.3

Costs
Introduction
Dispersion from ocean platform or moving ship
Dispersion by pipeline extending from shore into
shallow to deep water
6.9.4 Cost of carbonate neutralization approach
6.9.5 Cost of monitoring and verification

310
310
310

6.10 Gaps

311

References

311

Site selection
Background
Water column release
CO2 lakes on the sea floor
Limestone neutralization

6.5 Injection technology and operations

6.5.1 Background
6.5.2 Water column release
6.5.3 Production of a CO2 lake

295
295
295
296

6.6 Monitoring and verification

6.6.1 Background
6.6.2 Monitoring amounts and distributions of materials
released
6.6.3 Approaches and technologies for monitoring
environmental effects

296
296
296
298

310
311
311

279

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

Executive Summary
Captured CO2 could be deliberately injected into the ocean at
great depth, where most of it would remain isolated from the
atmosphere for centuries. CO2 can be transported via pipeline
or ship for release in the ocean or on the sea floor. There have
been small-scale field experiments and 25 years of theoretical,
laboratory, and modelling studies of intentional ocean storage of
CO2, but ocean storage has not yet been deployed or thoroughly
tested.
The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations due to
anthropogenic emissions has resulted in the oceans taking
up CO2 at a rate of about 7 GtCO2yr-1 (2 GtCyr-1). Over the
past 200 years the oceans have taken up 500 GtCO2 from the
atmosphere out of 1300 GtCO2 total anthropogenic emissions.
Anthropogenic CO2 resides primarily in the upper ocean and
has thus far resulted in a decrease of pH of about 0.1 at the
ocean surface with virtually no change in pH deep in the oceans.
Models predict that the oceans will take up most CO2 released
to the atmosphere over several centuries as CO2 is dissolved at
the ocean surface and mixed with deep ocean waters.
The Earth's oceans cover over 70% of the Earth's surface
with an average depth of about 3,800 metres; hence, there is
no practical physical limit to the amount of anthropogenic CO2
that could be placed in the ocean. However, the amount that
is stored in the ocean on the millennial time scale depends on
oceanic equilibration with the atmosphere. Over millennia,
CO2 injected into the oceans at great depth will approach
approximately the same equilibrium as if it were released to the
atmosphere. Sustained atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the
range of 350 to 1000 ppmv imply that 2,300 260 to 10,700
1,000 Gt of anthropogenic CO2 will eventually reside in the
ocean.
Analyses of ocean observations and models agree that
injected CO2 will be isolated from the atmosphere for several
hundreds of years and that the fraction retained tends to be
larger with deeper injection. Additional concepts to prolong
CO2 retention include forming solid CO2 hydrates and liquid
CO2 lakes on the sea floor, and increasing CO2 solubility by, for
example, dissolving mineral carbonates. Over centuries, ocean
mixing results in loss of isolation of injected CO2 and exchange
with the atmosphere. This would be gradual from large regions
of the ocean. There are no known mechanisms for sudden or
catastrophic release of injected CO2.
Injection up to a few GtCO2 would produce a measurable
change in ocean chemistry in the region of injection, whereas
injection of hundreds of GtCO2 would eventually produce
measurable change over the entire ocean volume.
Experiments show that added CO2 can harm marine
organisms. Effects of elevated CO2 levels have mostly been
studied on time scales up to several months in individual
organisms that live near the ocean surface. Observed phenomena
include reduced rates of calcification, reproduction, growth,
circulatory oxygen supply and mobility as well as increased
mortality over time. In some organisms these effects are seen in
response to small additions of CO2. Immediate mortality is

expected close to injection points or CO2 lakes. Chronic effects

may set in with small degrees of long-term CO2 accumulation,
such as might result far from an injection site, however,
long-term chronic effects have not been studied in deep-sea
organisms.
CO2 effects on marine organisms will have ecosystem
consequences; however, no controlled ecosystem experiments
have been performed in the deep ocean. Thus, only a preliminary
assessment of potential ecosystem effects can be given. It is
expected that ecosystem consequences will increase with
increasing CO2 concentration, but no environmental thresholds
have been identified. It is also presently unclear, how species
and ecosystems would adapt to sustained, elevated CO2 levels.
Chemical and biological monitoring of an injection project,
including observations of the spatial and temporal evolution
of the resulting CO2 plume, would help evaluate the amount
of materials released, the retention of CO2, and some of the
potential environmental effects.
For water column and sea floor release, capture and
compression/liquefaction are thought to be the dominant cost
factors. Transport (i.e., piping, and shipping) costs are expected
to be the next largest cost component and scale with proximity
to the deep ocean. The costs of monitoring, injection nozzles
etc. are expected to be small in comparison.
Dissolving mineral carbonates, if found practical, could
cause stored carbon to be retained in the ocean for 10,000 years,
minimize changes in ocean pH and CO2 partial pressure, and
may avoid the need for prior separation of CO2. Large amounts
of limestone and materials handling would be required for this
approach.
Several different global and regional treaties on the law of
the sea and marine environment could be relevant to intentional
release of CO2 into the ocean but the legal status of intentional
carbon storage in the ocean has not yet been adjudicated.
It is not known whether the public will accept the deliberate
storage of CO2 in the ocean as part of a climate change mitigation
strategy. Deep ocean storage could help reduce the impact of
CO2 emissions on surface ocean biology but at the expense of
effects on deep-ocean biology.
6.1 Introduction and background
6.1.1

Intentional storage of CO2 in the ocean

This report assesses what is known about intentional storage of

carbon dioxide in the ocean by inorganic strategies that could
be applied at industrial scale. Various technologies have been
envisioned to enable and increase ocean CO2 storage (Figure 6.1).
One class of options involves storing a relatively pure stream of
carbon dioxide that has been captured and compressed. This
CO2 can be placed on a ship, injected directly into the ocean, or
deposited on the sea floor. CO2 loaded on ships could either be
dispersed from a towed pipe or transported to fixed platforms
feeding a CO2 lake on the sea floor. Such CO2 lakes must be

280

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 6.1 Illustration of some of the ocean storage strategies described in this chapter (Artwork courtesy Sean Goddard, University of Exeter.)

deeper than 3 km where CO2 is denser than sea water. Any of

these approaches could in principle be used in conjunction with
neutralization with carbonate minerals.
Research, development and analysis of ocean CO2 storage
concepts has progressed to consider key questions and issues that
could affect the prospects of ocean storage as a response option
to climate change (Section 6.2). Accumulated understanding
of the ocean carbon cycle is being used to estimate how long
CO2 released into the oceans will remain isolated from the
atmosphere. Such estimates are used to assess the effectiveness
of ocean storage concepts (Section 6.3).

Numerical models of the ocean indicate that placing CO2

in the deep ocean would isolate most of the CO2 from the
atmosphere for several centuries, but over longer times the ocean
and atmosphere would equilibrate. Relative to atmospheric
release, direct injection of CO2 into the ocean could reduce
maximum amounts and rates of atmospheric CO2 increase over
the next several centuries. Direct injection of CO2 in the ocean
would not reduce atmospheric CO2 content on the millennial
time scale (Table 6.1; Figures 6.2 and 6.3; Hoffert et al., 1979;
Kheshgi et al., 1994).

Table 6.1 Amount of additional CO2 residing in the ocean after atmosphere-ocean equilibration for different atmospheric stabilization
concentrations. The uncertainty range represents the influence of climate sensitivity to a CO2 doubling in the range of 1.5 C to 4.5 C (Kheshgi
et al., 2005; Kheshgi 2004a). This table considers the possibility of increased carbon storage in the terrestrial biosphere. Such an increase, if
permanent, would allow a corresponding increase in total cumulative emissions. This table does not consider natural or engineered dissolution of
carbonate minerals, which would increase ocean storage of anthropogenic carbon. The amount already in the oceans exceeds 500 GtCO2 (= 440
GtCO2 for 1994 (Sabine et al., 2004) plus CO2 absorption since that time). The long-term amount of CO2 stored in the deep ocean is independent
of whether the CO2 is initially released to the atmosphere or the deep ocean.
Atmospheric CO2 stabilization
concentration (ppmv)

Total cumulative ocean + atmosphere

CO2 release (GtCO2)

Amount of anthropogenic CO2 stored in

the ocean in equilibrium (GtCO2)

450

5890 480

4530 480

350
550

2880 260
8350 640

650

10,460 750

1000

16,380 1000

750

12,330 840

2290 260
6210 640

7540 750
8630 840

10,730 1000

281

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

Figure 6.2 Simulated atmospheric CO2 resulting from CO2 release to

the atmosphere or injection into the ocean at 3,000 m depth (Kheshgi
and Archer, 2004). Emissions follow a logistic trajectory with
cumulative emissions of 18,000 GtCO2. Illustrative cases include
100% of emissions released to the atmosphere leading to a peak in
concentration, 100% of emissions injected into the ocean, and no
emissions (i.e., other mitigation approaches are used). Additional
cases include atmospheric emission to year 2050, followed by either
50% to atmosphere and 50% to ocean after 2050 or 50% to atmosphere
and 50% by other mitigation approaches after 2050. Ocean injection
results in lower peak concentrations than atmospheric release but
higher than if other mitigation approaches are used (e.g., renewables
or permanent storage).

Figure 6.3 Equilibrium partitioning of CO2 between the ocean and

atmosphere. On the time scale of millennia, complete mixing of the
oceans leads to a partitioning of cumulative CO2 emissions between the
oceans and atmosphere with the bulk of emissions eventually residing in
the oceans as dissolved inorganic carbon. The ocean partition depends
nonlinearly on CO2 concentration according to carbonate chemical
equilibrium (Box 6.1) and has limited sensitivity to changes in surface
water temperature (shown by the grey area for a range of climate
sensitivity of 1.5 to 4.5C for CO2 doubling) (adapted from Kheshgi
et al., 2005; Kheshgi, 2004a). pH evaluated from pCO2 of 275 ppm.
This calculation is relevant on the time scale of several centuries, and
does not consider changes in ocean alkalinity that increase ocean CO2
uptake over several millennia (Archer et al., 1997).

There has been limited experience with handling CO2 in the

deep sea that could form a basis for the development of ocean
CO2 storage technologies. Before they could be deployed,
such technologies would require further development and
field testing. Associated with the limited level of development,
estimates of the costs of ocean CO2 storage technologies are
at a primitive state, however, the costs of the actual dispersal
technologies are expected to be low in comparison to the costs
of CO2 capture and transport to the deep sea (but still nonnegligible; Section 6.9). Proximity to the deep sea is a factor,
as the deep oceans are remote to many sources of CO2 (Section
6.4). Ocean storage would require CO2 transport by ship or
deep-sea pipelines. Pipelines and drilling platforms, especially
in oil and gas applications, are reaching ever-greater depths, yet
not on the scale or to the depth relevant for ocean CO2 storage
(Chapter 4). No insurmountable technical barrier to storage of
CO2 in the oceans is apparent.
Putting CO2 directly into the deep ocean means that the
chemical environment of the deep ocean would be altered
immediately, and in concepts where release is from a point,
change in ocean chemistry would be greater proximate to the
release location. Given only rudimentary understanding of
deep-sea ecosystems, only a limited and preliminary assessment
of potential ecosystem effects can be given (Section 6.7).
Technologies exist to monitor deep-sea activities (Section
6.6). Practices for monitoring and verification of ocean storage

would depend on which, as of yet undeveloped, ocean storage

technology would potentially be deployed, and on environmental
impacts to be avoided.
More carbon dioxide could be stored in the ocean with less
of an effect on atmospheric CO2 and fewer adverse effects on
the marine environment if the alkalinity of the ocean could
be increased, perhaps by dissolving carbonate minerals in sea
water. Proposals based on this concept are discussed primarily
in Section 6.2.
For ocean storage of CO2, issues remain regarding
environmental consequences, public acceptance, implications
of existing laws, safeguards and practices that would need to be
developed, and gaps in our understanding of ocean CO2 storage
(Sections 6.7, 6.8, and 6.10).
6.1.2

Relevant background in physical and chemical

oceanography

The oceans, atmosphere, and plants and soils are the primary
components of the global carbon cycle and actively exchange
carbon (Prentice et al., 2001). The oceans cover 71% of the
Earths surface with an average depth of 3,800 m and contain
roughly 50 times the quantity of carbon currently contained in
the atmosphere and roughly 20 times the quantity of carbon
currently contained in plants and soils. The ocean contains

282
so much CO2 because of its large volume and because CO2
dissolves in sea water to form various ionic species (Box 6.1).
The increase in atmospheric CO2 over the past few centuries
has been driving CO2 from the atmosphere into the oceans.
The oceans serve as an important sink of CO2 emitted to the
atmosphere taking up on average about 7 GtCO2 yr-1 (2 GtC yr-1)
over the 20 years from 1980 to 2000 with ocean uptake over the
past 200 years estimated to be > 500 GtCO2 (135 GtC) (Prentice
et al., 2001; Sabine et al., 2004). On average, the anthropogenic
CO2 signal is detectable to about 1000 m depth; its near absence
in the deep ocean is due to the slow exchange between ocean
surface and deep sea waters.
Ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2 has led to a perturbation
of the chemical environment primarily in ocean surface waters.
Increasing ocean CO2 concentration leads to decreasing carbonate
ion concentration and increasing hydrogen ion activity (Box
6.1). The increase in atmospheric CO2 from about 280 ppm in
1800 to 380 ppm in 2004 has caused an average decrease across
the surface of the oceans of about 0.1 pH units (pH 0.1)
from an initial average surface ocean pH of about 8.2. Further
increase in atmospheric CO2 will result in a further change in
the chemistry of ocean surface waters that will eventually reach
the deep ocean (Figure 6.4). The anthropogenic perturbation of
ocean chemistry is greatest in the upper ocean where biological
activity is high.

Figure 6.4 Simulated ocean pH changes from CO2 release to the

atmosphere. Modelled atmospheric CO2 change and horizontally
averaged pH driven by a CO2 emissions scenario: historic atmospheric
CO2 up to 2000, IS92a from 2000 to 2100, and logistic curve extending
beyond 2100 with 18,000 GtCO2 (Moomaw et al., 2001) cumulative
emissions from 2000 onward (comparable to estimates of fossil-fuel
resources predominantly coal; Caldeira and Wickett, 2003). Since
year 1800, the pH of the surface of the oceans has decreased about
0.1 pH units (from an initial average surface ocean pH of about 8.2)
and CO32 has decreased about 40 mol kg1. There are a number of
pH scales used by ocean chemists and biologists to characterize the
hydrogen ion content of sea water, but pH computed on different
scales varies little from scale to scale (Brewer et al., 1995).

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Most carbon dioxide released to either the atmosphere or the
ocean will eventually reside in the ocean, as ocean chemistry
equilibrates with the atmosphere. Thus, stabilization of
atmospheric CO2 concentration at levels above the natural level
of 280 ppm implies long-term addition of carbon dioxide to
the ocean. In equilibrium, the fraction of an increment of CO2
released that will reside in the ocean depends on the atmospheric
CO2 concentration (Table 6.1; Figure 6.3; Kheshgi et al., 2005;
Kheshgi, 2004a).
The capacity of the oceans to absorb CO2 in equilibrium
with the atmosphere is a function of the chemistry of sea water.
The rate at which this capacity can be brought into play is a
function of the rate of ocean mixing. Over time scales of decades
to centuries, exchange of dissolved inorganic carbon between
ocean surface waters and the deep ocean is the primary barrier
limiting the rate of ocean uptake of increased atmospheric CO2.
Over many centuries (Kheshgi, 2004a), changes in dissolved
inorganic carbon will mix throughout the ocean volume with
the oceans containing most of the cumulative CO2 emissions
to the atmosphere/ocean system (Table 6.1; Figure 6.3). Over
longer times (millennia), dissolution of CaCO3 causes an even
greater fraction of released CO2 (8592%) to reside in the ocean
(Archer et al., 1997).
Both biological and physical processes lead to the observed
distribution of pH and its variability in the world ocean (Figure
6.6). As they transit from the Atlantic to Pacific Basins, deep
ocean waters accumulate about 10% more dissolved inorganic
carbon dioxide, primarily from the oxidation of sinking organic
matter (Figure 6.7).
6.2

Approaches to release of CO2 into the ocean

6.2.1

Approaches to releasing CO2 that has been

captured, compressed, and transported into the
ocean

6.2.1.1 Basic approach

The basic concept of intentional CO2 storage in the ocean is to
take a stream of CO2 that has been captured and compressed
(Chapter 3), and transport it (Chapter 4) to the deep ocean for
release at or above the sea floor. (Other ocean storage approaches
are discussed in Sections 6.2.2 and 6.2.3.) Once released, the
CO2 would dissolve into the surrounding sea water, disperse
and become part of the ocean carbon cycle.
Marchetti (1977) first proposed injecting liquefied CO2 into
the waters flowing over the Mediterranean sill into the middepth North Atlantic, where the CO2 would be isolated from
the atmosphere for centuries. This concept relies on the slow
exchange of deep ocean waters with the surface to isolate CO2
from the atmosphere. The effectiveness of ocean storage will
depend on how long CO2 remains isolated from the atmosphere.
Over the centuries and millennia, CO2 released to the deep
ocean will mix throughout the oceans and affect atmospheric
CO2 concentration. The object is to transfer the CO2 to deep
waters because the degree of isolation from the atmosphere
generally increases with depth in the ocean. Proposed methods

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Chapter 6: Ocean storage

Box 6.1. Chemical properties of CO2
The oceans absorb large quantities of CO2 from the
atmosphere principally because CO2 is a weakly acidic gas,
and the minerals dissolved in sea water have created a mildly
alkaline ocean. The exchange of atmospheric CO2 with ocean
surface waters is determined by the chemical equilibrium
between CO2 and carbonic acid H2CO3 in sea water, the partial
pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in the atmosphere and the rate of air/
sea exchange. Carbonic acid dissociates into bicarbonate ion
HCO3, carbonate ion CO32, and hydronium ion H+ by the
reactions (see Annex AI.3):
CO2 (g) + H2O H2CO3 (aq) HCO3 + H+
CO32 + 2H+
(1)
Total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is the sum of carbon
contained in H2CO3, HCO3, and CO32. The atmospheric
concentration of CO2 in equilibrium with surface water can
be calculated from well-known chemical equilibria that
depend on ocean total dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity,
temperature and salinity (Zeebe and Wolf-Gladrow, 2001). The
partial pressure of CO2 in the ocean mixed layer equilibrates
with the atmosphere on a time scale of about one year.
The ocean is a highly buffered system, that is the concentration
of the chemical species whose equilibrium controls pH is
significantly higher than the concentrations of H+ or OH. The
pH of sea water is the base10 log of activity of H+. Total
Alkalinity (TAlk) is the excess of alkaline components, and
is defined as the amount of strong acid required to bring sea
water to the equivalence point at which the HCO3 and
H2CO3 contributions are equal (Dickson, 1981).
The principal effect of adding CO2 to sea water is to form
bicarbonate ion, for example,
CO2 + H2O + CO32 2HCO3.

which releases 2 mole-equivalents of Total Alkalinity and 1

mol of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon for each mole of CaCO3
dissolved. Increasing TAlk more than DIC leads to a decrease
in the partial pressure of CO2 as seen in Figure 6.5. Because
most Dissolved Inorganic Carbon is in the form of HCO3,
the main effect of dissolving CaCO3 in surface waters is (see
Kheshgi, 1995)
CaCO3 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O Ca2+ + 2HCO3

(5)

thereby shifting CO2 from the atmosphere to the oceans in

equilibrium, neutralizing the effect of CO2 on pH.
Ocean surface waters are super-saturated with respect to
CaCO3, allowing the growth of corals and other organisms
that produce shells or skeletons of carbonate minerals. In
contrast, the deepest ocean waters have lower pH and lower
CO32 concentrations, and are thus undersaturated with respect
to CaCO3. Marine organisms produce calcium carbonate
particles in the surface ocean that settle and dissolve in
undersaturated regions of the deep oceans.

(2)

In addition, some CO2 undergoes simple reaction with water,

for example,
CO2 + H2O H+ + HCO3.

(3)

In either case, Total Alkalinity does not change. The

combined reactions lower both ocean pH, and carbonate ion
concentration. For current ocean composition, CO2 that is
added to sea water is partitioned primarily into HCO3 with
the net reaction resulting in the generation of H+ and thus
decreasing pH and making sea water more acidic; adding CO2
thereby decreases the concentration of CO32.
Total Alkalinity is increased when, for example, alkaline
minerals such as CaCO3 are dissolved in sea water through
the reaction,
CaCO3 (s) Ca2+ + CO32

(4)

Figure 6.5 Composition diagram for ocean surface waters at 15C

(adapted from Baes, 1982). The white lines denote compositions with
the same value of pCO2 (in ppm); the black lines denote compositions
with the same pH. The tan shaded region is undersaturated and
the green shaded region is supersaturated with respect to calcite
at atmospheric pressure (calcite solubility increases with depth).
Surface water and average ocean compositions are also indicated.
Adding CO2 increases Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) without
changing Total Alkalinity (TAlk); dissolving CaCO3 increases both
DIC and TAlk, with 2 moles of TAlk added for each mole of DIC
added.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 6.6 Observed variation in open ocean pH for the 1990s (shown on the total hydrogen scale; data from Key et al., 2004). In this figure the
oceans are separated into separate panels. The three panels are on the same scale and coloured by latitude band to illustrate the large north-south
changes in the pH of intermediate waters. Pre-industrial surface values would have been about 0.1 pH units greater than in the 1990s.

Figure 6.7 Natural variation in total dissolved inorganic carbon concentration at 3000 m depth (data from Key et al., 2004). Ocean carbon
concentrations increase roughly 10% as deep ocean waters transit from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific due to the oxidation of organic
carbon in the deep ocean.

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

285

would inject the CO2 below the thermocline for more effective
storage.
Depending on the details of the release and local sea floor
topography, the CO2 stream could be engineered to dissolve in
the ocean or sink to form a lake on the sea floor. CO2, dissolved
in sea water at high concentrations can form a dense plume or
sinking current along an inclined sea floor. If release is at a great
enough depth, CO2 liquid will sink and could accumulate on the
sea floor as a pool containing a mixture of liquid and hydrate.
In the short-term, fixed or towed pipes appear to be the most
viable methods for oceanic CO2 release, relying on technology
that is already largely commercially available.

Authorities initial decision. After the public hearing procedure

and subsequent decision by the Authority to confirm their initial
permit, Brende said, The possible future use of the sea as
storage for CO2 is controversial. Such a deposit could be in
defiance of international marine laws and the ministry therefore
had to reject the application. The Norwegian Environment
ministry subsequently announced that the project would not go
ahead (Giles, 2002).
Several smaller scale scientific experiments (less than 100
litres of CO2) have however been executed (Brewer et al., 1999,
Brewer et al., 2005) and the necessary permits have also been
issued for experiments within a marine sanctuary.

6.2.1.2 Status of development

To date, injection of CO2 into sea water has only been investigated
in the laboratory, in small-scale in-situ experiments, and in
models. Larger-scale in-situ experiments have not yet been
carried out.
An international consortium involving engineers,
oceanographers and ecologists from 15 institutions in the
United States, Norway, Japan and Canada proposed an in-situ
experiment to help evaluate the feasibility of ocean carbon
storage as a means of mitigating atmospheric increases. This
was to be a collaborative study of the physical, chemical, and
biological changes associated with direct injection of CO2
into the ocean (Adams et al., 2002). The proposed CO2 Ocean
Sequestration Field Experiment was to inject less than 60
tonnes of pure liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) into the deep ocean
near Keahole Point on the Kona coast of the Island of Hawaii.
This would have been the largest intentional CO2 release into
the ocean water column. The test was to have taken place in
water about 800 m deep, over a period of about two weeks
during the summer of 2001. Total project cost was to have
been roughly US$ 5 million. A small steel pipeline, about 4 cm
in diameter, was to have been deployed from a ship down to
the injection depth, with a short section of pipeline resting on
the sea floor to facilitate data collection. The liquid CO2 was
to have been dispersed through a nozzle, with CO2 droplets
briefly ascending from the injection point while dissolving into
the sea water. However, the project met with opposition from
environmental organizations and was never able to acquire
all of the necessary permits within the prescribed budget and
schedule (de Figueiredo, 2002).
Following this experience, the group developed a plan to
release 5.4 tonnes of liquefied CO2 at a depth of 800 metres
off the coast of Norway, and monitor its dispersion in the
Norwegian Sea. The Norwegian Pollution Control Authority
granted a permit for the experiment. The Conservative Party
environment minister in Norways coalition government, Brge
Brende, decided to review the Norwegian Pollution Control

6.2.1.3 Basic behaviour of CO2 released in different forms

The near-field behaviour of CO2 released into the ocean
depends on the physical properties of CO2 (Box 6.2) and the
method for CO2 release. Dissolved CO2 increases the density
of sea water (e.g., Bradshaw, 1973; Song, et al., 2005) and this
affects transport and mixing. The near field may be defined
as that region in which it is important to take effects of CO2induced density changes on the fluid dynamics of the ocean into
consideration. The size of this region depends on the scale and
design of CO2 release (Section 6.2.1.4).
CO2 plume dynamics depend on the way in which CO2 is
released into the ocean water column. CO2 can be initially in the
form of a gas, liquid, solid or solid hydrate. All of these forms of
CO2 would dissolve in sea water, given enough time (Box 6.1).
The dissolution rate of CO2 in sea water is quite variable and
depends on the form (gas, liquid, solid, or hydrate), the depth
and temperature of disposal, and the local water velocities.
Higher flow rates increase the dissolution rate.
Gas. CO2 could potentially be released as a gas above
roughly 500 m depth (Figure 6.8). Below this depth, pressures
are too great for CO2 to exist as a gas. The gas bubbles would
be less dense than the surrounding sea water so tend to rise
towards the surface, dissolving at a radial speed of about 0.1
cm hr1 (0.26 to 1.1 mol cm2 s1; Teng et al., 1996). In waters
colder than about 9C, a CO2 hydrate film could form on the
bubble wall. CO2 diffusers could produce gaseous CO2 bubbles
that are small enough to dissolve completely before reaching
the surface.
Liquid. Below roughly 500 m depth, CO2 can exist in the
ocean as a liquid. Above roughly 2500 m depth CO2 is less
dense than sea water, so liquid CO2 released shallower than
2500 m would tend to rise towards the surface. Because most
ocean water in this depth range is colder than 9C, CO2 hydrate
would tend to form on the droplet wall. Under these conditions,
the radius of the droplet would diminish at a speed of about 0.5
cm hr1 (= 3 mol cm2 s1; Brewer et al., 2002). Under these
conditions a 0.9 cm diameter droplet would rise about 400 m in
an hour before dissolving completely; 90% of its mass would be
lost in the first 200 m (Brewer et al., 2002). Thus, CO2 diffusers
could be designed to produce droplets that will dissolve within
roughly 100 m of the depth of release. If the droplet reached
approximately 500 m depth, it would become a gas bubble.
CO2 is more compressible than sea water; below roughly

he thermocline is the layer of the ocean between about 100 and 1000 m
T
depth that is stably stratified by large temperature and density gradients, thus
inhibiting vertical mixing. Vertical mixing rates in the thermocline can be
about 1000 times less than those in the deep sea. This zone of slow mixing
would act as a barrier to slow degassing of CO2 released in the deep ocean to
the atmosphere.

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Box 6.2 Physical properties of CO2.

The properties of CO2 in sea water affect its fate upon release to the deep-sea environment. The conditions under which CO2
can exist in a gas, liquid, solid hydrate, or aqueous phase in sea water are given in Figure 6.8 (see Annex I).

At typical pressures and temperatures that exist in the ocean, pure CO2 would be a gas above approximately 500 m and a
liquid below that depth. Between about 500 and 2700 m depth, liquid CO2 is lighter than sea water. Deeper than 3000 m, CO2 is
denser than sea water. The buoyancy of CO2 released into the ocean determines whether released CO2 rises or falls in the ocean
column (Figure 6.9). In the gas phase, CO2 is lighter than sea water and rises. In the liquid phase CO2 is a highly compressible
fluid compared to sea water. A fully formed crystalline CO2 hydrate is denser than sea water and will form a sinking mass (Aya
et al., 2003); hydrate formation can thus aid ocean CO2 storage by more rapid transport to depth, and by slowing dissolution.
It may also create a nuisance by impeding flow in pipelines or at injectors.

The formation of a solid CO2 hydrate (Sloan, 1998) is a dynamic process (Figure 6.10; Brewer et al., 1998, 1999, 2000)
and the nature of hydrate nucleation in such systems is imperfectly understood. Exposed to an excess of sea water, CO2 will
eventually dissolve forming an aqueous phase with density higher than surrounding sea water. Release of dense or buoyant
CO2 in a gas, liquid, hydrate or aqueous phase would entrain surrounding sea water and form plumes that sink, or rise, until
dispersed.

Figure 6.8 CO2 sea water phase diagram. CO2 is stable in the liquid
phase when temperature and pressure (increasing with ocean depth)
fall in the region below the blue curve; a gas phase is stable under
conditions above the blue dashed line. In contact with sea water
and at temperature and pressure in the shaded region, CO2 reacts
with sea water to from a solid ice-like hydrate CO26H2O. CO2 will
dissolve in sea water that is not saturated with CO2. The red line
shows how temperature varies with depth at a site off the coast of
California; liquid and hydrated CO2 can exist below about 400 m
(Brewer et al., 2004).

Figure 6.9 Shallower than 2500 m, liquid CO2 is less dense than sea
water, and thus tends to float upward. Deeper than 3000 m, liquid CO2
is denser than sea water, and thus tends to sink downwards. Between
these two depths, the behaviour can vary with location (depending
mostly on temperature) and CO2 can be neutrally buoyant (neither
rises nor falls). Conditions shown for the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Figure 6.10 Liquid CO2 released at 3600 metres initially forms a liquid CO2 pool on the sea floor in a small deep ocean experiment
(upper picture). In time, released liquid CO2 reacts with sea water to form a solid CO2 hydrate in a similar pool (lower picture).

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

3000 m, liquid CO2 is denser than the surrounding sea water
and sinks. CO2 nozzles could be engineered to produce large
droplets that would sink to the sea floor or small droplets
that would dissolve in the sea water before contacting the sea
floor. Natural ocean mixing and droplet motion are expected
to prevent concentrations of dissolved CO2 from approaching
saturation, except near liquid CO2 that has been intentionally
placed in topographic depressions on the sea floor.
Solid. Solid CO2 is denser than sea water and thus would
tend to sink. Solid CO2 surfaces would dissolve in sea water at a
speed of about 0.2 cm hr1 (inferred from Aya et al., 1997). Thus
small quantities of solid CO2 would dissolve completely before
reaching the sea floor; large masses could potentially reach the
sea floor before complete dissolution.
Hydrate. CO2 hydrate is a form of CO2 in which a cage of
water molecules surrounds each molecule of CO2. It can form in
average ocean waters below about 400 m depth. A fully formed
crystalline CO2 hydrate is denser than sea water and will sink
(Aya et al., 2003). The surface of this mass would dissolve at
a speed similar to that of solid CO2, about 0.2 cm hr1 (0.47 to
0.60 m s1; Rehder et al., 2004; Teng et al., 1999), and thus
droplets could be produced that either dissolve completely in
the sea water or sink to the sea floor. Pure CO2 hydrate is a hard
crystalline solid and will not flow through a pipe; however a
paste-like composite of hydrate and sea water may be extruded
(Tsouris et al., 2004), and this will have a dissolution rate
intermediate between those of CO2 droplets and a pure CO2
hydrate.
6.2.1.4 Behaviour of injected CO2 in the near field:
CO2-rich plumes
As it leaves the near field, CO2 enriched water will reside at a
depth determined by its density. The oceans are generally stably
stratified with density increasing with depth. Parcels of water
tend to move upward or downward until they reach water of
the same density, then there are no buoyancy forces to induce
further motion.
The dynamics of CO2-rich plumes determine both the depth at
which the CO2 leaves the near-field environment and the amount
of initial dilution (and consequently the amount of pH change).
When CO2 is released in any form into seawater, the CO2 can
move upward or downward depending on whether the CO2 is
less or more dense than the surrounding seawater. Drag forces
transfer momentum from the CO2 droplets to the surrounding
water column producing motion in the adjacent water, initially
in the direction of droplet motion. Simultaneously, the CO2
dissolves into the surrounding water, making the surrounding
water denser and more likely to sink. As the CO2-enriched water
moves, it mixes with surrounding water that is less enriched in
CO2, leading to additional dilution and diminishing the density
contrast between the CO2-enriched water and the surrounding
water.
CO2 releases could be engineered to produce CO2 plumes
with different characteristics (Chen et al., 2003; Sato and Sato,
2002; Alendal and Drange, 2001; Crounse et al., 2001; Drange
et al., 2001; Figure 6.11). Modelling studies indicate that

287

Figure 6.11 Simulated CO2 enriched sea water plumes (left panels;
indicated by pH) and CO2 droplet plumes (right panels; indicated by
kgCO2 m3) created by injecting 1 cm and 12 cm liquid CO2 droplets
(top and bottom panels, respectively) into the ocean from fixed nozzles
(elapsed time is 30 min; injection rate is 1.0 kgCO2 s1; ocean current
speed is 5 cm s1; Alendal and Drange, 2001). By varying droplet size,
the plume can be made to sink (top panels) or rise (bottom panels).

releases of small droplets at slow rates produce smaller plumes

than release of large droplets at rapid rates. Where CO2 is denser
than seawater, larger droplet sizes would allow the CO2 to sink
more deeply. CO2 injected at intermediate depths could increase
the density of CO2-enriched sea water sufficiently to generate
a sinking plume that would carry the CO2 into the deep ocean
(Liro et al., 1992; Haugan and Drange, 1992). Apparent coriolis
forces would operate on such a plume, turning it towards the
right in the Northern Hemisphere and towards the left in the
Southern Hemisphere (Alendal et al., 1994). The channelling
effects of submarine canyons or other topographic features
could help steer dense plumes to greater depth with minimal
dilution (Adams et al., 1995).
6.2.1.5 Behaviour of injected CO2 in the far field
The far field is defined as the region in which the concentration
of added CO2 is low enough such that the resulting density
increase does not significantly affect transport, and thus CO2
may be considered a passive tracer in the ocean. Typically, this
would apply within a few kilometres of an injection point in
midwater, but if CO2 is released at the sea floor and guided
along topography, concentration may remain high and influence
transport for several tens of kilometres. CO2 is transported by
ocean currents and undergoes further mixing and dilution with
other water masses (Alendal and Drange, 2001). Most of this
mixing and transport occurs along surfaces of nearly constant
density, because buoyancy forces inhibit vertical mixing in a
stratified fluid. Over time, a release of CO2 becomes increasingly
diluted but affects ever greater volumes of water.
The concept of ocean injection from a moving ship towing
a trailing pipe was developed in order to minimize the local

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Figure 6.12 Simulated plumes (Chen et al., 2005) created by injecting liquid CO2 into the ocean from a fixed pipe (left panel) and a moving ship
(right panel) at a rate of 100 kg s1 (roughly equal to the CO2 from a 500 MWe coal-fired power plant). Left panel: injection at 875 m depth (12
m from the sea floor) with an ocean current speed of 2.3 cm s1. Right panel: injection at 1340 m depth from a ship moving at a speed of 3 m s1.
Note difference in pH scales; maximum pH perturbations are smaller in the moving ship simulation.

environmental impacts by accelerating the dissolution and

dispersion of injected liquid CO2 (Ozaki, 1997; Minamiura et
al., 2004). A moving ship could be used to produce a sea water
plume with relatively dilute initial CO2 concentrations (Figures
6.12 and 6.13). In the upper ocean where CO2is less dense than
seawater, nozzles engineered to produce mm-scale droplets
would generate CO2 plumes that would rise less than 100 m.
Ocean general circulation models have been used to predict
changes in ocean chemistry resulting from the dispersion of

Figure 6.13 Volume of water with a pH less than the value shown
on the horizontal axis for the simulations shown in Figure 6.12
corresponding to CO2 releases from a 500 MWe power plant. The fixed
pipe simulation produces a region with pH < 1, however, the moving
ship disperses the CO2 more widely, largely avoiding pH changes of
this magnitude.

injected CO2 for hypothetical examples of ocean storage (e.g.,

Orr, 2004). Wickett et al. (2003) estimated that injection into
the deep ocean at a rate of 0.37 GtCO2 yr1 (= 0.1 GtC yr1)
for 100 years would produce a pH < 0.3 over a volume of
sea water equivalent to 0.01% or less of total ocean volume
(Figure 6.14). In this example, for each GtCO2 released to the
deep ocean, less than about 0.0001%, 0.001% and 0.01% of

Figure 6.14 Estimated volume of pH perturbations at basin scale

(Wickett et al., 2003). Simulated fraction of global ocean volume with
a pH less than the amount shown on the horizontal axis, after 100
years of simulated injection at a rate of 0.37 GtCO2 yr1 (= 0.1 GtC
yr1) at each of four different points (two different depths near New
York City and San Francisco). Model results indicate, for example,
that injecting CO2 at this rate at a single location for 100 years could be
expected to produce a volume of sea water with a pH < 0.3 units in
0.01% or less of total ocean volume (0.01% of the ocean is roughly 105
km3). As with other simulations of direct CO2 injection in the ocean,
results for the upper ocean (e.g., 800 m) tend to be more site-specific
than are results for the deep ocean (e.g., 3000 m).

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

the ocean volume has pH of less than 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1
pH units respectively. Caldeira and Wickett (2005) predicted
volumes of water undergoing a range of pH changes for several
atmospheric emission and carbon stabilization pathways,
including pathways in which direct injection of CO2 into the
deep ocean was assumed to provide either 10% or 100% of
the total atmospheric CO2 mitigation effort needed to stabilize
atmospheric CO2 according to the WRE550 pathway. This
assumed a CO2 production scenario in which all known fossilfuel resources were ultimately combusted. Simulations in which
ocean injection provided 10% of the total mitigation effort,
resulted in significant changes in ocean pH in year 2100 over
roughly 1% of the ocean volume (Figure 6.15). By year 2300,
injection rates have slowed but previously injected carbon has
spread through much of the ocean resulting in an additional 0.1
pH unit reduction in ocean pH over most of the ocean volume
compared to WRE550.
6.2.1.6 Behaviour of CO2 lakes on the sea floor
Long-term storage of carbon dioxide might be more effective
if CO2 were stored on the sea floor in liquid or hydrate form
below 3000 metres, where CO2 is denser than sea water (Box
6.2; Ohsumi, 1995; Shindo et al., 1995). Liquid carbon dioxide
could be introduced at depth to form a lake of CO2 on the sea
floor (Ohsumi, 1993). Alternatively, CO2 hydrate could be
created in an apparatus designed to produce a hydrate pile or
pool on the sea floor (Saji et al., 1992). To date, the concept
of CO2 lakes on the sea floor has been investigated only in the
laboratory, in small-scale (tens of litres) in-situ experiments and

289
in numerical models. Larger-scale in-situ experiments have not
yet been carried out.
Liquid or hydrate deposition of CO2 on the sea floor could
increase isolation, however in the absence of a physical barrier
the CO2 would dissolve into the overlying water (Mori and
Mochizuki, 1998; Haugan and Alendal, 2005). In this aspect,
most sea floor deposition proposals can be viewed as a means of
time-delayed release of CO2 into the ocean. Thus, many issues
relevant to sea floor options, especially the far-field behaviour,
are discussed in sections relating to CO2 release into the water
column (e.g., Section 6.2.1.5).
CO2 released onto the sea floor deeper than 3 km is denser
than surrounding sea water and is expected to fill topographic
depressions, accumulating as a lake of CO2 over which a thin
hydrate layer would form. This hydrate layer would retard
dissolution, but it would not insulate the lake from the overlying
water. The hydrate would dissolve into the overlying water (or
sink to the bottom of the CO2 lake), but the hydrate layer would
be continuously renewed through the formation of new crystals
(Mori, 1998). Laboratory experiments (Aya et al., 1995) and
small deep ocean experiments (Brewer et al., 1999) show that
deep-sea storage of CO2 would lead to CO2 hydrate formation
(and subsequent dissolution).
Predictions of the fate of large-scale CO2 lakes rely on
numerical simulations because no large-scale field experiments
have yet been performed. For a CO2 lake with an initial depth
of 50 m, the time of complete dissolution varies from 30 to 400
years depending on the local ocean and sea floor environment.
The time to dissolve a CO2 lake depends on its depth, complex

Figure 6.15 Estimated volume of pH perturbations at global scale for hypothetical examples in which injection of CO2 into the ocean interior
provides 100% or 10% of the mitigation effort needed to move from a logistic emissions curve cumulatively releasing 18,000 GtCO2 (=5000
GtC) to emissions consistent with atmospheric CO2 stabilization at 550 ppm according to the WRE550 pathway (Wigley et al., 1996). The curves
show the simulated fraction of ocean volume with a pH reduction greater than the amount shown on the horizontal axis. For the 10% case, in year
2100, injection rates are high and about1% of the ocean volume has significant pH reductions; in year 2300, injection rates are low, but previously
injected CO2 has decreased ocean pH by about 0.1 unit below the value produced by a WRE550 atmospheric CO2 pathway in the absence of CO2
release directly to the ocean (Caldeira and Wickett, 2005).

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dynamics of the ocean bottom boundary layer and its turbulence

characteristics, mechanism of CO2 hydrate dissolution, and
properties of CO2 in solution (Haugan and Alendal, 2005). The
lifetime of a CO2 lake would be longest in relatively confined
environments, such as might be found in some trenches or
depressions with restricted flow (Ohgaki and Akano, 1992).
Strong flows have been observed in trenches (Nakashiki,
1997). Nevertheless, simulation of CO2 storage in a deep trench
(Kobayashi, 2003) indicates that the bottom topography can
weaken vertical momentum and mass transfer, slowing the CO2
dissolution rate. In a quiescent environment, transport would
be dominated by diffusion. Double-diffusion in the presence
of strong stratification may produce long lake lifetimes. In
contrast, the flow of sea water across the lake surface would
increase mass transfer and dissolution. For example, CO2 lake
lifetimes of >10,000 yr for a 50 m thick lake can be estimated
from the dissolution rate of 0.44 cm yr1 for a quiescent, purely
diffusive system (Ohsumi, 1997). Fer and Haugan (2003) found
that a mean horizontal velocity of 0.05 m s1 would cause the
CO2 lake to dissolve >25 times more rapidly (12 cm yr1).
Furthermore, they found that an ocean bottom storm with a
horizontal velocity of 0.20 m s1 could increase the dissolution
rate to 170 cm yr1.
6.2.2

CO2 storage by dissolution of carbonate minerals

Over thousands of years, increased sea water acidity resulting

from CO2 addition will be largely neutralized by the slow
natural dissolution of carbonate minerals in sea-floor sediments
and on land. This neutralization allows the ocean to absorb
more CO2 from the atmosphere with less of a change in ocean
pH, carbonate ion concentration, and pCO2 (Archer et al., 1997,
1998). Various approaches have been proposed to accelerate
carbonate neutralization, and thereby store CO2 in the oceans
by promoting the dissolution of carbonate minerals. These
approaches (e.g., Kheshgi, 1995; Rau and Caldeira, 1999) do not
entail initial separate CO2 capture and transport steps. However,
no tests of these approaches have yet been performed at sea,
so inferences about enhanced ocean CO2 storage, and effects
on ocean pH are based on laboratory experiments (Morse and
Mackenzie, 1990; Morse and Arvidson, 2002), calculations
(Kheshgi, 1995), and models (Caldeira and Rau, 2000).
Carbonate neutralization approaches attempt to promote
reaction (5) (in Box 6.1) in which limestone reacts with carbon
dioxide and water to form calcium and bicarbonate ions in
solution. Accounting for speciation of dissolved inorganic
carbon in sea water (Kheshgi, 1995), for each mole of CaCO3
dissolved there would be 0.8 mole of additional CO2 stored in
sea water in equilibrium with fixed CO2 partial pressure (i.e.,
about 2.8 tonnes of limestone per tonne CO2). Adding alkalinity
This approach is fundamentally different than the carbonate mineralization
approach assessed in Chapter 7. In that approach CO2 is stored by reacting it with
non-carbonate minerals to form carbonate minerals. In this approach, carbonate
minerals are dissolved in the ocean, thereby increasing ocean alkalinity and
increasing ocean storage of CO2. This approach could also make use of noncarbonate minerals, if their dissolution would increase ocean alkalinity.

to the ocean would increase ocean carbon storage, both in the

near term and on millennial time scales (Kheshgi, 1995). The
duration of increased ocean carbon storage would be limited
by eventual CaCO3 sedimentation, or reduced CaCO3 sediment
dissolution, which is modelled to occur through natural
processes on the time scale of about 6,000 years (Archer et al.,
1997, 1998).
Carbonate minerals have been proposed as the primary source
of alkalinity for neutralization of CO2 acidity (Kheshgi 1995;
Rau and Caldeira, 1999). There have been many experiments
and observations related to the kinetics of carbonate mineral
dissolution and precipitation, both in fresh water and in sea
water (Morse and Mackenzie, 1990; Morse and Arvidson, 2002).
Carbonate minerals and other alkaline compounds that dissolve
readily in surface sea water (such as Na2CO3), however, have
not been found in sufficient quantities to store carbon in the
ocean on scales comparable to fossil CO2 emissions (Kheshgi,
1995). Carbonate minerals that are abundant do not dissolve
in surface ocean waters. Surface ocean waters are typically
oversaturated with respect to carbonate minerals (Broecker
and Peng, 1982; Emerson and Archer, 1990; Archer, 1996), but
carbonate minerals typically do not precipitate in sea water due
to kinetic inhibitions (Morse and Mackenzie, 1990).
To circumvent the problem of oversaturated surface waters,
Kheshgi (1995) considered promoting reaction (5) by calcining
limestone to form CaO, which is readily soluble. If the energy for
the calcining step was provided by a CO2-emission-free source,
and the CO2 released from CaCO3 were captured and stored
(e.g., in a geologic formation), then this process would store 1.8
mole CO2 per mole CaO introduced into the ocean. If the CO2
from the calcining step were not stored, then a net 0.8 mole CO2
would be stored per mole CaO. However, if coal without CO2
capture were used to provide the energy for calcination, and
the CO2 produced in calcining was not captured, only 0.4 mole
CO2 would be stored net per mole lime (CaO) to the ocean,
assuming existing high-efficiency kilns (Kheshgi, 1995). This
approach would increase the ocean sink of CO2, and does not
need to be connected to a concentrated CO2 source or require
transport to the deep sea. Such a process would, however, need
to avoid rapid re-precipitation of CaCO3, a critical issue yet to
be addressed.
Rau and Caldeira (1999) proposed extraction of CO2 from
flue gas via reaction with crushed limestone and seawater.
Exhaust gases from coal-fired power plants typically have
15,000 ppmv of CO2 over 400 times that of ambient air. A
carbonic acid solution formed by contacting sea water with flue
gases would accelerate the dissolution of calcite, aragonite,
dolomite, limestone, and other carbonate-containing minerals,
especially if minerals were crushed to increase reactive surface
area. The solution of, for example, Ca2+ and dissolved inorganic
carbon (primarily in the form of HCO3) in sea water could
then be released back into the ocean, where it would be diluted
by additional seawater. Caldeira and Rau (2000) estimate that
dilution of one part effluent from a carbonate neutralization
reactor with 100 parts ambient sea water would result, after
equilibration with the atmosphere, in a 10% increase in the

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calcite saturation state, which they contend would not induce
precipitation. This approach does not rely on deep-sea release,
avoiding the need for energy to separate, transport and inject
CO2 into the deep ocean. The wastewater generated by this
carbonate-neutralization approach has been conjectured to be
relatively benign (Rau and Caldeira, 1999). For example, the
addition of calcium bicarbonate, the primary constituent of the
effluent, has been observed to promote coral growth (Marubini
and Thake, 1999). This approach will not remove all the CO2
from a gas stream, because excess CO2 is required to produce a
solution that is corrosive to carbonate minerals. If greater CO2
removal were required, this approach could be combined with
other techniques of CO2 capture and storage.
Process wastewater could be engineered to contain different
ratios of added carbon and calcium, and different ratios of flue
gas CO2 to dissolved limestone (Caldeira and Wickett, 2005).
Processes involving greater amounts of limestone dissolution
per mole CO2 added lead to a greater CO2 fraction being
retained. The effluent from a carbonate-dissolution reactor
could have the same pH, pCO2, or [CO32] as ambient seawater,
although processing costs may be reduced by allowing effluent
composition to vary from these values (Caldeira and Rau, 2000).
Elevation in Ca2+ and bicarbonate content from this approach
is anticipated to be small relative to the already existing
concentrations in sea water (Caldeira and Rau, 2000), but
effects of the new physicochemical equilibria on physiological
performance are unknown. Neutralization of carbon acidity
by dissolution of carbonate minerals could reduce impacts
on marine ecosystems associated with pH and CO32 decline
(Section 6.7).
Carbonate neutralization approaches require large amounts
of carbonate minerals. Sedimentary carbonates are abundant
with estimates of 5 x 1017 tonnes (Berner et al., 1983), roughly
10,000 times greater than the mass of fossil-fuel carbon.
Nevertheless, up to about 1.5 mole of carbonate mineral must
be dissolved for each mole of anthropogenic CO2 permanently
stored in the ocean (Caldeira and Rau, 2000); therefore, the
mass of CaCO3 used would be up to 3.5 times the mass of CO2
stored. Worldwide, 3 Gt CaCO3 is mined annually (Kheshgi,
1995). Thus, large-scale deployment of carbonate neutralization
approaches would require greatly expanded mining and
transport of limestone and attendant environmental impacts. In
addition, impurities in dissolved carbonate minerals may cause
deleterious effects and have yet to be studied.
6.2.3

Other ocean storage approaches

Solid hydrate. Water reacts with concentrated CO2 to form a

solid hydrate (CO26H2O) under typical ocean conditions at
quite modest depths (Lken and Austvik, 1993; Holdren and
Baldwin, 2001). Rehder et al. (2004) showed that the hydrate
dissolves rapidly into the relatively dilute ocean waters. The
density of pure CO2 hydrate is greater than seawater, and this
has led to efforts to create a sinking plume of released CO2 in
the ocean water column. Pure CO2 hydrate is a hard crystalline
solid and thus will not flow through a pipe, and so some form of

CO2 slurry is required for flow assurance (Tsouris et al., 2004).

Water-CaCO3-CO2 emulsion. Mineral carbonate could be
used to physically emulsify and entrain CO2 injected in sea
water (Swett et al. 2005); a 1:1 CO2:CaCO3 emulsion of CO2
in water could be stabilized by pulverized limestone (CaCO3).
The emulsion plume would have a bulk density of 40% greater
than that of seawater. Because the emulsion plume is heavier
than seawater, the CaCO3coated CO2 slurries may sink all the
way to the ocean floor. It has been suggested that the emulsion
plume would have a pH that is at least 2 units higher than would
a plume of liquid CO2. Carbonate minerals could be mined
on land, and then crushed, or fine-grained lime mud could
be extracted from the sea floor. These fine-grain carbonate
particles could be suspended in sea water upstream from the
CO2-rich plume emanating from the direct CO2 injection site.
The suspended carbonate minerals could then be transported
with the ambient sea water into the plume, where the minerals
could dissolve, increasing ocean CO2 storage effectiveness and
diminishing the pH impacts of direct injection.
Emplacement in carbonate sediments. Murray et al. (1997)
have suggested emplacement of CO2 into carbonate sediments
on the sea floor. Insofar as this CO2 remained isolated from the
ocean, this could be categorized as a form of geological storage
(Chapter 5).
Dry ice torpedoes. CO2 could be released from a ship as dry
ice at the ocean surface (Steinberg,1985). One costly method
is to produce solid CO2 blocks (Murray et al., 1996). With a
density of 1.5 t m3, these blocks would sink rapidly to the sea
floor and could potentially penetrate into the sea floor sediment.
Direct flue-gas injection. Another proposal is to take a
power plant flue gas, and pump it directly into the deep ocean
without any separation of CO2 from the flue gas, however costs
of compression are likely to render this approach infeasible.
6.3

Capacity and fractions retained

6.3.1

Capacity

The physical capacity for storage of CO2 in the ocean is large

relative to fossil-fuel resources. The degree to which this
capacity will be utilized may be based on factors such as cost,
equilibrium pCO2, and environmental consequences.
Storage capacity for CO2 in the ocean can be defined relative
to an atmospheric CO2 stabilization concentration. For example,
roughly 2,300 to 10,700 GtCO2 (above the natural pre-industrial
background) would be added to the ocean in equilibrium with
atmospheric CO2 stabilization concentrations, ranging from 350
ppmv to 1000 ppmv, regardless of whether the CO2 is initially
released to the ocean or the atmosphere (Table 6.1, Figure 6.3;
Kheshgi et al., 2005; Sorai and Ohsumi, 2005). The capacity of
the ocean for CO2 storage could be increased with the addition
of alkalinity to the ocean (e.g., dissolved limestone).
6.3.2

Measures of fraction retained

Effectiveness of ocean CO2 storage has been reported in a

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

variety of ways. These different ways of reporting result in very

different numerical values (Box 6.3).
Over several centuries, CO2 released to the deep ocean
would be transported to the ocean surface and interact with the
atmosphere. The CO2-enriched water would then exchange CO2
with the atmosphere as it approaches chemical equilibrium. In
this chemical equilibrium, most of the injected CO2 remains
in the ocean even though it is no longer isolated from the
atmosphere (Table 6.1; Figure 6.3). CO2 that has interacted
with the atmosphere is considered to be part of the natural
carbon cycle, much in the way that CO2 released directly to
the atmosphere is considered to be part of the natural carbon
cycle. Such CO2 cannot be considered to be isolated from the
atmosphere in a way that can be attributable to an ocean storage
project.
Loss of isolation of injected CO2 does not mean loss of all
of the injected CO2 to the atmosphere. In chemical equilibrium
with an atmosphere containing 280 ppm CO2, about 85% of any
carbon injected would remain the ocean. If atmospheric CO2
partial pressures were to approach 1000 ppm, about 66% of the
injected CO2 would remain in the ocean after equilibration with
the atmosphere (Table 6.1). Thus, roughly 1/5 to 1/3 of the CO2
injected into the ocean will eventually reside in the atmosphere,
with this airborne fraction depending on the long-term
atmosphere-ocean CO2 equilibrium (Kheshgi, 1995, 2004b).
The airborne fraction is the appropriate measure to quantify the
effect of ocean storage on atmospheric composition.
6.3.3

Estimation of fraction retained from ocean

observations

Observations of radiocarbon, CFCs, and other tracers indicate

the degree of isolation of the deep sea from the atmosphere
(Prentice et al., 2001). Radiocarbon is absorbed by the oceans
from the atmosphere and is transported to the deep-sea,
undergoing radioactive decay as it ages. Radiocarbon age
(Figure 6.16) is not a perfect indicator of time since a water

Figure 6.16 Map of radiocarbon (14C) age at 3500 m (Matsumoto and

Key, 2004).

parcel last contacted the atmosphere because of incomplete

equilibration with the atmosphere (Orr, 2004). Taking this
partial equilibration into account, the age of North Pacific
deep water is estimated to be in the range of 700 to 1000 years.
Other basins, such as the North Atlantic, have characteristic
overturning times of 300 years or more. This data suggests that,
generally, carbon injected in the deep ocean would equilibrate
with the atmosphere over a time scale of 300 to 1000 years.
6.3.4

Estimation of fraction retained from model results

Ocean models have been used to predict the isolation of injected

CO2 from the atmosphere. Many models are calibrated using
ocean radiocarbon data, so model-based estimates of retention
of injected CO2 are not completely independent of the estimates
based more directly on observations (Section 6.3.3).
A wide number of studies have used three-dimensional
ocean general circulation models to study retention of CO2
injected into the ocean water column (Bacastow and Stegen,
1991; Bacastow et al., 1997; Nakashiki and Ohsumi, 1997;
Dewey et al., 1997, 1999; Archer et al., 1998; Xu et al., 1999;
Orr, 2004; Hill et al., 2004). These modelling studies generally
confirm inferences based on simpler models and considerations
of ocean chemistry and radiocarbon decay rates. In ocean
general circulation simulations performed by seven modelling
groups (Orr, 2004), CO2 was injected for 100 years at each of
seven different locations and at three different depths. Model
results indicate that deeper injections will be isolated from the
atmosphere for longer durations. Figure 6.17 shows the effect
of injection depth on retained fraction for the mean of seven
ocean sites (Orr, 2004). Ranges of model results indicate some
uncertainty in forecasts of isolation of CO2 released to the deep
ocean, although for all models the time extent of CO2 isolation is
longer for deeper CO2 release, and isolation is nearly complete
for 100 years following CO2 release at 3000 m depth (Figure
6.18 and 6.19). However, present-day models disagree as to the
degassing time scale for particular locations (Figure 6.19). There
seems to be no simple and robust correlation of CO2 retention
other than depth of injection (Caldeira et al., 2002), however,
there is some indication that the mean fraction retained for
stored carbon is greater in the Pacific Ocean than the Atlantic
Ocean, but not all models agree on this. Model results indicate
that for injection at 1500 m depth, the time scale of the partial
CO2 degassing is sensitive to the location of the injection, but at
3000 m, results are relatively insensitive to injection location.
Model results have been found to be sensitive to differences in
numerical schemes and model parameterizations (Mignone et
al., 2004).
6.4

Site selection

6.4.1

Background

There are no published papers specifically on site selection for

intentional ocean storage of CO2; hence, we can discuss only
general factors that might be considered when selecting sites for

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Chapter 6: Ocean storage

Box 6.3 Measures of the fraction of CO2 retained in storage

Different measures have been used to describe how effective intentional storage of carbon dioxide in the ocean is to mitigate
climate change (Mueller et al., 2004). Here, we illustrate several of these measures using schematic model results reported by
Herzog et al. (2003) for injection of CO2 at three different depths (Figure 6.17).
Fraction retained (see Chapter 1) is the fraction of the cumulative amount of injected CO2 that is retained in the storage
reservoir over a specified period of time, and thereby does not have the opportunity to affect atmospheric CO2 concentration
(Mignone et al., 2004). The retained fraction approaches zero (Figure 6.17) over long times, indicating that nearly all injected
CO2 will interact with the atmosphere (although a small amount would interact first with carbonate sediments).
Airborne Fraction is the fraction of released CO2 that adds to atmospheric CO2 content (Kheshgi and Archer, 2004). For
atmospheric release, airborne fraction is initially one and decays to roughly 0.2 (depending on atmospheric CO2 concentration)
as the added CO2 is mixed throughout the ocean, and decays further to about 0.08 as CO2 reacts with sediments (Archer et al.,
1997). For deep-sea release, airborne fraction is initially zero and then approaches that of atmospheric release. Note that the
asymptotic airborne fraction depends on the concentration of CO2 of surface waters (Figure 6.3).
Fraction retained is used throughout this report to indicate
how long the CO2 is stored. In addition the following measures can
be used to compare the effectiveness of ocean carbon storage with
other options, for example:
The Net Present Value (NPV) approach (Herzog et al., 2003)
considers temporary storage to be equivalent to delayed emission
of CO2 to the atmosphere. The value of delaying CO2 emissions
depends on the future costs of CO2 emission and economic discount
rates. There is economic value to temporary storage (i.e., delayed
emission) if the cost of CO2 emissions increases at a rate that is less
than the discount rate (Herzog et al., 2003).
The Global-Warming Potential (GWP) is a measure defined by
the IPCC to compare the climatic effect of different greenhousegas emissions. It is computed by accumulating the radiative climate
forcing of a greenhouse-gas emission over a specified time horizon.
This measure has been applied to compare the radiative forcing
from oceanic and atmospheric releases of carbon dioxide (Kheshgi
et al., 1994, Ramaswamy et al., 2001). Haugan and Joos (2004)
Figure 6.17 Fraction of carbon in the ocean from injection
propose a modification to the GWP approach that compares the at three different depths and the atmosphere illustrated
climate effects of the airborne fraction of a CO2 release to the ocean with results from a schematic model (Herzog et al., 2003).
with those from a release to the atmosphere. Table 6.2 compares Calculations assume a background 280 ppm of CO in the
2
these measures for results from a schematic model at three depths. atmosphere.
Table 6.2 Evaluation of measures described in the text illustrated using schematic model results shown in Figure 6.17. For the Net Present
Value measure, the percentage represents the discount rate minus the rate of increase in the cost of CO2 emission. (If these are equal, the Net
Present Value of temporary carbon storage is zero) Two significant digits shown for illustration exceed the accuracy of model results.
Measure
Effective

Atmospheric release
at 20 years

Injection depth

1000 m

2000 m

3000 m

0.96

1.00

1.00

Retained

at 100 years

0.63

0.97

1.00

Fraction

at 500 years

0.28

0.65

0.85

Airborne

at 20 years

0.61

0.03

610-6

710-10

Fraction

at 100 years

0.40

0.19

0.02

910-4

at 500 years

0.24

0.20

0.12

0.06

Net Present

5% per year

0.95

1.00

1.00

Value (constant

1% per year

0.72

0.95

0.99

emissions cost)

0.2% per year

0.41

0.72

0.85

Global

20 year horizon

0.01

110

610-10

Warming

100 year horizon

0.21

0.01

410-4

Potential

500 year horizon

0.56

0.20

0.06

-6

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 6.18 Results are shown for seven ocean general circulation
models at three different depths averaged over seven injection
locations (Orr, 2004). The percentage efficiency shown is the retained
fraction for an injection at a constant rate from 2000 to 2100. Models
agree that deeper injection isolates CO2 from the atmosphere longer
than shallower injection. For release at 3000 m, most of the added
carbon was still isolated from the atmosphere at the end of the 500
year simulations.

Figure 6.19 Comparison of storage results for three injection locations

(at 3000 m depth) in ten ocean model simulations (Orr, 2004). Models
differ on predictions of CO2 fraction retained for release in different
oceans.

ocean storage. Among these considerations are environmental

consequences, costs, safety, and international issues (including
cross border transport). Because environmental consequences,
costs, and social and political issues are addressed in other parts
of this report, here we briefly consider site selection factors that
enhance the fraction retained or reduce the costs.

Large point sources of CO2 located near deep water would

generally be the most cost effective settings in which to carry
out direct CO2 injection (Figure 6.21; Section 6.9). While
models indicate that site-specific differences exist, they do not
yet agree on the ranking of potential sites for effectiveness of
direct injection CO2 operations (Orr, 2004).

6.4.2

Water column release

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Chapter 6: Ocean storage

6.4.3

CO2 lakes on the sea floor

CO2 lakes must be on the sea floor at a depth below 3000 m

(Figures 6.20 and 6.21), because the liquid CO2 must be denser
than surrounding sea water (Box 6.2).
These ocean general circulation model calculations did not
consider interactions with CaCO3 sediments or marine biota.
Increased CO2 concentrations in the ocean promote dissolution
of CaCO3 sediments, which would tend to increase predicted
CO2 retention. This has been modelled for the deep sea with
results of greater retention for release in the Atlantic because
of high CaCO3 inventory in Atlantic sediments (Archer et al.,
1998).
Preliminary numerical simulations of ocean CO2 injection
predict increased oceanic retention of injected CO2 with
concurrent global warming due to weaker overturning and
a more stratified ocean (Jain and Cao, 2005). Some evidence
indicates recent increases in stratification in all major ocean
basins (e.g., Joos, 2003; McPhaden and Zhang, 2002; Palmer et
al., 2004; Stramma et al., 2004).
6.4.4

Limestone neutralization

The amounts of sea water and limestone required to neutralize

the acidity of added CO2 indicate that limestone neutralization
would be most suitable for CO2 point sources located near both
the ocean and large deposits of limestone (Rau and Caldeira,
1999).

Figure 6.20 Locations of ocean water at least 1 km and 3 km deep.

Distance over land to water that is at least 3 km deep (Caldeira and
Wickett, 2005). In general, land areas with the lightest colours would
be the most-cost effective land-based settings for a CO2-injection
operation. However, each potential site would need to be evaluated
prior to deployment.

6.5 Injection technology and operations

6.5.1

Background

The development of ocean storage technology is generally

at a conceptual stage; thus, we will only discuss general
principles. There has been limited engineering analysis and
experimental studies of these conceptual technologies for ocean
storage (Nihous, 1997), and no field-testing. No operational
experience exists. Various technology concepts have been
proposed to improve isolation from the atmosphere or diminish
environmental consequences of CO2 injected into the ocean.
Further research and development would be needed to make
technologies available, but no major technical barriers are
apparent.
6.5.2

Water column release

Dispersal of liquid CO2 at a depth of 1000 m or deeper is

technologically feasible. Since liquid CO2 may be relatively
easily transported to appropriate depths, the preferred release
mode is thought at this time to be as a liquid or dense gas phase
(achieved by compression beyond its critical point, 72.8 bar at
31C). The pipes that would carry this CO2 to the deep ocean
would be similar to the pipes that have been used commercially
on land to transport CO2 for use in CO2 enhanced oil recovery
projects (Ozaki et al., 1997). Models (Liro et al., 1992, Drange
and Haugan, 1992) predict that, with a properly designed
diffuser, nearly all the CO2 would dissolve in the ocean within
a 100 m of the injection depth. Then, this CO2-rich water would
be diluted as it disperses, primarily horizontally along surfaces
of constant density.
Water column injection schemes typically envision
minimizing local changes to ocean chemistry by producing a

Figure 6.21 Relationship between depth and sea floor area. Flow in
ocean bottom boundary layers would need to be taken into account
when selecting a site for a CO2 lake. Bottom friction and turbulence
can enhance the dissolution rate and vertical transport of dissolved CO2
and lead to a short lifetime for the lake (Section 6.2.1.6). It has been
suggested that CO2 lakes would be preferentially sited in relatively
restricted depressions or in trenches on sea floor (Ohsumi, 1995).

296
relatively dilute initial injection through a series of diffusers or
by other means. Dilution would reduce exposure of organisms
to very low pH (very high CO2) environments (Section 6.7).
One set of options for releasing CO2 to the ocean involves
transporting liquid CO2 from shore to the deep ocean in a
pipeline. This would not present any major new problems in
design, according to petroleum engineers and naval architects
speaking at one of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme
ocean storage workshops (Ormerod et al., 2002). The oil
industry has been making great advances in undersea offshore
technology, with projects routinely working at depths greater
than 1000 m. The oil and the gas industry already places pipes
on the bottom of the sea in depths down to 1600 m, and design
studies have shown 3000 m to be technically feasible (Ormerod
et al., 2002). The 1 m diameter pipe would have the capacity to
transport 70,000 tCO2 day-1, enough for CO2 captured from 3
GWe of a coal-fired electric power plant (Ormerod et al., 2002).
Liro et al. (1992) proposed injecting liquid CO2 at a depth of
about 1000 m from a manifold lying near the ocean bottom
to form a rising droplet plume. Nihous et al. (2002) proposed
injecting liquid CO2 at a depth of below 3000 m from a manifold
lying near the ocean bottom and forming a sinking droplet
plume. Engineering work would need to be done to assure that,
below 500 m depth, hydrates do not form inside the discharged
pipe and nozzles, as this could block pipe or nozzle flow.
CO2 could be transported by tanker for release from a
stationary platform (Ozaki et al., 1995) or through a towed pipe
(Ozaki et al., 2001). In either case, the design of CO2 tankers
would be nearly identical to those that are now used to transport
liquid petroleum gas (LPG). Cooling would be used, in order
to reduce pressure requirements, with design conditions of 55
degrees C and 6 bar pressure (Ormerod et al., 2002). Producing
a dispersed initial concentration would diminish the magnitude
of the maximum pH excursion. This would probably involve
designing for the size of the initial liquid CO2 droplet and the
turbulent mixing behind the towed pipe (Tsushima et al., 2002).
Diffusers could be designed so that CO2 droplets would dissolve
completely before they reach the liquid-gas phase boundary.
CO2 hydrate is about 15% denser than sea water, so it tends
to sink, dissolving into sea water over a broad depth horizon
(Wannamaker and Adams, 2002). Kajishima et al. (1997) and
Saito et al. (2001) investigated a proposal to create a dense
CO2-seawater mixture at a depth of between 500 and 1000
m to form a current sinking along the sloping ocean bottom.
Another proposal (Tsouris et al., 2004; West et al., 2003)
envisions releasing a sinking CO2-hydrate/seawater slurry at
between 1000 and 1500 m depth. This sinking plume would
dissolve as it sinks, potentially distributing the CO2 over
kilometres of vertical distance, and achieving some fraction of
the CO2 retained in deep storage despite the initial release into
intermediate waters. The production of a hydrate/seawater slurry
has been experimentally demonstrated at sea (Tsouris et al.,
2004). Tsouris et al. (2004) have carried out a field experiment
at 1000 m ocean depth in which rapid mixing of sea water with
CO2 in a capillary nozzle to a neutrally buoyant composite paste
takes place. This would enhance ocean retention time compared

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

to that from creation of a buoyant plume. Aya et al. (2004) have
shown that a rapidly sinking plume of CO2 can be formed by
release of a slurry combining cold liquid and solid CO2 with a
hydrate skin. This would effectively transfer ship released CO2
at shallow ocean depth to the deep ocean without the cost of a
long pipe. In all of these schemes the fate of the CO2 is to be
dissolved into the ocean, with increased depth of dissolution,
and thus increased retention.
6.5.3

Production of a CO2 lake

Nakashiki (1997) investigated several different kinds of

discharge pipes that could be used from a liquid CO2 tanker
to create a CO2 lake on the sea floor. They concluded that a
floating discharge pipe might be the best option because it is
simpler than the alternatives and less likely to be damaged by
wind and waves in storm conditions.
Aya et al. (2003) proposed creating a slurry of liquid CO2
mixed with dry ice and releasing into the ocean at around 200 to
500 m depth. The dry ice is denser that the surrounding sea water
and would cause the slurry to sink. An in situ experiment carried
out off the coast of California found that a CO2 slurry and dry
ice mass with initial diameter about 8.0 cm sank approximately
50 metres within two minutes before the dry ice melted (Aya et
al., 2003). The initial size of CO2 slurry and dry ice is a critical
factor making it possible to sink more than 3000 m to the sea
floor. To meet performance criteria, the dry ice content would
be controlled with a system consisting of a main power engine,
a compressor, a condenser, and some pipe systems.
6.6

Monitoring and verification

6.6.1

Background

Monitoring (Figure 6.22) would be done for at least two

different purposes: (1) to gain specific information relating
to a particular CO2 storage operation and (2) to gain general
scientific understanding. A monitoring program should attempt
to quantify the mass and distribution of CO2 from each point
source and could record related biological and geochemical
parameters. These same issues may relate to monitoring
of potential leakages from subsea geologic storage, or for
verification that such leakage does not occur. Monitoring
protocols for submarine sewage disposal for example are
already well established, and experience may be drawn from
that.
6.6.2

Monitoring amounts and distributions of materials

released

6.6.2.1 Monitoring the near field

It appears that there is no serious impediment to verifying plant
compliance with likely performance standards for flow through
a pipe. Once CO2 is discharged from the pipe then the specific
monitoring protocols will depend upon whether the plume is
buoyant or sinking. Fixed location injections present fewer

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

verification difficulties than moving ship options.
For ocean injection from large point sources on land,
verifying compliance involves above ground inspection of
facilities for verification of flow and the CO2 purity being
consistent with environmental regulations (e.g., trace metal
concentrations, etc.). For a power plant, flue gases could be
monitored for flow rate and CO2 partial pressure, thus allowing
a full power plant carbon audit.
There are a variety of strategies for monitoring release of
CO2 into the ocean from fixed locations. Brewer et al. (2005)
observed a plume of CO2-rich sea water emanating from a smallscale experimental release at 4 km depth with an array of pH and

297
conductivity sensors. Measurements of ocean pH and current
profiles at sufficiently high temporal resolution could be used to
evaluate the rate of CO2 release, local CO2 accumulation and net
transport away from the site (Sundfjord et al., 2001). Undersea
video cameras can monitor the point of release to observe CO2
flow. The very large sound velocity contrast between liquid CO2
(about 300 m s1) and sea water (about 1,500 m s1) offers the
potential for very efficient monitoring of the liquid CO2 phase
using acoustic techniques (e.g., sonar).
The placement of CO2 directly in a lake on the sea floor
can be verified, and the quantity and loss rate determined by
a combination of acoustic, pH, and velocity measurements,
and by direct inspection with underwater vehicles. Undersea
vehicles, tethered or autonomous, could play a prominent role
in monitoring and verification. Autonomous vehicles have
been developed that can be programmed to efficiently follow
a variety of complex trajectories over large areas (Simonetti,
1998), but accurate pH sensing in a rapidly changing pressure
and temperature field has yet to be demonstrated. Deep-sea pH
monitoring from tethered vehicles has been shown to be very
precise (Brewer et al., 2004), and these vehicles can routinely
collect precisely located samples for later analysis.
6.6.2.2 Monitoring the far field
It will be possible to monitor the far field distributions of
injected CO2 using a combination of shipboard measurements
and modelling approaches. The ability to identify pH plumes
in the ocean has been well demonstrated (Figure 6.23).
Current analytical techniques for measuring total CO2 in the
ocean are accurate to about 0.05% (Johnson et al., 1998).
Thus, measurable changes could be seen with the addition
of approximately 90 tonnes of CO2 per km3. In other words,

Figure 6.22 Schematic of possible approaches for monitoring the

injection of CO2 into the deep ocean via a pipeline. The grey region
represents a plume of high CO2/low pH water extending from the end
of the pipeline. Two sets of chemical, biological and current sensors
and two underwater cameras are shown at the end of the pipeline. An
array of moored sensors to monitor the direction and magnitude of
the resulting plume can be seen around the pipe and are also located
along the pipeline to monitor for possible leaks. A shore-based facility
provides power to the sensors and for obtaining real-time data and
an autonomous underwater vehicle maps the near-field distribution
of the plume. A towed undulating pumping system monitors at
distances of more than a few kilometres from the injection site. The
towed system could provide much greater measurement accuracy and
precision, but would also be able to provide measurements over large
areas in a relatively short period of time. Moored systems are used
to monitor the plume between mapping cruises. These moorings have
surface buoys and make daily transmissions back to the monitoring
facility via satellite. The very far-field distributions are monitored
with hydrographic section cruises conducted every 25 years using
standard discrete sampling approaches. These approaches provide the
accuracy and precision required to detect the small CO2 signals that
add to background variations.

Figure 6.23 Measurements showing the ability to measure chemical

effects of a natural CO2 plume. Profiles for pH were taken in June 1999
near the Axial Volcano at 46N 130W, in the ocean near Portland,
Oregon, United States.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

1 GtCO2 could be detected even if it were dispersed over 107

km3 (i.e., 5000 km x 2000 km x 1 km), if the dissolved inorganic
carbon concentrations in the region were mapped out with highdensity surveys before the injection began.
Variability in the upper ocean mixed layer would make it
difficult to directly monitor small changes in CO2 in waters
shallower than the annual maximum mixed-layer depth.
Seasonal mixing from the surface can extend as deep as 800
m in some places, but is less than 200 m in most regions of the
ocean. Below the seasonal mixed layer, however, periodic shipbased surveys (every 2 to 5 years) could quantify the expansion
of the injection plume.
We do not have a direct means of measuring the evasion
of carbon stored in the ocean to the atmosphere. In most cases
of practical interest the flux of stored CO2 from the ocean to
atmosphere will be small relative to natural variability and
the accuracy of our measurements. Operationally, it would be
impossible to differentiate between carbon that has and has not
interacted with the atmosphere. The use of prognostic models in
evaluating the long-term fate of the injected CO2 is critical for
properly attributing the net storage from a particular site.
Given the natural background variability in ocean carbon
concentrations, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible,
to measure CO2 injected very far from the injection source. The
attribution of a signal to a particular point source would become
increasingly difficult if injection plumes from different locations
began to overlap and mix. In some parts of the ocean it would
be difficult to assign the rise in CO2 to intentional ocean storage
as opposed to CO2 from atmospheric absorption.
6.6.3

Approaches and technologies for monitoring

environmental effects

Techniques now being used for field experiments could be

used to monitor some near field consequences of direct CO2
injection (Section 6.7). For example, researchers (Barry et al.,
2004, 2005; Carman et al., 2004; Thistle et al., 2005) have been
developing experimental means for observing the consequences
of elevated CO2 on organisms in the deep ocean. However, such
experiments and studies typically look for evidence of acute
toxicity in a narrow range of species (Sato, 2004; Caulfield et
al., 1997; Adams et al., 1997; Tamburri et al., 2000). Sub-lethal
effects have been studied by Kurihara et al. (2004). Process
studies, surveys of biogeochemical tracers, and ocean bottom
studies could be used to evaluate changes in ecosystem structure
and dynamics both before and after an injection.
It is less clear how best to monitor the health of broad
reaches of the ocean interior (Sections 6.7.3 and 6.7.4). Ongoing
long-term surveys of biogeochemical tracers and deep-sea biota
could help to detect long-term changes in deep-sea ecology.

6.7

Environmental impacts, risks, and risk

management

6.7.1

Introduction to biological impacts and risk

Overall, there is limited knowledge of deep-sea population and

community structure and of deep-sea ecological interactions
(Box 6.4). Thus the sensitivities of deep ocean ecosystems
to intentional carbon storage and the effects on possibly
unidentified goods and services that they may provide remain
largely unknown.
Most ocean storage proposals seek to minimize the volume
of water with high CO2 concentrations either by diluting the
CO2 in a large volume of water or by isolating the CO2 in a small
volume (e.g., in CO2 lakes). Nevertheless, if deployed widely,
CO2 injection strategies ultimately will produce large volumes
of water with somewhat elevated CO2 concentrations (Figure
6.15). Because large amounts of relatively pure CO2 have never
been introduced to the deep ocean in a controlled experiment,
conclusions about environmental risk must be based primarily on
laboratory and small-scale in-situ experiments and extrapolation
from these experiments using conceptual and mathematical
models. Natural analogues (Box 6.5) can be relevant, but differ
significantly from proposed ocean engineering projects.
Compared to the surface, most of the deep sea is stable and
varies little in its physiochemical factors over time (Box 6.4).
The process of evolutionary selection has probably eliminated
individuals apt to endure environmental perturbation. As a result,
deep-sea organisms may be more sensitive to environmental
disturbance than their shallow water cousins (Shirayama,
1997).
Ocean storage would occur deep in the ocean where there is
virtually no light and photosynthesizing organisms are lacking,
thus the following discussion primarily addresses CO2 effects
on heterotrophic organisms, mostly animals. The diverse fauna
that lives in the waters and sediments of the deep ocean can be
affected by ocean CO2 storage, leading to change in ecosystem
composition and functioning. Thus, the effects of CO2 need to
be identified at the level of both the individual (physiological)
and the ecosystem.
As described in Section 6.2, introduction of CO2 into the
ocean either directly into sea water or as a lake on the sea floor
would result in changes in dissolved CO2 near to and down
current from a discharge point. Dissolving CO2 in sea water
(Box 6.1; Table 6.3) increases the partial pressure of CO2
(pCO2, expressed as a ppm fraction of atmospheric pressure,
equivalent to atm), causes decreased pH (more acidic) and
decreased CO32 concentrations (less saturated). This can lead
to dissolution of CaCO3 in sediments or in shells of organisms.
Bicarbonate (HCO3) is then produced from carbonate (CO32).
The spatial extent of the waters with increased CO2 content
and decreased pH will depend on the amount of CO2 released
and the technology and approach used to introduce that CO2
into the ocean. Table 6.3 shows the amount of sea water needed
to dilute each tonne of CO2 to a specified pH reduction.
Further dilution would reduce the fraction of ocean at one pH

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

299

Box 6.4 Relevant background in biological oceanography.

Photosynthesis produces organic matter in the ocean almost exclusively in the upper 200 m where there is both light and
nutrients (e.g., PO4, NO3, NH4+, Fe). Photosynthesis forms the base of a marine food chain that recycles much of the carbon
and nutrients in the upper ocean. Some of this organic matter ultimately sinks to the deep ocean as particles and some of it is
mixed into the deep ocean as dissolved organic matter. The flux of organic matter from the surface ocean provides most of the
energy and nutrients to support the heterotrophic ecosystems of the deep ocean (Gage and Tyler, 1991). With the exception of
the oxygen minimum zone and near volcanic CO2 vents, most organisms living in the deep ocean live in low and more or less
constant CO2 levels.
At low latitudes, oxygen consumption and CO2 release can produce a zone at around 1000 m depth characterized by
low O2 and high CO2 concentrations, known as the oxygen minimum zone. Bacteria are the primary consumers of organic
matter in the deep ocean. They obtain energy predominately by consuming dissolved oxygen in reactions that oxidize organic
carbon into CO2. In the oxygen minimum layer, sea water pH may be less than 7.7, roughly 0.5 pH units lower than average
pH of natural surface waters (Figure 6.6).
At some locations near the sea floor, especially near submarine volcanic CO2 sources, CO2 concentrations can fluctuate
greatly. Near deep-sea hydrothermal vents CO2 partial pressures (pCO2, expressed as a ppm fraction of atmospheric pressure,
equivalent to atm) of up to 80,000 ppm have been observed. These are more than 100 times the typical value for deepsea water. Typically, these vents are associated with fauna that have adapted to these conditions over evolutionary time.
For example, tube worms can make use of high CO2 levels for chemosynthetic CO2 fixation in association with symbiotic
bacteria (Childress et al., 1993). High CO2 levels (up to a pCO2 of 16,000 ppm; Knoll et al., 1996) have been observed in
ocean bottom waters and marine sediments where there are high rates organic matter oxidation and low rates of mixing with
the overlying seawater. Under these conditions, high CO2 concentrations are often accompanied by low O2 concentrations.
Near the surface at night, respiratory fluxes in some relatively confined rock pools of the intertidal zone can produce high CO2
levels. These patterns suggest that in some environments, organisms have evolved to tolerate relatively wide pH oscillations
and/or low pH values.
Deep-sea ecosystems generally depend on sinking particles of organic carbon made by photosynthesis near the ocean
surface settling down through the water. Most species living in the deep sea display very low metabolic rates (Childress, 1995),
especially in oxygen minimum layers (Seibel et al., 1997). Organisms living in the deep seawaters have adapted to the energylimited environment by conserving energy stores and minimizing energy turnover. As a result of energy limitations and cold
temperatures found in the deep sea, biological activities tend to be extremely low. For example, respiration rates of rat-tail fish
are roughly 0.1% that of their shallow-water relatives. Community respiration declines exponentially with depth along the
California margin, however, rapid turnover of large quantities of organic matter has been observed on the ocean floor (Mahaut
et al., 1995; Smith and Demopoulos, 2003). Thus, biological activity of some animals living on the deep sea floor can be as
great as is found in relatives living on the sea floor in shallow waters.
Deep-sea ecosystems may take a long time to recover from disturbances that reduce population size. Organisms have
adapted to the energy-limited environment of the deep sea by limiting investment in reproduction, thus most deep-sea species
produce few offspring. Deep-sea species tend to invest heavily in each of their eggs, making them large and rich in yolk to
provide the offspring with the resources they will need for survival. Due to their low metabolic rates, deep-sea species tend
to grow slowly and have much longer lifespans than their upper-ocean cousins. For example, on the deep-sea floor, a bivalve
less than 1 cm across can be more than 100 years old (Gage, 1991). This means that populations of deep-sea species will be
more greatly affected by the loss of individual larvae than would upper ocean species. Upon disturbance, recolonization and
community recovery in the deep ocean follows similar patterns to those in shallow waters, but on much longer time scales
(several years compared to weeks or months in shallow waters, Smith and Demopoulos, 2003).
The numbers of organisms living on the sea floor per unit area decreases exponentially with depth, probably associated
with the diminishing flux of food with depth. On the sea floor of the deepest ocean and of the upper ocean, the fauna can
be dominated by a few species. Between 2000 and 3000 m depth ecosystems tend to have high species diversity with a low
number of individuals, meaning that each species has a low population size (Snelgrove and Smith, 2002). The fauna living in
the water column appear to be less diverse than that on the sea floor, probably due to the relative uniformity of vast volumes
of water in the deep ocean.

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Box 6.5 Natural analogues and Earth history.

There are several examples of natural systems with strong CO2 sources in the ocean, and fluid pools toxic to marine life that
may be examined to better understand possible physical and biological effects of active CO2 injection.
Most natural environments that are heavily enriched in CO2 (or toxic substances) host life forms that have adapted to these
special conditions on evolutionary time scales. During Earth history much of the oceans may have hosted life forms specialized
on elevated pCO2, which are now extinct. This limits the use of natural analogues or Earth history to predict and generalize
effects of CO2 injection on most extant marine life.
Venting of carbon dioxide-rich fluids: Hydrothermal vents, often associated with mid-ocean-ridge systems, often release
CO2 rich fluids into the ocean and can be used to study CO2 behaviour and effects. For example, Sakai et al. (1990)
observed buoyant hydrate forming fluids containing 8691% CO2 (with H2S, and methane etc. making up the residual)
released from the sea floor at 13351550 m depth from a hydrothermal vent field. These fluids would be similar to a heavily
contaminated industrial CO2 source. These fluids arise from the reaction of sea water with acid and intermediate volcanic
rocks at high temperature; they are released into sea water of 3.8C. A buoyant hydrate-coated mass forms at the sea floor,
which then floats upwards dissolving into the ocean water. Sea floor venting of aqueous fluids, rich in CO2 and low in pH
(3.54.4), is also to be found in some hydrothermal systems (Massoth et al., 1989; Karl, 1995).
Near volcanic vents, deep-sea ecosystems can be sustained by a geochemical input of chemical energy and CO2. While
there has been extensive investigation of these sites, and the plumes emanating from them, this has not yet been in the
context of analogues for industrial CO2 storage effects. Such an investigation would show how a fauna has evolved to adapt
to a high-CO2 environment; it would not show how biota adapted to normal ocean water would respond to increased CO2
concentrations.*
Deep saline brine pools: The ocean floor is known to have a large number of highly saline brine pools that are anoxic and
toxic to marine life. The salty brines freely dissolve, but mixing into the overlying ocean waters is impeded by the stable
stratification imparted by the high density of the dissolving brines. The Red Sea contains many such brine pools (Degens
and Ross, 1969; Anschutz et al., 1999), some up to 60 km2 in area, filled with high-temperature hyper-saline, anoxic, brine.
Animals cannot survive in these conditions, and the heat and salt that are transported across the brine-seawater interface
form a plume into the surrounding bottom water. Hydrothermal sources resupply brine at the bottom of the brine pool
(Anschutz and Blanc, 1996). The Gulf of Mexico contains numerous brine pools. The largest known is the Orca Basin,
where a 90 km2 brine pool in 2250 m water depth is fed by drainage from exposed salt deposits. The salt is toxic to life, but
biogeochemical cycles operate at the interface with the overlying ocean (van Cappellen et al., 1998). The Mediterranean
also contains numerous large hypersaline basins (MEDRIFF Consortium, 1995).
Taken together these naturally occurring brine pools provide examples of vast volumes of soluble, dense, fluids, hostile
to marine life, on the sea floor. The number, volume, and extent of these pools exceed those for scenarios for CO2 lake
formation yet considered. There has been little study of the impact of the plumes emanating from these sources. These
could be examined to yield information that may be relevant to environmental impacts of a lake of CO2 on the ocean
floor.
Changes over geological time: In certain times in Earths geological past the oceans may have contained more dissolved
inorganic carbon and/or have had a lower pH.
There is evidence of large-scale changes in calcifying organism distributions in the oceans in the geological record that
may be related in changes in carbonate mineral saturation states in the surface ocean. For example, Barker and Elderfield
(2002) demonstrated that glacial-interglacial changes in the shell weights of several species of planktonic foraminifera are
negatively correlated with atmospheric CO2 concentrations, suggesting a causal relationship.
Cambrian CO2 levels (i.e., about 500 million years ago) were as high as 5000 ppm and mean values decreased progressively
thereafter (see. Dudley, 1998; Berner, 2002). Two to three times higher than extant ocean calcium levels ensured that
calcification of, for example, coral reefs was enabled in paleo-oceans despite high CO2 levels (Arp et al., 2001). High
performance animal life appeared in the sea only after atmospheric CO2 began to diminish. The success of these creatures
may have depended on the reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels (reviewed by Prtner et al., 2004, 2005).
CO2 is also thought to have been a potential key factor in the late Permian/Triassic mass extinction, which affected corals,
articulate brachiopods, bryozoans, and echinoderms to a larger extent than molluscs, arthropods and chordates (Knoll et al.,
1996; Berner, 2002; Bambach et al., 2002). Prtner et al. (2004) hypothesized that this may be due to the corrosive effect
of CO2 on heavily calcified skeletons. CO2 excursions would have occurred in the context of large climate oscillations.
Effects of temperature oscillations, hypoxia events and CO2 excursions probably contributed to extinctions (Prtner et al.,
2005, see section 6.7.3).

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Table 6.3 Relationships between pH, changes in pCO2, and dissolved inorganic carbon concentration calculated for mean deep-sea conditions.
Also shown are volumes of water needed to dilute 1 tCO2 to the specified pH, and the amount of CO2 that, if uniformly distributed throughout
the ocean, would produce this pH.
pH change
pH
0

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3
-0.5
-1

-2

-3

Increase in CO2
partial pressure
pCO2 (ppm)

Increase in dissolved
inorganic carbon
DIC (mol kg1)

Seawater volume to
dilute 1 tCO2 to
pH (m3)

GtCO2 to produce
pH in entire
ocean volume

150

30

656,000

2000

580

100

232,000

5600

5250

400

340

1260
57,800

586,000

70

340,000

160

141,000

3,260

6800

31,900

while increasing the volume of water experiencing a lesser

pH. Further examples indicating the spatial extent of ocean
chemistry change from added CO2 are represented in Figures
6.11, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, and 6.15.
On evolutionary time scales most extant animal life has
adapted to, on average, low ambient CO2 levels. Accordingly,
extant animal life may rely on these low pCO2 values and it
is unclear to what extent species would be able to adapt to
permanently elevated CO2 levels. Exposure to high CO2 levels
and extremely acidic water can cause acute mortality, but more
limited shifts in CO2, pH, and carbonate levels can be tolerated
at least temporarily. Studies of shallow water organisms have
identified a variety of physiological mechanisms by which
changes in the chemical environment can affect fauna. These
mechanisms should also apply to organisms living in the deep
ocean. However, knowing physiological mechanisms alone
does not enable full assessment of impacts at ecosystem levels.
Long-term effects, for intervals greater than the duration of
the reproduction cycle or the lifespan of an individual, may be
overlooked, yet may still drastically change an ecosystem.
Species living in the open ocean are exposed to low and
relatively constant CO2 levels, and thus may be sensitive to CO2
exposure. In contrast, species dwelling in marine sediments,
especially in the intertidal zone, are regularly exposed to CO2
fluctuations and thus may be better adapted to high and variable
CO2 concentrations. Physiological mechanisms associated with
CO2 adaptation have been studied mostly in these organisms.
They respond to elevated CO2 concentrations by transiently
diminishing energy turnover. However, such responses are
likely become detrimental during long-term exposure, as
reduced metabolism involves a reduction in physical activity,
growth, and reproduction. Overall, marine invertebrates appear
more sensitive than fish (Prtner et al., 2005).
CO2 effects have been studied primarily in fish and
invertebrates from shallow waters, although some of these cover
wide depth ranges down to below 2000 m or are adapted to
cold temperatures (e.g., Langenbuch and Prtner, 2003, 2004).
Some in situ biological experiments used CO2 in the deep ocean
(See Box 6.6).

6.7.2

54,800
700

3800
9200

24,000

190,000

1,850,000

Physiological effects of CO2

6.7.2.1

Effects of CO2 on cold-blooded water breathing

animals
Hypercapnia is the condition attained when an organism (or
part thereof) is surrounded by high concentrations of CO2.
Under these conditions, CO2 enters the organisms by diffusion
across body and especially respiratory surfaces and equilibrates
with all body compartments. This internal accumulation of CO2
will be responsible for most of the effects observed in animals
(reviewed by Prtner and Reipschlger, 1996, Seibel and
Walsh, 2001, Ishimatsu et al., 2004, 2005; Prtner et al., 2004,
2005). Respiratory distress, narcosis, and mortality are the
most obvious short-term effects at high CO2 concentrations, but
lower concentrations may have important effects on longer time
scales. The CO2 level to which an organism has acclimated may
affect its acute critical CO2 thresholds, however, the capacity to
acclimate has not been investigated to date.
6.7.2.2 Effects of CO2 versus pH
Typically, tolerance limits to CO2 have been characterized by
changes in ocean pH or pCO2 (see Shirayama, 1995; Auerbach
et al., 1997). However, changes in molecular CO2, carbonate,
and bicarbonate concentrations in ambient water and body
fluids may each have specific effects on marine organisms
(Prtner and Reipschlger, 1996). In water breathers like fish
or invertebrates CO2 entry causes immediate disturbances in
acid-base status, which need to be compensated for by ion
exchange mechanisms. The acute effect of CO2 accumulation
is more severe than that of the reduction in pH or carbonateion concentrations. For example, fish larvae are more sensitive
to low pH and high CO2 than low pH and low CO2 (achieved
by addition of HCl with pCO2 levels kept low by aeration;
Ishimatsu et al., 2004).
CO2 added to sea water will change the hydrogen ion
concentration (pH). This change in hydrogen ion concentration
may affect marine life through mechanisms that do not directly
involve CO2. Studies of effects of lowered pH (without
concomitant CO2 accumulation) on aquatic organisms have a

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Box 6.6 In-situ observations of the response of deep-sea biota to added CO2.
In-situ experiments concerning the sensitivity of deep and
shallow-living marine biota to elevated carbon dioxide levels
have been limited in scope. Significant CO2 effects have been
observed in experiments, consistent with the mechanisms of
CO2 action reported in Section 6.7.2. Some animals avoid
CO2 plumes, others do not.
Studies evaluating the behaviour and survival of deepsea animals exposed to liquid CO2 or to CO2-rich sea water
have been performed on the continental slope and rise off
California. Experiments in which about 2070 kg of liquid
CO2 were released in small corrals on the sea floor at 3600
m depth were used to measure the response of animals that
came in contact with liquid CO2, and to the dissolution
plume emanating from CO2 pools (Barry et al., 2004). Larger
bottom-living animals collected from the sea floor were held
in cages and placed at distances of 150 m from CO2 pools. In
addition, organisms living in the sediment were collected at
a range of distances from CO2 pools, both before CO2 release
and 13 months later.
The response of animals to direct contact with liquid CO2
varied among species. Sea cucumbers (holothurians like
Scotoplanes sp.) and brittle stars (ophiuroids, unidentified
species) died immediately after contact with liquid CO2 (Barry
et al., 2005). A few individuals (<5 individuals) of deep-sea
fish (grenadiers, Coryphaenoides armatus) that approached
CO2 pools and made contact with the fluid turned immediately
and swam out of view. Other deep-sea experiments (Tamburri
et al. 2000) evaluating the behavioural response of animals
to a saturated CO2 / sea water solution have shown that some
scavenger species (deep-sea hagfish) will not avoid acidic,
CO2-rich seawater if chemical cues from decaying bait are
also present. In fact, hagfish would maintain contact with the
CO2-rich / bait-scented plume long enough to be apparently
narcotized by the CO2.
Survival rates of abyssal animals exposed to CO2 dissolution
plumes in these experiments varied with the range of pH
perturbation and the distance from the CO2 source. Abyssal
animals held in cages or inhabiting sediments that were near
(<1 m) CO2 pools, and which were exposed episodically to
large pH reduction (11.5 pH units) experienced high rates
of mortality (>80%). Animals affected included small (meio)fauna (flagellates, amoebae, nematodes; Barry et al., 2004)
and larger (macro and mega-)fauna (Ampeliscid amphipod
species, invertebrates like holothurians, echinoids, and fish
like macrourids). Other fish like eelpout (zoarcids), however,
all survived month-long exposure to episodic pH shifts of
about 1.0 pH units. Animals held further (310 m) from CO2
pools were exposed to mild episodic pH reductions (about
0.1 0.2 pH units) exhibited mortality rates were (about 20
50%) higher than at control sites (Barry et al., 2005).
It is unknown whether mortality was caused primarily by
short-term exposure to large pH / CO2 shifts or by chronic,
milder pH perturbations. Tidal variation in current direction
resulted in a highly variable exposure to pH perturbations

with the most intense exposure to dissolution plumes when

the current was flowing directly towards the study animals.
During other tidal periods there was often no pH reduction,
increasing the difficulty of interpreting these experiments.
Three controlled in-situ experiments were carried out at
2000 m in the Kumano Trough using a specially designed
chamber (Figure 6.24; Ishida et al. 2005) to address the
impact of 5,000 and 20,000 ppm rises in pCO2 (with resulting
pHs of 6.8 and 6.3) on the abundance and diversity of bacteria
and of small animals (nano- and meiobenthos). Significant
impacts of elevated pCO2 on meiobenthic organisms could
not be found except for one case where the abundance of
foraminifera decreased significantly within 3 days at 20,000
ppm. The abundance of nanobenthos decreased significantly
in most cases, whereas the abundance of bacteria increased at
20,000 ppm (Figure 6.25).
In-situ studies of short-term effects of elevated CO2
concentrations on deep-sea megafauna have been conducted
using CO2 released naturally from the Loihi Seamount
(Hawaii) at depths of 1200 to 1300 m (Vetter and Smith,
2005). A submersible was used to manipulate baited traps and
bait parcels in Loihis CO2 plume to explore the effects of
elevated CO2 on typical deep-sea scavengers. Vent-specialist
shrimp were attracted to the bait and proved to be pre-adapted
to the high CO2 levels found close to volcanic vents. Free
swimming, amphipods, synaphobranchid eels, and hexanchid
sharks avoided open bait parcels placed in the CO2 plumes

Figure 6.24 Experimental chamber going to the sea floor

(Ishida et al. 2004). The bottom part houses a chamber that penetrates
into the sediment. The top part houses electronics, pumps, valves,
and water bags, that are used to control the CO2 concentration inside
the chamber, and to sample sea water in the chamber at designated
times. At the time of recovery, the bottom of the chamber is closed,
weights are released, and the system returns to the surface of the
ocean using buoyancy provided by the glass bulbs (yellow structures
around the top).

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Chapter 6: Ocean storage

Figure 6.25 Preliminary investigations into the change of bacteria,

nanobenthos and meiobenthos abundance after exposure to 20,000
and 5,000 ppm CO2 for 77 to 375 hr during three experiments carried
out at 2,000 m depth in Nankai Trough, north-western Pacific. Error
bars represent one standard deviation (Ishida et al. 2005).

long history, with an emphasis on freshwater organisms (Wolff

et al., 1988). Observed consequences of lowered water pH (at
constant pCO2) include changes in production/productivity
patterns in algal and heterotrophic bacterial species, changes
in biological calcification/ decalcification processes, and acute
and sub-acute metabolic impacts on zooplankton species,
ocean bottom species, and fish. Furthermore, changes in the
pH of marine environments affect: (1) the carbonate system,
(2) nitrification (Huesemann et al., 2002) and speciation of
nutrients such as phosphate, silicate and ammonia (Zeebe
and Wolf-Gladrow, 2001), and (3) speciation and uptake of
essential and toxic trace elements. Observations and chemical
calculations show that low pH conditions generally decrease
the association of metals with particles and increase the
proportion of biologically available free metals (Sadiq, 1992;
Salomons and Forstner, 1984). Aquatic invertebrates take
up both essential and non-essential metals, but final body
concentrations of metals vary widely across invertebrates. In
the case of many trace metals, enhanced bioavailability is likely
to have toxicological implications, since free forms of metals
are of the greatest toxicological significance (Rainbow, 2002).
6.7.2.3

Acute CO2 sensitivity: oxygen transport in squid and

fish
CO2 accumulation and uptake can cause anaesthesia in many
animal groups. This has been observed in deep-sea animals close
to hydrothermal vents or experimental CO2 pools. A narcotic

effect of high, non-determined CO2 levels was observed in deepsea hagfish after CO2 exposure in situ (Tamburri et al., 2000).
Prior to anaesthesia high CO2 levels can exert rapid effects on
oxygen transport processes and thereby contribute to acute CO2
effects including early mortality.
Among invertebrates, this type of CO2 sensitivity may be
highest in highly complex, high performance organisms like
squid (reviewed by Prtner et al., 2004). Blue-blooded squid
do not possess red blood cells (erythrocytes) to protect their
extracellular blood pigment (haemocyanin) from excessive
pH fluctuations. Acute CO2 exposure causes acidification of
the blood, will hamper oxygen uptake and binding at the gills
and reduce the amount of oxygen carried in the blood, limiting
performance, and at high concentrations could cause death.
Less oxygen is bound to haemocyanin in squid than is bound to
haemoglobin in bony fish (teleosts). Jet-propulsion swimming
of squid demands a lot of oxygen. Oxygen supply is supported
by enhanced oxygen binding with rising blood pH (and reduced
binding of oxygen with falling pH a large Bohr effect).
Maximizing of oxygen transport in squid thus occurs by means
of extracellular pH oscillations between arterial and venous
blood. Therefore, finely controlled extracellular pH changes
are important for oxygen transport. At high CO2 concentrations,
animals can asphyxiate because the blood cannot transport
enough oxygen to support metabolic functions. In the most
active open ocean squid (Illex illecebrosus), model calculations
predict acute lethal effects with a rise in pCO2 by 6500 ppm and
a 0.25 unit drop in blood pH. However, acute CO2 sensitivity
varies between squid species. The less active coastal squid
(Loligo pealei) is less sensitive to added CO2.
In comparison to squid and other invertebrates, fish (teleosts)
appear to be less sensitive to added CO2, probably due to their
lower metabolic rate, presence of red blood cells (erythrocytes
containing haemoglobin) to carry oxygen, existence of a
venous oxygen reserve, tighter epithelia, and more efficient
acid-base regulation. Thus, adult teleosts (bony fish) exhibit a
larger degree of independence from ambient CO2. A number of
tested shallow-water fish have shown relatively high tolerance
to added CO2, with short-term lethal limits of adult fish at a
pCO2 of about 50,000 to 70,000 ppm. European eels (Anguilla
anguilla) displayed exceptional tolerance of acute hypercapnia
up to 104,000 ppm (for review see Ishimatsu et al., 2004, Prtner
et al., 2004). The cause of death in fish involves a depression
of cardiac functions followed by a collapse of oxygen delivery
to tissues (Ishimatsu et al., 2004). With mean lethal CO2 levels
of 13,000 to 28,000 ppm, juveniles are more sensitive to acute
CO2 stress than adults. In all of these cases, the immediate cause
of death appears to be entry of CO2 into the organism (and not
primarily some other pH-mediated effect).
The Bohr Effect is an adaptation in animals to release oxygen in the oxygen
starved tissues in capillaries where respiratory carbon dioxide lowers blood
pH. When blood pH decreases, the ability of the blood pigment to bind to
oxygen decreases. This process helps the release of oxygen in the oxygen-poor
environment of the tissues. Modified after ISCID Encyclopedia of Science
and Philosophy. 2004. International Society for Complexity, Information, and
Design. 12 October 2004 <http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Bohr_Effect>.

304
Fish may be able to avoid contact to high CO2 exposure
because they possess highly sensitive CO2 receptors that could
be involved in behavioural responses to elevated CO2 levels
(Yamashita et al., 1989). However, not all animals avoid low
pH and high concentrations of CO2; they may actively swim
into CO2-rich regions that carry the odour of potential food
(e.g., bait; Tamburri et al., 2000, Box 6.6).
Direct effects of dissolved CO2 on diving marine air
breathers (mammals, turtles) can likely be excluded since they
possess higher pCO2 values in their body fluids than water
breathers and gas exchange is minimized during diving. They
may nonetheless be indirectly affected through potential CO2
effects on the food chain (see 6.7.5).
6.7.2.4 Deep compared with shallow acute CO2 sensitivity
Deep-sea organisms may be less sensitive to high CO2 levels
than their cousins in surface waters, but this is controversial.
Fish (and cephalopods) lead a sluggish mode of life with reduced
oxygen demand at depths below 300 to 400 m. Metabolic
activity of pelagic animals, including fish and cephalopods,
generally decreases with depth (Childress, 1995; Seibel et
al., 1997). However, Seibel and Walsh (2001) postulated that
deep-sea animals would experience serious problems in oxygen
supply under conditions of increased CO2 concentrations. They
refer to midwater organisms that may not be representative of
deep-sea fauna; as residents of so-called oxygen minimum
layers they have special adaptations for efficient extraction of
oxygen from low-oxygen waters (Sanders and Childress, 1990;
Childress and Seibel, 1998).
6.7.2.5 Long-term CO2 sensitivity
Long-term impacts of elevated CO2 concentrations are more
pronounced on early developmental than on adult stages
of marine invertebrates and fish. Long-term depression of
physiological rates may, over time scales of several months,
contribute to enhanced mortality rates in a population
(Shirayama and Thornton, 2002, Langenbuch and Prtner,
2004). Prediction of future changes in ecosystem dynamics,
structure and functioning therefore requires data on sub-lethal
effects over the entire life history of organisms.
The mechanisms limiting performance and long-term
survival under moderately elevated CO2 levels are even
less clear than those causing acute mortality. However, they
appear more important since they may generate impacts in
larger ocean volumes during widespread distribution of CO2
at moderate levels on long time scales. In animals relying on
calcareous exoskeletons, physical damage may occur under
permanent CO2 exposure through reduced calcification and
even dissolution of the skeleton, however, effects of CO2 on
calcification processes in the deep ocean have not been studied
to date. Numerous studies have demonstrated the sensitivity of
calcifying organisms living in surface waters to elevated CO2
levels on longer time scales (Gattuso et al. 1999, Reynaud et
al., 2003, Feeley et al., 2004 and refs. therein). At least a dozen
laboratory and field studies of corals and coralline algae have
suggested reductions in calcification rates by 1585% with

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

a doubling of CO2 (to 560 ppmv) from pre-industrial levels.
Shirayama and Thornton (2002) demonstrated that increases in
dissolved CO2 levels to 560 ppm cause a reduction in growth
rate and survival of shelled animals like echinoderms and
gastropods. These findings indicate that previous atmospheric
CO2 accumulation may already be affecting the growth of
calcifying organisms, with the potential for large-scale changes
in surface-ocean ecosystem structure. Due to atmospheric CO2
accumulation, global calcification rates could decrease by 50%
over the next century (Zondervan et al., 2001), and there could
be significant shifts in global biogeochemical cycles. Despite
the potential importance of biogeochemical feedback induced
by global change, our understanding of these processes is still
in its infancy even in surface waters (Riebesell, 2004). Much
less can be said about potential ecosystem shifts in the deep sea
(Omori et al., 1998).
Long-term effects of CO2 elevations identified in individual
animal species affects processes in addition to calcification
(reviewed by Ishimatsu et al., 2004, Prtner and Reipschlger,
1996, Prtner et al., 2004, 2005). In these cases, CO2 entry into
the organism as well as decreased water pH values are likely to
have been the cause. Major effects occur through a disturbance
in acid-base regulation of several body compartments. Falling
pH values result and these affect many metabolic functions,
since enzymes and ion transporters are only active over a
narrow pH range. pH decreases from CO2 accumulation are
counteracted over time by an accumulation of bicarbonate anions
in the affected body compartments (Heisler, 1986; Wheatly and
Henry, 1992, Prtner et al., 1998; Ishimatsu et al. 2004), but
compensation is not always complete. Acid-base relevant ion
transfer may disturb osmoregulation due to the required uptake
of appropriate counter ions, which leads to an additional NaCl
load of up to 10% in marine fish in high CO2 environments
(Evans, 1984; Ishimatsu et al., 2004). Long-term disturbances
in ion equilibria could be involved in mortality of fish over
long time scales despite more or less complete compensation of
acidification.
Elevated CO2 levels may cause a depression of aerobic energy
metabolism, due to incomplete compensation of the acidosis, as
observed in several invertebrate examples (reviewed by Prtner
et al. 2004, 2005). In one model organism, the peanut worm
Sipunculus nudus, high CO2 levels caused metabolic depression
of up to 35% at 20,000 ppm pCO2. A central nervous mechanism
also contributed, indicated by the accumulation of adenosine in
the nervous tissue under 10,000 ppm pCO2. Adenosine caused
metabolic depression linked to reduced ventilatory activity even
more so when high CO2 was combined with oxygen deficiency
(anoxia; Lutz and Nilsson, 1997). Studies addressing the specific
role of adenosine or other neurotransmitters at lower CO2 levels
or in marine fish during hypercapnia are not yet available.
The depression of metabolism observed under high CO2
concentrations in marine invertebrates also includes inhibition
of protein synthesis a process that is fundamental to growth
and reproduction. A CO2 induced reduction of water pH to 7.3
caused a 55% reduction in growth of Mediterranean mussels
(Michaelidis et al. 2005; for review see Prtner et al. 2004,

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2005). Fish may also grow slowly in high CO2 waters. Reduced
growth was observed in juvenile white sturgeon (Crocker and
Cech, 1996). In this case, the stimulation of ventilation and the
associated increase in oxygen consumption indicated a shift
in energy budget towards maintenance metabolism, which
occurred at the expense of growth. This effect was associated
with reductions in foraging activity. A harmful influence of CO2
on reproductive performance was found in two species of marine
copepods (Acartia steuri, Acartia erythrea) and sea urchins
(Hemicentrotus purcherrimus, Echinometra mathaei). While
survival rates of adult copepods were not affected during 8 days
at pCO2 up to 10,000 ppm, egg production and hatching rates
of eggs were significantly reduced concomitant to an increased
mortality of young-stage larvae seen at water pH 7.0 (Kurihara
et al., 2004). In both sea urchin species tested, fertilization
rates decreased with pCO2 rising above1000 ppm (below water
pH 7.6; Kurihara et al., 2004). Hatching and survival of fish
larvae also declined with water pCO2 and exposure time in all
examined species (Ishimatsu et al., 2004).

6.7.3

From physiological mechanisms to ecosystems

CO2 effects propagate from molecules via cells and tissues

to whole animals and ecosystems (Figure 6.26; Table 6.4).
Organisms are affected by chemistry changes that modulate
crucial physiological functions. The success of a species can
depend on effects on the most sensitive stages of its life cycle
(e.g., egg, larvae, adult). Effects on molecules, cells, and tissues
thus integrate into whole animal effects (Prtner et al., 2004),
affecting growth, behaviour, reproduction, and development of
eggs and larvae. These processes then determine the ecological
success (fitness) of a species, which can also depend on complex
interaction among species. Differential effects of chemistry
changes on the various species thus affect the entire ecosystem.
Studies of CO2 susceptibility and affected mechanisms in
individual species (Figure 6.26) support development of a cause
and effect understanding for an entire ecosystems response to
changes in ocean chemistry, but need to be complemented by
field studies of ecosystem consequences.

Figure 6.26 Effects of added CO2 at the scale of molecule to organism and associated changes in proton (H+), bicarbonate (HCO3) and carbonate
(CO32) levels in a generalized and simplified marine invertebrate or fish. The blue region on top refers to open water; the tan region represents
the organism. Generalized cellular processes are depicted on the left and occur in various tissues like brain, heart or muscle; depression of these
processes has consequences (depicted on the right and top). Under CO2 stress, whole animal functions, like growth, behaviours or reproduction
are depressed (adopted from Prtner et al., 2005, or + denotes a depression or stimulation of the respective function). Black arrows reflect
diffusive movement of CO2 between compartments. Red arrows reflect effective factors, CO2, H+, HCO3 that modulate functions. Shaded areas
indicate processes relevant for growth and energy budget.

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Table 6.4 Physiological and ecological processes affected by CO2

(note that listed effects on phytoplankton are not relevant in the
deep sea, but may become operative during large-scale mixing
of CO2). Based on reviews by Heisler, 1986, Wheatly and Henry,
1992, Claiborne et al., 2002, Langdon et al., 2003 Shirayama, 2002,
Kurihara et al., 2004, Ishimatsu et al., 2004, 2005, Prtner et al. 2004,
2005, Riebesell, 2004, Feeley et al., 2004 and references therein.
Affected processes

Organisms tested

Calcification

Corals
Calcareous benthos and plankton

Acid-base regulation
Mortality

N-metabolism

Protein biosynthesis
Ion homeostasis
Growth

Reproductive performance

Fish
Sipunculids
Crustaceans

Scallops
Fish
Copepods
Echinoderms/gastropods
Sipunculids

Sipunculids

Fish
Sipunculids
Crustaceans

Fish, crustaceans
Sipunculids

Crustaceans
Scallops
Mussels
Fish
Echinoderms/gastropods

Echinoderms
Fish
Copepods

Cardio-respiratory functions Fish

Photosynthesis

Growth and calcification

Phytoplankton

Ecosystem structure

Feedback on biogeochemical cycles

(elemental stoichiometry C:
N:P, DOC exudation)

Tolerance thresholds likely vary between species and

phyla, but still await quantification for most organisms. Due
to differential sensitivities among and within organisms, a
continuum of impacts on ecosystems is more likely than the
existence of a well-defined threshold beyond which CO2
cannot be tolerated. Many species may be able to tolerate
transient CO2 fluctuations, but may not be able to settle and
thrive in areas where CO2 levels remain permanently elevated.
At concentrations that do not cause acute mortality, limited
tolerance may include reduced capacities of higher functions,
that is added CO2 could reduce the capacity of growth and
reproduction, or hamper resistance to infection (Burnett, 1997).

It could also reduce the capacity to attack or escape predation,

which would have consequences for the organisms food supply
and thus overall fitness with consequences for the rest of the
ecosystem.
Complex organisms like animals proved to be more
sensitive to changing environmental conditions like temperature
extremes than are simpler, especially unicellular, organisms
(Prtner, 2002). It is not known whether animals are also more
sensitive to extremes in CO2. CO2 affects many physiological
mechanisms that are also affected by temperature and hypoxia
(Figure 6.26). Challenges presented by added CO2 could
lower long-term resistance to temperature extremes and thus
narrow zoogeographical distribution ranges of affected species
(Reynaud et al., 2003, Prtner et al., 2005).
At the ecosystem level, few studies carried out in surface
oceans report that species may benefit under elevated CO2
levels. Riebesell (2004) summarized observations in surface
ocean mesocosms under glacial (190 ppm) and increased CO2
concentrations (790 ppm). High CO2 concentrations caused
higher net community production of phytoplankton. Diatoms
dominated under glacial and elevated CO2 conditions, whereas
Emiliania huxleyi dominated under present CO2 conditions. This
example illustrates how species that are less sensitive to added
CO2 could become dominant in a high CO2 environment, in this
case due to stimulation of photosynthesis in resource limited
phytoplankton species (Riebesell 2004). These conclusions
have limited applicability to the deep sea, where animals and
bacteria dominate. In animals, most processes are expected to
be depressed by high CO2 and low pH levels (Table 6.4).
6.7.4

Biological consequences for water column release

scenarios

Overall, extrapolation from knowledge mostly available for

surface oceans indicates that acute CO2 effects (e.g., narcosis,
mortality) will only occur in areas where pCO2 plumes reach
significantly above 5000 ppm of atmospheric pressure (in
the most sensitive squid) or above 13,000 or 40,000 ppm for
juvenile or adult fish, respectively. Such effects are thus expected
at CO2 increases with pH < 1.0 for squid. According to the
example presented in Figure 6.12, a towed pipe could avoid pH
changes of this magnitude, however a fixed pipe without design
optimization would produce a volume of several km3 with this
pH change for an injection rate of 100 kg s1. Depending on the
scale of injection such immediate effects may thus be chosen
to be confined to a small region of the ocean (Figures 6.13 and
6.14).
Available knowledge of CO2 effects and underlying
mechanisms indicate that effects on marine fauna and their
ecosystems will likely set in during long-term exposure to pCO2
of more than 400 to 500 ppm or associated moderate pH changes
(by about 0.10.3 units), primarily in marine invertebrates
(Prtner et al. 2005) and, possibly, unicellular organisms. For
injection at a rate of 0.37 GtCO2 yr1 for 100 years (Figure
6.14), such critical pH shifts would occur in less than 1% of
the total ocean volume by the end of this period. However,

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baseline pH shifts by 0.2 to 0.4 pH-units expected from the
WRE550 stabilization scenario already reach that magnitude
of change. Additional long-term repeated large-scale global
injection of 10% of the CO2 originating from 18,000 GtCO2
fossil fuel would cause an extension of these pH shifts from the
surface ocean to significantly larger (deeper) fractions of the
ocean by 2100 to 2300 (Figure 6.15). Finally, large-scale ocean
disposal of all of the CO2 would lead to pH decreases of more
than 0.3 and associated long-term effects in most of the ocean.
Expected effects will include a reduction in the productivity of
calcifying organisms leading to higher ratios of non-calcifiers
over calcifiers (Prtner et al., 2005).
Reduced capacities for growth, productivity, behaviours,
and reduced lifespan imply a reduction in population densities
and productivities of some species, if not reduced biodiversity.
Food chain length and composition may be reduced associated
with reduced food availability for high trophic levels. This may
diminish resources for local or global fisheries. The suggested
scenarios of functional depression also include a CO2 induced
reduction in tolerance to thermal extremes, which may go hand
in hand with reduced distribution ranges as well as enhanced
geographical distribution shifts. All of these expectations result
from extrapolations of current physiological and ecological
knowledge and require verification in experimental field studies.
The capacity of ecosystems to compensate or adjust to such
CO2 induced shifts is also unknown. Continued research efforts
could identify critical mechanisms and address the potential for
adaptation on evolutionary time scales.
6.7.5

Biological consequences associated with CO2 lakes

Strategies that release liquid CO2 close to the sea floor will be
affecting two ecosystems: the ecosystem living on the sea floor,
and deep-sea ecosystem living in the overlying water. Storage
as a topographically confined CO2 lake would limit immediate
large-scale effects of CO2 addition, but result in the mortality
of most organisms under the lake that are not able to flee and
of organisms that wander into the lake. CO2 will dissolve from
the lake into the bottom water, and this will disperse around
the lake, with effects similar to direct release of CO2 into the
overlying water. According to the scenarios depicted in Figures
6.11 and 6.12 for CO2 releases near the sea floor, pH reductions
expected in the near field are well within the scope of those
expected to exert significant effect on marine biota, depending
on the length of exposure.
6.7.6

Contaminants in CO2 streams

The injection of large quantities of CO2 into the deep ocean

will itself be the topic of environmental concern, so the matter
of possible small quantities of contaminants in the injected
material is of additional but secondary concern. In general there
are already stringent limits on contaminants in CO2 streams
due to human population concerns, and technical pipeline
considerations. The setting of any additional limits for ocean
disposal cannot be addressed with any certainty at this time.

There are prohibitions in general against ocean disposal;

historical concerns have generally focused on heavy metals,
petroleum products, and toxic industrial chemicals and their
breakdown products.
A common contaminant in CO2 streams is H2S. There are
very large sources of H2S naturally occurring in the ocean:
many marine sediments are anoxic and contain large quantities
of sulphides; some large ocean basins (the Black Sea, the
Cariaco Trench etc.) are anoxic and sulphidic. As a result ocean
ecosystems that have adapted to deal with sulphide and sulphuroxidizing bacteria are common throughout the worlds oceans.
Nonetheless the presence of H2S in the disposal stream would
result in a lowering of local dissolved oxygen levels, and have
an impact on respiration and performance of higher marine
organisms.
6.7.7

Risk management

There is no peer-reviewed literature directly addressing risk

management for intentional ocean carbon storage; however,
there have been risk management studies related to other uses
of the ocean. Oceanic CO2 release carries no expectation of
risk of catastrophic atmospheric degassing such as occurred at
Lake Nyos (Box 6.7). Risks associated with transporting CO2 to
depth are discussed in Chapter 4 (Transport).
It may be possible to recover liquid CO2 from a lake on
the ocean floor. The potential reversibility of the production
of CO2 lakes might be considered a factor that diminishes risk
associated with this option.
6.7.8

Social aspects; public and stakeholder perception

The study of public perceptions and perceived acceptability of

intentional CO2 storage in the ocean is at an early stage and
comprises only a handful of studies (Curry et al., 2005; Gough
et al., 2002; Itaoka et al., 2004; Palmgren et al., 2004). Issues
crosscutting public perception of both geological and ocean
storage are discussed in Section 5.8.5.
All studies addressing ocean storage published to date have
shown that the public is largely uninformed about ocean carbon
storage and thus holds no well-developed opinion. There is
very little awareness among the public regarding intentional or
unintentional ocean carbon storage. For example, Curry et al.
(2005) found that the public was largely unaware of the role of
the oceans in absorbing anthropogenic carbon dioxide released
to the atmosphere. In the few relevant studies conducted thus
far, the public has expressed more reservations regarding ocean
carbon CO2 storage than for geological CO2 storage.
Education can affect the acceptance of ocean storage
options. In a study conducted in Tokyo and Sapporo, Japan
(Iatoka et al, 2004), when members of the public, after
receiving some basic information, were asked to rate ocean and
geologic storage options on a 1 to 5 scale (1 = no, 5 = yes) the
mean rating for dilution-type ocean storage was 2.24, lake-type
ocean storage was rated at 2.47, onshore geological storage
was rated at 2.57, and offshore geological storage was rated at

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Box 6.7 Lake Nyos and deep-sea carbon dioxide storage.

About 2 million tonnes of CO2 gas produced by volcanic activity were released in one night in 1986 by Lake Nyos, Cameroon,
causing the death of at least 1700 people (Kling et al., 1994). Could CO2 released in the deep sea produce similar catastrophic
release at the ocean surface?

Such a catastrophic degassing involves the conversion of dissolved CO2 into the gas phase. In the gas phase, CO2 is
buoyant and rises rapidly, entraining the surrounding water into the rising plume. As the water rises, CO2 bubbles form more
readily. These processes can result in the rapid release of CO2 that has accumulated in the lake over a prolonged period of
magmatic activity.

Bubbles of CO2 gas can only form in sea water shallower than about 500 m when the partial pressure of CO2 in sea water
exceeds the ambient total pressure. Most release schemes envision CO2 release deeper than this. CO2 released below 3000 m
would tend to sink and then dissolve into the surrounding seawater. CO2 droplets released more shallowly generally dissolve
within a few 100 vertical metres of release.

The resulting waters are too dilute in CO2 to produce partial CO2 pressures exceeding total ambient pressure, thus CO2
bubbles would not form. Nevertheless, if somehow large volumes of liquid CO2 were suddenly transported above the liquidgas phase boundary, there is a possibility of a self-accelerating regime of fluid motion that could lead to rapid degassing at
the surface. The disaster at Lake Nyos was exacerbated because the volcanic crater confined the CO2 released by the lake; the
open ocean surface does not provide such topographic confinement. Thus, there is no known mechanism that could produce an
unstable volume of water containing 2 MtCO2 at depths shallower than 500 m, and thus no mechanism known by which ocean
carbon storage could produce a disaster like that at Lake Nyos.
2.75. After receiving additional information from researchers,
the mean rating for dilution-type and lake-type ocean storage
increased to 2.42 and 2.72, respectively, while the mean ratings
for onshore and offshore geologic storage increased to 2.65 and
2.82, respectively. In a similar conducted study in Pittsburgh,
USA, Palmgren et al. (2004) found that when asked to rate
ocean and geologic storage on a 1 to 7 scale (1 = completely
oppose, 7 = completely favour) respondents mean rating was
about 3.2 for ocean storage and about 3.5 for geological storage.
After receiving information selected by the researchers, the
respondents changed their ratings to about 2.4 for ocean storage
and 3.0 for geological storage. Thus, in the Itaoka et al. (2004)
study the information provided by the researchers increased
the acceptance of all options considered whereas in the Study
of Palmgren et al. (2004) the information provided by the
researchers decreased the acceptance of all options considered.
The differences could be due to many causes, nevertheless, they
suggest that the way information is provided by researchers
could affect whether the added information increases or
decreases the acceptability of ocean storage options.
Gough et al. (2002) reported results from discussions
of carbon storage from two unrepresentative focus groups
comprising a total of 19 people. These focus groups also
preferred geological storage to ocean storage; this preference
appeared to be based, not primarily upon concerns for the
deep-sea ecological environment, but on the lack of a visible
barrier to prevent CO2 escaping from the oceans. Gough et al.
(2002) notes that significant opposition developed around a
proposed ocean CO2 release experiment in the Pacific Ocean
(see Section 6.2.1.2).

6.8 Legal issues

6.8.1

International law

Please refer to Sections 5.8.1.1 (Sources and nature of

international obligations) and 5.8.1.2 (Key issues in the
application of the treaties to CO2 storage) for the general
position of both geological and ocean storage of CO2 under
international law. It is necessary to look at and interpret the
primary sources, the treaty provisions themselves, to determine
the permissibility or otherwise of ocean storage. Some secondary
sources, principally the 2004 OSPAR Jurists Linguists paper
containing the States Parties interpretation of the Convention
(considered in detail in Section 5.8.1.3) and conference papers
prepared for the IEA workshop in 1996, contain their authors
individual interpretations of the treaties.
McCullagh (1996) considered the international legal control
of ocean storage, and found that, whilst the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) encourages the use
of the oceans as a reservoir for CO2, the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is ambiguous in its application to
ocean storage. Whilst ocean storage will reduce CO2 emissions
and combat climate change, to constitute an active use of sinks
and reservoirs as required by the UNFCCC, ocean storage
would need to be the most cost-effective mitigation option.
As for UNCLOS, it is unclear whether ocean storage will be
allowable in all areas of the ocean, but provisions on protecting
and preserving the marine environment will be applicable if CO2
is deemed to be pollution under the Convention (which will be
so, as the large quantity of CO2 introduced is likely to cause
harm to living marine resources). In fulfilling their obligation to
prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment,
states must act so as not to transfer damage or hazards from one
area to another or transform one type of pollution into another,

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Chapter 6: Ocean storage

a requirement that could be relied upon by proponents and
opponents alike.
Churchill (1996) also focuses on UNCLOS in his assessment
of the international legal issues, and finds that the consent of
the coastal state would be required if ocean storage occurred
in that states territorial sea (up to12 miles from the coast). In
that states Exclusive Economic Zone (up to 200 miles), the
storage of CO2 via a vessel or platform (assuming it constituted
dumping under the Convention) would again require the
consent of that state. Its discretion is limited by its obligation
to have due regard to the rights and duties of other states in the
Exclusive Economic Zone under the Convention, by other treaty
obligations (London and OSPAR) and the Conventions general
duty on parties not to cause damage by pollution to other states
territories or areas beyond their national jurisdiction. He finds
that it is uncertain whether the definition of dumping would
apply to use of a pipeline system from land for ocean storage,
but, in any event, concludes that the discharge of CO2 from a
pipeline will, in many circumstances, constitute pollution and
thus require the coastal state to prevent, reduce and control
such pollution from land-based sources. But ocean storage by
a pipeline from land into the Exclusive Economic Zone will
not fall within the rights of a coastal or any other state and any
conflict between them will be resolved on the basis of equity
and in the light of all the relevant circumstances, taking into
account the respective importance of the interests involved to
the parties as well as to the international community as a whole.
He finds that coastal states do have the power to regulate and
control research in their Exclusive Economic Zones, although
such consent is not normally withheld except in some cases.
As for the permissibility of discharge of CO2 into the high
seas (the area beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone open to all
states), Churchill (1996) concludes that this will depend upon
whether the activity is a freedom of the high sea and is thus
not prohibited under international law, and finds that the other
marine treaties will be relevant in this regard.
Finally, the London Convention is considered by Campbell
(1996), who focuses particularly on the industrial waste
definition contained in Annex I list of prohibited substances,
but does not provide an opinion upon whether CO2 is covered
by that definition waste materials generated by manufacturing
or processing operations, or indeed the so-called reverse list
exceptions to this prohibition, or to the general prohibition
under the 1996 Protocol.

States are obliged to comply with the provisions of

international law mentioned above in Section 6.8.1, in particular
treaty law to which they are parties. States have to implement
their international obligations regarding CO2 ocean storage
either by enacting relevant national laws or revising existing
ones. There have been a few commentaries and papers on the
assessment of the legal position of ocean storage at national
level. However, the number of countries covered has been quite
limited. Summaries of the assessment of the national legal
issues having regard to each type of storage mentioned above to
be considered when implementing either experimental or fullyfledged ocean storage of CO2 are provided below.
With regard to the United States, insofar as CO2 from a
fossil-fuel power plant is considered industrial waste, it would
be proscribed under the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988.
The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972
(codified as 33 U.S.C. 14011445, 16 U.S.C. 14311447f, 33
U.S.C. 28012805), including the amendments known as the
Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988, has the aim of regulating
intentional ocean disposal of materials, while authorizing
related research. The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 placed
a ban on ocean disposal of sewage sludge and industrial wastes
after 31 December 1991.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
specified protective criteria for marine waters, which held pH
to a value between 6.5 and 8.5, with a limit on overall excursion
of no more than 0.2 pH units outside the naturally occurring
range (see: Train, 1979). Much of the early work on marine
organisms reflected concerns about the dumping of industrial
acid wastes (e.g., acid iron wastes from TiO2manufacture) into
marine waters. For the most part, however, these studies failed
to differentiate between true pH effects and the effects due to
CO2 liberated by the introduction of acid into the test systems.

6.8.2

6.8.2.3

National laws

6.8.2.1 Introduction
CO2 ocean storage, excluding injection from vessels, platforms
or other human-made structures into the subseabed to which the
Assessment made in Section 5.8 applies, is categorized into the
following two types according to the source of injection of the
CO2 (land or sea) and its destination (sea): (1) injection from
land (via pipe) into the seawater; (2) injection from vessels,
platforms or other human-made structures into sea water (water
column, ocean floor).

6.8.2.2 Injection from land (via pipe) into seawater

States can regulate the activity of injection within their
jurisdiction in accordance with their own national rules and
regulations. Such rules and regulations would be provided by,
if any, the laws relating to the treatment of high-pressure gases,
labour health and safety, control of water pollution, dumping at
sea, waste disposal, biological diversity, environmental impact
assessment etc. It is, therefore, necessary to check whether
planned activities of injection fall under the control of relevant
existing rules and regulations.
Injection from vessels, platforms or other humanmade
structures into sea water (water column, ocean floor)
It is necessary to check whether the ocean storage of CO2 is
interpreted as dumping of industrial waste by relevant
national laws, such as those on dumping at sea or waste
disposal, because this could determine the applicability of the
London Convention and London Protocol (see Section 6.8.1).
Even if ocean storage is not prohibited, it is also necessary to
check whether planned activities will comply with the existing
relevant classes of rules and regulations, if any, mentioned
above.

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Table 6.5 Ocean storage cost estimate for CO2 transport and injection at 3000 m depth from a floating platform. Scenario assumes three pulverized
coal fired power plants with a net generation capacity of 600 MWe each transported either 100 or 500 km by a CO2 tanker ship of 80,000 m3
capacity to a single floating discharge platform.
Ship transport distance
Onshore CO2 Storage (US$/tCO2 shipped)

Ship transport to injection platform (US$/tCO2 shipped)

Introduction

Studies on the engineering cost of ocean CO2 storage have been

published for cases where CO2 is transported from a power
plant located at the shore by either ship to an offshore injection
platform or injection ship (Section 6.9.2), or pipeline running
on the sea floor to an injection nozzle (Section 6.9.3). Costs
considered in this section include those specific to ocean storage
described below and include the costs of handling of CO2 and
transport of CO2 offshore, but not costs of onshore transport
(Chapter 4).
6.9.2

Dispersion from ocean platform or moving ship

Costs have been estimated for ship transport of CO2 to an

injection platform, with CO2 injection from a vertical pipe
into mid- to deep ocean water, or a ship trailing an injection
pipe (Akai et al., 2004; IEA-GHG, 1999; Ozaki, 1997; Akai
et al., 1995; Ozaki et al., 1995). In these cases, the tanker ship
transports liquid CO2 at low temperature (55 to 50C) and
high pressure (0.6 to 0.7 MPa).
Table 6.5 shows storage costs for cases (Akai et al., 2004)
of ocean storage using an injection platform. In these cases,
CO2 captured from three power plants is transported by a CO2
tanker ship to a single floating discharge platform for injection
at a depth of 3000 m. The cost of ocean storage is the sum of
three major components: tank storage of CO2 onshore awaiting
shipping; shipping of CO2; and the injection platform pipe and
nozzle. The sum of these three components is 11.5 to 12.8 US$/
tCO2 shipped 100 to 500 km. Assuming an emission equal to
3% of shipped CO2 from boil-off and fuel consumption, the
estimated cost is 11.9 to 13.2 US$/tCO2 net stored.

3.3

11.5

Ocean storage cost (US$/tCO2 net stored)

6.9.1

3.3

5.3

Ocean storage cost (US$/tCO2 shipped)

Costs

500 km

2.9

Injection platform, pipe and nozzle (US$/tCO2 shipped)

6.9.

100 km

11.9

4.2

5.3

12.8

13.2

Liquid CO2 could be delivered by a CO2 transport ship to

the injection area and then transferred to a CO2 injection ship,
which would tow a pipe injecting the CO2 into the ocean at
a depth of 2,000 to 2,500 m. Estimated cost of ocean storage
(Table 6.6) is again the sum of three major components: tank
storage of CO2 onshore awaiting shipping; shipping of CO2; and
the injection ship, pipe and nozzle (Table 6.6; Akai et al., 2004).
The sum of these three components is 13.8 to 15.2 US$/tCO2
shipped 100 to 500 km. Assuming an emission equal to 3% of
shipped CO2 from boil-off and fuel consumption, the estimated
cost is 14.2 to 15.7 US$/tCO2 net stored.
6.9.3

Dispersion by pipeline extending from shore into

shallow to deep water

Compared with the ship transport option (6.9.2), pipeline

transport of CO2 is estimated to cost less for transport over
shorter distances (e.g., 100 km) and more for longer distances
(e.g., 500 km), since the cost of ocean storage via pipeline
scales with pipeline length.
The cost for transporting CO2 from a power plant located
at the shore through a pipeline running on the sea floor to an
injection nozzle has been estimated by IEA-GHG (1994) and
Akai et al. (2004). In the recent estimate of Akai et al. (2004),
CO2 captured from a pulverized coal fired power plant with a
net generation capacity of 600 MWe is transported either 100 or
500 km by a CO2 pipeline for injection at a depth of 3000 m at
a cost of 6.2 US$/tCO2 net stored (100 km case) to 31.1 US$/
tCO2 net stored (500 km case).
There are no published cost estimates specific to the
production of a CO2 lake on the sea floor; however, it might
be reasonable to assume that there is no significant difference
between the cost of CO2 lake production and the cost of water
column injection given this dominance of pipeline costs.

Table 6.6 Ocean storage cost estimate for CO2 transport and injection at 2000-2500 m depth from a moving ship.
Ship transport distance

Onshore CO2 Storage (US$/tCO2 shipped)

Ship transport to injection ship(US$/tCO2 shipped)

Injection ship, pipe and nozzle (US$/tCO2 shipped)

Ocean storage cost (US$/tCO2 shipped)

Ocean storage cost (US$/tCO2 net stored)

100 km

500 km

3.9

5.3

2.2

7.7

13.8
14.2

2.2

7.7

15.2
15.7

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Chapter 6: Ocean storage

6.9.4

Cost of carbonate neutralization approach

Large-scale deployment of carbonate neutralization would

require a substantial infrastructure to mine, transport, crush,
and dissolve these minerals, as well as substantial pumping of
seawater, presenting advantages for coastal power plants near
carbonate mineral sources.
There are many trade-offs to be analyzed in the design of
an economically optimal carbonate-neutralization reactor along
the lines of that described by Rau and Caldeira (1999). Factors
to be considered in reactor design include water flow rate, gas
flow rate, particle size, pressure, temperature, hydrodynamic
conditions, purity of reactants, gas-water contact area, etc.
Consideration of these factors has led to preliminary cost
estimates for this concept, including capture, transport, and
energy penalties, of 10 to 110 US$/tCO2 net stored (Rau and
Caldeira, 1999).
6.9.5

Cost of monitoring and verification

The cost of a monitoring and verification program could involve

deploying and maintaining a large array of sensors in the ocean.
Technology exists to conduct such monitoring, but a significant
fraction of the instrument development and production is
limited to research level activities. No estimate of costs for
near-field monitoring for ocean storage have been published,
but the costs of limited near-field monitoring would be small
compared to the costs of ocean storage in cases of the scale
considered in 6.9.2 and 6.9.3. Far field monitoring can benefit
from international research programs that are developing global
monitoring networks.
6.10

Gaps in knowledge

The science and technology of ocean carbon storage could

move forward by addressing the following major gaps:
- Biology and ecology: Studies of the response of biological
systems in the deep sea to added CO2, including studies that
are longer in duration and larger in scale than yet performed.
- Research facilities: Research facilities where ocean storage
concepts (e.g., release of CO2 from a fixed pipe or ship, or
carbonate-neutralization approaches) can be applied and their
effectiveness and impacts assessed in situ at small-scale on a
continuing basis for the purposes of both scientific research
and technology development.
- Engineering: Investigation and development of technology for
working in the deep sea, and the development of pipes, nozzles,
diffusers, etc., which can be deployed in the deep sea with
assured flow and be operated and maintained cost-effectively.
- Monitoring: Development of techniques and sensors to
detect CO2 plumes and their biological and geochemical
consequences.

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Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of

carbon dioxide

Coordinating Lead Author

Marco Mazzotti (Italy and Switzerland)
Lead Authors
Juan Carlos Abanades (Spain), Rodney Allam (United Kingdom), Klaus S. Lackner (United States),
Francis Meunier (France), Edward Rubin (United States), Juan Carlos Sanchez (Venezuela), Katsunori
Yogo (Japan), Ron Zevenhoven (Netherlands and Finland)
Review Editors
Baldur Eliasson (Switzerland), R.T.M. Sutamihardja (Indonesia)

319

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Contents
Executive Summary

321

7.1 Introduction

322

7.2
7.2.1
7.2.2
7.2.3
7.2.4
7.2.5
7.2.6
7.2.7
7.2.8

322
322
323
324
324
328
328
329
330

Mineral carbonation
Definitions, system boundaries and motivation
Chemistry of mineral carbonation
Sources of metal oxides
Processing
Product handling and disposal
Environmental impact
Life Cycle Assessment and costs
Future scope

7.3 Industrial uses of carbon dioxide and its

emission reduction potential
7.3.1 Introduction
7.3.2 Present industrial uses of carbon dioxide
7.3.3 New processes for CO2 abatement
7.3.4 Assessment of the mitigation potential of CO2
utilization
7.3.5 Future scope
References

330
330
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321

Executive summary
This Chapter describes two rather different options for carbon
dioxide (CO2) storage: (i) the fixation of CO2 in the form of
inorganic carbonates, also known as mineral carbonation or
mineral sequestration, and (ii) the industrial utilization of
CO2 as a technical fluid or as feedstock for carbon containing
chemicals.
In the case of mineral carbonation (see Section 7.2), captured
CO2 is reacted with metal-oxide bearing materials, thus forming
the corresponding carbonates and a solid byproduct, silica for
example. Natural silicate minerals can be used in artificial
processes that mimic natural weathering phenomena, but also
alkaline industrial wastes can be considered. The products of
mineral carbonation are naturally occurring stable solids that
would provide storage capacity on a geological time scale.
Moreover, magnesium and calcium silicate deposits are sufficient
to fix the CO2 that could be produced from the combustion of all
fossil fuels resources. To fix a tonne of CO2 requires about 1.6 to
3.7 tonnes of rock. From a thermodynamic viewpoint, inorganic
carbonates represent a lower energy state than CO2; hence the
carbonation reaction is exothermic and can theoretically yield
energy. However, the kinetics of natural mineral carbonation is
slow; hence all currently implemented processes require energy
intensive preparation of the solid reactants to achieve affordable
conversion rates and/or additives that must be regenerated

and recycled using external energy sources. The resulting

carbonated solids must be stored at an environmentally suitable
location. The technology is still in the development stage and
is not yet ready for implementation. The best case studied so
far is the wet carbonation of the natural silicate olivine, which
costs between 50 and 100 US$/tCO2 stored and translates into
a 30-50% energy penalty on the original power plant. When
accounting for the 10-40% energy penalty in the capture plant
as well, a full CCS system with mineral carbonation would
need 60-180% more energy than a power plant with equivalent
output without CCS.
The industrial use of CO2 (see Section 7.3) as a gas or a
liquid or as feedstock for the production of chemicals could
contribute to keeping captured CO2 out of the atmosphere by
storing it in anthropogenic carbon products. Industrial uses
provide a carbon sink, as long as the pool size keeps growing
and the lifetime of the compounds produced is long. Neither
prerequisite is fulfilled in practice, since the scale of CO2
utilization is small compared to anthropogenic CO2 emissions,
and the lifetime of the chemicals produced is too short with
respect to the scale of interest in CO2 storage. Therefore, the
contribution of industrial uses of captured CO2 to the mitigation
of climate change is expected to be small.

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7.1 Introduction
This chapter deals with: (i) the fixation of CO2 in the form of
inorganic carbonates, also known as mineral carbonation or
mineral sequestration that is discussed in Section 7.2, and (ii)
the industrial uses of CO2 as a technical fluid or as feedstock for
carbon containing chemicals, which is the subject of Section
7.3.
7.2 Mineral carbonation
7.2.1

Definitions, system boundaries and motivation

Mineral carbonation is based on the reaction of CO2 with metal

oxide bearing materials to form insoluble carbonates, with
calcium and magnesium being the most attractive metals. In
nature such a reaction is called silicate weathering and takes
place on a geological time scale. It involves naturally occurring
silicates as the source of alkaline and alkaline-earth metals and
consumes atmospheric CO2. This chapter deals, however, with
so-called mineral carbonation, where high concentration CO2
from a capture step (see Chapter 3) is brought into contact with
metal oxide bearing materials with the purpose of fixing the
CO2 as carbonates (Seifritz, 1990; Dunsmore, 1992; Lackner
et al., 1995). Suitable materials may be abundant silicate rocks,
serpentine and olivine minerals for example, or on a smallerscale alkaline industrial residues, such as slag from steel
production or fly ash. In the case of silicate rocks, carbonation
can be carried out either ex-situ in a chemical processing plant
after mining and pretreating the silicates, or in-situ, by injecting
CO2 in silicate-rich geological formations or in alkaline aquifers.
Industrial residues on the other hand can be carbonated in the
same plant where they are produced. It is worth noting that
products of in-situ mineral carbonation and geological storage
may be similar for the fraction of the CO2 injected for geological

storage that reacts with the alkaline or alkaline-earth metals in

the cap rock leading to mineral trapping (see Chapter 5.2.2).
In terms of material and energy balances, mineral carbonation
can be schematized as illustrated in Figure 7.1, which applies
to a power plant with CO2 capture and subsequent storage
through mineral carbonation. With respect to the same scheme
for a power plant with capture and either geological or ocean
storage (see Figure 1.4) two differences can be observed. First,
there is an additional material flux corresponding to the metal
oxide bearing materials; this is present as input and also as
output, in the form of carbonates, silica, non-reacted minerals
and for some input minerals product water. Secondly, for the
same usable energy output, the relative amounts of fossil fuels
as input and of energy rejected as lower grade heat are different.
In-situ carbonation is an operation similar to geological storage,
while ex-situ carbonation involves processing steps requiring
additional energy input that are difficult to compensate for
with the energy released by the carbonation reaction. Given
the similarities of in-situ carbonation with geological storage,
this chapter will focus on ex-situ mineral carbonation. With
present technology there is always a net demand for high grade
energy to drive the mineral carbonation process that is needed
for: (i) the preparation of the solid reactants, including mining,
transport, grinding and activation when necessary; (ii) the
processing, including the equivalent energy associated with the
use, recycling and possible losses of additives and catalysts;
(iii) the disposal of carbonates and byproducts. The relative
importance of the three items differs depending on the source of
the metal oxides, for example whether they are natural silicates
or industrial wastes.
Despite this potential energy penalty, interest in mineral
carbonation stems from two features that make it unique among
the different storage approaches, namely the abundance of metal
oxide bearing materials, particularly of natural silicates, and the
permanence of storage of CO2 in a stable solid form. However,

Figure 7.1 Material and energy balances through the system boundaries for a power plant with CO2 capture and storage through mineral
carbonation. The fossil fuel input provides energy both to the power plant that produces CO2 and to the mineralization process (either directly or
indirectly via the power plant). The other materials input serves all processes within the system boundaries and includes the metal oxide bearing
materials for mineralization. The other emissions output is made up of the byproducts of the mineralization reaction - silica and possibly water
- as well as of non-reacted input materials.

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Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

Figure 7.2 Material fluxes and process steps associated with the ex-situ mineral carbonation of silicate rocks or industrial residues (Courtesy
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)).

mineral carbonation is today still an immature technology.

Studies reported in the literature have not yet reached a level
where a thorough assessment of the technology, potential, costs
and impacts is possible.
7.2.2

Chemistry of mineral carbonation

When CO2 reacts with metal oxides (indicated here as MO,

where M is a divalent metal, e.g., calcium, magnesium, or iron)
the corresponding carbonate is formed and heat is released
according to the following chemical reaction:
MO + CO2 MCO3 + heat

(1)

The amount of heat depends on the specific metal and on the

material containing the metal oxide. In general this is a large
fraction (up to 46% in the case of calcium oxide) of the heat
released by the upstream combustion process forming CO2
(393.8 kJ mol1CO2 for combustion of elemental carbon).
In the case of a few natural silicates the following exothermic
chemical reactions take place (in all cases heat values are given
per unit mol of CO2 and standard conditions 25C and 0.1 MPa,
Robie et al. 1978):

Olivine:
Mg2SiO4 + 2CO2 2MgCO3 + SiO2

+ 89 kJ mol1CO2

(2a)

Serpentine:
Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 + 3 CO2 3MgCO3 + 2SiO2 + 2H2O

+ 64 kJ mol1CO2 (2b)
Wollastonite:
CaSiO3 + CO2 CaCO3 + SiO2 + 90 kJ mol1CO2

(2c)

Since the reaction releases heat, the formation of carbonates

is thermodynamically favoured at low temperature, whereas
at high temperature (above 900C for calcium carbonate and
above 300C for magnesium carbonate, at a CO2 partial pressure
of one bar) the reverse reaction, that is calcination, is favoured.
The representative member of the olivine family considered in
the first reaction above is forsterite, which is iron-free. In nature
most olivines contain some iron that can form iron oxides or
siderite (FeCO3).
Even at the low partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 and
at ambient temperature, carbonation of metal oxide bearing
minerals occurs spontaneously, though on geological time scales
(Robie et al., 1978; Lasaga and Berner, 1998). Limitations

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arise from the formation of silica or carbonate layers on the

mineral surface during carbonation that tend to hinder further
reaction and to limit conversion (Butt et al., 1996) and from the
rate of CO2 uptake from the gas phase in the case of aqueous
reactions. The challenge for mineral carbonation is to find ways
to accelerate carbonation and to exploit the heat of reaction
within the environmental constraints, for example with minimal
energy and material losses.
7.2.3

Sources of metal oxides

Most processes under consideration for mineral carbonation

focus on metal oxide bearing material that contains alkaline-earth
metals (such as calcium and magnesium) as opposed to alkali
metals (such as sodium and potassium) whose corresponding
carbonates are very soluble in water. Oxides and hydroxides of
calcium and magnesium would be the ideal source materials, but
because of their reactivity they are also extremely rare in nature.
Therefore, suitable metal oxide bearing minerals may be silicate
rocks or alkaline industrial residues, the former being abundant
but generally difficult to access and the latter scarcer but easily
available.
Among silicate rocks, mafic and ultramafic rocks are rocks
that contain high amounts of magnesium, calcium and iron and
have a low content of sodium and potassium. Some of their main
mineral constituents are olivines, serpentine, enstatite (MgSiO3),
talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2) and wollastonite. Although molar
abundances of magnesium and calcium silicates in the Earths
crust are similar, rocks containing magnesium silicate exhibit a
higher MgO concentration (up to 50% by weight, corresponding
to a theoretical CO2 storage capacity of 0.55 kg CO2/kg rock),
than rocks containing calcium silicates, for example basalts, that
have CaO content of about 10% by weight only (with a theoretical
CO2 storage capacity of 0.08 kg CO2/kg rock) (Goff and Lackner,
1998). Deposits of wollastonite, the most calcium-rich silicate,
are much rarer than those of magnesium-rich silicates.
Serpentine and olivine are mainly found in ophiolite belts
geological zones where colliding continental plates lead to
an uplifting of the earths crust (Coleman 1977). For example,
considering ultramafic deposits containing serpentine and olivine
in the Eastern United States and in Puerto Rico, it was found
that they have RCO2 values between 1.97 and 2.51, depending on
purity and type (the RCO2 is the ratio of the mass of mineral needed
to the mass of CO2 fixed when assuming complete conversion
of the mineral upon carbonation, that is the reciprocal of the
theoretical CO2 storage capacity introduced above). Peridotites
and serpentinites exceed the total Mg requirement to neutralize
the CO2 from all worldwide coal resources estimated at 10,000
Gt (Lackner et al., 1995). Specific ore deposits identified in
two studies in the USA and Puerto Rico add to approximately
300GtCO2 (Goff and Lackner, 1998; Goff et al., 2000).
This should be compared to CO2 emissions of about
5.5
GtCO2
in
the
United
States
and
about
24 GtCO2/yr-1 worldwide. No comprehensive mapping of the
worldwide storage potential in ophiolite belts has been reported.
However, their total surface exposure is estimated to be of

the order of 1000 km by 100 km (Goff et al., 2000). It is well

known however that magnesium silicate reserves are present in
all continents, but since they tend to follow present or ancient
continental boundaries, they are not present in all countries. The
feasibility of their use for ex-situ or in-situ mineral carbonation is
yet to be established (Brownlow, 1979; Newall et al., 2000).
On a smaller-scale, industrial wastes and mining tailings
provide sources of alkalinity that are readily available and
reactive. Even though their total amounts are too small to
substantially reduce CO2 emissions, they could help introduce the
technology. Waste streams of calcium silicate materials that have
been considered for mineral carbonation include pulverized fuel
ash from coal fired power plants (with a calcium oxide content
up to 65% by weight), bottom ash (about 20% by weight CaO)
and fly ash (about 35% by weight CaO) from municipal solid
waste incinerators, de-inking ash from paper recycling (about
35% by weight CaO), stainless steel slag (about 65% by weight
CaO and MgO) and waste cement (Johnson, 2000; Fernndez
Bertos et al., 2004; Iizuka et al., 2004).
7.2.4

Processing

7.2.4.1 Mining and mine reclamation

Mining serpentine would not differ substantially from
conventional mining of other minerals with similar properties,
for example copper ores. Serpentine and olivine are both mined
already, although rarely on the scale envisioned here (Goff and
Lackner, 1998; Goff et al., 2000). Like in other mining operations,
disposal of tailings and mine reclamation are important issues to
consider. Tailing disposal depends on the material characteristics
particle size and cohesion, moisture content and chemical
stability against natural leaching processes and these depend
in turn on the specific process. It is likely that carbonation plants
will be located near the metal oxide bearing material, either the
factory producing the residues to be treated or the silicate mine,
to avoid transport of solid materials (see Figure 7.2).
Economies of scale applying to todays mining technology
suggest a minimum mining operation of 50,000 to 100,000
tonnes day1 (Hartman, 1992), which translates into a minimum
mineable volume of about 0.3 km3 for a mine with a 30 year life.
This is a rather small size for ophiolite ore bodies, which are
often kilometres wide and hundreds of meters thick (Goff and
Lackner, 1998; Goff et al., 2000; Newall et al., 2000). Since coal,
in contrast to ophiolite bodies, occurs in thin seams and is buried
under substantial overburden, it has been argued that a typical
above ground coal mine must move more material (Lackner
et al., 1995) and disturb a far larger area (Ziock and Lackner,
2000) for the same amount of carbon atoms treated than the
equivalent ophiolite mine, assuming maximum conversion of the
mineral to carbonate (one carbon atom yields one CO2 molecule
upon combustion, which has to be fixed in one molecule of
carbonate).
Serpentine can take many different forms, from decorative
stones to chrysotile asbestos (OHanley, 1996). The possibility
of encountering asbestos requires adequate precautions. With
current best practice it would reportedly not be an obstacle

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

(Newall et al., 2000). Moreover, since the asbestos form of
serpentine is the most reactive, reaction products are expected
to be asbestos free (OConnor et al., 2000). Mineral carbonation
could therefore remediate large natural asbestos hazards that
occur in certain areas, in California for example (Nichols,
2000).
7.2.4.2 Mineral pretreatment
Mineral pretreatment, excluding the chemical processing
steps, involves crushing, grinding and milling, as well as some
mechanical separation, for example magnetic extraction of
magnetite (Fe3O4).
7.2.4.3 CO2 pre-processing
Mineral carbonation requires little CO2 pre-processing. If CO2
is pipelined to the disposal site, the constraints on pipeline
operations are likely to exceed pre-processing needs for mineral
carbonation. The current state of research suggests that CO2
should be used at a pressure similar to the pipeline pressure,
thus requiring minimal or no compression (Lackner, 2002;
OConnor et al., 2002). Purity demands in carbonation are
minimal; acidic components of the flue gas could pass through
the same process as they would also be neutralized by the base
and could probably be disposed of in a similar manner. Most
carbonation processes would preheat CO2, typically to between
100C and 150C for aqueous processes, whereas in gas-solid
reactions temperatures could reach 300C to 500C (Butt et al.,
1996).
7.2.4.4 Carbonation reaction engineering
The simplest approach to mineral carbonation would be
the reaction of gaseous CO2 with particulate metal oxide
bearing material at suitable temperature and pressure levels.
Unfortunately, such direct gas-solid reactions are too slow to
be practical in the case of the materials mentioned in Section
7.2.3 (Newall et al., 2000) and are only feasible at reasonable
pressures for refined, rare materials like the oxides or hydroxides
of calcium and magnesium (Butt and Lackner, 1997; Bearat et
al., 2002; Zevenhoven and Kavaliauskaite, 2004). As a result,
mineral carbonation without refined materials cannot directly
capture CO2 from flue gases, but could possibly in the case of
pressurized CO2 rich gases from IGCC plants.
Since the direct fixation of carbon dioxide on solid unrefined
material particles seems at present not feasible, the alternative
requires the extraction of the metal from the solid. This can be
accomplished by suspending the solid material in an aqueous
solution and by letting it dissolve and release metal ions, for
example calcium or magnesium ions. These ions come in contact
with carbonic acid (H2CO3) that is formed in the same solution
upon carbon dioxide dissolution. Conditions can be achieved
where the carbonate and the byproducts silica in the case of
silicate carbonation for example precipitate. This involves
proper choice of the operating parameters of this single-step or
multi-step process particularly temperature, concentration of
possible additives and CO2 pressure (that controls the carbonic
acid concentration in solution). At the end of the operation a

325

suspension of fine particles of carbonate, byproducts and nonreacted solid materials remains. These have to be separated
by filtration and drying from the solution from which residual
metal ions and additives are to be quantitatively recovered.
This wet process scheme is currently in the research phase
and has to overcome three major hurdles to become costeffective and to be considered as a viable option for carbon
storage: (i) acceleration of the overall rate of the process,
which may be limited by the dissolution rate of the metal
oxide bearing material; (ii) elimination of the interference
between the concomitant metal oxide dissolution and carbonate
precipitation; (iii) complete recovery of all the chemical species
involved, if additives are used.
Mineral carbonation starting from natural silicates is a
slow process that can be kinetically enhanced by raising the
temperature, although thermodynamics are a limiting factor. In
aqueous systems, this is typically kept below 200C, since high
temperature favours gaseous CO2 over precipitated carbonates.
It is believed that the metal oxide dissolution constitutes the
rate-limiting step and most research efforts have been devoted
to finding ways to speed up the metal extraction from the solid
input materials. This could be achieved either by activating the
mineral to make it more labile and reactive, or by enhancing
the metal oxide extraction through the presence of additives
or catalysts in solution. Activation can take different forms,
namely heat-treatment at 650C for serpentine (Barnes et al.,
1950; Drgulescu et al., 1972; OConnor et al., 2000) and ultrafine (attrition) grinding for olivine and wollastonite (OConnor
et al., 2002; Kim and Chung, 2002). The energy cost of
activation has been estimated to be of 300 kWh t1 of mineral
and 70150 kWh t1 of mineral for thermal and mechanical
activation, respectively (OConnor et al., 2005). Carbonation
has been successfully performed after such pretreatment,
but it is so expensive and energy-intensive that its feasibility
is questionable (see Box 7.1 and OConnor et al., 2005).
Dissolution catalysts that can be added to the aqueous solution
include strong and weak acids (Pundsack, 1967; Lackner et al.,
1995; Fouda et al., 1996; Park et al., 2003; Maroto-Valer et
al., 2005), bases (Blencoe et al., 2003) and chelating agents
to extract SiO2 or MgO groups from the mineral (Park et al.,
2003). All three approaches have been studied and at least
partially experimentally tested, but in all cases catalyst recovery
represents the key hurdle. It is worth noting that the carbonation
of metal oxides from industrial wastes can be faster than that of
natural silicates (Johnson, 2000; Fernndez Bertos et al., 2004;
Huijgen et al., 2004; Iizuka et al., 2004; Stolaroff et al., 2005).
Hydrochloric acid (HCl) dissolution of serpentine or
olivine was proposed first (Houston, 1945; Barnes et al., 1950;
Wendt et al., 1998a). The process requires a number of steps
to precipitate magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2), which can
then directly react with gaseous CO2, and to recover HCl.
Exothermic and endothermic steps alternate and heat recovery
is not always possible, thus making the overall process very
energy-intensive and not viable (Wendt et al., 1998a; Newall et
al., 2000; Lackner, 2002). Likewise, strong alkaline solutions
(with NaOH) will dissolve the silica from the magnesium

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Box 7.1 Wet mineral carbonation process.

A comprehensive energy and economic evaluation of the single-step wet carbonation process has been reported (OConnor
et al., 2005). Though limited to the specific carbonation process illustrated in Figure 7.3, this study is based on about 600
experimental tests and looks not only at the fundamental and technical aspects of the process, but also at the matching of
carbon dioxide sources and potential sinks that in this case are natural silicate deposits. In particular, seven large ultramafic
ores in the USA have been considered (two olivines, four serpentines (three lizardites and one antigorite) and one wollastonite).
Three are located on the west coast, three on the east coast and one in Texas. The selection of the seven ores has also been based
on considerations of regional coal consumption and potential CO2 availability.

The three different minerals exhibit different reactivity, measured as the extent of the carbonation reaction after one hour
under specified operating conditions. A trade-off has been observed between the extent of reaction and mineral pretreatment,
thus higher reactivity is obtained for more intense pretreatment, which represents an energy cost. Mechanical activation is
effective for the olivine and the wollastonite and involves the use of both conventional rod and ball milling techniques with
an energy consumption of up to about 100 kWh t1 mineral (standard pretreatment) and ultra-fine grinding for up to more than
200 kWh t1 mineral (activated process). Conversion is no more than 60% in the former case and up to above 80% in the latter.
In the case of the serpentine, after milling (standard pretreatment), thermal activation at 630C is effective for the antigorite
(up to 92% conversion) but only partially for the lizardite (maximum conversion not larger than 40%) and requires an energy
consumption of about 350 kWh t1 mineral. Optimal operating conditions for this wet process are mineral dependent and
correspond to 185C and 15 MPa for the olivine, 155C and 11.5 MPa for the heat treated serpentine, and 100C and 4 MPa for
the wollastonite. In the first two cases, the carbonation reaction takes place in the presence of 0.64 mol L1 sodium bicarbonate
and 1 mol L1 sodium chloride.
Table 7.1 Mineral carbonation storage costs for CO2.
Ore
(type of pre-treatment)
Olivine (standard)

Olivine (activated)

Lizardite (standard)

Lizardite (activated)

Antigorite (standard)

61

81
9

40

62

Cost
(US$/t ore)
19

27

15

Energy inputa
(kWh/tCO2 stored)
310

640

180

44

180+2120=2300

15

59

430

210

190

91

48

180+830=1010

Wollastonite (activated)

82

19

430

15

55

250

92

43

Cost
(US$/tCO2 stored)

180

Antigorite (activated)

Wollastonite (standard)

Conversion after 1 hour

(%)

78

64

The study assumes a coal fired power plant with 35% efficiency, corresponding to one tonne of CO2 released per 1000 kWh electricity. The equivalent heat
value for the same coal input is then 2,850 kWh. The two items in the sum break the total energy input into electrical + thermal; in all other cases it is pure
electrical energy.

Process costs have been calculated for these seven ores in the case of both standard mineral pretreatment and activated process.
Costs include only storage, thus neither CO2 capture nor CO2 transport and are based on the assumption that CO2 is received
pure at 15 MPa at the plant. Investment costs are calculated accounting for the different reactor costs depending on the different
operating conditions corresponding to the different mineral ores. Storage costs are calculated per tonne of silicate ore and per
tonne of CO2 stored and are complemented by the energy consumption per tonne of CO2 stored in the above Table. The table
highlights a trade-off between energy input associated with the pretreatment procedure and cost per unit carbon dioxide stored.
Assuming that the cheapest technology is used for each mineral, costs range from 55 US$/tCO2 stored for olivine (standard
pretreatment), to 64 US$/tCO2 stored for wollastonite (activated), to 78 US$/tCO2 stored for antigorite (activated), to 210
US$/tCO2 stored for lizardite (activated). Since the last case requires too large an energy input, the cost of the most realistic
technologies falls into a range from 50 to 100 US$/tCO2 stored.

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

silicate, thus allowing for further digestion of the remaining
(Mg(OH)2); however, also in this case the recovery of the NaOH
catalyst seems to be very difficult (Blencoe et al., 2003). To
overcome the substantial energy penalty of water evaporation
in the hydrochloric acid process, it was proposed to dissolve the
silicate minerals in a magnesium chloride melt in order either to
precipitate Mg(OH)2 as before or to allow for direct carbonation
in the melt (Wendt et al., 1998a; 1998b; 1998c; 1998d). No
experimental demonstration of this process has been provided,
possibly also because of the corrosive conditions of the reaction;
energy and material balances indicate that either version of the
process will hardly be viable (Newall et al., 2000; Haywood et
al., 2001).
Weaker acids that might reduce the energy requirements for

327

recovery include acetic acid (Kakizawa et al., 2001), oxalic acid

(Park et al., 2003), orthophosphoric acid (Park et al., 2003) and
ammonium bisulphate (Pundsack 1967). Among the possible
chelating agents that keep either silicates or magnesium ions
in solution by forming water-soluble complexes, is EDTA
ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (Carey et al., 2003; Park
et al., 2003; Park and Fan, 2004). Citric acid is also effective
because it combines its acidic properties with strong chelating
properties (Carey et al., 2003). All these additives have been
proven to enhance the dissolution of silicate minerals, but only
in the acetic acid case has a complete process scheme, including
acid recovery, been described and evaluated (Kakizawa et al.,
2001). This is based on two steps, whereby the metal ions
are extracted first using acetic acid and then the carbonate is

Figure 7.3 Process scheme of the single-step mineral carbonation of olivine in aqueous solution (Courtesy Albany Research Centre).
Single-step indicates that mineral dissolution and carbonate precipitation take place simultaneously in the same carbonation reactor, whereas
more steps are of course needed for the whole process, including preparation of the reactants and separation of the products.

328
precipitated upon CO2 addition. Acetic acid remains in solution
as either calcium or magnesium acetate or free acid and can
be recycled. The process has only been demonstrated for
wollastonite. Experimental conversion levels of the wollastonite
have not exceeded 20% (Kakizawa et al., 2001).
7.2.4.5 A worked out example: single-step carbonation
Figure 7.3 illustrates the single step wet mineral carbonation
process that can be applied to natural silicates as well as
to industrial residues, for example steel slag (Huijgen et al.,
2004). The figure refers to the carbonation of olivine, whereby
the mineral is ground first. Subsequently it is dissolved in an
aqueous solution of sodium chloride (NaCl, 1 mol L1) and
sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3, 0.64 mol L1) in contact with high
pressure CO2 and carbonated therein (OConnor et al., 2002;
OConnor et al., 2005). The additives are easily recovered upon
filtration of the solid particles, since the sodium and chloride
ions do not participate in the reaction and remain in solution,
whereas the bicarbonate ion is replenished by contacting the
solution in the carbonation reactor with the CO2 atmosphere.
A maximum conversion of 81% in one hour was obtained with
an olivine of 37 m particle size, at a temperature of 185C
and a CO2 partial pressure of 15 MPa. An important element of
the process scheme in Figure 7.3 is the classification (sieving)
that allows separating the carbonate and silica products from
the olivine that has to be recycled. This is possible since nonreacted olivine minerals are coarse, whereas the carbonate and
silica consist of finer particles (OConnor et al., 2002). An
additional difficulty of single-step carbonation is when, upon
extraction of the metal oxide from the solid particles, a silica
layer forms or a carbonate layer precipitates on the particles
themselves, thus hindering further dissolution. Experimental
evidence indicates that this does not occur in the case of olivine
(OConnor et al., 2002), whereas it does occur in the case of
steel slag (Huijgen et al., 2004).
Using the process scheme illustrated in Figure 7.3, it is
possible to calculate the material balances by considering
that the molecular mass of carbon dioxide is 44.0 g mol1, of
magnesium carbonate is 84.3 g mol1, of silica is 60.1 g mol1
and of olivine is 140.7 g mol1. For the sake of simplicity only
two assumptions are made, namely the degree of conversion
in the carbonation reactor the fraction of olivine fed to the
reactor that is converted to carbonate in a single pass and
the fraction of non-reacted mineral in the classifier that is not
recycled, but ends up with the material for disposal. Based on
the stoichiometry of the carbonation reaction, 1.6 tonnes of
olivine would be needed to fix one tonne of CO2, thus producing
2.6 tonnes of solid material for disposal. Assuming 90%
carbonation conversion and 10% losses in the classifier, 1.62
tonnes of olivine would be needed and 2.62 tonnes of solids
per tonne of CO2 mineralized would be for disposal. Assuming
only 50% conversion and 20% losses, for one tonne of CO2
stored, 1.87 tonnes of olivine would be needed and 2.87 tonnes
would be disposed of. In the latter case however the carbonation
reactor would be twice as big as in the former case.
Olivine has the highest concentration of reactive magnesium

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

oxide among the natural minerals (57% by weight). Other
minerals in general contain a lower concentration. For pure
serpentine the magnesium oxide concentration is about 44%
and for typical ores about 50% of that of the pure mineral.
Therefore, the mineral feedstock required to fix 1 tonne of CO2
in carbonates is between 1.6 and 3.7 tonnes and the process
yields between 2.6 and 4.7 tonnes of products to be handled.
The carbonation process consumes energy and thus causes CO2
emissions that reduce the net storage of CO2 accordingly. For
the olivine carbonation process, having the lowest unit cost
among those described in Box 7.1, the energy requirement is
1.1 GJ/tCO2. If this is provided by the same coal derived
electricity it would cause CO2 emissions equal to 30% of the
fixed CO2.
7.2.5

Product handling and disposal

Disposal options for mineral carbonates are determined by the

mass of the resulting material (see Figure 7.2). It is not costeffective to ship the bulk of these materials over long distances.
As a result the obvious disposal location is at the mine site. As in
any large-scale mining operation, the logistics of mining a site
and reclaiming it after refilling it with the tailings is substantial,
but it does not pose novel problems (Newall et al., 2000). The
amount of material to be disposed of is between 50 and 100%
by volume more than that originally mined. These volumes are
comparable to volumes commonly handled in mining operations
and are subject to standard mine reclamation practice (Lackner
et al., 1997; Newall et al., 2000).
The fine grinding of the mineral ore might allow for the
extraction of valuable mineral constituents. Serpentine and
olivine mines could provide iron ore that either would be
removed as magnetite by magnetic separation or result from
chemical precipitation during magnesium extraction, yielding
concentrated iron oxide or hydroxide (Park and Fan, 2004).
Peridotite rocks may contain chromite, elements like nickel and
manganese and also elements in the platinum group, but how
these can be recovered has still to be studied (Goff and Lackner,
1998). It has been suggested, that magnesium carbonate and
silica may find uses as soil enhancers, roadfill or filler for
mining operations. Eventually mineral carbonation would have
to operate at scales that would saturate any product or byproduct
market, but products and byproducts, when usable, could help
make a demonstration of the process more viable (Lackner et
al., 1997; Goff and Lackner, 1998).
7.2.6

Environmental impact

The central environmental issue of mineral carbonation is

the associated large-scale mining, ore preparation and wasteproduct disposal (Goff and Lackner, 1998). It can directly lead
to land clearing and to the potential pollution of soil, water and
air in surrounding areas. It may also indirectly result in habitat
degradation. An environmental impact assessment would be
required to identify and prevent or minimize air emissions,
solid waste disposal, wastewater discharges, water use, as well

329

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

as social disturbances. As for many other mining activities, the
preventing and mitigating practices are relatively basic and well
developed.
Land clearing: The amount of material required to store
CO2 involves extensive land clearing and the subsequent
displacement of millions of tonnes of earth, rock and soil,
increasing the potential for erosion, sedimentation and habitat
loss in the area. Access roads would also lead to clearing of
vegetation and soil. Standard practices recommended to
minimize these impacts include storage of topsoil removed for
use in future reclamation activities, use of existing tracks when
constructing access roads and pipelines and use of drainage and
sediment collection systems to catch runoff or divert surface
water, minimizing erosion.
Air quality: Mining activities like blasting, drilling, earth
moving and grading can generate dust and fine particulate
matter that affect visibility and respiration and pollute local
streams and vegetation. Dust prevention measures are widely
applied at mining operations today, but if not properly
controlled, dust can threaten human respiratory health. This is
particularly important in serpentine mining because serpentine
often contains chrysotile, a natural form of asbestos. Even
though chrysotile is not as hazardous as amphibole asbestos
(tremolite, actinolite) (Hume and Rimstidt, 1992), the presence
of chrysotile requires covering of exposed veins and monitoring
of air quality (Nichols, 2000). On the other hand, mineral
carbonation products are asbestos free, as the reaction destroys
chrysotile, which reacts faster than other serpentines, even
if conversion of the starting material is not complete. This
makes mineral carbonation a potentially effective method for
the remediation of asbestos in serpentine tailing (OConnor
et al., 2000). The resulting mineral carbonates are inert, but
large volumes of powders would also have to be controlled, for
example by cementing them together to avoid contamination of
soil and vegetation, as well as habitat destruction.
Tailings: Tailings consist of finely ground particles,
including ground-up ore and process byproducts. Tailings
management systems should be designed and implemented from
the earliest stages of the project. Usually tailings are stored in
tailings impoundments designed to hold tailings behind earthfill dams (Newall et al., 2000). Other control measures depend
on whether tailings are dry or wet, on particle size and chemical
reactivity.
Leaching of metals: Although the low acidity of the resulting
byproducts reduces the possibility of leaching, certainty about
leaching can only be obtained by conducting tests. If necessary,
a lining system would prevent ground water contamination.
Leaching containment is also possible without lining where
underlying rock has been shown to be impermeable.
Reclamation: To minimize water contamination, restore
wildlife habitat and ecosystem health and improve the aesthetics
of the landscape, a comprehensive reclamation programme has
to be designed during the planning phase of the mining project
and be implemented concurrently throughout operations.
Concurrent incorporation of reclamation with the mining of the
site reduces waste early, prevents clean-up costs and decreases

potential liabilities. Land rehabilitation will involve the reshaping of landform, because the volume of tailings will be
larger than the mined rock. The main environmental concern
regarding reclamation is major soil movements by erosion or
landslides. This can be controlled by adequate vegetation cover
and by covering the soil with protective mulch, by maintaining
moisture in the soil, or by constructing windbreaks to protect
the landform from exposure to high winds.
7.2.7

Life Cycle Assessment and costs

At the current stage of development, mineral carbonation

consumes additional energy and produces additional CO2
compared to other storage options. This is shown in Figure
7.1 and is why a Life Cycle Assessment of the specific process
routes is particularly important. The potential of mineral
carbonation depends on the trade-off between costs associated
with the energy consuming steps (mining, pre-processing of the
mineral ore, its subsequent disposal and mine reclamation) and
benefits (the large potential capacity due to the vast availability
of natural metal oxide bearing silicates and the permanence of
CO2 storage).
A life cycle analysis of the mining, size reduction process,
waste disposal and site restoration calculated additional annual
CO2 emissions of 0.05 tCO2/tCO2 stored (Newall et al., 2000).
This included grinding of the rock to particle sizes less than 100
microns; a ratio of 2.6 tonnes of serpentine per tonne of CO2 was
assumed. The cost was assessed to be about 14 US$/tCO2 stored;
the capital cost being about 20% of the total. All cost estimates
were based on OECD Western labour costs and regulations. The
conversion factor from electrical energy to CO2 emissions was
0.83 tCO2/MWh electricity. Costs were calculated on the basis
of an electricity price of US$ 0.05 kWh1 electricity. Results
from other studies were converted using these values (Newall
et al., 2000). Other estimates of these costs are between 6 and
10 US$/tCO2 stored, with 2% additional emissions (Lackner et
al., 1997).
As far as the scale of mining and disposal is concerned
about 1.6 to 3.7 tonnes of silicate and 2.6 to 4.7 tonnes of
disposable materials per tonne of CO2 fixed in carbonates, as
reported in Section 7.2.4 this is of course a major operation.
When considering that one tonne of carbon dioxide corresponds
to 0.27 tonnes of carbon only in theory, but in practice to about
2 tonnes of raw mineral due to the overburden, it follows that
mineral carbonation to store the CO2 produced by burning
coal would require the installation of a mining industry of a
scale comparable to the coal industry itself. Such large mining
operations are significant, but placing them in the context of the
operations needed for the use of fossil fuels and geological or
ocean storage, the volumes are comparable.
The energy requirements and the costs of the carbonation
reaction are very much process dependent and more difficult
to estimate, due to scarcity of data. The most detailed study
has been carried out for the process where the silicates are
dissolved in a magnesium chloride melt (Newall et al., 2000).
An overall cost (including the operations mentioned in the

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

previous paragraph) of 80 US$/tCO2 stored was obtained, with

27.5% additional CO2 emissions, thus leading to 110 US$/tCO2
avoided. In the case of the two-step acetic acid process, an
overall cost of 27 US$/tCO2 avoided has been reported, but the
assumptions are based on a rather limited set of experimental
data (Kakizawa et al., 2001). A comprehensive energy and
economic evaluation of the single step wet carbonation process
illustrated in Figure 7.3 has been recently reported (OConnor
et al., 2005) and is discussed in detail in Box 7.1. This study
calculates storage costs between 50 and 100 US$/tCO2 stored,
with between 30% and 50% of the energy produced needed
as input to the mineral carbonation step, i.e. a corresponding
reduction of power plant efficiency from 35% for instance to
25% and 18%, respectively. This implies that a full CCS system
with mineral carbonation would need 60-180% more energy
than a power plant with equivalent output without CCS, when
the 10-40% energy penalty in the capture plant is accounted
too. No similar economic evaluation is available for either dry
mineral carbonation or carbonation using industrial residues.
However, it is worth pointing out that the carbonation of toxic
wastes may lead to stabilized materials with reduced leaching
of heavy metals. Therefore these materials might be disposed of
more easily or even used for applications such as in construction
work (see Figure 7.2) (Venhuis and Reardon, 2001; Meima et
al., 2002).
Once the carbon has been stored through mineral carbonation,
there are virtually no emissions of CO2 due to leakage. To the
extent that weathering at the disposal site occurs and leaches
out magnesium carbonate from the carbonation products,
additional CO2 would be bound in the transformation of solid
magnesium carbonate to dissolved magnesium bicarbonate
(Lackner, 2002). It can therefore be concluded that the fraction
of carbon dioxide stored through mineral carbonation that is
retained after 1000 years is virtually certain to be 100%. As a
consequence, the need for monitoring the disposal sites will be
limited in the case of mineral carbonation.
7.2.8

Future scope

7.2.8.1 Public acceptance

Public acceptance of mineral carbonation is contingent on the
broader acceptance of CCS. Acceptance might be enhanced
by the fact that this method of storage is highly verifiable
and unquestionably permanent. On the downside, mineral
carbonation involves large-scale mining and associated
environmental concerns: terrain changes, dust pollution
exacerbated by potential asbestos contamination and potential
trace element mobilization. Generally, public acceptance will
require a demonstration that everything possible is done to
minimize secondary impacts on the environment.
7.2.8.2 Gap analysis
Mineral carbonation technology must reduce costs and reduce
the energy requirements associated with mineral pretreatment
by exploiting the exothermic nature of the reaction. Mineral
carbonation will always be more expensive than most

applications of geological storage, but in contrast has a virtually

unlimited permanence and minimal monitoring requirements.
Research towards reducing costs for the application of mineral
carbonation to both natural silicates and industrial wastes, where
the kinetics of the reaction is believed to be more favourable,
is ongoing. Moreover, an evaluation is needed to determine
the fraction of the natural reserves of silicates, which greatly
exceed the needs, that can be effectively exploited for mineral
carbonation. This will require thorough study, mapping the
resources and matching sources and sinks, as in OConnor et al.
(2005). The actual size of the resource base will be significantly
influenced by the legal and societal constraints at a specific
location. Integrating power generation, mining, carbonation
reaction, carbonates disposal and the associated transport of
materials and energy needs to be optimized in a site-specific
manner. A final important gap in mineral carbonation is the lack
of a demonstration plant.
7.3 Industrial uses of carbon dioxide and its emission
reduction potential
7.3.1

Introduction

As an alternative to storing captured CO2 in geological

formations (see Chapter 5), in the oceans (see Chapter 6), or in
mineral form as carbonates (see Section 7.2), this section of the
report assesses the potential for reducing net CO2 emissions to
the atmosphere by using CO2 either directly or as a feedstock
in chemical processes that produce valuable carbon containing
products. The utilization of CO2 establishes an inventory of
stored CO2, the so-called carbon chemical pool, primarily
in the form of carbon-containing fuels, chemicals and other
products (Xiaoding and Moulijn, 1996). The production and
use of these products involve a variety of different life cycles
(i.e., the chain of processes required to manufacture a product
from raw materials, to use the product for its intended purpose
and ultimately to dispose of it or to reuse it in some fashion).
Depending on the product life-cycle, CO2 is stored for varying
periods of time and in varying amounts. As long as the recycled
carbon remains in use, this carbon pool successfully stores
carbon. Withdrawal from this pool, by decay or by disposal
typically re-injects this carbon into the atmospheric pool.
CO2 that has been captured using one of the options described
in Chapter 3 could reduce net CO2 emissions to the atmosphere
if used in industrial processes as a source of carbon, only if the
following criteria are met:
1. T
he use of captured CO2 must not simply replace a source
of CO2 that would then be vented to the atmosphere.
Replacement of CO2 derived from a lime kiln or a
fermentation process would not lead to a net reduction in
CO2 emissions, while on the other hand replacement of CO2
derived from natural geological deposits, which would thus
be left undisturbed, would lead to a net reduction of CO2
emissions. This would apply to the majority of the CO2 used
for enhanced oil recovery in the USA (see Section 5.3.2)

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

that is currently provided from natural geological deposits
(Audus et Oonk, 1997).
2. The compounds produced using captured CO2 must have a
long lifetime before the CO2 is liberated by combustion or
other degradation processes.
3. When considering the use of captured CO2 in an industrial
process, the overall system boundary must be carefully
defined to include all materials, fossil fuels, energy flows,
emissions and products in the full chain of processes used to
produce a unit of product in order to correctly determine the
overall (net) CO2 avoided.
CO2 reductions solely due to energy efficiency improvements
are not within the scope of this report, which is focused on
capture and storage rather than efficiency improvements.
Similarly while environmental benefits like those obtained in
replacing organic solvents with supercritical CO2 may slightly
increase the carbon chemical pool, these primary drivers are
not discussed in this report. Similarly, this report specifically
excludes all uses of captured CO2 to replace other chemicals
that are released into the atmosphere and that have high
greenhouse-gas potential, fluorocarbons for example. This area
is covered by the IPCC/TEAP Special Report on Safeguarding
the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System: issues related
to Hydrofluorocarbons and Perfluorocarbons (IPCC/TEAP,
2005).
The third point is especially important in any effort to estimate
the potential for net CO2 reductions from the substitution of a
CO2-utilizing process for alternative routes to manufacturing
a desired product. In particular, it is essential that the system
boundary encompasses all upstream processes in the overall
life cycle and does not focus solely on the final production

331

process of interest. The appropriate system boundary is shown

schematically in Figure. 7.4 This is an extension of the system
boundary diagrams shown earlier in Section 7.2 (Figure 7.1)
and in Chapter 1 (Figure 1.4) in the context of a CO2 capture
and storage system. The inputs include all fossil fuels together
with all other materials used within the system. The fossil fuel
input provides energy to the power or industrial plant, including
the CO2 capture system, as well as the elemental carbon used as
building blocks for the new chemical compound. Flows of CO2,
energy and materials pass from the primary fuel-consuming
processes to the industrial process that utilizes the captured CO2.
This produces a desired product (containing carbon derived
from captured CO2) together with other products (such as useful
energy from the power plant) and environmental emissions that
may include CO2 plus other gaseous, liquid or solid residuals.
Once the overall system has been defined and analyzed in
this way, it can also be compared to an alternative system that
does not involve the use of captured CO2. Using basic mass and
energy balances, the overall avoided CO2 can then be assessed
as the difference in net emissions associated with the production
of a desired product. In general, the difference could be either
positive or negative, thus meaning that utilization of CO2 could
result in either a decrease or increase in net CO2 emissions,
depending on the details of the processes being compared. Note
that only fossil fuels as a primary energy source are considered
in this framework. Renewable energy sources and nuclear
power are specifically excluded, as their availability would
have implications well beyond the analysis of CO2 utilization
options (see Chapter 8 for further discussion). Note too that
other emissions from the process may include toxic or harmful
materials, whose flows also could be either reduced or increased
by the adoption of a CO2-based process.

Figure 7.4 Material and energy balances through the system boundaries for a power plant or an industrial plant with CO2 capture, followed by
an industrial process using CO2. The inputs include all fossil fuels together with all other materials used within the system. The fossil fuel input
provides energy to the power or industrial plant, including the CO2 capture system, as well as the elemental carbon used as building blocks for the
new chemical compound. From the primary fuel-consuming processes, flows of CO2, energy and materials pass to the industrial process, which
utilizes the captured CO2. This produces a desired product (containing carbon, derived from captured CO2) together with other products (such as
useful energy from the power plant) and environmental emissions that may include CO2 plus other gaseous, liquid or solid residuals.

332

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

The application of this framework to the assessment of CO2

utilization processes is discussed in more detail later in this
chapter. First, however, we will examine current uses of CO2
in industrial processes and their potential for long-term CO2
storage.
7.3.2

Present industrial uses of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a valuable industrial gas with a large number

of uses that include production of chemicals, for example
urea, refrigeration systems, inert agent for food packaging,
beverages, welding systems, fire extinguishers, water treatment
processes, horticulture, precipitated calcium carbonate for the
paper industry and many other smaller-scale applications. Large
quantities of carbon dioxide are also used for enhanced oil
recovery, particularly in the United States (see Section 5.3.2).
Accordingly, there is extensive technical literature dealing with
CO2 uses in industry and active research groups are exploring
new or improved CO2 utilization processes.
Much of the carbon dioxide used commercially is recovered
from synthetic fertilizer and hydrogen plants, using either a
chemical or physical solvent scrubbing system (see Section
3.5.2). Other industrial sources of CO2 include the fermentation
of sugar (dextrose) used to produce ethyl alcohol:
C6H12O6 2C2H5OH + 2CO2

(3)

Industrial CO2 is also produced from limekilns, such as those

used in the production of sodium carbonate and in the Kraft
wood pulping process. This involves the heating (calcining) of
a raw material such as limestone:
CaCO3 CaO + CO2

(4)

In some parts of the world, such as the United States, Italy,

Norway and Japan, some CO2 is extracted from natural CO2
wells. It is also recovered during the production and treatment
of raw natural gas that often contains CO2 as an impurity (see

Chapter 2 for more details about CO2 sources).

A large proportion of all CO2 recovered is used at the point
of production to make further chemicals of commercial
importance, chiefly urea and methanol. The CO2 recovered for
other commercial uses is purified, liquefied, delivered and stored
mostly as a liquid, typically at 20 bar and 18C (Pierantozzi,
2003).
Table 7.2 shows the worldwide production and CO2 usage rates
for the major chemical or industrial applications currently using
CO2 (excluding enhanced oil recovery, which is dealt with in
Chapter 5). The approximate lifetime of stored carbon before
it is degraded to CO2 that is emitted to the atmosphere is also
shown. Such values mean that the fraction of the CO2 used to
produce the compounds in the different chemical classes or for
the different applications, which is still stored after the period
of time indicated in the last column of Table 7.2 drops to zero.
7.3.3

New processes for CO2 abatement

7.3.3.1 Organic chemicals and polymers

A number of possible new process routes for the production of
chemicals and polymers have been considered in which CO2 is
used as a substitute for other C1 building blocks, such as carbon
monoxide, methane and methanol. The use of CO2, an inert gas
whose carbon is in a highly oxidized state, requires development
of efficient catalytic systems and, in general, the use of
additional energy for CO2 reduction. Chemicals that have been
considered include polyurethanes and polycarbonates, where
the motivation has primarily been to avoid the use of phosgene
because of its extreme toxicity, rather than to find a sink for
CO2. The proposed processes can have a lower overall energy
consumption than the current phosgene-based routes leading to
further CO2 emission reductions. Current world consumption
of polycarbonates is about 2.7 Mt yr1. If all polycarbonate
production was converted to CO2-based processes the direct
consumption of CO2 would be about 0.6 MtCO2yr-1. Some CO2

Table 7.2 Industrial applications of CO2 (only products or applications at the Mtonne-scale): yearly market, amount of CO2 used, its source, and
product lifetime (Aresta and Tommasi, 1997; Hallman and Steinberg, 1999; Pelc et al., 2005). The figures in the table are associated with a large
uncertainty.
Chemical product class
or application
Urea

Methanol (additive to CO)

Inorganic carbonates
Organic carbonates
Polyurethanes
Technological
Food
a
b

Yearly market
(Mt yr-1)

Amount of CO2 used per Mt

product (MtCO2)

24

<8

90
8

2.6
10
10
8

65
3

0.2

<10
10
8

Natural sources include both geological wells and fermentation.

The fraction of used CO2 that is still stored after the indicated period of time drops to zero.

Source of CO2

Lifetimeb

Industrial

Six months

Six months

Industrial

Industrial, Natural

Industrial, Naturala
Industrial, Natural

Industrial, Natural

Industrial, Naturala

Decades to centuries
Decades to centuries
Decades to centuries
Days to years

Months to years

333

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

savings that are difficult to quantify from current published data
are claimed for energy/materials changes in the process.
Similarly, if all world polyurethane production was
converted, then direct CO2 consumption would be about 2.7
MtCO2/yr. However, little progress in commercial application
of CO2-based production has been reported. And as indicated
earlier, these possible CO2 applications directly affect only a
very small fraction of the anthropogenic CO2 emitted to the
atmosphere. The net savings in CO2 would be even smaller
or could be negative, as the energy that was available in the
hydrocarbon resource is missing in the CO2 feedstock and unless
compensated for by improved process efficiency it would have
to be made up by additional energy supplies and their associated
CO2 emissions.
7.3.3.2 Fuel production using carbon dioxide
Liquid carbon-based fuels, gasoline and methanol for
example, are attractive because of their high energy density
and convenience of use, which is founded in part on a wellestablished infrastructure. Carbon dioxide could become the
raw material for producing carbon-based fuels with the help
of additional energy. Since energy is conserved, this cannot
provide a net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as long as
the underlying energy source is fossil carbon. If a unit of energy
from a primary resource produces a certain amount of CO2,
then producing a fuel from CO2 will recycle CO2 but release
an equivalent amount of CO2 to provide the necessary energy
for the conversion. Since all these conversion processes involve
energy losses, the total CO2 generated during fuel synthesis
tends to exceed the CO2 converted, which once used up, is also
emitted.
Production of liquid carbon-based fuels from CO2 only
reduces CO2 emissions if the underlying energy infrastructure
is not based on fossil energy. For example, one could still
use gasoline or methanol rather than converting the transport
sector to hydrogen, by using hydrogen and CO2 as feedstocks
for producing gasoline or methanol. The hydrogen would be
produced from water, using hydropower, nuclear energy, solar
energy or wind energy. As long as some power generation
using fossil fuels remains, carbon dioxide for this conversion
will be available (Eliasson, 1994). Alternatively, it might be
possible to create a closed cycle with CO2 being retrieved from
the atmosphere by biological or chemical means. Such cycles
would rely on the availability of cheap, clean and abundant
non-fossil energy, as would the hydrogen economy, and as such
they are beyond the scope of this report.
Methanol production is an example of the synthesis of liquid
fuels from CO2 and hydrogen. Today a mixture of CO, CO2 and
hydrogen is produced through reforming or partial oxidation
or auto thermal reforming of fossil fuels, mainly natural gas.
The methanol producing reactions, which are exothermic, take
place over a copper/zinc/alumina catalyst at about 260C (Inui,
1996; Arakawa, 1998; Ushikoshi et al., 1998; Halmann and
Steinberg, 1999):
CO + 2H2 CH3OH

(5)

CO2 + 3H2 CH3OH + H2O

(6)

Alternatively one could exploit only reaction (6), by using

captured CO2 and hydrogen from water hydrolysis powered for
instance by solar energy (Sano et al., 1998).
7.3.3.3 Capture of CO2 in biomass
Biomass production of fuels also falls into the category of
generating fuels from CO2. With the help of photosynthesis,
solar energy can convert water and CO2 into energetic organic
compounds like starch. These in turn can be converted into
industrial fuels like methane, methanol, hydrogen or biodiesel (Larson, 1993). Biomass can be produced in natural or
agricultural settings, or in industrial settings, where elevated
concentrations of CO2 from the off-gas of a power plant would
feed micro-algae designed to convert CO2 into useful chemicals
(Benemann, 1997). Since biological processes collect their
own CO2, they actually perform CO2 capture (Dyson, 1976).
If the biomass is put to good use, they also recycle carbon by
returning it to its energetic state. Biomass production eliminates
the need for fossil fuels, because it creates a new generation of
biomass-based carbonaceous fuels. As a replacement for fossil
energy it is outside the scope of this report. As a CO2 capture
technology, biomass production is ultimately limited by the
efficiency of converting light into chemically stored energy.
Currently solar energy conversion efficiencies in agricultural
biomass production are typically below 1% (300 GJ ha1 yr1 or
1 W m2 (Larson, 1993)). Micro-algae production is operating
at slightly higher rates of 1 to 2% derived by converting photon
utilization efficiency into a ratio of chemical energy per unit
of solar energy (Melis et al., 1998; Richmond and Zou, 1999).
Hence the solar energy collection required for micro-algae to
capture a power plants CO2 output is about one hundred times
larger than the power plants electricity output. At an average
of 200 W m2 solar irradiation, a 100 MW power plant would
require a solar collection area in the order of 50 km2.
7.3.4

Assessment of the mitigation potential of CO2

utilization

This final section aims at clarifying the following points: (i)

to what extent the carbon chemical pool stores CO2; (ii) how
long CO2 is stored in the carbon chemical pool; (iii) how large
the contribution of the carbon chemical pool is to emission
mitigation.
To consider the first point, the extent of CO2 storage
provided by the carbon chemical pool, it is worth referring
again to Table 7.2. As reported there, total industrial CO2 use is
approximately 115 MtCO2 yr-1. Production of urea is the largest
consumer of CO2, accounting for over 60% of that total. To put
it in perspective, the total is only 0.5% of total anthropogenic
CO2 emissions about 24 GtCO2 yr-1. However, it is essential
to realize that these figures represent only the yearly CO2 flux
in and out of the carbon chemical pool, and not the actual size
of the pool, which is controlled by marketing and product
distribution considerations and might be rather smaller than

334
the total yearly CO2 consumption. Moreover, the contribution
to the storage of carbon on a yearly basis for instance does
not correspond to the size of the pool, but to its size variation
on a yearly basis, or in general on its rate of change that might
be positive (increase of carbon storage and reduction of CO2
emissions) or negative (decrease of carbon storage and increase
of CO2 emissions) depending on the evolution of the markets and
of the distribution systems (see also Box 7.2 for a quantitative
example). Data on the amount of carbon stored as inventory of
these materials in the supply chain and on the rate of change of
this amount is not available, but the figures in Table 7.2 and the
analysis above indicate that the quantity of captured carbon that
could be stored is very small compared with total anthropogenic
carbon emissions. Thus, the use of captured CO2 in industrial
processes could have only a minute (if any) effect on reduction
of net CO2 emissions.
As to the second point, the duration of CO2 storage in the
carbon chemical pool and typical lifetime of the CO2 consuming
chemicals when in use before being degraded to CO2 that is
emitted to the atmosphere, are given in the last column of
Table 7.2 Rather broad ranges are associated with classes of
compounds consisting of a variety of different chemicals. The
lifetime of the materials produced that could use captured CO2
could vary from a few hours for a fuel such as methanol, to a
few months for urea fertilizer, to decades for materials such as
plastics and laminates, particularly those materials used in the
construction industry. This indicates that even when there is a
net storage of CO2 as discussed in the previous paragraph, the
duration of such storage is limited.
As to the last point, the extent of emission mitigation
provided by the use of captured CO2 to produce the compounds
in the carbon chemical pool. Replacing carbon derived from a

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

fossil fuel in a chemical process, for example a hydrocarbon,
with captured CO2 is sometimes possible, but does not affect
the overall carbon budget, thus CO2 does not replace the fossil
fuel feedstock. The hydrocarbon has in fact two functions it
provides energy and it provides carbon as a building block. The
CO2 fails to provide energy, since it is at a lower energy level than
the hydrocarbon (see Box 7.3). The energy of the hydrocarbon
is often needed in the chemical process and, as in the production
of most plastics, it is embodied in the end product. Alternatively,
the energy of the hydrocarbon is available and likely to be
utilized in other parts of the process, purification, pretreatment
for example, or in other processes within the same plant. If this
energy is missing, since CO2 is used as carbon source, it has to
be replaced somehow to close the energy balance of the plant.
As long as the replacement energy is provided from fossil fuels,
net CO2 emissions will remain unchanged. It is worth noting
that an economy with large non-fossil energy resources could
consider CO2 feedstocks to replace hydrocarbons in chemical
synthesis. Such approaches are not covered here, since they
are specific examples of converting to non-fossil energy and as
such are driven by the merits of the new energy source rather
than by the need for capture and storage of CO2.
7.3.5

Future scope

The scale of the use of captured CO2 in industrial processes is

too small, the storage times too short and the energy balance too
unfavourable for industrial uses of CO2 to become significant
as a means of mitigating climate change. There is a lack of data
available to adequately assess the possible overall CO2 inventory
of processes that involve CO2 substitution with associated
energy balances and the effects of changes in other feedstocks

Box 7.2 Carbon chemical pool.

The carbon chemical pool is the ensemble of anthropogenic carbon containing organic chemicals. This box aims to provide
criteria for measuring the quantitative impact on carbon mitigation of such a pool. If this impact were significant, using carbon
from CO2 could be an attractive storage option for captured CO2.
Considering a specific chemical A, whose present worldwide production is 12 Mt yr1, whose worldwide inventory is 1 Mt
the monthly production and whose lifetime before degradation to CO2 and release to the atmosphere is less than one year.
If next year production and inventory of A do not change, the contribution to CO2 storage of this member of the chemical pool
will be null. If production increased by a factor ten to 120 Mt yr1, whereas inventory were still 1 Mt, again the contribution
of A to CO2 storage would be null.
If on the contrary next year production increases and inventory also increases, for example to 3 Mt, to cope with increased
market demand, the contribution of A to CO2 storage over the year will be equivalent to the amount of CO2 stoichiometrically
needed to produce 2 Mt of A. However, if due to better distribution policies and despite increased production, the worldwide
inventory of A decreased to 0.7 Mt, then A would yield a negative contribution to CO2 storage, thus over the year the amount
of CO2 stoichiometrically needed to produce 0.3 Mt of A would be additionally emitted to the atmosphere.
Therefore, the impact on carbon dioxide mitigation of the carbon chemical pool does not depend on the amounts of carbon
containing chemical products produced; there is CO2 emission reduction in a certain time only if the pool has grown during
that time. With increasing production, such impact can be positive or negative, as shown above. It is clear that since this would
be a second or third order effect with respect to the overall production of carbon containing chemicals itself much smaller in
terms of fossil fuel consumption than fossil fuel combustion this impact will be insignificant compared with the scale of the
challenge that carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies have to confront.

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

335

Box 7.3. Energy gain or penalty in using CO2 as a feedstock instead of carbon.
CO2 can be used as a provider of carbon atoms for chemical synthesis, as an alternative to standard processes where the carbon
atom source is fossil carbon, as coal or methane or other. This includes processes where the carbon atom in the CO2 molecule
is either reduced by providing energy, for example methanol synthesis, or does not change its oxidation state and does not need
energy, synthesis of polycarbonates for example.
For the sake of simplicity let us consider a reaction from carbon to an organic final product A (containing n carbon atoms)
that takes place in a chemical plant (standard process):

nC A
(7)
Let us also consider the alternative route whereby CO2 captured from the power plant where carbon has been burnt is used in
the chemical plant where the synthesis of A is carried out. In this case the sequence of reactions would be:

nC nCO2 A
(8)
The overall energy change upon transformation of C into A, H, is the same in both cases. The difference between the two
cases is that in case (8) this overall energy change is split into two parts H=Hcom+Hsyn one for combustion in the power
plant and the other for the synthesis of A from CO2 in the chemical plant (Hcom will be 400 which means 400 are made
available by the combustion of carbon). If H is negative, that means an overall exothermic reaction (1), then Hsyn will be
either negative or even positive. If H is positive, that means an overall endothermic reaction (7), then Hsyn will be even
more positive. In both cases, exothermic or endothermic reaction, the chemical plant will lack 400 kJ/molC energy in case (2)
with respect to case (1). This energy has already been exploited in the power plant and is no longer available in the chemical
plant. It is worth noting that large-scale chemical plants (these are those of interest for the purpose of carbon dioxide emission
mitigation) make the best possible use of their energy by applying so-called heat integration, for example by optimizing energy
use through the whole plant and not just for individual processes. In case (1) chemical plants make good use of the 400 kJ/
molC that are made available by the reaction (7) in excess of the second step of reaction (8).
Therefore, in terms of energy there is no benefit in choosing path (8) rather than path (7). In terms of efficiency of the
whole chemical process there might be a potential improvement, but there might also be a potential disadvantage, since route
(7) integrates the heat generation associated with the oxidation of carbon and the conversion to product A. These effects are
of second order importance and have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, the scale of the reduction in CO2
emissions would be rather small, since it would be even smaller than the scale of the production of the chemicals that might be
impacted by the technology change, that is by the change from path (7) to path (8) (Audus and Oonk, 1997).

and emissions. However, the analysis above demonstrates that,

although the precise figures are difficult to estimate and even
their sign is questionable, the contribution of these technologies
to CO2 storage is negligible. Research is continuing on the use
of CO2 in organic chemical polymer and plastics production,
but the drivers are generally cost, elimination of hazardous
chemical intermediates and the elimination of toxic wastes,
rather than the storage of CO2.

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Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

339

Cost and economic potential

Coordinating Lead Authors

Howard Herzog (United States), Koen Smekens (Belgium)
Lead Authors
Pradeep Dadhich (India), James Dooley (United States), Yasumasa Fujii (Japan), Olav Hohmeyer (Germany),
Keywan Riahi (Austria)
Contributing Authors
Makoto Akai (Japan), Chris Hendriks (Netherlands), Klaus Lackner (United States), Ashish Rana (India),
Edward Rubin (United States), Leo Schrattenholzer (Austria), Bill Senior (United Kingdom)
Review Editors
John Christensen (Denmark), Greg Tosen (South Africa)

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

341

8.1 Introduction

342

8.2
8.2.1
8.2.2
8.2.3
8.2.4

342
342
344
345
346

Component costs
Capture and compression
Transport
Storage
Integrated systems

8.3
8.3.1
8.3.2
8.3.3

CCS deployment scenarios

Model approaches and baseline assumptions
CCS economic potential and implications
The share of CCS in total emissions mitigation

348
348
350
352

8.4

Economic impacts of different storage times

359

8.5

Gaps in knowledge

359

References

360

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

Executive summary
The major components of a carbon dioxide capture and storage
(CCS) system include capture (separation plus compression),
transport, and storage (including measurement, monitoring
and verification). In one form or another, these components
are commercially available. However, there is relatively
little commercial experience with configuring all of these
components into fully integrated CCS systems at the kinds of
scales which would likely characterize their future deployment.
The literature reports a fairly wide range of costs for employing
CCS systems with fossil-fired power production and various
industrial processes. The range spanned by these cost estimates
is driven primarily by site-specific considerations such as the
technology characteristics of the power plant or industrial
facility, the specific characteristics of the storage site, and the
required transportation distance of carbon dioxide (CO2). In
addition, estimates of the future performance of components
of the capture, transport, storage, measurement and monitoring
systems are uncertain. The literature reflects a widely held belief
that the cost of building and operating CO2 capture systems will
fall over time as a result of technological advances.
The cost of employing a full CCS system for electricity
generation from a fossil-fired power plant is dominated by the
cost of capture. The application of capture technology would
add about 1.8 to 3.4 US$ct kWh1 to the cost of electricity from
a pulverized coal power plant, 0.9 to 2.2 US$ct kWh1 to the cost
for electricity from an integrated gasification combined cycle
coal power plant, and 1.2 to 2.4 US$ct kWh1 from a naturalgas combined-cycle power plant. Transport and storage costs
would add between 1 and 1 US$ct kWh1 to this range for
coal plants, and about half as much for gas plants. The negative
costs are associated with assumed offsetting revenues from CO2
storage in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or enhanced coal bed
methane (ECBM) projects. Typical costs for transportation and
geological storage from coal plants would range from 0.050.6
US$ct kWh1. CCS technologies can also be applied to other
industrial processes, such as hydrogen (H2) production. In
some of these non-power applications, the cost of capture is
lower than for capture from fossil-fired power plants, but the
concentrations and partial pressures of CO2 in the flue gases
from these sources vary widely, as do the costs. In addition to
fossil-based energy conversion processes, CCS may be applied
to biomass-fed energy systems to create useful energy (electricity
or transportation fuels). The product cost of these systems is
very sensitive to the potential price of the carbon permit and the
associated credits obtained with systems resulting in negative
emissions. These systems can be fuelled solely by biomass, or
biomass can be co-fired in conventional coal-burning plants, in
which case the quantity is normally limited to about 1015% of
the energy input.
Energy and economic models are used to study future
scenarios for CCS deployment and costs. These models indicate
that CCS systems are unlikely to be deployed on a large scale
in the absence of an explicit policy that substantially limits
greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. The literature and

341
current industrial experience indicate that, in the absence of
measures to limit CO2 emissions, there are only small, niche
opportunities for the deployment of CCS technologies. These
early opportunities for CCS deployment that are likely to
involve CO2 captured from high-purity, low-cost sources and
used for a value-added application such as EOR or ECBM
production could provide valuable early experience with
CCS deployment, and create parts of the infrastructure and
knowledge base needed for the future large-scale deployment
of CCS systems.
With greenhouse gas emission limits imposed, many
integrated assessment analyses indicate that CCS systems will
be competitive with other large-scale mitigation options, such
as nuclear power and renewable energy technologies. Most
energy and economic modelling done to date suggests that
the deployment of CCS systems starts to be significant when
carbon prices begin to reach approximately 2530 US$/tCO2
(90110 US$/tC). They foresee the large-scale deployment
of CCS systems within a few decades from the start of any
significant regime for mitigating global warming. The literature
indicates that deployment of CCS systems will increase in line
with the stringency of the modelled emission reduction regime.
Least-cost CO2 concentration stabilization scenarios, that
also take into account the economic efficiency of the system,
indicate that emissions mitigation becomes progressively more
stringent over time. Most analyses indicate that, notwithstanding
significant penetration of CCS systems by 2050, the majority
of CCS deployment will occur in the second half of this
century. They also indicate that early CCS deployment will
be in the industrialized nations, with deployment eventually
spreading worldwide. While different scenarios vary the
quantitative mix of technologies needed to meet the modelled
emissions constraint, the literature consensus is that CCS could
be an important component of a broad portfolio of energy
technologies and emission reduction approaches. In addition,
CCS technologies are compatible with the deployment of other
potentially important long-term greenhouse gas mitigation
technologies such as H2 production from biomass and fossil
fuels.
Published estimates (for CO2 stabilization scenarios between
450750 ppmv) of the global cumulative amount of CO2 that
might be stored over the course of this century in the ocean
and various geological formations span a wide range: from
very small contributions to thousands of gigatonnes of CO2.
This wide range can largely be explained by the uncertainty
of long-term, socio-economic, demographic and technological
change, the main drivers of future CO2 emissions. However, it
is important to note that the majority of stabilization scenarios
from 450750 ppmv tend to cluster in the range of 2202200
GtCO2 (60600 GtC). This demand for CO2 storage appears to
be within global estimates of total CO2 storage capacity. The
actual use of CCS is likely to be lower than the estimates for
economic potential indicated by these energy and economic
models, as there are other barriers to technology development
not adequately accounted for in these modelling frameworks.
Examples include concerns about environmental impact, the lack

342

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

of a clear legal framework and uncertainty about how quickly

learning-by-doing will lower costs. This chapter concludes with
a review of knowledge gaps that affect the reliability of these
model results.
Given the potential for hundreds to thousands of gigatonnes
ofCO2 to be stored in various geological formations and the
ocean, questions have been raised about the implications of
gradual leakage from these reservoirs. From an economic
perspective, such leakage if it were to occur can be thought
of as another potential source of future CO2 emissions, with
the cost of offsetting this leaked CO2 being equal to the cost of
emission offsets when the stored CO2 leaks to the atmosphere.
Within this purely economic framework, the few studies that
have looked at this topic indicate that some CO2 leakage can be
accommodated while progressing towards the goal of stabilizing
atmospheric concentrations of CO2.
8.1 Introduction
In this chapter, we address two of the key questions about
any CO2 mitigation technology: How much will it cost? and
How do CCS technologies fit into a portfolio of greenhouse
gas mitigation options? There are no simple answers to
these questions. Costs for CCS technologies depend on many
factors: fuel prices, the cost of capital, and costs for meeting
potential regulatory requirements like monitoring, to just name
a few. Add to this the uncertainties associated with technology
development, the resource base for storage potential, the
regulatory environment, etc., and it becomes obvious why there
are many answers to what appear to be simple questions.
This chapter starts (in Section 8.2) by looking at the costs
of the system components, namely capture and compression,
transport, and storage (including monitoring costs and byproduct credits from operations such as EOR). The commercial
operations associated with each of these components provide a
basis for the assessment of current costs. Although it involves
greater uncertainty, an assessment is also included of how
these costs will change in the future. The chapter then reviews
the findings from economic modelling (Section 8.3). These
models take component costs at various levels of aggregation
and then model how the costs change with time and how CCS
technologies compete with other CO2 mitigation options given
a variety of economic and policy assumptions. The chapter
concludes with an examination of the economic implications
of different storage times (Section 8.4) and a summary of the
known knowledge gaps (Section 8.5).
8.2

Component costs

This section presents cost summaries for the three key

components of a CCS system, namely capture (including
compression), transport, and storage. Sections 8.2.18.2.3
summarize the results from Chapters 37. Readers are referred
to those chapters for more details of component costs. Results
are presented here in the form most convenient for each section.
Transport costs are given in US$/tCO2 per kilometre, while

storage costs are stated in US$/tCO2 stored. Capture costs for

different types of power plants are represented as an increase
in the electricity generation cost (US$ MWh1). A discussion of
how one integrates the costs of capture, transport and storage
for a particular system into a single value is presented in Section
8.2.4.
8.2.1

Capture and compression

For most large sources of CO2 (e.g., power plants), the cost of
capturing CO2 is the largest component of overall CCS costs.
In this report, capture costs include the cost of compressing
the CO2 to a pressure suitable for pipeline transport (typically
about 14 MPa). However, the cost of any additional booster
compressors that may be needed is included in the cost of
transport and/or storage.
The total cost of CO2 capture includes the additional capital
requirements, plus added operating and maintenance costs
incurred for any particular application. For current technologies,
a substantial portion of the overall cost is due to the energy
requirements for capture and compression. As elaborated in
Chapter 3, a large number of technical and economic factors
related to the design and operation of both the CO2 capture
system, and the power plant or industrial process to which it is
applied, influence the overall cost of capture. For this reason,
the reported costs of CO2 capture vary widely, even for similar
applications.
Table 8.1 summarizes the CO2 capture costs reported in
Chapter 3 for baseload operations of new fossil fuel power
plants (in the size range of 300800 MW) employing current
commercial technology. The most widely studied systems are
new power plants based on coal combustion or gasification.
For costs associated with retrofitting existing power plants, see
Table 3.8. For a modern (high-efficiency) coal-burning power
plant, CO2 capture using an amine-based scrubber increases
the cost of electricity generation (COE) by approximately 40
to 70 per cent while reducing CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour
(kWh) by about 85%. The same CO2 capture technology applied
to a new natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plant increases
the COE by approximately 40 to 70 per cent. For a new coalbased plant employing an integrated gasification combined
cycle (IGCC) system, a similar reduction in CO2 using current
technology (in this case, a water gas shift reactor followed by a
physical absorption system) increases the COE by 20 to 55%.
The lower incremental cost for IGCC systems is due in large
part to the lower gas volumes and lower energy requirements
for CO2 capture relative to combustion-based systems. It should
be noted that the absence of industrial experience with largescale capture of CO2 in the electricity sector means that these
numbers are subject to uncertainties, as is explained in Section
3.7.

his section is based on material presented in Section 3.7. The reader is

T
referred to that section for a more detailed analysis and literature references.

909
64
31
43
12
37
33

Total capital requirement

with capture (US$ kW-1)

Percent increase in capital

cost with capture (%)

COE without capture

(US$ MWh-1)

COE with capture only

(US$ MWh-1)

Increase in COE with

capture (US$ MWh-1)

Percent increase in COE

with capture (%)

Cost of CO2 captured

(US$/tCO2)
-

moderate

74

57

69

24

72

50

100

1261

724

22

50

88

66

379

high

53

44

46

17

54

37

76

998

568

16

48

86

52

367

Rep.
Value

29

23

42

18

62

43

44

1894

1161

24

30

81

92

736

low

moderate

51

35

66

34

86

52

74

2578

1486

40

35

88

145

811

high

New PC Plant

Range

41

29

57

27

73

46

63

2096

1286

31

33

85

112

762

Rep.
Value

13

11

20

54

41

19

1414

1169

14

31

81

65

682

low

37

32

55

22

79

61

66

2270

1565

25

40

91

152

846

high

moderate

Range

23

20

33

16

62

47

37

1825

1326

19

35

86

108

773

Rep.
Value

New IGCC Plant

22

68

96

28

174

high

60

86

17

137

Rep.
Value

0.3

7.5

6.5

-2

56

39

33

3.3

13.3

10.0

54

moderate to high

15

12

15

1.3

9.1

7.8

18

[No unique normalization for

multi-product plants]

52

72

78

low

Range

New Hydrogen Plant

Confidence Level
(see Table 3.7)

US$/tCO2 avoided

US$/tCO2 captured

% increase in H2 cost

Increase in H2 cost
(US$ GJ-1)

H2 cost with capture

(US$ GJ-1)

H2 cost without capture

(US$ GJ-1)

% increase in capital cost

Capital requirement with

capture

Capital requirement without

capture

% more energy input per GJ

product

Capture plant efficiency (%

LHV)

% reduction/unit of product

kg CO2 GJ-1 (with capture)

kg CO2 GJ-1
(without capture)

(Units for H2 Plant)

COE = Cost of electricity

Notes: [a] Ranges and representative values are based on data from Tables 3.7, 3.9, 3.10 and 3.11. All costs in this table are for capture only and do not include the costs of CO2 transport and storage; see
Chapter 8 for total CCS costs. [b] All PC and IGCC data are for bituminous coals only at costs of 1.0-1.5 US$ GJ-1 (LHV); all PC plants are supercritical units. [c] NGCC data based on natural gas prices
of 2.8-4.4 US$ GJ-1 (LHV basis). [d] Costs are in constant US$ (approx. year 2002 basis). [e] Power plant sizes range from approximately 400-800 MW without capture and 300-700 MW with capture.
[f] Capacity factors vary from 65-85% for coal plants and 50-95% for gas plants (average for each=80%). [g] Hydrogen plant feedstocks are natural gas (4.7-5.3 US$ GJ-1) or coal (0.9-1.3 US$ GJ-1);
some plants in dataset produce electricity in addition to hydrogen. [h] Fixed charge factors vary from 11-16% for power plants and 13-20% for hydrogen plants. [i] All costs include CO2 compression
but not additional CO2 transport and storage costs.

Capture cost confidence

Level (see Table 3.7)

37

515

Total capital requirement

without capture (US$ kW-1)

Cost of CO2 avoided

(US$/tCO2)

11

Capture energy requirement

(% more input MWh-1)
-

47

83

40

344

low

Range

New NGCC Plant

Plant efficiency with capture,

LHV basis (% )

Percent CO2 reduction per

kWh (%)

Emission rate with capture

(kg CO2 MWh-1)

Emission rate without

capture (kg CO2 MWh-1)

Performance and
Cost Measures

Table 8.1 Summary of new plant performance and CO2 capture cost based on current technology.

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

343

344
Studies indicate that, in most cases, IGCC plants are slightly
higher in cost without capture and slightly lower in cost with
capture than similarly sized PC plants fitted with a CCS
system. On average, NGCC systems have a lower COE than
both types of new coal-based plants with or without capture
for baseload operation. However, the COE for each of these
systems can vary markedly due to regional variations in fuel
cost, plant utilization, and a host of other parameters. NGCC
costs are especially sensitive to the price of natural gas, which
has risen significantly in recent years. So comparisons of
alternative power system costs require a particular context to
be meaningful.
For existing, combustion-based, power plants, CO2 capture
can be accomplished by retrofitting an amine scrubber to the
existing plant. However, a limited number of studies indicate
that the post-combustion retrofit option is more cost-effective
when accompanied by a major rebuild of the boiler and turbine
to increase the efficiency and output of the existing plant by
converting it to a supercritical unit. For some plants, similar
benefits can be achieved by repowering with an IGCC system
that includes CO2 capture technology. The feasibility and cost
of any of these options is highly dependent on site-specific
circumstances, including the size, age and type of unit, and
the availability of space for accommodating a CO2 capture
system. There has not yet been any systematic comparison of
the feasibility and cost of alternative retrofit and repowering
options for existing plants, as well as the potential for more
cost-effective options employing advanced technology such as
oxyfuel combustion.
Table 8.1 also illustrates the cost of CO2 capture in the
production of H2, a commodity used extensively today for fuels
and chemical production, but also widely viewed as a potential
energy carrier for future energy systems. Here, the cost of
CO2 capture is mainly due to the cost of CO2 compression,
since separation of CO2 is already carried out as part of the H2
production process. Recent studies indicate that the cost of CO2
capture for current processes adds approximately 5 to 30 per
cent to the cost of the H2 product.
In addition to fossil-based energy conversion processes, CO2
could also be captured in power plants fuelled with biomass.
At present, biomass plants are small in scale (<100 MWe).
Hence, the resulting costs of capturing CO2 are relatively high
compared to fossil alternatives. For example, the capturing of
0.19 MtCO2 yr-1 in a 24 MWe biomass IGCC plant is estimated
to be about 82US$/tCO2 (300 US$/tC), corresponding to an
increase of the electricity costs due to capture of about 80
US$ MWh1 (Audus and Freund, 2004). Similarly, CO2 could
be captured in biomass-fuelled H2 plants. The cost is reported
to be between 22 and 25 US$/tCO2 avoided (8092 US$/tC)
in a plant producing 1 million Nm3 d1 of H2 (Makihira et al.,
2003). This corresponds to an increase in the H2 product costs
of about 2.7 US$ GJ1 (i.e., 20% of the H2 costs without CCS).
The competitiveness of biomass CCS systems is very sensitive
to the value of CO2 emission reductions, and the associated
credits obtained with systems resulting in negative emissions.
Moreover, significantly larger biomass plants could benefit from

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

economies of scale, bringing down costs of the CCS systems to
broadly similar levels as those in coal plants. However, there is
too little experience with large-scale biomass plants as yet, so
that their feasibility has still not been proven and their costs are
difficult to estimate.
CCS technologies can also be applied to other industrial
processes. Since these other industrial processes produce
off-gases that are very diverse in terms of pressure and CO2
concentration, the costs range very widely. In some of these
non-power applications where a relatively pure CO2 stream
is produced as a by-product of the process (e.g., natural gas
processing, ammonia production), the cost of capture is
significantly lower than capture from fossil-fuel-fired power
plants. In other processes like cement or steel production,
capture costs are similar to, or even higher than, capture from
fossil-fuel-fired power plants.
New or improved technologies for CO2 capture, combined
with advanced power systems and industrial process designs,
can significantly reduce the cost of CO2 capture in the future.
While there is considerable uncertainty about the magnitude
and timing of future cost reductions, studies suggest that
improvements to current commercial technologies could lower
CO2 capture costs by at least 2030%, while new technologies
currently under development may allow for more substantial
cost reductions in the future. Previous experience indicates that
the realization of cost reductions in the future requires sustained
R&D in conjunction with the deployment and adoption of
commercial technologies.
8.2.2

Transport

The most common and usually the most economical method

to transport large amounts of CO2 is through pipelines. A costcompetitive transport option for longer distances at sea might
be the use of large tankers.
The three major cost elements for pipelines are construction
costs (e.g., material, labour, possible booster station), operation
and maintenance costs (e.g., monitoring, maintenance, possible
energy costs) and other costs (e.g., design, insurance, fees,
right-of-way). Special land conditions, like heavily populated
areas, protected areas such as national parks, or crossing
major waterways, may have significant cost impacts. Offshore
pipelines are about 40% to 70% more costly than onshore pipes
of the same size. Pipeline construction is considered to be a
mature technology and the literature does not foresee many cost
reductions.
Figure 8.1 shows the transport costs for normal terrain
conditions. Note that economies of scale dramatically reduce
the cost, but that transportation in mountainous or densely
populated areas could increase cost.
Tankers could also be used for transport. Here, the main cost
elements are the tankers themselves (or charter costs), loading
and unloading facilities, intermediate storage facilities, harbour
This section is based on material presented in Section 4.6. The reader is
referred to that section for a more detailed analysis and literature references.

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

345

Figure 8.1 CO2 transport costs range for onshore and offshore pipelines per 250 km, normal terrain conditions. The figure shows low (solid
lines) and high ranges (dotted lines). Data based on various sources (for details see Chapter 4).

fees, and bunker fuel. The construction costs for large specialpurpose CO2 tankers are not accurately known since none have
been built to date. On the basis of preliminary designs, the costs
of CO2 tankers are estimated at US$ 34 million for ships of
10,000 tonnes, US$ 58 million for 30,000-tonne vessels, and
US$ 82 million for ships with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes.
To transport 6 MtCO2 per year a distance of 500 km by
ship would cost about 10 US$/tCO2 (37US$/tC) or 5 US$/
tCO2/250km (18 US$/tC/250km). However, since the cost
is relatively insensitive to distance, transporting the same 6
MtCO2 a distance of 1250 km would cost about 15US$/tCO2
(55 US$/tC) or 3 US$/tCO2/250km (11 US$/tC/250km). This is
close to the cost of pipeline transport, illustrating the point that
ship transport becomes cost-competitive with pipeline transport
if CO2 needs to be transported over larger distances. However,
the break-even point beyond which ship transportation becomes
cheaper than pipeline transportation is not simply a matter of
distance; it involves many other aspects.
8.2.3

Storage

8.2.3.1 Geological storage

Because the technologies and equipment used for geological
storage are widely used in the oil and gas industries, the cost
estimates can be made with confidence. However, there will
be a significant range and variability of costs due to sitespecific factors: onshore versus offshore, the reservoir depth
This section is based on material presented in Section 5.9. The reader is
referred to that section for a more detailed analysis and literature references.

and the geological characteristics of the storage formation

(e.g., permeability, thickness, etc.). Representative estimates of
the cost for storage in saline formations and disused oil and
gas fields (see Table 8.2) are typically between 0.58.0 US$/
tCO2 stored (229 US$/tC), as explained in Section 5.9.3. The
lowest storage costs will be associated with onshore, shallow,
high permeability reservoirs and/or the reuse of wells and
infrastructure in disused oil and gas fields.
The full range of cost estimates for individual options is
very large. Cost information for storage monitoring is currently
limited, but monitoring is estimated to add 0.10.3 US$ per
tonne of CO2 stored (0.41.1 US$/tC). These estimates do not
include any well remediation or long-term liabilities. The costs
of storage monitoring will depend on which technologies are
used for how long, regulatory requirements and how long-term
monitoring strategies evolve.
When storage is combined with EOR, enhanced gas recovery
(EGR) or ECBM, the benefits of enhanced production can offset
some of the capture and storage costs. Onshore EOR operations
have paid in the range of 1016 US$ per tonne of CO2 (3759
US$/tC). The economic benefit of enhanced production depends
very much on oil and gas prices. It should be noted that most
of the literature used as the basis for this report did not take
into account the rise in oil and gas prices that started in 2003.
For example, oil at 50 US$/barrel could justify a credit of 30
US$/tCO2 (110US$/tC). The economic benefits from enhanced
production make EOR and ECBM potential early cost-effective
options for geological storage.

346

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 8.2 Estimates of CO2 storage costs.

Option

Geological - Storagea

Geological - Monitoring

Ocean
Pipeline
Ship (Platform or Moving Ship Injection)

Representative Cost Range

(US$/tonne CO2 stored)

Representative Cost Range

(US$/tonne C stored)

0.1-0.3

0.4-1.1

6-31
12-16

22-114
44-59

0.5-8.0

2-29

Mineral Carbonationc

50-100

180-370

Does not include monitoring costs.

Includes offshore transportation costs; range represents 100-500 km distance offshore and 3000 m depth.
c
Unlike geological and ocean storage, mineral carbonation requires significant energy inputs equivalent to approximately 40% of the power plant output.
a

8.2.3.2 Ocean storage

The cost of ocean storage is a function of the distance offshore
and injection depth. Cost components include offshore
transportation and injection of the CO2. Various schemes for
ocean storage have been considered. They include:
tankers to transport low temperature (55 to 50oC), high
pressure (0.60.7 MPa) liquid CO2 to a platform, from
where it could be released through a vertical pipe to a depth
of 3000 m;
carrier ships to transport liquid CO2, with injection through
a towed pipe from a moving dispenser ship;
undersea pipelines to transport CO2 to an injection site.
Table 8.2 provides a summary of costs for transport distances of
100500 km offshore and an injection depth of 3000 m.
Chapter 6 also discusses the option of carbonate neutralization,
where flue-gas CO2 is reacted with seawater and crushed
limestone. The resulting mixture is then released into the
upper ocean. The cost of this process has not been adequately
addressed in the literature and therefore the possible cost of
employing this process is not addressed here.
8.2.3.3 Storage via mineral carbonation
Mineral carbonation is still in its R&D phase, so costs are
uncertain. They include conventional mining and chemical
processing. Mining costs include ore extraction, crushing and
grinding, mine reclamation and the disposal of tailings and
carbonates. These are conventional mining operations and
several studies have produced cost estimates of 10 US$/tCO2
(36 US$/tC) or less. Since these estimates are based on similar
mature and efficient operations, this implies that there is a
strong lower limit on the cost of mineral storage. Carbonation
costs include chemical activation and carbonation. Translating
todays laboratory implementations into industrial practice
yields rough cost estimates of about 50100 US$/tCO2 stored
This section is based on material presented in Section 6.9. The reader is
referred to that section for a more detailed analysis and literature references.

This section is based on material presented in Section 7.2. The reader is
referred to that section for a more detailed analysis and literature references.

(180370 US$/tC). Costs and energy penalties (3050% of

the power plant output) are dominated by the activation of
the ore necessary to accelerate the carbonation reaction. For
mineral storage to become practical, additional research must
reduce the cost of the carbonation step by a factor of three to
four and eliminate a significant portion of the energy penalty
by, for example, harnessing as much as possible the heat of
carbonation.
8.2.4

Integrated systems

The component costs given in this section provide a basis for

the calculation of integrated system costs. However, the cost
of mitigating CO2 emissions cannot be calculated simply by
summing up the component costs for capture, transport and
storage in units of US$/tCO2. This is because the amount of

Figure 8.2 CO2 capture and storage from power plants. The increased
CO2 production resulting from loss in overall efficiency of power
plants due to the additional energy required for capture, transport and
storage, and any leakage from transport result in a larger amount of
CO2 produced per unit of product(lower bar) relative to the reference
plant (upper bar) without capture

347

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

Box 8.1 Defining avoided costs for a fossil fuel power plant

In general, the capture, transport, and storage of CO2 require energy inputs. For a power plant, this means that amount of fuel
input (and therefore CO2 emissions) increases per unit of net power output. As a result, the amount of CO2 produced per unit
of product (e.g., a kWh of electricity) is greater for the power plant with CCS than the reference plant, as shown in Figure 8.2
To determine the CO2 reductions one can attribute to CCS, one needs to compare CO2 emissions of the plant with capture to
those of the reference plant without capture. These are the avoided emissions. Unless the energy requirements for capture and
storage are zero, the amount of CO2 avoided is always less than the amount of CO2 captured. The cost in US$/tonne avoided
is therefore greater than the cost in US$/tonne captured.
CO2 captured will be different from the amount of atmospheric
CO2 emissions avoided during the production of a given
amount of a useful product (e.g., a kilowatt-hour of electricity
or a kilogram of H2). So any cost expressed per tonne of CO2
should be clearly defined in terms of its basis, e.g., either a
captured basis or an avoided basis (see Box 8.1). Mitigation
cost is best represented as avoided cost. Table 8.3 presents
ranges for total avoided costs for CO2 capture, transport, and
storage from four types of sources.
The mitigation costs (US$/tCO2 avoided) reported in Table
8.3 are context-specific and depend very much on what is
chosen as a reference plant. In Table 8.3, the reference plant is a
power plant of the same type as the power plant with CCS. The
mitigation costs here therefore represent the incremental cost of
capturing and storing CO2 from a particular type of plant.
In some situations, it can be useful to calculate a cost of CO2

avoided based on a reference plant that is different from the

CCS plant (e.g., a PC or IGCC plant with CCS using an NGCC
reference plant). In Table 8.4, the reference plant represents the
least-cost plant that would normally be built at a particular
location in the absence of a carbon constraint. In many regions
today, this would be either a PC plant or an NGCC plant.
A CO2 mitigation cost also can be defined for a collection of
plants, such as a national energy system, subject to a given level
of CO2 abatement. In this case the plant-level product costs
presented in this section would be used as the basic inputs to
energy-economic models that are widely used for policy analysis
and for the quantification of overall mitigation strategies and
costs for CO2 abatement. Section 8.3 discusses the nature of
these models and presents illustrative model results, including
the cost of CCS, its economic potential, and its relationship to
other mitigation options.

Table 8.3a Range of total costs for CO2 capture, transport, and geological storage based on current technology for new power plants.
Cost of electricity without CCS (US$ MWh-1)
Power plant with capture

Increased Fuel Requirement (%)

Pulverized Coal
Power Plant

Natural Gas Combined

Cycle Power Plant

Integrated Coal Gasification

Combined Cycle Power Plant

43-52

31-50

41-61

24-40

CO2 captured (kg MWh-1)

820-970

CO2 avoided (kg MWh-1)

% CO2 avoided

Power plant with capture and geological storage

11-22

360-410

14-25

670-940

620-700

300-320

590-730

63-99

43-77

55-91

81-88

83-88

81-91

Cost of electricity (US$ MWh-1)

Electricity cost increase (US$ MWh )

19-47

12-29

10-32

Mitigation cost (US$/tCO2 avoided)

30-71

38-91

14-53

-1

% increase

43-91

Mitigation cost (US$/tC avoided)

37-85

21-78

110-260

140-330

51-200

49-81

37-70

40-75

% increase

12-57

19-63

(-10)-46

Mitigation cost (US$/tC avoided)

31-160

71-250

(-25)-120

Power plant with capture and enhanced oil recovery

Cost of electricity (US$ MWh-1)

Electricity cost increase (US$ MWh )

-1

Mitigation cost (US$/tCO2 avoided)

5-29

9-44

6-22

19-68

(-5)-19

(-7)-31

apture costs represent range from Tables 3.7, 3.9 and 3.10. Transport costs range from 05US$/tCO2. Geological storage cost (including monitoring) range from
C
0.68.3 US$/tCO2.
7
Capture costs represent range from Tables 3.7, 3.9 and 3.10. Transport costs range from 05US$/tCO2 stored. Costs for geological storage including EOR range
from 10 to 16 US$/tCO2 stored.
6

348

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 8.3b Range of total costs for CO2 capture, transport, and geological storage based on current technology for a new hydrogen production plant.

Hydrogen Production Plant

Cost of H2 without CCS (US$ GJ )

6.5-10.0

-1

Hydrogen plant with capture

Increased fuel requirement (%)

4-22

CO2 captured (kg GJ )

75-160

-1

CO2 avoided (kg GJ-1)

% CO2 avoided

Hydrogen plant with capture and geological storage

60-150
73-96

Cost of H2 (US$ GJ-1)

7.6-14.4

H2 cost increase (US$ GJ-1)

0.4-4.4

% increase

6-54

Mitigation cost (US$/tCO2 avoided)

3-75

Mitigation cost (US$ tC avoided)

10-280

Hydrogen plant with capture and enhanced oil recovery9

Cost of H2 (US$ GJ-1)

5.2-12.9

H2 cost increase (US$ GJ-1)

(-2.0)-2.8

% increase

(-28)-28

Mitigation cost (US$/tCO2 avoided)

(-14)-49

Mitigation cost (US$/tC avoided)

8.3

CCS deployment scenarios

Energy-economic models seek the mathematical representation

of key features of the energy system in order to represent the
evolution of the system under alternative assumptions, such
as population growth, economic development, technological
change, and environmental sensitivity. These models have
been employed increasingly to examine how CCS technologies
would deploy in a greenhouse gas constrained environment. In
this section we first provide a brief introduction to the types
of energy and economic models and the main assumptions
driving future greenhouse gas emissions and the corresponding
measures to reduce them. We then turn to the principal focus of

(-53)-180

this section: an examination of the literature based on studies

using these energy and economic models, with an emphasis on
what they say about the potential use of CCS technologies.
8.3.1

Model approaches and baseline assumptions

The modelling of climate change abatement or mitigation

scenarios is complex and a number of modelling techniques have
been applied, including input-output models, macroeconomic
(top-down) models, computable general equilibrium (CGE)
models and energy-sector-based engineering models
(bottom-up).

Table 8.4 Mitigation cost for different combinations of reference and CCS plants based on current technology and new power plants.
NGCC Reference Plant

Power plant with capture and geological storage

NGCC
PC

IGCC

Power plant with capture and EOR

NGCC

PC

IGCC

PC Reference Plant

US$/tCO2
avoided

US$/tC
avoided

US$/tCO2
avoided

40-90

140-330

20-60

40-220

150-790

20-70

70-270

20-70

50-240

20 190

260-980

70-250

180-890

80 710

US$/tC
avoided
80-220

30-70

110-260

1-30

4-130

10-40

1 40

80-260

30-160

4 160

apture costs represent range from Table 3.11. Transport costs range from 05 US$/tCO2. Geological storage costs (including monitoring) range from 0.68.3
C
US$/tCO2.
Capture costs represent range from Table 3.11. Transport costs range from 05 US$/tCO2. EOR credits range from 1016 US$/tCO2.

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

8.3.1.1 Description of bottom-up and top-down models
The component and systems level costs provided in Section
8.2 are based on technology-based bottom-up models. These
models can range from technology-specific, engineeringeconomic calculations embodied in a spreadsheet to broader,
multi-technology, integrated, partial-equilibrium models.
This may lead to two contrasting approaches: an engineeringeconomic approach and a least-cost equilibrium one. In the
first approach, each technology is assessed independently,
taking into account all its parameters; partial-equilibrium leastcost models consider all technologies simultaneously and at a
higher level of aggregation before selecting the optimal mix of
technologies in all sectors and for all time periods.
Top-down models evaluate the system using aggregate
economic variables. Econometric relationships between
aggregated variables are generally more reliable than those
between disaggregated variables, and the behaviour of the
models tends to be more stable. It is therefore common to adopt
high levels of aggregation for top-down models; especially
when they are applied to longer-term analyses. Technology
diffusion is often described in these top-down models in a more
stylized way, for example using aggregate production functions
with price-demand or substitution elasticities.
Both types of models have their strengths and weaknesses.
Top-down models are useful for, among other things, calculating
gross economic cost estimates for emissions mitigation. Most of
these top-down macro-economic models tend to overstate costs
of meeting climate change targets because, among other reasons,
they do not take adequate account of the potential for no-regret
measures and they are not particularly adept at estimating the
benefits of climate change mitigation. On the other hand, many
of these models and this also applies to bottom-up models
are not adept at representing economic and institutional
inefficiencies, which would lead to an underestimation of
emissions mitigation costs.
Technologically disaggregated bottom-up models can take
some of these benefits into account but may understate the
costs of overcoming economic barriers associated with their
deployment in the market. Recent modelling efforts have
focused on the coupling of top-down and bottom-up models
in order to develop scenarios that are consistent from both
the macroeconomic and systems engineering perspectives.
Readers interested in a more detailed discussion of these
modelling frameworks and their application to understanding
future energy, economic and emission scenarios are encouraged
to consult the IPCCs Working Group IIIs assessment of the
international work on both bottom-up and top-down analytical
approaches (Third Assessment Report; IPCC, 2001).
8.3.1.2 Assumptions embodied in emissions baselines
Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) constitute a particular
category of energy and economic models and will be used
here to describe the importance of emissions baselines before
examining model projections of potential future CCS use. IAMs
integrate the simulation of climate change dynamics with the

349
modelling of the energy and economic systems. A common and
illuminating type of analysis conducted with IAMs, and with
other energy and economic models, involves the calculation of
the cost differential or the examination of changes in the portfolio
of energy technologies used when moving from a baseline (i.e.,
no climate policy) scenario to a control scenario (i.e., a case
where a specific set of measures designed to constrain GHG
emissions is modelled). It is therefore important to understand
what influences the nature of these baseline scenarios. A
number of parameters spanning economic, technological,
natural and demographic resources shape the energy use and
resulting emissions trajectories of these baseline cases. How
these parameters change over time is another important aspect
driving the baseline scenarios. A partial list of some of the
major parameters that influence baseline scenarios include, for
example, modelling assumptions centring on:
global and regional economic and demographic
developments;
costs and availability of
1) global and regional fossil fuel resources;
2) fossil-based energy conversion technologies (power
generation, H2 production, etc.), including technologyspecific parameters such as efficiencies, capacity
factors, operation and maintenance costs as well as fuel
costs;
3) zero-carbon energy systems (renewables and nuclear),
which might still be non-competitive in the baseline
but may play a major role competing for market shares
with CCS if climate policies are introduced;
rates of technological change in the baseline and the specific
way in which technological change is represented in the
model;
the relative contribution of CO2 emissions from different
economic sectors.
Modelling all of these parameters as well as alternative
assumptions for them yields a large number of possible
futures. In other words, they yield a number of possible
baseline scenarios. This is best exemplified by the Special
Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES, 2000): it included four
different narrative storylines and associated scenario families,
and identified six illustrative scenario groups labelled
A1FI, A1B, A1T, A2, B1, B2 each representing different
plausible combinations of socio-economic and technological
developments in the absence of any climate policy (for a
detailed discussion of these cases, see SRES, 2000). The six
scenario groups depict alternative developments of the energy
system based on different assumptions about economic and
demographic change, hydrocarbon resource availability, energy
demand and prices, and technology costs and their performance.
They lead to a wide range of possible future worlds and CO2
emissions consistent with the full uncertainty range of the
underlying literature (Morita and Lee, 1998). The cumulative
emissions from 1990 to 2100 in the scenarios range from less
than 2930 to 9170 GtCO2 (800 to 2500 GtC). This range is
divided into four intervals, distinguishing between scenarios

350

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 8.3 Annual and cumulative global emissions from energy and industrial sources in the SRES scenarios (GtCO2). Each interval contains
alternative scenarios from the six SRES scenario groups that lead to comparable cumulative emissions. The vertical bars on the right-hand side
indicate the ranges of cumulative emissions (19902100) of the six SRES scenario groups.

with high, medium-high, medium-low, and low emissions:

high (6600 GtCO2 or 1800 GtC);
medium-high (53206600 GtCO2 or 14501800 GtC);
medium-low (40305320 GtCO2 or 11001450 GtC);
low (4030 GtCO2 or 1100 GtC).
As illustrated in Figure 8.3, each of the intervals contains
multiple scenarios from more than one of the six SRES
scenario groups (see the vertical bars on the right side of Figure
8.3, which show the ranges for cumulative emissions of the
respective SRES scenario group). Other scenario studies, such
as the earlier set of IPCC scenarios developed in 1992 (Pepper
et al., 1992) project similar levels of cumulative emissions over
the period 1990 to 2100, ranging from 2930 to 7850 GtCO2
(800 to 2,140 GtC). For the same time horizon, the IIASAWEC scenarios (Nakicenovic et al., 1998) report 2,2705,870
GtCO2 (6201,600 GtC), and the Morita and Lee (1998)
database which includes more than 400 emissions scenarios
report cumulative emissions up to 12,280 GtCO2 (3,350 GtC).
The SRES scenarios illustrate that similar future emissions
can result from very different socio-economic developments,
and that similar developments in driving forces can nonetheless

result in wide variations in future emissions. The scenarios also

indicate that the future development of energy systems will play
a central role in determining future emissions and suggests that
technological developments are at least as important a driving
force as demographic change and economic development.
These findings have major implications for CCS, indicating that
the pace at which these technologies will be deployed in the
future and therefore their long-term potential is affected not
so much by economic or demographic change but rather by the
choice of the technology path of the energy system, the major
driver of future emissions. For a detailed estimation of the
technical potential of CCS by sector for some selected SRES
baseline scenarios, see Section 2.3.2. In the next section we
shall discuss the economic potential of CCS in climate control
scenarios.
8.3.2

CCS economic potential and implications

As shown by the SRES scenarios, uncertainties associated with

alternative combinations of socio-economic and technological
developments may lead to a wide range of possible future
emissions. Each of the different baseline emissions scenarios has

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

different implications for the potential use of CCS technologies
in emissions control cases.10 Generally, the size of the future
market for CCS depends mostly on the carbon intensity
of the baseline scenario and the stringency of the assumed
climate stabilization target. The higher the CO2 emissions in
the baseline, the more emissions reductions are required to
achieve a given level of allowable emissions, and the larger the
markets for CCS. Likewise, the tighter the modelled constraint
on CO2 emissions, the more CCS deployment there is likely
to be. This section will examine what the literature says about
possible CCS deployment rates, the timing of CCS deployment,
the total deployment of these systems under various scenarios,
the economic impact of CCS systems and how CCS systems
interact with other emissions mitigation technologies.
8.3.2.1 Key drivers for the deployment of CCS
Energy and economic models are increasingly being employed to
examine how CCS technologies would deploy in environments
where CO2 emissions are constrained (i.e., in control cases). A
number of factors have been identified that drive the rate of
CCS deployment and the scale of its ultimate deployment in
modelled control cases:11
1. The policy regime; the interaction between CCS deployment
and the policy regime in which energy is produced and
consumed cannot be overemphasized; the magnitude and
timing of early deployment depends very much on the
policy environment; in particular, the cumulative extent
of deployment over the long term depends strongly on
the stringency of the emissions mitigation regime being
modelled; comparatively low stabilization targets (e.g., 450
ppmv) foster the relatively faster penetration of CCS and
the more intensive use of CCS (where intensity of use is
measured both in terms of the percentage of the emissions
reduction burden shouldered by CCS as well as in terms of
how many cumulative gigatonnes of CO2 is to be stored)
(Dooley et al., 2004b; Gielen and Podanski, 2004; Riahi
and Roehrl, 2000);

10
As no climate policy is assumed in SRES, there is also no economic value
associated with carbon. The potential for CCS in SRES is therefore limited to
applications where the supplementary benefit of injecting CO2 into the ground
exceeds its costs (e.g., EOR or ECBM). The potential for these options is
relatively small as compared to the long-term potential of CCS in stabilization
scenarios. Virtually none of the global modelling exercises in the literature that
incorporate SRES include these options and so there is also no CCS system
deployment assumed in the baseline scenarios.
11
Integrated assessment models represent the world in an idealized way,
employing different methodologies for the mathematical representation of socioeconomic and technological developments in the real world. The representation
of some real world factors, such as institutional barriers, inefficient legal
frameworks, transaction costs of carbon permit trading, potential free-rider
behaviour of geopolitical agents and the implications of public acceptance has
traditionally been a challenge in modelling. These factors are represented to
various degrees (often generically) in these models

351
2. The reference case (baseline); storage requirements for
stabilizing CO2 concentrations at a given level are very
sensitive to the choice of the baseline scenario. In other
words, the assumed socio-economic and demographic
trends, and particularly the assumed rate of technological
change, have a significant impact on CCS use (see Section
8.3.1, Riahi and Roehrl, 2000; Riahi et al., 2003);
3. The nature, abundance and carbon intensity of the energy
resources / fuels assumed to exist in the future (e.g., a
future world where coal is abundant and easily recoverable
would use CCS technologies more intensively than a
world in which natural gas or other less carbon-intensive
technologies are inexpensive and widely available). See
Edmonds and Wise (1998) and Riahi and Roehrl (2000)
for a comparison of two alternative regimes of fossil fuel
availability and their interaction with CCS;
4. The introduction of flexible mechanisms such as emissions
trading can significantly influence the extent of CCS
deployment. For example, an emissions regime with few,
or significantly constrained, emissions trading between
nations entails the use of CCS technologies sooner and
more extensively than a world in which there is efficient
global emissions trading and therefore lower carbon permit
prices (e.g., Dooley et al., 2000 and Scott et al., 2004).
Certain regulatory regimes that explicitly emphasize CCS
usage can also accelerate its deployment (e.g., Edmonds
and Wise, 1998).
5. The rate of technological change (induced through learning
or other mechanisms) assumed to take place with CCS and
other salient mitigation technologies (e.g., Edmonds et al.,
2003, or Riahi et al., 2003). For example, Riahi et al. (2003)
indicate that the long-term economic potential of CCS
systems would increase by a factor of 1.5 if it assumed that
technological learning for CCS systems would take place
at rates similar to those observed historically for sulphur
removal technologies when compared to the situation
where no technological change is specified.12
The marginal value of CO2 emission reduction permits is one
of the most important mechanisms through which these factors
impact CCS deployment. CCS systems tend to deploy quicker
and more extensively in cases with higher marginal carbon
values. Most energy and economic modelling done to date
suggests that CCS systems begin to deploy at a significant level
when carbon dioxide prices begin to reach approximately 25
30 US$/tCO2 (90110 US$/tC) (IEA, 2004; Johnson and Keith,
2004; Wise and Dooley, 2004; McFarland et al., 2004). The only
caveat to this carbon price as a lower limit for the deployment
of these systems is the early opportunities literature discussed
below.
Before turning to a specific focus on the possible contribution
of CCS in various emissions mitigation scenarios, it is worth
reinforcing the point that there is a broad consensus in the
12
The factor increase of 1.5 corresponds to about 250 to 360 GtCO2 of additional
capture and storage over the course of the century.

352
technical literature that no single mitigation measure will be
adequate to achieve a stable concentration of CO2. This means
that the CO2 emissions will most likely be reduced from baseline
scenarios by a portfolio of technologies in addition to other
social, behavioural and structural changes (Edmonds et al., 2003;
Riahi and Roehrl, 2000). In addition, the choice of a particular
stabilization level from any given baseline significantly affects
the technologies needed for achieving the necessary emissions
reduction (Edmonds et al., 2000; Roehrl and Riahi, 2000). For
example, a wider range of technological measures and their
widespread diffusion, as well as more intensive use, are required
for stabilizing at 450 ppmv compared with stabilization at higher
levels (Nakicenovic and Riahi, 2001). These and other studies

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

(e.g., IPCC, 2001) have identified several classes of robust
mitigation measures: reductions in demand and/or efficiency
improvements; substitution among fossil fuels; deployment of
non-carbon energy sources (i.e., renewables and nuclear); CO2
capture and storage; and afforestation and reforestation.
8.3.3

The share of CCS in total emissions mitigation

When used to model energy and carbon markets, the aim of

integrated assessment models is to capture the heterogeneity
that characterizes energy demand, energy use and the varying
states of development of energy technologies that are in use at
any given point in time, as well as over time. These integrated

Figure 8.4 The set of graphs shows how two different integrated assessment models (MiniCAM and MESSAGE) project the development of
global primary energy (upper panels) and the corresponding contribution of major mitigation measures (middle panels). The lower panel depicts
the marginal carbon permit price in response to a modelled mitigation regime that seeks to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of CO2 at 550
ppmv. Both scenarios adopt harmonized assumptions with respect to the main greenhouse gas emissions drivers in accordance with the IPCCSRES B2 scenario (Source: Dooley et al., 2004b; Riahi and Roehrl, 2000).

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Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

Box 8.2 Two illustrative 550 ppmv stabilization scenarios based on IPCC SRES B2

The MESSAGE and MiniCAM scenarios illustrated in Figure 8.4 represent two alternative quantifications of the B2 scenario
family of the IPCC SRES. They are used for subsequent CO2 mitigation analysis and explore the main measures that would
lead to the stabilization of atmospheric concentrations at 550 ppmv.
The scenarios are based on the B2 storyline, a narrative description of how the world will evolve during the twenty-first
century, and share harmonized assumptions concerning salient drivers of CO2 emissions, such as economic development,
demographic change, and final energy demand.
In accordance with the B2 storyline, gross world product is assumed to grow from US$ 20 trillion in 1990 to about US$
235 trillion in 2100 in both scenarios, corresponding to a long-term average growth rate of 2.2%. Most of this growth takes
place in todays developing countries. The scenarios adopt the UN median 1998 population projection (UN, 1998), which
assumes a continuation of historical trends, including recent faster-than-expected fertility declines, towards a completion of the
demographic transition within the next century. Global population increases to about 10 billion by 2100. Final energy intensity
of the economy declines at about the long-run historical rate of about one per cent per year through 2100. On aggregate,
these trends constitute dynamics-as-usual developments, corresponding to middle-of-the-road assumptions compared to the
scenario uncertainty range from the literature (Morita and Lee, 1999).
In addition to the similarities mentioned above, the MiniCAM and MESSAGE scenarios are based on alternative
interpretations of the B2 storyline with respect to a number of other important assumptions that affect the potential future
deployment of CCS. These assumptions relate to fossil resource availability, long-term potentials for renewable energy, the
development of fuel prices, the structure of the energy system and the sectoral breakdown of energy demand, technology costs,
and in particular technological change (future prospects for costs and performance improvements for specific technologies and
technology clusters).
The two scenarios therefore portray alternative but internally consistent developments of the energy technology portfolio,
associated CO2 emissions, and the deployment of CCS and other mitigation technologies in response to the stabilization target
of 550 ppmv CO2, adopting the same assumptions for economic, population, and aggregated demand growth. Comparing the
scenarios portfolio of mitigation options (Figure 8.4) illustrates the importance of CCS as part of the mitigation portfolio. For
more details, see Dooley et al. (2004b) and Riahi and Roehrl (2000).
assessment tools are also used to model changes in market
conditions that would alter the relative cost-competitiveness of
various energy technologies. For example, the choice of energy
technologies would vary as carbon prices rise, as the population
grows or as a stable population increases its standard of living.
The graphs in Figure 8.4 show how two different integrated
assessment models (MiniCAM and MESSAGE) project the
development of global primary energy (upper panels), the
contribution of major mitigation measures (middle panels),
and the marginal carbon permit price in response to a modelled
policy that seeks to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of
CO2 at 550 ppmv in accordance with the main greenhouse gas
emissions drivers of the IPCC-SRES B2 scenario (see Box 8.2).
As can be seen from Figure 8.4, CCS coupled with coal and
natural-gas-fired electricity generation are key technologies in
the mitigation portfolio in both scenarios and particularly in
the later half of the century under this particular stabilization
scenario. However, solar/wind, biomass, nuclear power, etc.
still meet a sizeable portion of the global demand for electricity.
This demonstrates that the world is projected to continue to
use a multiplicity of energy technologies to meet its energy
demands and that, over space and time, a large portfolio of
these technologies will be used at any one time.
When assessing how various technologies will contribute
to the goal of addressing climate change, these technologies
are modelled in such a way that they all compete for market

share to provide the energy services and emissions reduction

required by society, as this is what would happen in reality.
There are major uncertainties associated with the potential and
costs of these options, and so the absolute deployment of CCS
depends on various scenario-specific assumptions consistent
with the underlying storyline and the way they are interpreted
in the different models. In the light of this competition and the
wide variety of possible emissions futures, the contribution of
CCS to total emissions reduction can only be assessed within
relatively wide margins.
The uncertainty with respect to the future deployment of
CCS and its contribution to total emissions reductions for
achieving stabilization of CO2 concentrations between 450 and
750 ppmv is illustrated by the IPCC TAR mitigation scenarios
(Morita et al., 2000; 2001). The TAR mitigation scenarios are
based upon SRES baseline scenarios and were developed by nine
different modelling teams. In total, 76 mitigation scenarios were
developed for TAR, and about half of them (36 scenarios from
three alternative models: DNE21, MARIA, and MESSAGE)
consider CO2 capture and storage explicitly as a mitigation
option. An overview of the TAR scenarios is presented in Morita
et al. (2000). It includes eleven publications from individual
modelling teams about their scenario assumptions and results.
As illustrated in Figure 8.5, which is based upon the
TAR mitigation scenarios, the average share of CCS in total
emissions reductions may range from 15% for scenarios aiming

354

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure 8.5 Relationship between (1) the imputed share of CCS in total cumulative emissions reductions in per cent and (2) total cumulative CCS
deployment in GtCO2 (20002100). The scatter plots depict values for individual TAR mitigation scenarios for the six SRES scenario groups.
The vertical dashed lines show the average share of CCS in total emissions mitigation across the 450 to 750 ppmv stabilization scenarios, and the
dashed horizontal lines illustrate the scenarios average cumulative storage requirements across 450 to 750 ppmv stabilization.

at the stabilization of CO2 concentrations at 750 ppmv to 54%

for 450 ppmv scenarios.13 However, the full uncertainty range
of the set of TAR mitigation scenarios includes extremes on
both the high and low sides, ranging from scenarios with zero
CCS contributions to scenarios with CCS shares of more than
90% in total emissions abatement.
8.3.3.1 Cumulative CCS deployment
Top-down and bottom-up energy-economic models have
been used to examine the likely total deployment of CCS
technologies (expressed in GtC). These analyses reflect the fact
that the future usage of CCS technologies is associated with
large uncertainties. As illustrated by the IPCC-TAR mitigation
scenarios, global cumulative CCS during the 21st century could
range depending on the future characteristics of the reference
world (i.e., baselines) and the employed stabilization target
The range for CCS mitigation in the TAR mitigation scenarios is calculated
on the basis of the cumulative emissions reductions from 1990 to 2100, and
represents the average contribution for 450 and 750 ppmv scenarios across
alternative modelling frameworks and SRES baseline scenarios. The full range
across all scenarios for 450 ppmv is 20 to 95% and 0 to 68% for 750 ppmv
scenarios respectively.
13

(450 to 750 ppmv) from zero to more than 5500 GtCO2 (1500
GtC) (see Figure 8.6). The average cumulative CO2 storage
(20002100) across the six scenario groups shown in Figure 8.6
ranges from 380 GtCO2 (103 GtC) in the 750 ppmv stabilization
scenarios to 2160 GtCO2 (590 GtC) in the 450 ppmv scenarios
(Table 8.5).14 However, it is important to note that the majority
of the six individual TAR scenarios (from the 20th to the 80th
percentile) tend to cluster in the range of 2202200 GtCO2 (60
600 GtC) for the four stabilization targets (450750 ppmv).
The deployment of CCS in the TAR mitigation scenarios is
comparable to results from similar scenario studies projecting
storage of 5761370 GtCO2 (157374 GtC) for stabilization
scenarios that span 450 to 750 ppmv (Edmonds et al., 2000) and
storage of 370 to 1250 GtCO2 (100 to 340 GtC) for stabilization
scenarios that span 450 to 650 ppmv (Dooley and Wise, 2003).
Riahi et al. (2003) project 330890 GtCO2 (90243 GtC) of
stored CO2 over the course of the current century for various
Note that Table 8.5 and Figure 8.6 show average values of CCS across
alternative modelling frameworks used for the development of the TAR
mitigation scenarios. The deployment of CCS over time, as well as cumulative
CO2 storage in individual TAR mitigation scenarios, are illustrated in Figures
8.5 and 8.7.
14

355

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

Figure 8.6 Global cumulative CO2 storage (20002100) in the IPCC TAR mitigation scenarios for the six SRES scenario groups and CO2 stabilization levels
between 450 and 750 ppmv. Values refer to averages across scenario results from different modelling teams. The contribution of CCS increases with the stringency
of the stabilization target and differs considerably across the SRES scenario groups.

550 ppmv stabilization cases. Fujii and Yamaji (1998) have

also included ocean storage as an option. They calculate that,
for a stabilization level of 550 ppmv, 920 GtCO2 (250 GtC) of
the emissions reductions could be provided by the use of CCS
technologies and that approximately one-third of this could be
stored in the ocean. This demand for CO2 storage appears to be
within global estimates of total CO2 storage capacity presented
in Chapters 5 and 6.
8.3.3.2 Timing and deployment rate
Recently, two detailed studies of the cost of CO2 transport and
storage costs have been completed for North America (Dooley
et al., 2004a) and Western Europe (Wildenborg et al., 2004).
These studies concur about the large potential of CO2 storage
capacity in both regions. Well over 80% of the emissions from
current CO2 point sources could be transported and stored in
candidate geologic formations for less than 1215 US$/tCO2
in North America and 25 US$/tCO2 in Western Europe. These
studies are the first to define at a continental scale a CO2
storage supply curve, conducting a spatially detailed analysis
in order to explore the relationship between the price of CO2

transport and storage and the cumulative amount of CO2 stored.

Both studies conclude that, at least for these two regions, the
CO2 storage supply curves are dominated by a very large single
plateau (hundreds to thousands of gigatonnes of CO2), implying
roughly constant costs for a wide range of storage capacity15.
In other words, at a practical level, the cost of CO2 transport
and storage in these regions will have a cap. These studies and a
handful of others (see, for example, IEA GHG, 2002) have also
shown that early (i.e., low cost) opportunities for CO2 capture
and storage hinge upon a number of factors: an inexpensive
(e.g., high-purity) source of CO2; a (potentially) active area of
advanced hydrocarbon recovery (either EOR or ECBM); and
the relatively close proximity of the CO2 point source to the
candidate storage reservoir in order to minimize transportation
costs. These bottom-up studies provide some of the most
detailed insights into the graded CCS resources presently
available, showing that the set of CCS opportunities likely to be
encountered in the real world will be very heterogeneous. These
See Chapter 5 for a full assessment of the estimates of geological storage
capacity.

15

356

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table 8.5 Cumulative CO2 storage (2000 to 2100) in the IPCC TAR mitigation scenarios in GtCO2. CCS contributions for the world and for
the four SRES regions are shown for four alternative stabilization targets (450, 550, 650, and 750 ppmv) and six SRES scenario groups. Values
refer to averages across scenario results from different modelling teams.

WORLD

450 ppmv

550 ppmv

650 ppmv

750 ppmv

OECD90*

450 ppmv

550 ppmv

650 ppmv

All scenarios
(average)

A1FI

A1B

A1T

2162

5628

2614

1003

2709

430

99

898

614

3462

377

1986

551

1060

172

242

A1

740
0

56

450 ppmv

550 ppmv

650 ppmv

750 ppmv

ROW*

450 ppmv

638

296

256

603

483

103

55

277

233

187

2207

1262

99

82

42
0

765

292

226

174

115

80

512

345

110

31

37
0

156

264

146

67

33
0

55

28

47

153

79

67

16
0

20

223

1056

162

20
0

57

652

1825

955

289

366

300

179

164

791

45

24

99

25

111

550 ppmv

273

750 ppmv

130

650 ppmv

133

152

208

ASIA*

149

324

104

257

55

299

505

536

36

918

54

319

650 ppmv

1512

166

450 ppmv

750 ppmv

1298

654

497

87

B1

270

202

100

550 ppmv

B2

637

800

750 ppmv

REF*

225

A2

609

1167
693

214
0

54
0

124
89

63
0

17
0

* The OECD90 region includes the countries belonging to the OECD in 1990. The REF (reforming economies) region aggregates the countries of the
Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The ASIA region represents the developing countries on the Asian continent. The ROW region covers the rest of
the world, aggregating countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. For more details see SRES, 2000.

studies, as well as those based upon more top-down modelling

approaches, also indicate that, once the full cost of the complete
CCS system has been accounted for, CCS systems are unlikely
to deploy on a large scale in the absence of an explicit policy
or regulatory regime that substantially limits greenhouse gas
emissions to the atmosphere. The literature and current industrial
experience indicate that, in the absence of measures to limit
CO2 emissions, there are only small, niche opportunities for
the deployment of CCS technologies. These early opportunities
could provide experience with CCS deployment, including the
creation of parts of the infrastructure and the knowledge base
needed for the future large-scale deployment of CCS systems.
Most analyses of least-cost CO2 stabilization scenarios
indicate that, while there is significant penetration of CCS
systems over the decades to come, the majority of CCS
deployment will occur in the second half of this century

(Edmonds et al., 2000, 2003; Edmonds and Wise, 1998; Riahi

et al., 2003). One of the main reasons for this trend is that the
stabilization of CO2 concentrations at relatively low levels
(<650 ppmv) generally leads to progressively more constraining
mitigation regimes over time, resulting in carbon permit prices
that start out quite low and steadily rise over the course of this
century. The TAR mitigation scenarios (Morita et al., 2000)
based upon the SRES baselines report cumulative CO2 storage
due to CCS ranging from zero to 1100 GtCO2 (300 GtC) for
the first half of the century, with the majority of the scenarios
clustering below 185 GtCO2 (50 GtC). By comparison, the
cumulative contributions of CCS range from zero to 4770
GtCO2 (1300 GtC) in the second half of the century, with the
majority of the scenarios stating figures below 1470 GtCO2 (400
GtC). The deployment of CCS over time in the TAR mitigation
scenarios is illustrated in Figure 8.7. As can be seen, the use

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Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

2003; Dooley and Wise, 2003; Riahi et al. 2003; IEA, 2004),
there is agreement that, in a CO2-constrained world, CCS
systems might begin to deploy in the next few decades and
that this deployment will expand significantly after the middle
of the century. The variation in the estimates of the timing of
CCS-system deployment is attributable to the different ways
energy and economic models parameterize CCS systems and to
the extent to which the potential for early opportunities such
as EOR or ECBM is taken into account. Other factors that
influence the timing of CCS diffusion are the rate of increase
and absolute level of the carbon price.

Figure 8.7 Deployment of CCS systems as a function of time from

1990 to 2100 in the IPCC TAR mitigation scenarios where atmospheric
CO2 concentrations stabilize at between 450 to 750 ppmv. Coloured
thick lines show the minimum and maximum contribution of CCS for
each SRES scenario group, and thin lines depict the contributions in
individual scenarios. Vertical axes on the right-hand side illustrate the
range of CCS deployment across the stabilization levels for each SRES
scenario group in the year 2100.

of CCS is highly dependent upon the underlying base case.

For example, in the high economic growth and carbon-intensive
baseline scenarios (A1FI), the development path of CCS is
characterized by steadily increasing contributions, driven by
the rapidly growing use of hydrocarbon resources. By contrast,
other scenarios (e.g., A1B and B2) depict CCS deployment
to peak during the second half of the century. In a number of
these scenarios, the contribution of CCS declines to less than
11 GtCO2 per year (3 GtC per year) until the end of the century.
These scenarios reflect the fact that CCS could be viewed as
a transitional mitigation option (bridging the transition from
todays fossil-intensive energy system to a post-fossil system
with sizable contributions from renewables).
Given these models relatively coarse top-down view of the
world, there is less agreement about when the first commercial
CCS units will become operational. This is at least in part
attributable to the importance of policy in creating the context
in which initial units will deploy. For example, McFarland et al.
(2003) foresee CCS deployment beginning around 2035. Other
modelling exercises have shown CCS systems beginning to
deploy at a lower level of less than 370 MtCO2 a year (100 MtC
a year) in the period 20052020 (see, for example, Dooley et
al., 2000). Moreover, in an examination of CCS deployment in
Japan, Akimoto et al. (2003) show CCS deployment beginning
in 20102020. In a large body of literature (Edmonds et al.

8.3.3.3 Geographic distribution

McFarland et al. (2003) foresee the eventual deployment of
CCS technologies throughout the world but note that the timing
of the entry of CCS technologies into a particular region is
influenced by local conditions such as the relative price of coal
and natural gas in a region. Dooley et al. (2002) show that the
policy regime, and in particular the extent of emissions trading,
can influence where CCS technologies are deployed. In the
specific case examined by this paper, it was demonstrated that,
where emissions trading was severely constrained (and where
the cost of abatement was therefore higher), CCS technologies
tended to deploy more quickly and more extensively in the US
and the EU. On the other hand, in the absence of an efficient
emissions-trading system spanning all of the Annex B nations,
CCS was used less intensively and CCS utilization was spread
more evenly across these nations as the EU and US found it
cheaper to buy CCS-derived emission allowances from regions
like the former Soviet Union.
Table 8.5 gives the corresponding deployment of CCS in
the IPCC TAR mitigation scenarios for four world regions.
All values are given as averages across scenario results from
different modelling teams. The data in this table (in particular
the far left-hand column which summarizes average CO2
storage across all scenarios) help to demonstrate a common
and consistent finding of the literature: over the course of this
century, CCS will deploy throughout the world, most extensively
in the developing nations of today (tomorrows largest emitters
of CO2). These nations will therefore be likely candidates for
adopting CCS to control their growing emissions.16
Fujii et al. (2002) note that the actual deployment of CCS
technologies in any given region will depend upon a host of
geological and geographical conditions that are, at present,
poorly represented in top-down energy and economic models.
In an attempt to address the shortcomings noted by Fujii et al.
(2002) and others, especially in the way in which the cost of CO2
transport and storage are parameterized in top-down models,
Dooley et al. (2004b) employed graded CO2 storage supply
curves for all regions of the world based upon a preliminary
assessment of the literatures estimate of regional CO2 storage
This trend can be seen particularly clearly in the far left-hand column of Table
8.5, which gives the average CCS deployment across all scenarios from the
various models. Note, nevertheless, a few scenarios belonging to the B1 and
B2 scenario family, which suggest larger levels of deployment for CCS in the
developed world.
16

358
capacity. In this framework, where the cost of CO2 storage varies
across the globe depending upon the quantity, quality (including
proximity) and type of CO2 storage reservoirs present in the
region, as well as upon the demand for CO2 storage (driven by
factors such as the size of the regional economy, the stringency
of the modelled emissions reduction regime), the authors show
that the use of CCS across the globe can be grouped into three
broad categories: (1) countries in which the use of CCS does
not appear to face either an economic or physical constraint on
CCS deployment given the large potential CO2 storage resource
compared to projected demand (e.g., Australia, Canada, and the
United States) and where CCS should therefore deploy to the
extent that it makes economic sense to do so; (2) countries in
which the supply of potential geological storage reservoirs (the
authors did not consider ocean storage) is small in comparison
to potential demand (e.g., Japan and South Korea) and where
other abatement options must therefore be pressed into service
to meet the modelled emissions reduction levels; and (3) the
rest of the world in which the degree to which CCS deployment
is constrained is contingent upon the stringency of the emission
constraint and the useable CO2 storage resource. The authors
note that discovering the true CO2 storage potential in regions
of the world is a pressing issue; knowing whether a country or a
region has sufficient CO2 storage capacity is a critical variable
in these modelling analyses because it can fundamentally alter
the way in which a countrys energy infrastructure evolves in
response to various modelled emissions constraints.
8.3.3.4 Long-term economic impact
An increasing body of literature has been analyzing short- and
long-term financial requirements for CCS. The World Energy
Investment Outlook 2003 (IEA, 2003) estimates an upper limit
for investment in CCS technologies for the OECD of about
US$ 350 to 440 billion over the next 30 years, assuming that
all new power plant installations will be equipped with CCS.
Similarly, Riahi et al. (2004) estimate that up-front investments
for initial niche market applications and demonstration plants
could amount to about US$ 70 billion or 0.2% of the total
global energy systems costs over the next 20 years. This would
correspond to a market share of CCS of about 3.5% of total
installed fossil-power generation capacities in the OECD
countries by 2020, where most of the initial CCS capacities are
expected to be installed.
Long-term investment requirements for the full integration
of CCS in the electricity sector as a whole are subject to major
uncertainties. Analyses with integrated assessment models
indicate that the costs of decarbonizing the electricity sector
via CCS might be about three to four per cent of total energyrelated systems costs over the course of the century (Riahi et al.,
2004). Most importantly, these models also point out that the
opportunity costs of CCS not being part of the CO2 mitigation
portfolio would be significant. Edmonds et al. (2000) indicate
that savings over the course of this century associated with the
wide-scale deployment of CCS technologies when compared
to a scenario in which these technologies do not exist could
be in the range of tens of billions of 1990 US dollars for high

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

CO2 concentrations limits such as 750 ppmv, to trillions of
dollars for more stringent CO2 concentrations such as 450 ppm
17
. Dooley et al. (2002) estimate cost savings in excess of 36%
and McFarland et al. (2004) a reduction in the carbon permit
price by 110 US$/tCO2 in scenarios where CCS technologies
are allowed to deploy when compared to scenarios in which
they are not.
8.3.3.5 Interaction with other technologies
As noted above, the future deployment of CCS will depend on
a number of factors, many of which interact with each other.
The deployment of CCS will be impacted by factors such as
the development and deployment of renewable energy and
nuclear power (Mori, 2000). Edmonds et al. (2003) report
that CCS technologies can synergistically interact with other
technologies and in doing so help to lower the cost and therefore
increase the overall economic potential of less carbon-intensive
technologies. The same authors note that these synergies are
perhaps particularly important for the combination of CCS,
H2 production technologies and H2 end-use systems (e.g.,
fuel cells). On the other hand, the widespread availability of
CCS technologies implies an ability to meet a given emissions
reduction at a lower marginal cost, reducing demand for
substitute technologies at the margin. In other words, CCS is
competing with some technologies, such as energy-intensity
improvements, nuclear, fusion, solar power options, and wind.
The nature of that interaction depends strongly on the climate
policy environment and the costs and potential of alternative
mitigation options, which are subject to large variations
depending on site-specific, local conditions (IPCC, 2001).
At the global level, which is spatially more aggregated, this
variation translates into the parallel deployment of alternative
options, taking into account the importance of a diversified
technology portfolio for addressing emissions mitigation in a
cost-effective way.
An increasing body of literature (Willams, 1998; Obersteiner
et al., 2001; Rhodes and Keith, 2003; Makihira et al., 2003;
Edmonds et al., 2003, Mllersten et al., 2003) has begun to
examine the use of CCS systems with biomass-fed energy
systems to create useful energy (electricity or transportation
fuels) as well as excess emissions credits generated by the
systems resulting negative emissions. These systems can
be fuelled solely by biomass, or biomass can be co-fired in
conventional coal-burning plants, in which case the quantity
is normally limited to about 1015% of the energy input.
Obersteiner et al. (2001) performed an analysis based on the
SRES scenarios, estimating that 880 to 1650 GtCO2 (240
to 450 GtC) of the scenarios cumulative emissions that are
vented during biomass-based energy-conversion processes
could potentially be available for capture and storage over the
course of the century. Rhodes and Keith (2003) note that, while
this coupled bio-energy CCS system would generate expensive
Savings are measured as imputed gains of GDP due to CCS deployment, in
contrast to a world where CCS is not considered to be part of the mitigation
portfolio.

17

359

Chapter 8: Cost and economic potential

electricity in a world of low carbon prices, this system could
produce competitively priced electricity in a world with carbon
prices in excess of 54.5 US$/tCO2 (200 US$/tC). Similarly,
Makihira et al. (2003) estimate that CO2 capture during hydrogen
production from biomass could become competitive at carbon
prices above 54.5 to 109 US$/tCO2 (200 to 400US$/tC).
8.4

Economic impacts of different storage times

As discussed in the relevant chapters, geological and ocean

storage might not provide permanent storage for all of the CO2
injected. The question arises of how the possibility of leakage
from reservoirs can be taken into account in the evaluation of
different storage options and in the comparison of CO2 storage
with mitigation options in which CO2 emissions are avoided.
Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the expected fractions of CO2 retained
in storage for geological and ocean reservoirs respectively. For
example, Box 6.7 suggests four types of measures for ocean
storage: storage efficiency, airborne fraction, net present value,
and global warming potential. Chapter 9 discusses accounting
issues relating to the possible impermanence of stored CO2.
Chapter 9 also contains a review of the broader literature on the
value of delayed emissions, primarily focusing on sequestration
in the terrestrial biosphere. In this section, we focus specifically
on the economic impacts of differing storage times in geological
and ocean reservoirs.
Herzog et al. (2003) suggest that CO2 storage and leakage
can be looked upon as two separate, discrete events. They
represent the value of temporary storage as a familiar economic
problem, with explicitly stated assumptions about the discount
rate and carbon prices. If someone stores a tonne of CO2 today,
they will be credited with todays carbon price. Any future
leakage will have to be compensated by paying the carbon price
in effect at that time. Whether non-permanent storage options
will be economically attractive depends on assumptions about
the leakage rate, discount rate and relative carbon permit prices.
In practice, this may turn out to be a difficult issue since the
commercial entity that undertakes the storage may no longer
exist when leakage rates have been clarified (as Baer (2003)
points out), and hence governments or society at large might
need to cover the leakage risk of many storage sites rather than
the entity that undertakes the storage.
Ha-Duong and Keith (2003) explore the trade-offs
between discounting, leakage, the cost of CO2 storage and the
energy penalty. They use both an analytical approach and an
integrated assessment numerical model in their assessment. In
the latter case, with CCS modelled as a backstop technology,
they find that, for an optimal mix of CO2 abatement and CCS
technologies, an (annual) leakage rate of 0.1% is nearly the
same as perfect storage while a leakage rate of 0.5% renders
storage unattractive.
Some fundamental points about the limitations of the
economic valuation approaches presented in the literature have
been raised by Baer (2003). He argues that financial efficiency,
which is at the heart of the economic approaches to the valuation
of, and decisions about, non-permanent storage is only one of a

number of important criteria to be considered. Baer points out

that at least three risk categories should to be taken into account
as well:
ecological risk: the possibility that optimal leakage may
preclude future climate stabilization;
financial risk: the possibility that future conditions will
cause carbon prices to greatly exceed current expectations,
with consequences for the maintenance of liability and
distribution of costs; and
political risk: the possibility that institutions with an interest
in CO2 storage may manipulate the regulatory environment
in their favour.
As these points have not been extensively discussed in the
literature so far, the further development of the scientific debate
on these issues must be followed closely.
In summary, within this purely economic framework, the
few studies that have looked at this topic indicate that some
CO2 leakage can be accommodated while still making progress
towards the goal of stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of
CO2. However, due to the uncertainties of the assumptions, the
impact of different leakage rates and therefore the impact of
different storage times are hard to quantify.
8.5

Gaps in knowledge

Cost developments for CCS technologies are now estimated

based on literature, expert views and a few recent CCS
deployments. Costs of large-scale integrated CCS applications
are still uncertain and their variability depends among other
things on many site-specific conditions. Especially in the case
of large-scale CCS biomass based applications, there is a lack
of experience and therefore little information in the literature
about the costs of these systems.
There is little empirical evidence about possible cost
decreases related to learning by doing for integrated CCS
systems since the demonstration and commercial deployment of
these systems has only recently begun. Furthermore, the impact
of targeted research, development and deployment (RD&D) of
CCS investments on the level and rate of CCS deployment is
poorly understood at this time. This lack of knowledge about
how technologies will deploy in the future and the impact of
RD&D on the technologys deployment is a generic issue and
is not specific to CCS deployment.
In addition to current and future CCS technological costs,
there are other possible issues that are not well known at this
point and that would affect the future deployment of CCS
systems: for example, costs related to the monitoring and
regulatory framework, possible environmental damage costs,
costs associated with liability and possible public-acceptance
issues.
There are at present no known, full assessments of life-cycle
costs for deployed CCS systems, and in particular the economic
impact of the capture, transport and storage of non-pure CO2
streams.
The development of bottom-up CCS deployment cost

360
curves that take into account the interplay between large CO2
point sources and available storage capacity in various regions
of the world should continue; these cost curves would help to
show how CCS technologies will deploy in practice and would
also help improve the economic modelling of CCS deployment
in response to various modelled scenarios.
Recent changes in energy prices and changes in policy
regimes related to climate change are not fully reflected in
the literature available as this chapter was being written. This
suggests a need for a continuous effort to update analyses
and perhaps draft a range of scenarios with a wider range of
assumptions (e.g., fuel prices, climate policies) in order to
understand better the robustness and sensitivity of the current
outcomes.

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363

Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for

greenhouse gas inventories and accounting

Coordinating Lead Authors

Balgis Osman-Elasha (Sudan), Riitta Pipatti (Finland)
Lead Authors
William Kojo Agyemang-Bonsu (Ghana), A.M. Al-Ibrahim (Saudi Arabia), Carlos Lopez (Cuba), Gregg
Marland (United States), Huang Shenchu (China), Oleg Tailakov (Russian Federation)
Review Editors
Takahiko Hiraishi (Japan), Jos Domingos Miguez (Brazil)

364

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Contents
Executive Summary

365

9.1 Introduction

365

9.2 National greenhouse gas inventories

366
9.2.1 Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines and IPCC Good
Practice Guidance
366
9.2.2 Methodological framework for CO2 capture

and storage systems in national greenhouse gas

inventories
366
9.2.3 Monitoring, verification and uncertainties
371

9.3 Accounting issues

9.3.1 Uncertainty, non-permanence and discounting
methodology
9.3.2 Accounting issues related to Kyoto mechanisms

(JI , CDM, and ET)

372

9.4 Gaps in knowledge

378

References

378

373
376

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting
Executive Summary
This chapter addresses how methodologies to estimate and
report reduced or avoided greenhouse gas emissions from the
main options for CO2 capture and storage (CCS) systems could
be included in national greenhouse gas inventories, and in
accounting schemes such as the Kyoto Protocol.
The IPCC Guidelines and Good Practice Guidance reports
(GPG2000 and GPG-LULUCF) are used in preparing national
inventories under the UNFCCC. These guidelines do not
specifically address CO2 capture and storage, but the general
framework and concepts could be applied for this purpose. The
IPCC guidelines give guidance for reporting on annual emissions
by gas and by sector. The amount of CO2 captured and stored
can be measured, and could be reflected in the relevant sectors
and categories producing the emissions, or in new categories
created specifically for CO2 capture, transportation and storage
in the reporting framework. In the first option, CCS would be
treated as a mitigation measure and, for example, power plants
with CO2 capture or use of decarbonized fuels would have
lower emissions factors (kgCO2/kg fuel used) than conventional
systems. In the second option, the captured and stored amounts
would be reported as removals (sinks) for CO2. In both options,
emissions from fossil fuel use due to the additional energy
requirements in the capture, transportation and injection
processes would be covered by current methodologies. But
under the current framework, they would not be allocated to the
CCS system.
Methodologies to estimate, monitor and report physical
leakage from storage options would need to be developed.
Some additional guidance specific to the systems would need
to be given for fugitive emissions from capture, transportation
and injection processes. Conceptually, a similar scheme could
be used for mineral carbonation and industrial use of CO2.
However, detailed methodologies would need to be developed
for the specific processes.
Quantified commitments, emission trading or other similar
mechanisms need clear rules and methodologies for accounting
for emissions and removals. There are several challenges for
the accounting frameworks. Firstly, there is a lack of knowledge
about the rate of physical leakage from different storage options
including possibilities for accidental releases over a very long
time period (issues of permanence and liability). Secondly, there
are the implications of the additional energy requirements of the
options; and the issues of liability and economic leakage where
CO2 capture and storage crosses the traditional accounting
boundaries.

Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
(IPCC 1997) abbreviated as IPCC Guidelines in this chapter; IPCC Good
Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories (IPCC 2000) abbreviated as GPG2000; and IPCC Good
Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry ( IPCC 2003)
abbreviated as GPG-LULUCF.

365

The literature on accounting for the potential impermanence of

stored CO2 focuses on sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere.
Although notably different from CCS in oceans or in geological
reservoirs (with respect to ownership, the role of management,
measurement and monitoring, expected rate of physical
leakage; modes of potential physical leakage; and assignment
of liability), there are similarities. Accounting approaches, such
as discounting, the ton-year approach, and rented or temporary
credits, are discussed. Ultimately, political processes will decide
the value of temporary storage and allocation of responsibility
for stored carbon. Precedents set by international agreements
on sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere provide some
guidance, but there are important differences that will have to
be considered.
9.1

Introduction

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) can take a variety of forms.

This chapter discusses how the main CCS systems as well
as mineral carbonation and industrial uses of CO2, described
in the previous chapters could be incorporated into national
greenhouse gas inventories and accounting schemes. However,
inventory or accounting issues specific to enhanced oil recovery
or enhanced coal bed methane are not addressed here.
The inclusion of CCS systems in national greenhouse
gas inventories is discussed in Section 9.2 (Greenhouse gas
inventories). The section gives an overview of the existing
framework, the main concepts and methodologies used in
preparing and reporting national greenhouse gas emissions
and removals with the aim of identifying inventory categories
for reporting CCS systems. In addition, areas are identified
where existing methodologies could be used to include these
systems in the inventories, and areas where new methodologies
(including emission/removal factors and uncertainty estimates)
would need to be developed. Treatment of CCS in corporate or
company reporting is beyond the scope of the chapter.
Issues related to accounting under the Kyoto Protocol;
or under other similar accounting schemes that would limit
emissions, provide credits for emission reductions, or encourage
emissions trading; are addressed in Section 9.3 (Accounting
issues). The section addresses issues that could warrant special
rules and modalities in accounting schemes because of specific
features of CCS systems, such as permanence of CO2 storage
and liability issues related to transportation and storage in
international territories and across national borders. Specific
consideration is also given to CCS systems in relation to the
mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol (Emission Trading, Joint
Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism).

Accounting refers to the rules for comparing emissions and removals as

reported with commitments. In this context, estimation is the process of
calculating greenhouse gas emissions and removals, and reporting is the
process of providing the estimates to the UNFCCC (IPCC 2003).

366
9.2

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

National greenhouse gas inventories

Information on pollutant emissions is usually compiled in

emission inventories. Emissions are listed according to
categories such as pollutants, sectors, and source and compiled
per geographic area and time interval. Many different emission
inventories have been prepared for different purposes. Among
the commitments in the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 1992) all Parties, taking into
account their common but differentiated responsibilities, and
their specific national and regional development priorities,
objectives and circumstances, shall: Develop, periodically
update, publish and make available to the Conference of the
Parties, national inventories of anthropogenic emissions
by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases
not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, using comparable
methodologies to be agreed upon by the Conference of the
Parties.
Industrialized countries (Annex I Parties) are required
to report annually and developing countries (non-Annex I
Parties) to report on greenhouse gas emissions and removals
to the Convention periodically, as part of their National
Communications to the UNFCCC. National greenhouse
gas inventories are prepared using the methodologies in the
IPCC Guidelines as complemented by the GPG2000 and
GPGLULUCF, or methodologies consistent with these. These
inventories should include all anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions by sources and removals by sinks not covered by
the Montreal Protocol. To ensure high quality and accuracy,
inventories by Annex I Parties are reviewed by expert review
teams coordinated by the UNFCCC Secretariat. The review
reports are published on the UNFCCC website.
The rules and modalities for accounting are elaborated
under the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC, 1997) and the Marrakech
Accords (UNFCCC, 2002). The Kyoto Protocol specifies
emission limitation or reduction commitments by the Annex I
Parties for six gases/gas groups: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
(CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
At present, CCS is practiced on a very small scale. CCS
projects have not generally been described in the national
inventory reports of the countries where they take place. An
exception is the Sleipner CCS project, which is included in
Norways inventory report. Norway provides information
on the annual captured and stored amounts, as well as on
the amounts of CO2 that escape to the atmosphere during the
injection process (amounts have varied from negligible to about
0.8% of the captured amount). The escaping CO2 emissions are

included in the total emissions of Norway. The spread of the CO2

in the storage reservoir has been monitored by seismic methods.
No physical leakage has been detected. An uncertainty estimate
has not been performed but it is expected to be done when
more information is available from the projects monitoring
programme.
The scarce reporting of current CCS projects is due largely
to the small number and size of industrial CCS projects in
operation, as well as to the lack of clarity in the reporting
methodologies.
9.2.1

The reporting guidelines under the UNFCCC, and under the

Kyoto Protocol as specified in the Marrakech Accords require
Annex I Parties to use the IPCC Guidelines1, as elaborated by
the GPG20001, in estimating and reporting national greenhouse
gas inventories. The use of the GPG-LULUCF1 will start in
2005 with a one-year trial period. Non-Annex I Parties also use
the IPCC Guidelines in their reporting, and use of GPG2000
and GPG-LULUCF reports is encouraged. The main reporting
framework (temporal, spatial and sectoral) and the guiding
principles of the IPCC Guidelines and good practice guidance
reports are given in Box 9.1.
The IPCC Guidelines will be revised and updated by early
200610. In the draft outline for the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, CCS is mentioned in
a footnote in the Energy Sector: It is recognized that CO2
capture and storage is an important emerging issue in inventory
development. The coverage of CO2 storage in this report will
be closely coordinated with progress on IPCC SR on CO2
capture and storage. CO2 capture activities will be integrated
as appropriate into the methods presented for source categories
where it may occur.
9.2.2

Methodological framework for CO2 capture

and storage systems in national greenhouse gas
inventories

The two main options for including CCS in national greenhouse

gas inventories have been identified and analysed using the
current methodological framework for total chain from capture
to storage (geological and ocean storage). These options are:
Source reduction: To evaluate the CCS systems as mitigation
options to reduce emissions to the atmosphere;
FCCC/CP2002/7/Add.2: Annexes to Decision 17/CP.8 Guidelines for the
preparation of national communications from Parties not included in Annex
I to the Convention and 18/CP.8 Guidelines for the preparation of national
communications by Parties included in Annex I to the Convention, part I:
UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories.

FCCC/SBSTA/2003/L.22 and FCCC/SBSTA/2003/L.22/Add.1.

FCCC/CP/2002/7/Add.2.
10
http://www.ipcc.ch/meet/session21.htm: IPCC XXI/Doc.10.

Commitment related to the Articles 4.1 (a) and 12.1 (a) of the United Nations
Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC).

http://unfccc.int

The Marrakech Accords refer to the Report of the Conference of the Parties
of the UNFCCC on its seventh session (COP7), held in Marrakech 29 October
to 10 November 2001.

Norways inventory report can be found at http://cdr.eionet.
eu.int/no/un/UNFCCC/envqh6rog.

Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines and IPCC Good

Practice Guidance

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting

367

Box 9.1 Main reporting framework (temporal, spatial and sectoral) and guiding principles of the IPCC Guidelines and good practice guidance
reports.

The IPCC methodologies for estimating and reporting national greenhouse gas inventories are based on sectoral guidance for
reporting of actual emissions and removals of greenhouse gases by gas and by year. The IPCC Guidelines give the framework
for the reporting (sectors, categories and sub-categories), default methodologies and default emission/removal factors (the
so called Tier 1 methodologies) for the estimation. Higher tier methodologies are based on more sophisticated methods for
estimating emissions/removals and on the use of national or regional parameters that accommodate the specific national
circumstances. These methodologies are not always described in detail in the IPCC Guidelines. Use of transparent and welldocumented national methodologies consistent with those in the IPCC Guidelines is encouraged.
The Good Practice Guidance (GPG) reports facilitate the development of inventories in which the emissions/removals are not
over- or under-estimated, so far as can be judged, and in which the uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable. Further aims
are to produce transparent, documented, consistent, complete, comparable inventories, which are i) assessed for uncertainties,
ii) subject to quality assurance and quality control, and iii) efficient in the use of resources. The GPG reports give guidance on
how to choose the appropriate methodologies for specific categories in a country, depending on the importance of the category
(key category analysis is used to determine the importance) and on availability of data and resources for the estimation.
Decision trees guide the choice of estimation method most suited to the national circumstances. The category-specific guidance
linked to the decision trees also provides information on the choice of emission factors and activity data. The GPG reports give
guidance on how to meet the requirements of transparency, consistency, completeness, comparability, and accuracy required
by the national greenhouse gas inventories.
The Sectors covered in the IPCC Guidelines are: (i) Energy, (ii) Industrial Processes, (iii) Solvent and Other Product Use,
(iv) Agriculture, (v) Land Use Change and Forestry, (vi) Waste and (vii) Other. The use of the seventh sector Other is
discouraged: Efforts should be made to fit all emission sources/sinks into the six categories described above. If it is impossible
to do so, however, this category can be used, accompanied by a detailed explanation of the source/sink activity (IPCC
1997).
Sink enhancement: To evaluate the CCS systems using an
analogy with the treatment made to CO2 removals by sinks
in the sector Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry.
A balance is made of the CO2 emissions and removals to
obtain the net emission or removal. In this option, removals
by sinks are related to CO2 storage.
In both options, estimation methodologies could be developed to
cover most of the emissions in the CCS system (see Figure 9.1),
and reporting could use the current framework for preparation
of national greenhouse gas inventories.
In the first option, reduced emissions could be reported in
the category where capture takes place. For instance, capture
in power plants could be reported using lower emission factors
than for plants without CCS. But this could reduce transparency
of reporting and make review of the overall impact on emissions
more difficult, especially if the capture process and emissions
from transportation and storage are not linked. This would be
emphasized where transportation and storage includes captured
CO2 from many sources, or when these take place across national
borders. An alternative would be to track CO2 flows through the
entire capture and storage system making transparent how much
CO2 was produced, how much was emitted to the atmosphere
at each process stage, and how much CO2 was transferred to
storage. This latter approach, which appears fully transparent
and consistent with earlier UNFCCC agreements, is described
in this chapter.
The second option is to report the impact of the CCS system
as a sink. For instance, reporting of capture in power plants

would not alter the emissions from the combustion process but
the stored amount of CO2 would be reported as a removal in
the inventory. Application of the second option would require
adoption of new definitions not available in the UNFCCC or
in the current methodological framework for the preparation
of inventories. UNFCCC (1992) defines a sink as any
process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse
gas, an aerosol, or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the
atmosphere. Although removal was not included explicitly in
the UNFCCC definitions, it appears associated with the sink
concept. CCS11 systems do not meet the UNFCCC definition for
a sink, but given that the definition was agreed without having
CCS systems in mind, it is likely that this obstacle could be
solved (Torvanger et al., 2005).
General issues of relevance to CCS systems include system
boundaries (sectoral, spatial and temporal) and these will vary
in importance with the specific system and phases of the system.
The basic methodological approaches for system components,
together with the status of the methods and availability of
data for these are discussed below. Mineral carbonation and
industrial use of CO2 are addressed separately.
Sectoral boundaries: The draft outline for the 2006 IPCC
Guidelines (see Section 9.2.1) states that: CO2 capture
activities will be integrated as appropriate into the methods
presented for source/sink categories where they may
11
Few cases are nearer to the sink definition. For example, mineralization
can also include fixation from the atmosphere.

fig 9-1

368

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

CO2 emissions resulting

from additional energy
requirements for capture

CO2 emissions resulting

CO2 emissions resulting
from additional energy
from additional energy
requirements for transport
requirements for injection
CO2 emissions
during transport
CO2 emissions
(fugitive)
during injection
(fugitive)

Transport

CO2 emissions during

imperfect capture

CO2 from pre or

post-combustion
or processing

Leakage from
storage

Storage

Capture

Figure 9.1 Simplified flow diagram of possible CO2 emission sources during CCS

occur. This approach is followed here when addressing the

sectors under which the specific phases of the CCS systems
could be reported. The reporting of emissions/removals
associated with CO2 capture, transportation, injection and
storage processes should be described clearly to fulfil the
requirement of transparent reporting.
Spatial boundaries: National inventories include greenhouse
gas emissions and removals taking place within national
(including administered) territories and offshore areas over
which that country has jurisdiction. Some of the emissions
and removals of CCS systems could occur outside the areas
under the jurisdiction of the reporting country, an aspect that
requires additional consideration and is addressed mainly in
Section 9.3.
Temporal boundaries: Inventories are prepared on a
calendar year basis. Some aspects of CCS systems (such
as the amount of CO2 captured or fugitive emissions from
transportation) could easily be incorporated into an annual
reporting system (yearly estimates would be required).
However, other emissions (for example, physical leakage
of CO2 from geological storage) can occur over a very long
period after the injection has been completed - time frames
range from hundreds to even millions of years (see further
discussion in Section 9.3).
Table 9.1 lists potential sources and emissions of greenhouse
gases in the different phases of a CCS system and their
relationship with the framework for the reporting (sectors,
categories and sub-categories) of the IPCC Guidelines. The
relative importance of these potential sources for the national
greenhouse inventory can vary from one CCS project to
another, depending on factors such as capture technologies

and storage site characteristics. Emissions from some of these

sources are probably very small, sometimes even insignificant,
but to guarantee an appropriate completeness12 of the national
inventory, it is necessary to evaluate their contribution.
Some important considerations relative to the source
categories and emissions included in Table 9.1 are the
following:
Capture, transportation and injection of CO2 into storage
requires energy (the additional energy requirements have been
addressed in previous chapters). Greenhouse gas emissions
from this energy use are covered by the methodologies and
reporting framework in the IPCC Guidelines and GPG2000.
Additional methodologies and emission factors can be
found in other extensive literature, such as EEA (2001) and
US EPA (1995, 2000). Where capture processes take place
at the fuel production site, the emissions from the fuel used
in the capture process may not be included in the national
statistics. Additional methods to cover emissions from this
source may be needed. In the current reporting framework,
emissions from the additional energy requirements would
not be linked to the CCS system.
Fugitive emissions from CCS systems can occur during
capture, compression, liquefaction, transportation and
injection of CO2 to the storage reservoir. A general
framework for estimation of fugitive emissions is included
in the IPCC Guidelines in the Energy sector. The estimation
and reporting of fugitive emissions from CCS need further
Completeness means that an inventory covers all sources and sinks, as well
as all gases included in the IPCC Guidelines and also other existing relevant
source/sink categories specific to individual Parties, and therefore may not be
included in the IPCC Guidelines. Completeness also means full geographic
coverage of sources and sinks of a Party (FCCC/CP/1999/7).
12

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting

369

Table 9.1 Potential sources and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the general phases of a CCS system.
IPCC guidelines
Sector (a)

Emissions

Source category (a)

1
Energy

GHG emissions from stationary

combustion 1A1; 1A2

1
Energy

GHG emissions from

mobile combustion

1
Energy
2
Industrial
processes
(excluding
emissions
from fuel
combustion)

6
Waste

CO2, CH4,
N2O, NOx, CO,
NMVOCs, SO2

Capture

Transportation (b)

Other transportation CO2, CH4,

(pipeline
N2O, NOx, CO,
NMVOCs, SO2
transportation)
1A3ei

Fugitive emissions
from fuels
1B

Oil and natural gas CO2; CH4;

1B2 (f)
N2O NMVOCs

Mineral products
2A

(e.g., cement)

CO2, SO2

Chemical industry
2B

(e.g., ammonia)

Metal production
2C

CO2,
NMVOCs, CO,
SO2

(e.g., iron and steel) CO2, NOx,

NMVOCs, CO,
SO2

CO2, NMVOCs

CH4

Normal operations

CO2

Repair and
maintenance

CO2

CO2

Other production
2D

(e.g. food and

drink)

Industrial wastewater handling

6B1

Fugitive CO2
emissions from
capture, transportation and injection
processes (g)

Systems upsets
and accidental
discharges

Storage (c)

CO2, CH4,
N2O, NOx, CO,
NMVOCs, SO2

Water-borne
navigation
1A3di (d)
1A3dii (e)

Injection

a) IPCC source/sink category numbering (see also IPCC (1997), Vol.1, Common Reporting Framework).
b) Emissions from transportation include both GHG emissions from fossil fuel use and fugitive emissions of CO2 from pipelines and other equipment/processes.
Besides ships and pipelines, limited quantities of CO2 could be transported by railway or by trucks, source categories identified in the IPCC Guidelines/
GPG2000.
c) Long-term physical leakage of stored CO2 is not covered by the existing framework for reporting of emissions in the IPCC Guidelines. Different potential
options exist to report these emissions in the inventories (for example, in the relevant sectors/categories producing the emissions, creating a separate and new
category for the capture, transportation and/or storage industry). No conclusion can yet be made on the most appropriate reporting option taking into account
the different variants adopted by the CCS systems.
d) International Marine (Bunkers). Emissions based on fuel sold to ships engaged in international transport should not be included in national totals but reported
separately under Memo Items.
e) National Navigation.
f) Emissions related to the capture (removal) of CO2 in natural gas processing installations to improve the heating valued of the gas or to meet pipeline specifications.
g) A general framework for estimation of fugitive emissions is included in the IPCC Guidelines in the Energy sector. However, estimation and reporting of
fugitive emissions from CCS needs further elaboration of the methodologies.

370
elaboration in methodologies.
The long-term physical leakage of stored CO2 (escape of
CO2 from a storage reservoir) is not covered by the existing
framework for reporting emissions in the IPCC Guidelines.
Different options exist to report these emissions in the
inventories (for example, in the relevant sectors/categories
producing the emissions initially, by creating a separate and
new category under fugitive emissions, or by creating a
new category for the capture, transportation and/or storage
industry).
Application of CCS to CO2 emissions from biomass
combustion, and to other CO2 emissions of biological origin
(for example, fermentation processes in the production
of food and drinks) would require specific treatment
in inventories. It is generally assumed that combustion
of biomass fuels results in zero net CO2 emissions if the
biomass fuels are produced sustainably. In this case, the
CO2 released by combustion is balanced by CO2 taken up
during photosynthesis. In greenhouse gas inventories, CO2
emissions from biomass combustion are, therefore, not
reported under Energy. Any unsustainable production should
be evident in the calculation of CO2 emissions and removals
in Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Sector. Thus,
CCS from biomass sources would be reported as negative
CO2 emissions.
9.2.2.1 Capture
The capture processes are well defined in space and time, and
their emissions (from additional energy use, fugitives, etc.)
could be covered by current national and annual inventory
systems. The capture processes would result in reduced
emissions from industrial plants, power plants and other sites
of fuel combustion. For estimation purposes, the reduced CO2
emissions could be determined by measuring the amount of
CO2 captured and deducting this from the total amount of CO2
produced (see Figure 8.2 in Chapter 8).
The total amount of CO2, including emissions from the
additional energy consumption necessary to operate the capture
process, could be estimated using the methods and guidance
in the IPCC Guidelines and GPG2000. The capture process
could produce emissions of other greenhouse gases, such as
CH4 from treatment of effluents (for example, from amine
decomposition). These emissions are not included explicitly
in the IPCC Guidelines and GPG2000. Estimates on the
significance of these emissions are not available, but are likely
to be small or negligible compared to the amount of captured
CO2.
Although not all possible CCS systems can be considered
here, it is clear that some cases would require different
approaches. For example, pre-combustion decarbonization
in fuel production units presents some important differences
compared to the post-combustion methods, and the simple
estimation process described above might not be applicable.
For example, the capture of CO2 may take place in a different
country than the one in which the decarbonized fuel is used. This
would mean that emissions associated with the capture process

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

(possible fugitive CO2 emissions) would need to be estimated
and reported separately to those resulting from the combustion
process (see also Section 9.3 on issues relating to accounting
and allocation of the emissions and emissions reductions).
9.2.2.2 Transportation
Most research on CCS systems focuses on the capture and storage
processes and fugitive emissions from CO2 transportation are
often overlooked (Gale and Davison, 2002). CO2 transportation
in pipelines and ships is discussed in Chapter 4. Limited
quantities of CO2 could also be transported via railway or by
trucks (Davison et al., 2001). The additional energy required
for pipeline transport is mostly covered by compression at the
capture site. Additional compression may be required when
CO2 is transported very long distances. The emissions from
fossil fuel in transportation by ships, rail or trucks would be
covered under the category on mobile combustion and other
subcategories in the Energy sector. However, according to
the current IPCC guidelines, emissions from fuels sold to any
means of international transport should be excluded from the
national total emissions and be reported separately as emissions
from international bunkers. These emissions are not included
in national commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (e.g., IPCC
1997 and 2000, see also Section 9.3).
Any fugitive emissions or accidental releases from
transportation modes could be covered in the Energy sector
under the category Fugitive Emissions. CO2 emissions
from a pipeline can occur at the intake side during pumping
and compression, at the pipeline joints, or at the storage site.
Emission rates can differ from surface, underground and subsea pipelines. Explicit guidance for CO2 transportation in
pipelines is not given in the current IPCC methodologies, but a
methodology for natural gas pipelines is included. A distinction
is to be made between leakage during normal operation and
CO2 losses during accidents or other physical disruptions. As
described in Chapter 4, statistics on the incident rate in pipelines
for natural gas and CO2 varied from 0.00011 to 0.00032 incidents
km-1 year-1 (Gale and Davison, 2002). However, as an analogy
of CO2 transportation to natural gas transportation, Gielen
(2003) reported that natural gas losses during transportation can
be substantial.
Total emissions from pipelines could be calculated on the
basis of the net difference between the intake and discharge flow
rates of the pipelines. Because CO2 is transported in pipelines as
a supercritical or dense phase fluid, the effect of the surrounding
temperature on the estimated flow rate would need to be taken
into account. Volumetric values would need to be corrected
accordingly when CO2 is transmitted from a cooler climate to a
moderate or hot climate, and vice versa. In some cases, fugitive
losses could be lower than metering accuracy tolerances. Hence,
all metering devices measuring CO2 export and injection should
be to a given standard and with appropriate tolerances applied.
But metering uncertainties may prohibit measurement of small
quantities of losses during transportation. For transportation by
CO2 pipeline across the borders of several countries, emissions
would need to be allocated to the countries where they occur.

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting
No methodologies for estimation of fugitive emission
from ship, rail or road transportation are included in the IPCC
Guidelines.
9.2.2.3 Storage
Some estimates of CO2 emissions (physical leakage rates)
from geological and ocean storage are given in Chapters 5
and 6. Physical leakage rates are estimated to be very small
for geological formations chosen with care. In oil reservoirs
and coal seams, storage times could be significantly altered if
exploitation or mining activities in these fields are undertaken
after CO2 storage. Some of the CO2 injected into oceans would
be released to the atmosphere over a period of hundreds to
thousands of years, depending on the depth and location of
injection.
The amount of CO2 injected or stored could be easily
measured in many CCS systems. Estimation of physical leakage
rates would require the development of new methodologies.
Very limited data are available in relation to the physical leakage
of CO2.
Despite the essential differences in the nature of the physical
processes of CO2 retention in oceans, geological formations,
saline aquifers and mineralized solids, the mass of CO2 stored
over a given time interval can be defined by the Equation 1.
T

CO2 stored= (CO2 injected(t) CO2 emitted(t)dt

O

(1)

where t is time and T is the length of the assessment time

period.
Use of this simple equation requires estimates or
measurements of the injected CO2 mass and either default values
of the amount of CO2 emitted from the different storage types, or
rigorous source-specific evaluation of mass escaped CO2. This
approach would be possible when accurate measurements of
mass of injected and escaped CO2 are applied on site. Thus, for
monitoring possible physical leakage of CO2 from geological
formations, direct measurement methods for CO2 detection,
geochemical methods and tracers, or indirect measurement
methods for CO2 plume detection could be applied (see Section
5.6, Monitoring and verification technology).
Physical leakage of CO2 from storage could be defined as
follows (Equation 2):

Emissions of CO2 from storage= m(t)dt

O

(2)

where m(t) is the mass of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere per

unit of time and T is the assessment time period.
This addresses physical leakage that might occur in a specific
timeframe after the injection, perhaps far into the future. The
issue is discussed further in Section 9.3.
9.2.2.4 Mineral carbonation
Mineral carbonation of CO2 captured from power plants and
industrial processes is discussed in Chapter 7. These processes
are still under development and aim at permanent fixation of
the CO2 in a solid mineral phase. There is no discussion in the

371

literature about possible modes and rates of physical leakage of

CO2 from mineral carbonation, probably because investigations
in this field have been largely theoretical character (for
example, Goldberg et al., 2000). However, the carbonate
produced would be unlikely to release CO2. Before and during
the carbonation process, some amount of gas could escape into
the atmosphere.
The net benefits of mineral carbonation processes would
depend on the total energy use in the chain from capture to
storage. The general framework discussed above for CCS
systems can also be applied in preparing inventories of emissions
from these processes. The emissions from the additional energy
requirements would be seen in the energy sector under the
current reporting framework. The amount of CO2 captured
and mineralized could be reported in the category where the
capture takes place, or as a specific category addressing mineral
carbonation, or in the sector Other.
9.2.2.5 Industrial uses
Most industrial uses of CO2 result in release of the gas to the
atmosphere, often after a very short time period. Because
of the short storage times, no change may be required in
the inventory systems provided they are robust enough to
avoid possible double counting or omission of emissions.
The benefits of these systems are related to the systems they
substitute for, and the relative net efficiencies of the alternate
systems. Comparison of the systems would need to take into
account the whole cycle from capture to use of CO2. As an
example, methanol production by CO2 hydrogenation could be
a substitute for methanol production from fossil fuels, mainly
natural gas. The impacts of the systems are in general covered
by current inventory systems, although they are not addressed
explicitly, because the emissions and emission reductions are
related to relative energy use (reduction or increase depending
on the process alternatives).
In cases where industrial use of CO2 would lead to more
long-term carbon storage in products, inventory methodologies
would need to be tailored case by case.
9.2.3

Monitoring, verification and uncertainties

The IPCC Guidelines and good practice reports give guidance

on monitoring, verification and estimation of uncertainties,
as well as on quality assurance and quality control measures.
General guidance is given on how to plan monitoring, what to
monitor and how to report on results. The purpose of verifying
national inventories is to establish their reliability and to check
the accuracy of the reported numbers by independent means.
Section 5.6, on monitoring and verification technology,
assesses the current status of monitoring and verification
techniques for CCS systems. The applicability of monitoring
techniques as well as associated detection limits and uncertainties
vary greatly depending on the type and specific characteristics of
the CCS projects. There is insufficient experience in monitoring
CCS projects to allow conclusions to be drawn on physical
leakage rates.

372

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Reporting of uncertainties in emission and removal estimates,

and how they have been derived, is an essential part of national
greenhouse gas inventories. Uncertainty estimates can be based
on statistical methods where measured data are available, or on
expert judgement. No information on uncertainties related to
emissions from different phases of CCS systems was available.
In Section 5.7.3, the probability of release from geological
storage is assessed based on data from analogous natural
or engineered systems, fundamental physical and chemical
processes, as well as from experience with current geological
storage projects. The probabilities of physical leakage are
estimated to be small and the risks are mainly associated with
leakage from well casings of abandoned wells.
9.3

Accounting issues

One of the goals of an accounting system is to ensure that CCS

projects produce real and quantifiable environmental benefits.
One ton of CO2 permanently stored has the same benefit in terms
of atmospheric CO2 concentrations as one ton of CO2 emissions
avoided. But one ton of CO2 temporarily stored has less value
than one ton of CO2 emissions avoided. This difference can
be reflected in the accounting system. Accounting for CCS
may have to go beyond measuring the amount of CO2 stored
in order to ensure the credibility of storage credits and that
credits claimed are commensurate with benefits gained. CO2
storage should not avoid properly accounting for emissions that
have been moved to other times, other places, or other sectors.
Yet, Kennett (2003) notes that if there is benefit to potentially
permanent or even to known temporary storage, accounting
systems should contribute to their credibility and transparency
while minimizing transaction costs.
In a political environment where only some parties have
commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions and where
emissions from all sources are not treated the same, the amount
by which emissions are reduced may not be equal to the amount of
CO2 stored. Differences can occur because CO2 can be captured
in one country but released in another country or at a later time.
Also, CCs requires energy and likely additional emissions of
CO2 to produce this additional energy. Yoshigahara et al. (2004)
note that emission reduction through CCS technology differs
from many other modes of emission reduction. Although the
former avoids CO2 release to the atmosphere, it creates the
long-term possibility that stored CO2 could eventually flow to
the atmosphere through physical leakage.
In this Chapter, the general term leakage is used in the
economists sense, to describe displacement of greenhouse
gas emissions beyond the boundaries of the system under
discussion. The term physical leakage refers to escape of CO2
from a storage reservoir. As discussed above, some physical
leakage effects and the additional energy requirements will
be reported within standard, national reporting procedures for
greenhouse gas emissions. Additional complexities arise when
new or unexpected sources of emissions occur, for example, if
CO2 injected into an uneconomic coal seam forces the release
of methane from that seam. Complexities also arise when new

or unexpected sources of emissions occur in different countries,

for example, if CO2 is captured in one country but released in
another, or at later times, for example, if CO2 is captured during
one time period and physically leaked to the atmosphere at a
later time.
The problems of economic leakage are not unique to CCS
systems, but the problems of physical leakage are unique to
CCS. In particular, when emission inventories are done by
country and year they may fail to report emissions that are
delayed in time, displaced to other countries or to international
waters, or that stimulate emissions of other greenhouse gases
not identified as sources or for which methodologies have not
been developed.
In this section, ideas on the issues involved in accounting
are summarized for the stored CO2 of CCS systems. The
consequences for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions are
discussed, and ideas on alternative accounting strategies to
address them are presented. Figure 9.2 provides a simple flow
diagram of how CCS emissions can create flows of greenhouse
gases that transcend traditional accounting boundaries. The
diagram also shows how emissions might escape reporting
because they occur outside normal system boundaries (sectoral,
national, or temporal) of reporting entities.
Concern about displacement of emissions across national
boundaries is a consequence of the political and economic
constructs being developed to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Most notably, the Kyoto Protocol imposes limits on greenhouse
gas emissions from developed countries and from countries
with economies in transition, but no such limits on emissions
from developing countries or international transport.
Concern about displacement of emissions across temporal
boundaries is essentially the widely posed question: if we store
carbon away from the atmosphere, how long must it be stored?
The same question is phrased by Herzog et al. (2003) as What
is the value of temporary storage?
Concern about leakage among countries, sectors, or
gases; or physical leakage from reservoirs is largely about the
completeness and accuracy of emissions accounting. Kennett
(2003), for example, emphasizes the importance of establishing
general rules and procedures to simplify transactions, and
increasing certainty by defining legal rights and by providing
dispute resolution and enforcement procedures and of ensuring
the credibility of sinks-based emissions offsets or storage-based
emissions reductions. The operation of a market requires clearly
defined rights (i.e. who has the rights to the carbon stored),
what those rights entail, how those rights can be transferred,
and liability and remedies in the event of unanticipated release
(Kennett, 2003). The core of establishing rights, liabilities, and
markets will be the accounting and certification systems. Yet, a
well-designed accounting system should not lead to transaction
costs that unnecessarily discourage meritorious activities.

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Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting
9.3.1

ncertainty, non-permanence and discounting

U
methodology

9.3.1.1

Dealing with the impermanence of carbon dioxide

storage
CO2 storage is not necessarily permanent. Physical leakage
from storage reservoirs is possible via (1) gradual and longterm release or (2) sudden release of CO2 caused by disruption
of the reservoir. There is very little literature on accounting
for the potential impermanence of CCS. There are, however,
a significant number of publications on accounting for the
impermanence of CO2 sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere.
Although
in the terrestrial biosphere is notably
fig.sequestration
9-2
different from CO2 storage in the ocean or in geological
reservoirs, there are also similarities. 13CO2 stored in the

terrestrial biosphere is subject to potential future release if,

for example, there is a wildfire, change in land management
practices, or climate change renders the vegetative cover
unsustainable. Although the risks of CO2 loss from well-chosen
geological reservoirs are very different, such risks do exist.
The literature suggests various accounting strategies so that
sequestration in the biosphere could be treated as the negative
equivalent of emissions. Sequestration could be shown in
national emission accounts and trading of emissions credits, and
debits between parties could occur for sequestration activities
in the terrestrial biosphere. Whether CCS is treated as a CO2
sink or as a reduction in emissions, the issues of accounting for
physical leakage from storage are similar.

Ca

st

pt

or

st

pt

or

an

Storage reservoir

ur

ag

an

Storage reservoir

Country B

Country A
Current
year
flow

Future
year
flow

Figure 9.2 Simplified flow diagram showing how CCS could transcend traditional accounting boundaries13

13
The operating cost shown are the CO2 emitted as a result of the additional
energy required to operate the system, plus fugitive emissions from separation,
transport and injection.

Physical leakage

Operating
costs

Ca

ur

ag

Operating
costs

Emissions

Operating
costs

Physical leakage

Country A
Inventory of emissions
to the atmosphere

374
Chomitz (2000) suggests two primary approaches to
accounting for stored CO2: (1) acknowledge that CO2 storage
is likely not permanent, assess the environmental and economic
benefits of limited-term storage, and allot credits in proportion
to the time period over which CO2 is stored, and (2) provide
reasonable assurance of indefinite storage. Examples discussed
for sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere include (under the
first approach) ton-year accounting (described below); and
(under the second approach) various combinations of reserve
credits and insurance replacing lost CO2 by sequestration reserves
or other permanent emissions reductions. For further discussion
on these issues, see Watson et al., 2000; Marland et al., 2001;
Subak, 2003; Aukland et al., 2003; Wong and Dutschke, 2003;
and Herzog et al., 2003. There are also proposals to discount
credits so that there is a margin of conservativeness in the
number of credits acknowledged. With this kind of discussion
and uncertainty, negotiations toward the Kyoto Protocol have
chosen to place limits on the number of credits that can be
claimed for some categories of terrestrial CO2 sequestration
during the Protocols first commitment period (UNFCCC,
2002).
To illustrate the concept of allotting credits in proportion
to storage time, one alternative, the ton-year approach is
described. The ton-year alternative for accounting defines an
artificial equivalence so that capture and storage for a given
time interval (for example, t years) are equated with permanent
storage. Availability of credits can be defined in different ways
but typically capture and storage for one year would result in
a number of credits equal to 1/t, and thus storage for t years
would result in one full credit (Watson et al., 2000). A variety
of constructs have been proposed for defining the number of
storage years that would be equated with permanent storage
(see, for example, Marland et al., 2001). But as Chomitz (2000)
points out, despite being based on scientific and technical
considerations, this equivalence is basically a political decision.
Although ton-year accounting typifies the first approach, it has
been subject to considerable discussion. Another derivative
of Chomitzs first approach that has been further developed
within negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol (Columbia, 2000;
UNFCCC, 2002; UNFCCC, 2004) is the idea of expiring credits
or rented temporary credits (Marland et el., 2001; Subak, 2003).
Temporary or rented credits would have full value over a time
period defined by rule or by contract, but would result in debits
or have to be replaced by permanent credits at expiration. In
essence, credit for stored CO2 would create liability for the
possible subsequent CO2 release or commitment to storage was
ended.
UNFCCC (2002), Marland et al. (2001), Herzog et al.
(2003), and others agree that the primary issue for stored CO2
is liability. They argue that if credit is given for CO2 stored,
there should be debits if the CO2 is subsequently released.
Physical leakage from storage and current emissions produce
the same result for the atmosphere. Accounting problems
arise if ownership is transferred or stored CO2 is transferred
to a place or party that does not accept liability (for example,
if CO2 is stored in a developing country without commitments

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

under the Kyoto protocol). Accounting problems also arise if
potential debits are transferred sufficiently far into the future
with little assurance that the systems and institutions of liability
will still be in place if and when CO2 is released. The system
of expiring credits in the Marrakech Accords for sequestration
in the terrestrial biosphere fulfils the requirement of continuing
liability. Limiting these credits to five years provides reasonable
assurance that the liable institutions will still be responsible.
This arrangement also addresses an important concern of those
who might host CO2 storage projects, that they might be liable
in perpetuity for stored CO2. Under most proposals, the hosts for
CO2 storage would be liable for losses until credits expire and
then liability would return to the purchaser/renter of the expiring
credits. Kennett (2003) suggests that long-term responsibility
for regulating, monitoring, certifying, and supporting credits
will ultimately fall to governments (see also section 5.8.4).
With this kind of ultimate responsibility, governments may
wish to establish minimum requirements for CCS reservoirs
and projects (see Torvanger et al., 2005).
The published discussions on permanence have
largely been in the context of sequestration in the terrestrial
biosphere. It is not clear whether the evolving conclusions
are equally appropriate for CCS in the ocean or in geological
reservoirs. Important differences between modes of CCS
may influence the accounting scheme chosen (see Table 9.2).
An apparent distinction is that sequestration in the terrestrial
biosphere involves initial release of CO2 to the atmosphere
and subsequent removal by growing plants. But as storage in
geological reservoirs does not generally involve release to the
atmosphere, it might be envisioned as a decrease in emissions
rather than as balancing source with sink. In either case, a mass
of CO2 must be managed and isolated from the atmosphere.
Storage in the terrestrial biosphere leaves open the possibility
that sequestration will be reversed because of decisions on
maintenance or priorities for resource management. Ocean and
geological storage have very different implications for the time
scale of commitments and for the role of physical processes
versus decisions in potential physical releases.
An important question for crediting CCS is whether future
emissions have the same value as current emissions. Herzog et
al. (2003) define sequestration effectiveness as the net benefit
from temporary storage compared to the net benefit of permanent
storage, but this value cannot be known in advance. They go one
step further and argue that while CO2 storage is not permanent,
reducing emissions may not be permanent either, unless some
backstop energy technology assures all fossil fuel resources are
not eventually consumed. According to Herzog et al. (2003),
stored CO2 emissions are little different, to fossil fuel resources
left in the ground. Most analysts, however, assume that all fossil
fuels will never be consumed so that refraining from emitting
fossil-fuel CO2 does not, like CO2 storage, give rise directly to
a risk of future emissions. Wigley et al. (1996) and Marland
et al. (2001) argue that there is value in delaying emissions.
If storage for 100 years were to be defined as permanent, then
virtually all carbon injected below 1500 m in the oceans would
be considered to be permanent storage (Herzog et al., 2003).

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting
Table 9.2 Differences between forms of carbon storage with potential to influence accounting method.
Property

Terrestrial biosphere

Deep ocean

Geological reservoirs

Ownership

Stocks will have a discrete

location and can be associated
with an identifiable owner.

Stocks will be mobile and may

reside in international waters.

Management decisions

Storage will be subject to

continuing decisions about landuse priorities.

Once injected, no further human

decisions on maintenance.

Stocks may reside in reservoirs

that cross national or property
boundaries and differ from
surface boundaries.

Monitoring

Changes in stocks can be

monitored.

Changes in stocks will be

modelled.

Time scale with expected high

values for fraction CO2 retained

Decades, depending on
management decisions.

Centuries, depending on depth

and location of injection.

Physical leakage

Losses might occur due to

disturbance, climate change, or
land-use decisions.

Liability

A discrete land-owner can be

identified with the stock of
sequestered carbon.

Losses will assuredly occur

as an eventual consequence of
marine circulation and equilibration with the atmosphere.

CO2 sequestered or stored

Stock changes can be monitored

over time.

At the other temporal extreme, Kheshgi et al. (1994) point

out that over the very long term of equilibration between the
ocean and atmosphere (over 1000 years), capture and storage
in the ocean will lead to higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere
than without emissions controls, because of the additional
energy requirements for operating the system. It is also true that
chronic physical leakage over long time periods could increase
the difficulty of meeting targets for net emissions at some time
in the future (see Hawkins, 2003; Hepple and Benson, 2003;
and Pacala, 2003).
The fundamental question is then, how to deal with
impermanent storage of CO2. Although Findsen et al. (2003)
detail many circumstances where accounting for CCS is
beginning or underway, and although the rates of physical
leakage for well-designed systems may sometimes be in the
range of the uncertainty of other components of emissions, the
risks of physical leakage need to be acknowledged. A number
of questions remains to be answered: how to deal with liability
and continuity of institutions in perpetuity, how to quantify the
benefits of temporary storage; the needs in terms of monitoring
and verification, whether or not there is a need for a reserve
of credits or other ways to assure that losses will be replaced,
whether or not there is need for a system of discounting to

Injected carbon can be measured

Multiple parties may contribute

to the same stock of stored
carbon and the carbon may
reside in international waters.

375

Injected carbon can be measured

Once injected, human decisions

to influence continued storage
involve monitoring and
perhaps maintenance, unless
storage interferes with resource
recovery.

Release of CO2 might be

detected by physical monitoring
but because of difficulty in
monitoring large areas may also
require modelling.
Very small physical leakage
from well-designed systems
expected, barring physical
disruption of the reservoir.

Losses are likely to be small for

well-designed systems except
where reservoir is physically
disrupted.

Multiple parties may contribute

to the same stock of stored
carbon lying under several
countries.

consider expected or modelled duration of storage, the utility

of expiring, temporary, or rented credits over very long time
periods, whether there is a need to consider different accounting
practices as a function of expected duration of storage or mode
of storage. The implications if storage in the terrestrial biosphere
and in geological formations are sufficiently different that the
former might be considered carbon management and the latter
CO2 waste disposal.
Ultimately, the political process will decide the value of
temporary storage and the allocation of responsibility for
stored CO2. Some guidance is provided by precedents set by
international agreements on sequestration in the terrestrial
biosphere. But there are important differences to be considered.
The reason for rules and policies is presumably to influence
behaviour. Accounting rules for CO2 storage can best influence
permanence if they are aimed accordingly: at liability for
CO2 stored in the terrestrial biosphere but at the initial design
and implementation requirements for CCS in the oceans or
geological reservoirs.

376

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

9.3.1.2 Attribution of physical leakage from storage in

international/regional territories or shared facilities
and the use of engineering standards to limit
physical leakage
The previous section deals largely with the possibility that CO2
emissions stored now will be released at a later time. It also
introduces the possibility that emissions stored now will result in
additional, current emissions in different countries or in different
sectors. CO2 injected into the ocean could leak physically
from international waters. Accounting for stored CO2 raises
questions such as responsibility for the emissions from energy
used in CO2 transport and injection, especially if transport and/
or storage is in a developing country or in international waters.
Similarly, questions about physical leakage of stored CO2 will
need to address liability for current year physical leakage that
occurs in developing countries or from international waters.
These questions may be especially complex when multiple
countries have injected CO2 into a common reservoir such as
the deep Atlantic Ocean, or into a deep aquifer under multiple
countries, or if multiple countries share a common pipeline for
CO2 transport.
There may also be a need for international agreement on
certification of CCS credits or performance standards for CCS
projects. Standards would minimize the risk of leakage and
maximize the time for CO2 storage. Performance standards
could minimize the possibility of parties looking for the least
cost, lowest quality storage opportunities - opportunities most
susceptible to physical leakage - when liability for spatial or
temporal leakage is not clear. Performance standards could be
used to limit the choice of technologies, quality of operations,
or levels of measurement and monitoring.
9.3.2

Accounting issues related to Kyoto mechanisms

(JI14 , CDM15, and ET16)

CCS is not currently addressed in the decisions of the COP to the

UNFCCC in relation to the Kyoto mechanisms. Little guidance
has been provided so far by international negotiations regarding
the methodologies to calculate and account for project-related
CO2 reductions from CCS systems under the various projectbased schemes in place or in development. The only explicit
Kyoto Protocol Article 6.1 For the purpose of meeting its commitments
under Article 3, any Party included in Annex I may transfer to, or acquire from,
any other such Party emission reduction units resulting from projects aimed
at reducing anthropogenic emissions by sources or enhancing anthropogenic
removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in any sector of the economy
15
Kyoto Protocol Article 12.2 The purpose of the clean development mechanism
shall be to assist Parties not included in Annex I in achieving sustainable
development and in contributing to the ultimate objective of the Convention,
and to assist Parties included in Annex I in achieving compliance with their
quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments under Article 3.
16
Kyoto Protocol Article 17 The Conference of the Parties shall define the
relevant principles, modalities, rules and guidelines, in particular for verification,
reporting and accountability for emissions trading. The Parties included in
Annex B may participate in emissions trading for the purpose of fulfilling
their commitments under Article 3. Any such trading shall be supplemental to
domestic actions for the purpose of meeting quantified emission limitation and
reduction commitments under that Article.
14

reference to CCS in the Kyoto Protocol states that Annex I

countries need to research, promote, develop and increasingly
use CO2 sequestration technologies17. The Marrakech Accords
further clarify the Protocol regarding technology cooperation,
stating that Annex I countries should indicate how they give
priority to cooperation in the development and transfer of
technologies relating to fossil fuel that capture and store
greenhouse gases (Paragraph 26, Decision 5/CP.7). No text
referring explicitly to CCS project-based activities can be found
in the CDM and JI-related decisions (Haefeli et al., 2004).
Further, Haefeli et al. (2004) note that CCS is not explicitly
addressed in any form in CO2 reporting schemes that include
projects (i.e., the Chicago Climate Exchange and the EU
Directive for Establishing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Trading Scheme (implemented in 2005) along with the EU
Linking Directive (linking the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
with JI and the CDM). At present, it is unclear how CCS will
be dealt with in practice. According to Haines et al. (2004), the
eligibility of CCS under CDM could be resolved in a specific
agreement similar to that for land use, land-use change and
forestry (LULUCF) activities. As with biological sinks, there
will be legal issues as well as concerns about permanence and
economic leakage, or emissions outside a system boundary. At
the same time, CCS could involve a rather less complex debate
because of the geological time scales involved. Moreover,
Haefeli et al. (2004) noted that guidelines on how to account for
CO2 transfers between countries would need to be agreed either
under the UNFCCC or the Kyoto Protocol. Special attention
would need to be given to CO2 exchange between an Annex I
country and a non-Annex I country, and between an Annex I
country party to the Kyoto Protocol and an Annex I country that
has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
9.3.2.1 Emission baselines
The term baseline, used mostly in the context of projectbased accounting, is a hypothetical scenario for greenhouse
gas emissions in the absence of a greenhouse gas reduction
project or activity (WRI, 2004). Emission baselines are the
basis for calculation of net reductions (for example, storage) of
emissions from any project-based activity. Baselines need to be
established to show the net benefits of emissions reductions. The
important issue is to determine which factors need to be taken
into account when developing an emissions baseline. At present,
there is little guidance on how to calculate net reductions in CO2
emissions through CCS project-based activities. An appropriate
baseline scenario could minimize the risk that a project receives
credits for avoiding emissions that would have been avoided in
the absence of the project (Haefeli et al., 2004).
9.3.2.2 Leakage in the context of the Kyoto mechanisms
The term Leakage is defined according to Marrakech Accords
as the net change of anthropogenic emissions by sources and/
or removals by sinks of greenhouse gases which occurs outside
17

Article 2, 1(a) (iv) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Article 12.2

Article 17

Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM)

Emission Trading
(ET)

Joint Implementation Article 6.1

(JI)

Article in the
Kyoto Protocol

Mechanism

Allows for trading between developed

countries that have targets and assigned
amount units (AAUs) allocated to them
through the KP, it endorses the basic
principle of the use of ET as a mean
available to Annex I parties to achieve
their emission commitment.

Intended to promote sustainable

develop-ment in developing countries
through the allowance of trade between
developed and developing countries.
Refers to the establishment of a CDM
with the objective of assisting Annex I
parties to achieve part of their Article
3 KP emission reduction commitments
through the implementation of projectbased activities generating emission cut/
backs and/or enhanced sink removals.

As a general principle, any Annex I party

may transfer to or obtain from another
Annex I party Emission Reduction Units
(ERUs) that shall result from projects that
seek to reduce GHG emissions by sources
and/or enhance removals by sinks.

Principle

Table 9.3 Accounting issues related to Kyoto Mechanisms.

Overall baseline methodology

Annex I parties shall be able to acquire
Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from
projects implemented in non Annex I countries.
Should provide real, measurable and long-term
benefits related to the mitigation of climate
change, i.e. will be measured against baselines.

Trade is based on national Assigned Amounts

(AAUs) to individual countries.
The proposed guidelines for ET contain
provisions on the amount of AAUs that may be
traded between Annex I parties so as to avoid
overselling of quotas. It also contains several
options that would impose a quantified upper
limit on the amount of AAUs that a transferring
party could trade.
A successful carbon trading system must
accurately measure the offsets and credits to
assure companies that they will receive the
reductions.

Cap (emission trading) i.e. the

maximum amount of allowable
emission offsets between Annex I
countries;
Net versus gross accounting (measures
in non-Annex I).

Important to ensure that credits received from

projects in Annex I countries result from emission
reductions that are real and additional to what
would have happened in the absence of the project
i.e. are measured against baselines.

Basic considerations

Highly detailed set of modalities and

procedures regarding issues such as:
project level versus national level
obligations
modelled versus actual amounts of
credits
timing of storage and liabilities in the
long term.

Procedures for verification and certification of ERU.

Set modalities and procedures to set the

project in a transparent manner

Requirements in relation to CCS

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting
377

378

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

the project boundary, and that is measurable and attributable to

the Article 6 project. The term has been proposed for leakage
of emissions resulting from capture, transport and injection,
which should not be confused with releases of CO2 from a
geological reservoir (escaped CO2). According to Haefeli et
al. (2004), current legislation does not deal with cross-border
CCS projects and would need further clarification. Guidance
would be especially needed to deal with cross-border projects
involving CO2 capture in an Annex I country that is party to the
Kyoto Protocol and storage in a country not party to the Kyoto
Protocol or in an Annex I country not bound by the Kyoto
Protocol.
Table 9.3 provides an overview of the Kyoto mechanisms
and the general principles and requirements of each (practical
indices and specific accounting rules and procedures) for
developing CCS accounting systems that can be employed
for emissions control and reduction within these mechanisms.
Although the political process has not yet decided how CCS
systems will be accepted under the Kyoto mechanisms, these
general procedures could be applicable to them as well as to
other similar schemes on emission trading and projects.
9.4

Gaps in knowledge

Methodologies for incorporating CCS into national inventories

and accounting schemes are under development. CCS (see
Sections 9.2 and 9.3) can be incorporated in different ways and
data requirements may differ depending on the choices made.
The following gaps in knowledge and need for decisions by the
political process have been identified:
Methodologies to estimate physical leakage from storage,
and emission factors (fugitive emissions) for estimating
emissions from capture systems and from transportation and
injection processes are not available.
Geological and ocean storage open new challenges
regarding a) uncertainty on the permanence of the stored
emissions, b) the need for protocols on transboundary
transport and storage, c) accounting rules for CCS and, d)
insight on issues such as emission measurement, long term
monitoring, timely detection and liability/responsibility.
Methodologies for reporting and verification of reduced
emission under the Kyoto Mechanisms have not been agreed
upon.
Methodologies for estimating and dealing with potential
emissions resulting from system failures, such as sudden
geological faults and seismic activities or pipeline disruptions
have not been developed.

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Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

Annexes

381

382

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Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

383

Annex I
Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

Coordinating Lead Author

Paul Freund (United Kingdom)
Lead Authors
Stefan Bachu (Canada), Dale Simbeck (United States), Kelly (Kailai) Thambimuthu (Australia and Canada)
Contributing Authors
Murlidhar Gupta (Canada and India)

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Contents
AI.1 Introduction

385

AI.2 Carbon dioxide

AI.2.1 Physical properties of CO2
AI.2.2 Chemical properties of CO2
AI.2.3 Health and safety aspects of exposure to CO2
AI.2.4 Established uses for CO2

385
385
386
390
393

AI.3 Conversion factors

393

AI.4 Fuels and emissions

AI.4.1 Carbonaceous fuels
AI.4.2 Examples of emissions from carbonaceous fuels

393
393
395

References

398

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Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

AI.1

Introduction

This Annex presents data about the relevant physical and

chemical properties of CO2 together with an outline of the effects
of CO2 on human health and a summary of some of the typical
recommendations for avoiding harm to humans. Established
uses for CO2 are listed and some common conversion factors
relevant to this report are presented. An introduction is also
provided to the main types of fossil fuels and other carboncontaining fuels, as background to considering how their use
produces CO2.
AI.2

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound of two elements, carbon

and oxygen, in the ratio of one to two; its molecular formula is
CO2. It is present in the atmosphere in small quantities (370
ppmv) and plays a vital role in the Earths environment as a
necessary ingredient in the life cycle of plants and animals.
During photosynthesis plants assimilate CO2 and release
oxygen. Anthropogenic activities which cause the emission of
CO2 include the combustion of fossil fuels and other carbon-

containing materials, the fermentation of organic compounds

such as sugar and the breathing of humans. Natural sources of
CO2, including volcanic activity, dominate the Earths carbon
cycle.
CO2 gas has a slightly irritating odour, is colourless and is
denser than air. Although it is a normal, if minor, constituent of
air, high concentrations of CO2 can be dangerous.
AI.2.1

Physical properties of CO2

AI.2.1.1 General
At normal temperature and pressure, carbon dioxide is a gas.
The physical state of CO2 varies with temperature and pressure
as shown in Figure AI.1 at low temperatures CO2 is a solid; on
warming, if the pressure is below 5.1 bar, the solid will sublime
directly into the vapour state. At intermediate temperatures
(between 56.5oC, the temperature of the triple point, and
31.1oC, the critical point), CO2 may be turned from a vapour
into a liquid by compressing it to the corresponding liquefaction
pressure (and removing the heat produced).
At temperatures higher than 31.1oC (if the pressure is greater
than 73.9 bar, the pressure at the critical point), CO2 is said

Figure AI.1 Phase diagram for CO2. Copyright 1999 ChemicaLogic Corporation, 99 South Bedford Street, Suite 207, Burlington, MA 01803
USA. All rights reserved.

386
to be in a supercritical state where it behaves as a gas; indeed
under high pressure, the density of the gas can be very large,
approaching or even exceeding the density of liquid water (also
see Figure AI.2). This is an important aspect of CO2s behaviour
and is particularly relevant for its storage.
Heat is released or absorbed in each of the phase changes
across the solid-gas, solid-liquid and liquid-gas boundaries (see
Figure AI.1). However, the phase changes from the supercritical
condition to liquid or from supercritical to gas do not require
or release heat. This property is useful for the design of CO2
compression facilities since, if this can be exploited, it avoids
the need to handle the heat associated with the liquid-gas phase
change.
AI.2.1.2 Specific physical properties
There is a substantial body of scientific information available
on the physical properties of CO2. Selected physical properties
of CO2 are given in Table AI.1 The phase diagram for CO2
is shown in Figure AI.1 Many authors have investigated the

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

equation of state for CO2 (e.g., Span and Wagner, 1996). The
variation of the density of CO2 as a function of temperature
and pressure is shown in Figure AI.2, the variation of vapour
pressure of CO2 with temperature in Figure AI.3, and the
variation of viscosity with temperature and pressure in Figure
AI.4 Further information on viscosity can be found in Fenghour
et al. (1998). The pressure-enthalpy chart for CO2 is shown
in Figure AI.5. The solubility of CO2 in water is described in
Figure AI.6.
AI.2.2

Chemical properties of CO2

AI.2.2.1 General
Some thermodynamic data for CO2 and a few related compounds
are given in Table AI.2.
In an aqueous solution CO2 forms carbonic acid, which
is too unstable to be easily isolated. The solubility of CO2 in
water (Figure AI.6) decreases with increasing temperature and
increases with increasing pressure. The solubility of CO2 in

Table AI.1 Physical properties of CO2.

Property

Value

Molecular weight

44.01

Critical temperature

31.1C

Critical pressure

73.9 bar

Critical density

467 kg m-3

Triple point temperature

-56.5 C

Triple point pressure

5.18 bar

Boiling (sublimation) point (1.013 bar)

-78.5 C

Gas Phase
Gas density (1.013 bar at boiling point)

2.814 kg m-3

Gas density (@ STP)

1.976 kg m-3

Specific volume (@ STP)

0.506 m3 kg-1

Cp (@ STP)

0.0364 kJ (mol-1 K-1)

Cv (@ STP)

0.0278 kJ (mol-1 K-1)

Cp/Cv (@ STP)

1.308

Viscosity (@ STP)

13.72 N.s m-2 (or Pa.s)

Thermal conductivity (@ STP)

14.65 mW (m K-1)

Solubility in water (@ STP)

1.716 vol vol-1

Enthalpy (@ STP)

21.34 kJ mol-1

Entropy (@ STP)

117.2 J mol K-1

Entropy of formation

213.8 J mol K-1

Liquid Phase
Vapour pressure (at 20 C)

58.5 bar

Liquid density (at -20 C and 19.7 bar)

1032 kg m-3

Viscosity (@ STP)

99 N.s m-2 (or Pa.s)

Solid Phase
Density of carbon dioxide snow at freezing point

1562 kg m-3

Latent heat of vaporisation (1.013 bar at sublimation point)

571.1 kJ kg-1

Where STP stands for Standard Temperature and Pressure, which is 0C and 1.013 bar.
Sources: Air Liquide gas data table; Kirk-Othmer (1985); NIST (2003).

387

Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

Figure AI.2 Variation of CO2 density as a function of temperature and pressure (Bachu, 2003).

water also decreases with increasing water salinity by as much as

one order of magnitude (Figure AI.7). The following empirical
relation (Enick and Klara, 1990) can be used to estimate CO2
solubility in brackish water and brine:
wCO2, b = wCO2, w (1.0 4.893414 102 S +
0.1302838 102 S2 0.1871199 104 S3)

Figure AI.3 Vapour pressure of CO2 as a function of temperature

(Span and Wagner, 1996).

(1)

where wCO2 is CO2 solubility, S is water salinity

(expressed as total dissolved solids in % by weight) and the
subscripts w and b stand for pure water and brine, respectively.
A solid hydrate separates from aqueous solutions of CO2 that are
chilled (below about 11oC) at elevated pressures. A hydrate is a
crystalline compound consisting of the host (water) plus guest
molecules. The host is formed from a tetrahedral hydrogenbonding network of water molecules; this network is sufficiently
open to create pores (or cavities) that are large enough to
contain a variety of other small molecules (the guests). Guest
molecules can include CH4 and CO2. CO2 hydrates have similar
(but not identical) properties to methane hydrates, which have
been extensively studied due to their effects on natural gas
production and their potential as future sources of hydrocarbons.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Figure AI.4 Variation of CO2 viscosity as a function of temperature and pressure (Bachu, 2003).

Figure AI.5 Pressure-Enthalpy chart for CO2. Copyright 1995-2003 ChemicaLogic Corporation, 99 South Bedford Street, Suite 207, Burlington,
MA 01803 USA. All rights reserved.

389

Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

Figure AI.6 Solubility of CO2 in water (Kohl and Nielsen, 1997).

Table AI.2 Thermodynamic data for selected carbon-containing compounds (ref. Cox et al., 1989 and other sources).
Compound

Heat of Formation
Hf (kJ mol-1)

Gibbs free energy of formation

Gf (kJ mol-1)

Standard molar entropy

Sf (J mol-1 K-1)

CO2 (g)

393.51

394.4

213.78

CO2 (aq)

413.26

CaO (s)

634.92

CO (g)

110.53

CO2 (l)

CO32 (aq)

689.93

H2O (g)

241.83

H2O (l)

CaCO3 (s)

386

675.23

HCO3 (aq)

137.2

285.83

1207.6 (calcite)
1207.8 (aragonite)

197.66

119.36
50.0

603.3

1129.1
1128.2

38.1

98.4

69.95

188.84
91.7
88

MgCO3 (s)

1113.28 (magnesite)

1029.48

65.09

CH3OH (l)

239.1

166.6

126.8

CH4 (g)

(g)

74.4

201.5

50.3

162.6

186.3
239.8

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

CO2 hydrates have not been studied as extensively.

AI.2.2.2 Impact of CO2 on pH of water
The dissolution of CO2 in water (this may be sea water, or
the saline water in geological formations) involves a number
of chemical reactions between gaseous and dissolved carbon
dioxide (CO2), carbonic acid (H2CO3), bicarbonate ions
(HCO3) and carbonate ions (CO32) which can be represented
as follows:
CO2 (g) CO2 (aq)

(2)

CO2 (aq) + H2O H2CO3 (aq)

(3)

H2CO3 (aq) H+(aq) + HCO3(aq)

(4)

HCO3-(aq) H+(aq) + CO32(aq)

(5)

Addition of CO2 to water initially leads to an increase in the

amount of dissolved CO2. The dissolved CO2 reacts with
water to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid dissociates to form

bicarbonate ions, which can further dissociate into carbonate

ions. The net effect of dissolving anthropogenic CO2 in water
is the removal of carbonate ions and production of bicarbonate
ions, with a lowering in pH.
Figure AI.8 shows the dependence of pH on the extent
to which CO2 dissolves in sea water at temperatures of 0oC
and 25oC based on theoretical calculations (IEA Greenhouse
Gas R&D Programme, 2000) by iterative solution of the
relationships (Horne, 1969) for the carbonic acid/bicarbonate/
carbonate equilibria combined with activity coefficients for the
bicarbonate and carbonate ions in sea water. The temperature
dependence of the ionization of water and the bicarbonate
equilibria were also included in this calculation. This gives
values for the pH of typical sea water of 7.88.1 at 25oC and
8.18.4 at 0oC. These values, which are strongly dependent on
carbonate/bicarbonate buffering, are in line with typical data
for sea water (Figure AI.8 shows 2 experimental data points
reported by Nishikawa et al., 1992).
Figure AI.8 also shows that there is a small effect of
temperature on the reduction in pH that results from dissolution
of CO2. A minor pressure dependence of water ionization is
also reported (Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 2000).
The effect on water ionization of an increase in pressure from
atmospheric to 250 bar (equivalent to 2500 m depth) is minor
and about the same as would result from increasing temperature
by about 2oC. The effect of pressure can therefore be ignored.
AI.2.3

Health and safety aspects of exposure to CO2

As a normal constituent of the atmosphere, where it is present

in low concentrations (currently 370 ppmv), CO2 is considered
harmless. CO2 is non-flammable.
As it is 1.5 times denser than air at normal temperature and
pressure, there will be a tendency for any CO2 leaking from
pipework or storage to collect in hollows and other low-lying
confined spaces which could create hazardous situations. The
hazardous nature of the release of CO2 is enhanced because the
gas is colourless, tasteless and is generally considered odourless

Figure AI.7 Solubility of CO2 in brine relative to that in pure water,

showing experimental points reported by Enick and Klara (1990) and
correlation developed by those authors (TDS stands for total dissolved
solids).

Figure AI.8 Dependence of pH on CO2 concentration in sea water.

Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

391

unless present in high concentrations.

When contained under pressure, escape of CO2 can present
serious hazards, for example asphyxiation, noise level (during
pressure relief), frostbite, hydrates/ice plugs and high pressures
(Jarrell et al., 2002). The handling and processing of CO2 must
be taken into account during the preparation of a health, safety
and environment plan for any facility handling CO2.
AI.2.3.1 Effects of exposure to CO2
At normal conditions, the atmospheric concentration of CO2
is 0.037%, a non-toxic amount. Most people with normal
cardiovascular, pulmonary-respiratory and neurological
functions can tolerate exposure of up to 0.51.5% CO2 for one
to several hours without harm.
Higher concentrations or exposures of longer duration are
hazardous either by reducing the concentration of oxygen
in the air to below the 16% level required to sustain human
life, or by entering the body, especially the bloodstream,
and/or altering the amount of air taken in during breathing;
such physiological effects can occur faster than the effects
resulting from the displacement of oxygen, depending on the
concentration of CO2. This is reflected in, for example, the
current US occupational exposure standard of 0.5% for the
maximum allowable concentration of CO2 in air for eight hours
continuous exposure; the maximum concentration to which
operating personnel may be exposed for a short period of time
is 3.0%.
The impact of elevated CO2 concentrations on humans
depends on the concentration and duration of exposure. At
concentrations up to 1.5%, there are no noticeable physical
consequences for healthy adults at rest from exposure for
an hour or more (Figure AI.9); indeed, exposure to slightly
elevated concentrations of CO2, such as in re-breathing masks
on aeroplanes at high altitude, may produce beneficial effects
(Benson et al., 2002). Increased activity or temperature may
affect how the exposure is perceived. Longer exposure, even
to less than 1% concentration, may significantly affect health.
Noticeable effects occur above this level, particularly changes
in respiration and blood pH level that can lead to increased heart
rate, discomfort, nausea and unconsciousness.
It is noted (Rice, 2004) that most studies of the effects of
CO2 have involved healthy young male subjects, especially in
controlled atmospheres such as submarines. Carbon dioxide
tolerance in susceptible subgroups, such as children, the elderly,
or people with respiratory deficiency, has not been studied to
such an extent.
Acute exposure to CO2 concentrations at or above 3%
may significantly affect the health of the general population.
Hearing loss and visual disturbances occur above 3% CO2.
Healthy young adults exposed to more than 3% CO2 during
exercise experience adverse symptoms, including laboured
Signs of asphyxia will be noted when atmospheric oxygen
concentration falls below 16%. Unconsciousness, leading to death,
will occur when the atmospheric oxygen concentration is reduced to
8% although, if strenuous exertion is being undertaken, this can
occur at higher oxygen concentrations (Rice, 2004).

Figure AI.9 Effects of CO2 exposure on humans (Fleming et al.,

1992).

breathing, headache, impaired vision and mental confusion.

CO2 acts as an asphyxiant in the range 710% and can be fatal
at this concentration; at concentrations above 20%, death can
occur in 20 to 30 minutes (Fleming et al., 1992). The effects of
CO2 exposure are summarized in Table AI.3, which shows the
consequences at different concentrations.
Health risks to the population could therefore occur if a
release of CO2 were to produce:
relatively low ambient concentrations of CO2 for prolonged
periods;
or intermediate concentrations of CO2 in relatively anoxic
environments;
or high concentrations of CO2.
CO2 intoxication is identified by excluding other causes, as
exposure to CO2 does not produce unique symptoms.
AI.2.3.2 Occupational standards
Protective standards have been developed for workers who
may be exposed to CO2 (Table AI.4 shows US standards but
similar standards are understood to apply in other countries).
These standards may or may not be relevant for protection of
the general population against exposure to CO2. Nevertheless,
the occupational standards exist and provide a measure of the
recommended exposure levels for this class of individual.
Site-specific risk assessments using these and other health
data are necessary to determine potential health risks for the
general population or for more sensitive subjects.
AI.2.3.3 Sensitive populations
Rice (2004) has indicated that there may be certain specific
groups in the population which are more sensitive to elevated
CO2 levels than the general population. Such groups include
those suffering from certain medical conditions including
cerebral disease as well as patients in trauma medicated patients
and those experiencing panic disorder, as well as individuals

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table AI.3 Some reports of reactions to exposure to elevated concentrations of CO2.

CO2

Exposure reactions

1%

Slight increase in breathing rate.

3%

Breathing increases to twice normal rate and becomes

laboured. Weak narcotic effect. Impaired hearing, headache,
increase in blood pressure and pulse rate.

Concentration Air Products (2004)

Rice (2004)

2%

Ventilation rate raised by about l00%. Respiratory rate

raised by about 50%; increased brain blood flow.

4-5%
5-10%

50-100%

Characteristic sharp odour noticeable. Very laboured

breathing, headache, visual impairment and ringing in the
ears. Judgment may be impaired, followed within minutes by
loss of consciousness.
Unconsciousness occurs more rapidly above 10% level.
Prolonged exposure to high concentrations may eventually
result in death from asphyxiation.

Table AI.4 Occupational exposure standards.

OSHA permissible exposure limita

NIOSH recommended exposure limit

ACGIH threshold limit valuec

b
c

Exercise tolerance reduced in workers when breathing

against inspiratory and expiratory resistance.

Breathing increases to approximately four times normal rate;

symptoms of intoxication become evident and slight choking
may be felt.

with pulmonary disease resulting in acidosis, children and

people engaged in complex tasks.
CO2 is a potent cerebrovascular dilator and significantly
increases the cerebral blood flow. CO2 exposure can seriously
compromise patients in a coma or with a head injury, with
increased intra-cranial pressure or bleeding, or with expanding
lesions. An elevated partial pressure of CO2 in arterial blood can
further dilate cerebral vessels already dilated by anoxia.
Anoxia and various drugs (Osol and Pratt, 1973) can
depress the stimulation of the respiratory centre by CO2. In
such patients, as well as patients with trauma to the head, the
normal compensatory mechanisms will not be effective against
exposure to CO2 and the symptoms experienced will not
necessarily alert the individuals or their carers to the presence
of high CO2 levels.
Patients susceptible to panic disorder may experience an
increased frequency of panic attacks at 5% CO2 (Woods et al.,
1988). Panic attack and significant anxiety can affect the ability
of the individual to exercise appropriate judgment in dangerous
situations.
CO2 exposure can increase pulmonary pressure as well as
systemic blood pressure and should be avoided in individuals
with systemic or pulmonary hypertension. The rise in cardiac
work during CO2 inhalation could put patients with coronary

Respiratory rate increased by about 37%.

Breathing rate increases to 50% above normal level.

Prolonged exposure can cause headache, tiredness.

Increase in ventilation rate by ~200%; Respiratory rate

doubled, dizziness, headache, confusion, dyspnoea.
At 8-10%, severe headache, dizziness, confusion,
dyspnoea, sweating, dim vision. At 10%, unbearable
dyspnoea, followed by vomiting, disorientation,
hypertension, and loss of consciousness.

artery disease or heart failure in jeopardy (Cooper et al., 1970).

Infants and children breathe more air than adults relative to
their body size and they therefore tend to be more susceptible
to respiratory exposures (Snodgrass, 1992). At moderate to
high CO2 concentrations, the relaxation of blood vessels and
enhanced ventilation could contribute to rapid loss of body heat
in humans of any age. Carbon dioxide can significantly diminish
an individuals performance in carrying out complex tasks.
AI.2.3.4 CO2 control and response procedures
Suitable control procedures have been developed by industries
which use CO2, for example, minimizing any venting of CO2
unless this cannot be avoided for safety or other operational
reasons. Adequate ventilation must be provided when CO2 is
discharged into the air to ensure rapid dispersion.
Due its high density, released CO2 will flow to low-levels
and collect there, especially under stagnant conditions. High
concentrations can persist in open pits, tanks and buildings. For
this reason, monitors should be installed in areas where CO2
might concentrate, supplemented by portable monitors. If CO2
escapes from a vessel, the consequent pressure drop can cause a
hazardous cold condition with danger of frostbite from contact
with cold surfaces, with solid CO2 (dry ice) or with escaping
liquid CO2. Personnel should avoid entering a CO2 vapour

Time-weighted average
(8 hour day/40 hour week)

Short-term exposure limit

(15 minute)

Immediately dangerous to
life and health

5000 ppm (0.5%)

30,000 ppm (3%)

40,000 ppm (5%)

5000 ppm (0.5%)

5000 ppm (0.5%)

OSHA - US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1986).

NIOSH - US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (1997).
ACGIH - American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.

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Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

cloud not only because of the high concentration of CO2 but
also because of the danger of frostbite.
Hydrates, or ice plugs, can form in the piping of CO2
facilities and flowlines, especially at pipe bends, depressions
and locations downstream of restriction devices. Temperatures
do not have to fall below 0oC for hydrates to form; under
elevated pressures this can occur up to a temperature of 11oC.
AI.2.4

Established uses for CO2

A long-established part of the industrial gases market involves the

supply of CO2 to a range of industrial users (source: Air Liquide).
In several major industrial processes, CO2 is manufactured on
site as an intermediate material in the production of chemicals.
Large quantities of CO2 are used for enhanced oil recovery.
Other uses of CO2 include:
Chemicals
- Carbon dioxide is used in synthesis chemistry and to
control reactor temperatures. CO2 is also employed
to neutralize alkaline effluents.
- The main industrial use of CO2 is in the manufacture
of urea, as a fertilizer.
- Large amounts of CO2 are also used in the manufacture
of inorganic carbonates and a lesser amount is
used in the production of organic monomers and
polycarbonates.
- Methanol is manufactured using a chemical process
which makes use of CO2 in combination with other
feedstocks.
- CO2 is also used in the manufacture of
polyurethanes.
Pharmaceuticals
- CO2 is used to provide an inert atmosphere, for
chemical synthesis, supercritical fluid extraction
and for acidification of waste water and for product
transportation at low temperature (78oC).
Food and Beverage
- CO2 is used in the food business in three main areas:
Carbonation of beverages; packaging of foodstuffs
and as cryogenic fluid in chilling or freezing
operations or as dry ice for temperature control
during the distribution of foodstuffs.
Health care
- Intra-abdominal insufflation during medical
procedures to expand the space around organs or
tissues for better visualization.
Metals industry
- CO2 is typically used for environmental protection;
for example for red fume suppression during scrap
and carbon charging of furnaces, for nitrogen pick-up
reduction during tapping of electric arc furnaces and
for bottom stirring.
- In non-ferrous metallurgy, carbon dioxide is used for
fume suppression during ladle transfer of matte (Cu/
Ni production) or bullion (Zn/Pb production).

- A small amount of liquid CO2 is used in recycling

waters from acid mine drainage.
Pulp and paper
- CO2 enables fine-tuning of the pH of recycled
mechanical or chemical pulps after an alkaline
bleaching. CO2 can be used for increasing the
performance of paper production machines.
Electronics
- CO2 is used in waste water treatment and as a cooling
medium in environmental testing of electronic
devices. CO2 can also be used to add conductivity
to ultra-pure water and, as CO2 snow, for abrasive
cleaning of parts or residues on wafers; CO2 can
also be used as a supercritical fluid for removing
photoresist from wafers, thus avoiding use of organic
solvents.
Waste treatment
- Injection of CO2 helps control the pH of liquid
effluents.
Other applications
- CO2 snow is used for fire extinguishers, for pH control
and for regulation of waste waters in swimming
pools.

AI.3 Conversion factors

Some conversion factors relevant to CO2 capture and storage
are given in Table AI.5 Other, less precise conversions and
some approximate equivalents are given in Table AI.6.
AI.4 Fuels and emissions
AI.4.1

Carbonaceous fuels

Carbonaceous fuels can be defined as materials rich in carbon

and capable of producing energy on oxidation. From a historical
perspective, most of these fuels can be viewed as carriers of solar
energy, having been derived from plants which depended on
solar energy for growth. Thus, these fuels can be distinguished
by the time taken for their formation, which is millions of years
for fossil fuels, hundreds of years for peat and months-to-years
for biofuels. On the scale of the human lifespan, fossil fuels are
regarded as non-renewable carbonaceous fuels while biofuels
are regarded as renewable. Coal, oil and natural gas are the major
fossil fuels. Wood, agro-wastes, etcetera are the main biofuels
for stationary uses but, in some parts of the world, crops such
as soya, sugar cane and oil-seed plants are grown specifically to
produce biofuels, especially transport fuels such as bioethanol
and biodiesel. Peat is close to being a biofuel in terms of its
relatively short formation time compared with fossil fuels.
AI.4.1.1 Coal
Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel present on Earth. Coal
originated from the arrested decay of the remains of plant
life which flourished in swamps and bogs many millions of
years ago in a humid, tropical climate with abundant rainfall.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table AI.5 Some conversion factors.

To convert:

Into the following units:

Multiply by:

barrels (bbl)

m3

0.158987

US gallon

ton (Imperial)

short ton (US)

lbf

kgf

litre

3.78541

tonne

1.01605

tonne

0.907185

4.44822

9.80665

lbf in

Bar

0.0689476

Btu

MJ

0.00105506

Bar

MPa

Btu

0.1

kWh

kWh

MJ

MJ m

Btu ft

Btu/h

Btu (lb.F) 1
Btu (ft .h)
Btu (ft .h)
3

3.60000

MJ kg1

Btu lb1

0.000293071

1
1

Btu (ft2.h.F) 1
1 MMT

0.00232600
0.0372589

kW

0.000293071

kJ (kg.C) 1
kW m
kW m

4.18680

0.00315459

0.0103497

W (m2.C) 1

5.67826

million tonnes

0.907185

C =

(F - 32)
1.8

The abbreviation MMT is used in the literature to denote both Millions of short tons and Millions of metric tonnes. The conversion given here is for the
former.
a

Table AI.6 Approximate equivalents and other definitions.

To convert
1 tC

1 tCO2

1 t crude oil

1 t crude oil

Fractions retained

Release rate (fraction of stored

amount released per year)

0.001

0.0001

0.00001
Other definitions

Standard Temperature and Pressure

Into the following units

Multiply by
3.667

tCO2

m3 CO2 (at 1.013 bar and 15 C)

534

Bbl

7.33

1.165

Fraction retained
over 100 years

Fraction retained
over 500 years

Fraction retained
over 5000 years

99%

95%

61%

90%

100%

61%

100%

1%

95%

0 C and 1.013 bar

Subsequent action of heat and pressure and other physical

phenomena metamorphosed it into coal. Because of various
degrees of metamorphic change during the process, coal is not a
uniform substance; no two coals are the same in every respect.
The composition of coal is reported in two different ways: The
proximate analysis and the ultimate analysis, both expressed in

% by weight. In a proximate analysis, moisture, volatile matter,

fixed carbon and ash are measured using prescribed methods,
which enable the equipment designer to determine how much
air is to be supplied for efficient combustion, amongst other
things. An ultimate analysis determines the composition in
terms of the elements that contribute to the heating value, such

395

Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, the oxygen content
(by difference), as well as ash. Along with these analyses, the
heating value (expressed as kJ kg1) is also determined.
Carpenter (1988) describes the various coal classification
systems in use today. In general, these systems are based on
hierarchy and rank. The rank of a coal is the stage the coal has
reached during the coalification process that is its degree of
metamorphism or maturity. Table AI.7 shows the classification
system adopted by the American Society for Testing Materials
(ASTM), D388-92A (Carpenter, 1988; Perry and Green, 1997).
This rank-based system is extensively used in North America
and many other parts of the world. This system uses two
parameters to classify coals by rank, fixed carbon (dry, mineralmatter-free) for the higher rank coals and gross calorific value
(moist, mineral-matter-free) for the lower rank coals. The
agglomerating character of the coals is used to differentiate
between adjacent coal groups.
AI.4.1.2 Oil and petroleum fuels
During the past 600 million years, the remains of incompletely
decayed plant have become buried under thick layers of rock
and, under high pressure and temperature, have been converted
to petroleum which may occur in gaseous, liquid or solid form.
The fluid produced from petroleum reservoirs may be crude oil
(a mixture of light and heavy hydrocarbons and bitumen) or
natural gas liquids. Hydrocarbons can also be extracted from
tar sands or oil shales; this takes place in several parts of the
world.
Fuels are extracted from crude oil through fractional
distillation, with subsequent conversion and upgrading. Such
fuels are used for vehicles (gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and
liquefied petroleum gases (LPG)), heating oils, lighting oils,
solvents, lubricants and building materials such as asphalts, plus
a variety of other products. The compositions of heating fuels
may differ in their composition, density, etcetera but general
categories are recognized worldwide: kerosene-type vaporizing
fuel, distillate (or gas oil) and more viscous blends and
residuals. Tables AI.8 and AI.9 provide typical specifications
of some common fuels (Perry and Green, 1997; Kaantee et al.,
2003).
AI.4.1.3 Natural gas
Natural gas is combustible gas that occurs in porous rock of
the Earths crust; it is often found with or near accumulations
of crude oil. It may occur in separate reservoirs but, more
commonly, it forms a gas cap entrapped between the petroleum
and an impervious, capping rock layer in a petroleum reservoir.
Under high-pressure conditions, it becomes partially mixed
with or dissolved in the crude oil. Methane (CH4) is the main
component of natural gas, usually making up more than 80%
of the constituents by volume. The remaining constituents
are ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), butane (C4H10), hydrogen
sulphide (H2S) and inerts (N2, CO2 and He). The amounts of
Coalification refers to the progressive transformation of peat through lignite/
brown coal, to sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite coals.

these compounds can vary greatly depending on location.

Natural gas is always treated prior to use, mainly by drying, and
by removing H2S and, depending on the amount present, CO2.
There are no universally accepted specification systems for
marketed natural gas; however a typical composition of natural
gas is given in Table AI.10 (Spath and Mann, 2000).
AI.4.1.4 Biofuels
Biofuels may be defined as fuels produced from organic matter
or combustible oils produced by plants (IPCC, 2001). Dedicated
energy crops, including short-rotation woody crops such as
hardwood trees and herbaceous crops such as switch grass, are
agricultural crops that are solely grown for use as biofuels. These
crops have very fast growth rates and can therefore provide a
regular supply of fuel. The category of biofuels also includes
wood from trees and wood waste products (e.g., sawdust,
wood chips, etc.), crop residues (e.g., rice husks, bagasse, corn
husks, wheat chaff, etc.). This category of fuel is often taken to
include some types of municipal, animal and industrial wastes
(e.g., sewage sludge, manure, etc.). These would be combusted
in stationary plants. Chemical properties of typical biofuels,
including peat, are given in Table AI.11 (Sami et al., 2001;
Hower, 2003).
Biomass-derived fuels can also be manufactured for use
as transport fuels, for example ethanol from fermentation of
plant material or biodiesel produced by transesterification of
vegetable oils. The energy efficiency of fermentation systems
can be improved by combustion of the solid residues to produce
electricity.
AI.4.2

Examples of emissions from carbonaceous fuels

Depending on the fuel type and application, the utilization of

carbonaceous fuels causes direct and indirect emissions of one
or more of the following: SOx, NOx, particulate matter, trace
metals and elements, volatile organic carbons and greenhouse
gases (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O). Direct emissions are usually
confined to the point of combustion of the fuel. Indirect
emissions include those that arise from the upstream recovery,
processing and distribution of the fuel. Life cycle analysis
(LCA) can be used to account for all emissions (direct as well
as indirect) arising from the recovery, processing, distribution
and end-use of a fuel. Table AI.12 (Cameron, 2002) and Table
AI.13 (EPA, 2004) give an idea of some direct and indirect
emissions anticipated, but these should only be viewed as
examples due to the considerable variation there can be in many
of these values.

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table AI.7 Characterization of coals by rank (according to ASTM D388-92A).

Fixed Carbon Limits
(dmmf basis)a %

Class Group
Anthracite

Equal to or
greater than

Meta-anthracite

98

Semi-anthracite c

86

Low volatile

78

Anthracite

Bituminous coal

Less than

92

Volatile Matter Limits

(dmmf basis)a %

Greater than

Equal to or
less than

92

14

86

14

22

32.6 d

98

78

22

31

High volatile B

High volatile C

Sub-bituminous coal

Less than

69
-

Equal to or
greater than

Medium volatile
High volatile A

Gross Calorific Value

Limits (mmmf basis)b
MJ kg1

69
-

31
-

26.7
24.4

32.6

30.2
26.7

24.4

26.7

19.3

22.1

Lignite
A

22.1

14.7
-

Commonly agglomerating

Non-agglomerating

30.2

Agglomerating Character

Agglomerating

Non-agglomerating

24.4

19.3

14.7

Indicates dry-mineral-matter-free basis (dmmf).

mmmf indicates moist mineral-matter-free basis; moist refers to coal containing its natural inherent moisture but not including visible water on the surface of
the coal.
c
If agglomerating, classified in the low volatile group of the bituminous class.
d
Coals having 69% or more fixed carbon (dmmf) are classified according to fixed carbon, regardless of gross calorific value.
a

Table AI.8 Typical specifications of petroleum-based heating fuels.

Specifier

Number

Category

Deutsches Institut fur Normung e.V., Germany

DIN 51603

Heating (fuel) oils

Japan

JIS K2203

Kerosene

Canadian Government Specification Board,

Department of Defense Production, Canada

British Standards Institution, UK

Federal Specifications, United States

3-GP-2

B.S. 2869

JIS K2204
JIS K2205

ASTM D 396

Fuel oil, heating

Petroleum fuels for oil

engines and burners
Gas oil

Fuel oil

Fuel oil, burner

397

Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

Table AI.9 Typical ultimate analysis of petroleum-based heating fuels.
No. 1 fuel oil
(41.5oAPIa)

No. 2 fuel oil

(33oAPIa)

No. 4 fuel oil

(23.2oAPIa)

Low sulphur,
No. 6 fuel oil
(33oAPIa)

Hydrogen

13.6

12.6

11.65

10.49

Nitrogen

0.003

0.006

Ash

<0.01

<0.01

Composition %
Carbon

86.4

Oxygen

0.01

Sulphur

86.47

0.04

0.09

C/H Ratio
a

87.3

0.27

11.02

3.08

84.67

0.02

1.11

0.18

0.84

1.71

3.97

0.04

7.42

89.5

0.38

0.28

1.35

6.93

Petroleum cokeb

0.64

0.24

0.22

6.35

87.26

High sulphur,
No. 6 fuel oil
(15.5o APIa)

4.00

0.02

8.31

0.50

7.62

29.05

Degree API = (141.5/s) -131.5; where s is the specific density at 15C.

Reference: Kaantee et al. (2003).

Table AI.10 Typical natural gas composition.

Component

Carbon dioxide CO

Pipeline composition used in

analysis
Mol% (dry)

Low value

High value

1.1

15

0.5

Nitrogen N2

Typical range of wellhead components

(mol%)
0

Methane CH4

94.4

75

Propane C3H8

0.5

Ethane C2H6

3.1

N-butane C4H10

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S)

0.0

48.252 MJ kg

Heat of combustion (HHV)

1
2

0.0004

Heat of combustion (LHV)

10

0.2

Helium (He)

15

0.1

Pentanes + (C5+)

99

0.1

Isobutane C4H10

10

53.463 MJ kg

30

0
1

Table AI.11 Chemical analysis and properties of some biomass fuels (Sami et al., 2001; Hower, 2003).
Peat

Wood
(saw dust)

Moisture

7090

7.3

Volatile matter

4575

76.2

Proximate Analysis
Ash

Fixed carbon

Ultimate Analysis
C

1638

6778

13.9

14.9

4560

46.9

2045
-

0.753

Heating Value,
MJ kg1, (HHV)

11.3

3.56.8

Municipal solid waste

2.6

Crop residues
(sugar cane bagasse)

1722

Energy crops
(Eucalyptus)

1120

0.52

612

16.9

44.8

48.3

37.8

39.5

45.1

0.04

0.01

0.01

5.2

0.1

18.1

5.4

0.4

17.3

15.917.5

5.9

0.2

19.3

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Table AI.12 Direct emissions of non-greenhouse gases from two examples of coal and natural gas plants based on best available control
technology, burning specific fuels (Cameron, 2002).
Emissions

Coal
(supercritical PC with best available emission controls)

Natural gas
(NGCC with SCR)

4-5

NOx, g GJ1
SOx, g GJ

Particulates, g GJ1
Mercury, mg GJ

4.5-5

0.7

0.3-0.5

N/A

2.4-2.8

Table AI.13 Direct CO2 emission factors for some examples of carbonaceous fuels.
Carbonaceous Fuel

Heat Content (HHV)

Emission Factor

Anthracite

26.2

96.8

Sub-bituminous

19.9

90.3

Coal

Bituminous
Lignite

Biofuel

Wood (dry)

27.8
14.9

91.6

20.0

78.4

kJ m

Petroleum Fuel

MJ m3

Residual Fuel Oil (#5 & 6)

Kerosene

LPG (average for fuel use

Motor Gasoline

gCO2 MJ1 a

87.3

Natural Gas

Distillate Fuel Oil (#1, 2 & 4)

MJ kg1 a

37.3

50

38,650

68.6

37,622

67.8

41,716
25,220
-

73.9
59.1

69.3

Reported values converted to SI units (NIES, 2003).

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Annex II
Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

Coordinating Lead Author

Philip Lloyd (South Africa)
Lead Authors
Peter Brewer (United States), Chris Hendriks (Netherlands), Yasumasa Fujii (Japan), John Gale (United
Kingdom), Balgis Osman Elasha (Sudan), Jose Moreira (Brazil), Juan Carlos Sanchez (Venezuela),
Mohammad Soltanieh (Iran), Tore Torp (Norway), Ton Wildenborg (Netherlands)
Contributing Authors
Jason Anderson (United States), Stefan Bachu (Canada), Sally Benson (United States), Ken Caldeira
(United States), Peter Cook (United States), Richard Doctor (United States), Paul Freund (United
Kingdom), Gabriela von Goerne (Germany)

401

402
Note: the definitions in this Annex refer to the use of the terms
in the context of this report. It provides an explanation of
specific terms as the authors intend them to be interpreted in
this report.
Abatement
Reduction in the degree or intensity of emissions or other
pollutants.
Absorption
Chemical or physical take-up of molecules into the bulk of a
solid or liquid, forming either a solution or compound.
Acid gas
Any gas mixture that turns to an acid when dissolved in water
(normally refers to H2S + CO2 from sour gas (q.v.)).

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

API
American Petroleum Institute; degree API is a measure of oil
density given by (141.5/specific gravity) -131.5.
Aquifer
Geological structure containing water and with significant
permeability to allow flow; it is bound by seals.
Assessment unit
A geological province with high petroleum potential.
Assigned amount
The amount by which a Party listed in Annex B of the Kyoto
Protocol agrees to reduce its anthropogenic emissions.

Adiabatic
A process in which no heat is gained or lost by the system.

ATR
Auto thermal reforming: a process in which the heat for the
reaction of CH4 with steam is generated by partial oxidation of
CH4.

Adsorption
The uptake of molecules on the surface of a solid or a liquid.

Autoproduction
The production of electricity for own use.

Afforestation
Planting of new forests on lands that historically have not
contained forests.

Basalt
A type of basic igneous rock which is typically erupted from a
volcano.

Aluminium silicate mineral

Natural mineral such as feldspar, clays, micas, amphiboles
composed of Al2O3 and SiO2 plus other cations.

Basel Convention
UN Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements
of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which was adopted at
Basel on 22 March 1989.

Amine
Organic chemical compound containing one or more nitrogens
in -NH2, -NH or -N groups.

Baseline
The datum against which change is measured.

Anaerobic condition
Reducing condition that only supports life which does not
require free oxygen.

Basin
A geological region with strata dipping towards a common
axis or centre.

Anhydrite
Calcium sulphate: the common hydrous form is called
gypsum.

Bathymetric
Pertaining to the depth of water.

Antarctic Treaty
Applies to the area south of 60 degrees South, and declares
that Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only.
Anthracite
Coal with the highest carbon content and therefore the highest
rank (q.v.).
Anthropogenic source
Source which is man-made as opposed to natural.
Anticline
Folded geological strata that is convex upwards.

Benthic
Pertaining to conditions at depth in bodies of water.
Bicarbonate ion
The anion formed by dissolving carbon dioxide in water,
HCO3-.
Biomass
Matter derived recently from the biosphere.
Biomass-based CCS
Carbon capture and storage in which the feedstock (q.v.) is
biomass

403

Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

Bituminous coal
An intermediate rank of coal falling between the extremes of
peat and anthracite, and closer to anthracite.

Casing
A pipe which is inserted to stabilize the borehole of a well
after it is drilled.

Blow-out
Refers to catastrophic failure of a well when the petroleum
fluids or water flow unrestricted to the surface.

CBM
Coal bed methane

Bohr effect
The pH-dependent change in the oxygen affinity of blood.
Bottom-up model
A model that includes technological and engineering details in
the analysis.
Boundary
In GHG accounting, the separation between accounting units,
be they national, organizational, operational, business units or
sectors.
Break-even price
The price necessary at a given level of production to cover all
costs.
Buoyancy
Tendency of a fluid or solid to rise through a fluid of higher
density.
Cap rock
Rock of very low permeability that acts as an upper seal to
prevent fluid flow out of a reservoir.
Capillary entry pressure
Additional pressure needed for a liquid or gas to enter a pore
and overcome surface tension.
Capture efficiency
The fraction of CO2 separated from the gas stream of a source
Carbon credit
A convertible and transferable instrument that allows an
organization to benefit financially from an emission reduction.
Carbon trading
A market-based approach that allows those with excess
emissions to trade that excess for reduced emissions
elsewhere.
Carbonate
Natural minerals composed of various anions bonded to a
CO32- cation (e.g. calcite, dolomite, siderite, limestone).
Carbonate neutralization
A method for storing carbon in the ocean based upon the
reaction of CO2 with a mineral carbonate such as limestone to
produce bicarbonate anions and soluble cations.

CCS
Carbon dioxide capture and storage
CDM
Clean development mechanism: a Kyoto Protocol mechanism
to assist non-Annex 1 countries to contribute to the objectives
of the Protocol and help Annex I countries to meet their
commitments.
Certification
In the context of carbon trading, certifying that a project
achieves a quantified reduction in emissions over a given
period.
Chemical looping combustion
A process in which combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel is split
into separate oxidation and reduction reactions by using a
metal oxide as an oxygen carrier between the two reactors.
Chlorite
A magnesium-iron aluminosilicate sheet silicate clay mineral.
Class x well
A regulatory classification for wells used for the injection of
fluids into the ground.
Claus plant
A plant that transforms H2S into elemental sulphur.
Cleats
The system of joints, cleavage planes, or planes of weakness
found in coal seams along which the coal fractures.
CO2 avoided
The difference between CO2 captured, transmitted and/or
stored, and the amount of CO2 generated by a system without
capture, net of the emissions not captured by a system with
CO2 capture.
CO2 equivalent
A measure used to compare emissions of different greenhouse
gases based on their global warming potential.
Co-benefit
The additional benefits generated by policies that are
implemented for a specific reason.

404
COE
Cost of electricity, value as calculated by Equation 1 in
Section 3.7.
Co-firing
The simultaneous use of more than one fuel in a power plant
or industrial process.
Completion of a well
Refers to the cementing and perforating of casing and
stimulation to connect a well bore to reservoir.
Congruence
The quality of agreement between two entities.
Conservative values
Parameter values selected so that a parameter, such as CO2
leakage, is over-estimated.
Containment
Restriction of movement of a fluid to a designated volume
(e.g. reservoir).
Continental shelf
The extension of the continental mass beneath the ocean.
COREX
A process for producing iron.

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Dense phase
A gas compressed to a density approaching that of the liquid.
Dense fluid
A gas compressed to a density approaching that of the liquid.
Depleted
Of a reservoir: one where production is significantly reduced.
Diagenesis
Processes that cause changes in sediment after it has been
deposited and buried under another layer.
DIC
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon.
Dip
In geology, the angle below the horizontal taken by rock strata.
Discharge
The amount of water issuing from a spring or in a stream that
passes a specific point in a given period of time.
Discordant sequence
In geology, sequence of rock strata that is markedly different
from strata above or below.

Cryogenic
Pertaining to low temperatures, usually under about -100C.

Dolomite
A magnesium-rich carbonate sedimentary rock. Also, a
magnesium-rich carbonate mineral (CaMgCO3).

D, Darcy
A non-SI unit of permeability, abbreviated D, and
approximately = 1m2.

Double-grip packer
A device used to seal a drill string equipped with two gripping
mechanisms.

Dawsonite
A mineral: dihydroxide sodium aluminium carbonate.

Down-hole log
Record of conditions in a borehole.

Deep saline aquifer

A deep underground rock formation composed of permeable
materials and containing highly saline fluids.

Drill cuttings
The solid particles recovered during the drilling of a well.

Deep sea
The sea below 1000m depth.

Drill string
The assembly of drilling rods that leads from the surface to the
drilling tool.

Default emissions factor

An approximate emission factor that may be used in the
absence of precise or measured values of an Emissions Factor.

Drive
Fluid flow created in formations by pressure differences
arising from borehole operations.

Demonstration phase
Demonstration phase means that the technology is
implemented in a pilot project or on a small scale, but not yet
economically feasible at full scale.

Dry ice
Solid carbon dioxide
Dynamic miscibility
The attainment of mixing following the prolonged injection of
gas into an oilfield.

405

Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

ECBM
Enhanced coal bed methane recovery; the use of CO2 to
enhance the recovery of the methane present in unminable
coal beds through the preferential adsorption of CO2 on coal.
Economic potential
The amount of greenhouse gas emissions reductions from
a specific option that could be achieved cost-effectively,
given prevailing circumstances (i.e. a market value of CO2
reductions and costs of other options).
Economically feasible under specific conditions
A technology that is well understood and used in selected
commercial applications, such as in a favourable tax regime or
a niche market, processing at least 0.1 MtCO2/yr, with a few
(less than 5) replications of the technology.
EGR
Enhanced gas recovery: the recovery of gas additional to that
produced naturally by fluid injection or other means.
Emission factor
A normalized measure of GHG emissions in terms of activity,
e.g., tonnes of GHG emitted per tonne of fuel consumed.
Emissions credit
A commodity giving its holder the right to emit a certain
quantity of GHGs (q.v.).
Emissions trading
A trading scheme that allows permits for the release of a
specified number of tonnes of a pollutant to be sold and
bought.
Endothermic
Concerning a chemical reaction that absorbs heat, or requires
heat to drive it.
Enhanced gas recovery
See EGR.
Enhanced oil recovery
See EOR
Entrained flow
Flow in which a solid or liquid, in the form of fine particles, is
transported in diluted form by high velocity gas.

Evaporite
A rock formed by evaporation.
Exothermic
Concerning a chemical reaction that releases heat, such as
combustion.
Ex-situ mineralization
A process where minerals are mined, transferred to an
industrial facility, reacted with carbon dioxide and processed.
Exsolution
The formation of different phases during the cooling of a
homogeneous fluid.
Extended reach well
Borehole that is diverted into a more horizontal direction to
extend its reach.
Extremophile
Microbe living in environments where life was previously
considered impossible.
Far field
A region remote from a signal source.
Fault
In geology, a surface at which strata are no longer continuous,
but displaced.
Fault reactivation
The tendency for a fault to become active, i.e. for movement
to occur.
Fault slip
The extent to which a fault has slipped in past times.
FBC
Fluidized bed combustion: combustion in a fluidized bed
(q.v.).
Feldspar
A group of alumino-silicate minerals that makes up much of
the Earths crust.
Feedstock
The material that is fed to a process

Entrainment gas
The gas employed in entrained flow (q.v.).

FGD
Flue gas desulphurization.

EOR
Enhanced oil recovery: the recovery of oil additional to that
produced naturally by fluid injection or other means.

Fischer-Tropsch
A process that transforms a gas mixture of CO and H2 into
liquid hydrocarbons and water.

Euphotic zone
The zone of the ocean reached by sunlight.

406
Fixation
The immobilization of CO2 by its reaction with another
material to produce a stable compound
Fixed bed
A gas-solid contactor or reactor formed by a bed of stationary
solid particles that allows the passage of gas between the
particles.
Flood
The injection of a fluid into an underground reservoir.
Flue gas
Gases produced by combustion of a fuel that are normally
emitted to the atmosphere.
Fluidized bed
A gas-solid contactor or reactor comprising a bed of fine
solid particles suspended by passing a gas through the bed at
sufficiently high velocity.
Folding
In geology, the bending of rock strata from the plane in which
they were formed.
Formation
A body of rock of considerable extent with distinctive
characteristics that allow geologists to map, describe, and
name it.
Formation water
Water that occurs naturally within the pores of rock
formations.
Fouling
Deposition of a solid on the surface of heat or mass transfer
equipment that has the effect of reducing the heat or mass
transfer.
Fracture
Any break in rock along which no significant movement has
occurred.
Fuel cell
Electrochemical device in which a fuel is oxidized in a
controlled manner to produce an electric current and heat
directly.
Fugitive emission
Any releases of gases or vapours from anthropogenic activities
such as the processing or transportation of gas or petroleum.
FutureGen Project
US Government initiative for a new power station with low
CO2 emissions.

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Gas turbine
A machine in which a fuel is burned with compressed air or
oxygen and mechanical work is recovered by the expansion of
the hot products.
Gasification
Process by which a carbon-containing solid fuel is transformed
into a carbon- and hydrogen-containing gaseous fuel by
reaction with air or oxygen and steam.
Geochemical trapping
The retention of injected CO2 by geochemical reactions.
Geological setting
The geological environment of various locations.
Geological time
The time over which geological processes have taken place.
Geomechanics
The science of the movement of the Earths crust.
Geosphere
The earth, its rocks and minerals, and its waters.
Geothermal
Concerning heat flowing from deep in the earth.
GHG
Greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
(CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydroflurocarbons (HFCs),
perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
Hazardous and non-hazardous waste
Potentially harmful and non-harmful substances that have
been released or discarded into the environment.
Hazardous waste directive
European directive in force to regulate definitions of waste
classes and to regulate the handling of the waste classes.
HAZOP
HAZard and OPerability, a process used to assess the risks of
operating potentially hazardous equipment.
Helsinki Convention
International legal convention protecting the Baltic water
against pollution.
Henrys Law
States that the solubility of a gas in a liquid is proportional to
the partial pressure of the gas in contact with the liquid.
HHV
Higher heating value: the energy released from the combustion
of a fuel that includes the latent heat of water.

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Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

Host rock
In geology, the rock formation that contains a foreign material.
Hybrid vehicle
Vehicle that combines a fossil fuel internal combustion engine
and an alternative energy source, typically batteries.
Hydrate
An ice-like compound formed by the reaction of water and
CO2, CH4 or similar gases.
Hydrodynamic trap
A geological structure in which fluids are retained by low
levels of porosity in the surrounding rocks.
Hydrogeological
Concerning water in the geological environment.
Hydrostatic
Pertaining to the properties of a stationary body of water.
Hypercapnia
Excessively high CO2 levels in the blood.
Hypoxia
Having low rates of oxygen transfer in living tissue.
Hysteresis
The phenomenon of a lagging recovery from deformation or
other disturbance.
IEA GHG
International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D
Programme.
IGCC
Integrated gasification combined cycle: power generation in
which hydrocarbons or coal are gasified (q.v.) and the gas is
used as a fuel to drive both a gas and a steam turbine.
Igneous
Rock formed when molten rock (magma) has cooled and
solidified (crystallized).
Immature basin
A basin in which the processes leading to oil or gas formation
have started but are incomplete.
Infrared spectroscopy
Chemical analysis using infrared spectroscope method.
Injection
The process of using pressure to force fluids down wells.
Injection well
A well in which fluids are injected rather than produced.

Injectivity
A measure of the rate at which a quantity of fluid can be
injected into a well.
In-situ mineralization
A process where minerals are not mined: carbon dioxide
is injected in the silicate formation where it reacts with the
minerals, forming carbonates and silica.
International Seabed Authority
An organization established under the 1982 UN Convention
on the Law of the Sea, headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica.
Ion
An atom or molecule that has acquired a charge by either
gaining or losing electrons.
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
JI
Joint Implementation: under the Kyoto Protocol, it allows a
Party with a GHG emission target to receive credits from other
Annex 1 Parties.
Kyoto Protocol
Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change, which was adopted at Kyoto on 11 December
1997.
Leach
To dissolve a substance from a solid.
Leakage
In respect of carbon trading, the change of anthropogenic
emissions by sources or removals by sinks which occurs
outside the project boundary.
Leakage
In respect of carbon storage, the escape of injected fluid from
storage.
Levellized cost
The future values of an input or product that would make the
NPV (q.v.) of a project equal to zero.
LHV
Lower heating value: energy released from the combustion of
a fuel that excludes the latent heat of water.
Lignite/sub-bituminous coal
Relatively young coal of low rank with a relatively high
hydrogen and oxygen content.

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Limestone
A sedimentary rock made mostly of the mineral calcite
(calcium carbonate), usually formed from shells of dead
organisms.

Mature sedimentary basins

Geological provinces formed by the deposition of particulate
matter under water when the deposits have matured into
hydrocarbon reserves.

LNG
Liquefied natural gas

MEA
Mono-ethanolamine

Lithology
Science of the nature and composition of rocks

Medium-gravity oil
Oil with a density of between about 850 and 925kg/m3
(between 20 and 30 API).

Lithosphere
The outer layer of the Earth, made of solid rock, which
includes the crust and uppermost mantle up to 100 km thick.
Log
Records taken during or after the drilling of a well.
London Convention
On the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes
and Other Matter, which was adopted at London, Mexico City,
Moscow and Washington on 29 December 1972.
London Protocol
Protocol to the Convention adopted in London on 2 November
1996 but which had not entered into force at the time of
writing.

Membrane
A sheet or block of material that selectively separates the
components of a fluid mixture.
Metamorphic
Of rocks that have been altered by heat or pressure.
Mica
Class of silicate minerals with internal plate structure.
Microseismicity
Small-scale seismic tremors.
Migration
The movement of fluids in reservoir rocks.

Low-carbon energy carrier

Fuel that provides low fuel-cycle-wide emissions of CO2, such
as methanol.

Mineral trap
A geological structure in which fluids are retained by the
reaction of the fluid to form a stable mineral.

Macro-invertebrate
Small creature living in the seabed and subsoil, like
earthworms, snails and beetles.

Miscible displacement
Injection process that introduces miscible gases into the
reservoir, thereby maintaining reservoir pressure and
improving oil displacement.

Madrid Protocol
A protocol to the 11th Antarctic Treaty to provide for
Antarcticas environmental protection.

Mitigation
The process of reducing the impact of any failure.

Mafic
Term used for silicate minerals, magmas, and rocks, which are
relatively high in the heavier elements.

Monitoring
The process of measuring the quantity of carbon dioxide
stored and its location.

Magmatic activity
The flow of magma (lava).

Monte Carlo
A modelling technique in which the statistical properties of
outcomes are tested by random inputs.

Marginal cost
Additional cost that arises from the expansion of activity. For
example, emission reduction by one additional unit.
Maturation
The geological process of changing with time. For example,
the alteration of peat into lignite, then into sub-bituminous and
bituminous coal, and then into anthracite.

Mudstone
A very fine-grained sedimentary rock formed from mud.
MWh
Megawatt-hour

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Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

National Greenhouse Gas Inventory
An inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and
removals by sinks of greenhouse gases prepared by Parties to
the UNFCCC.
Natural analogue
A natural occurrence that mirrors in most essential elements an
intended or actual human activity.
Natural underground trap
A geological structure in which fluids are retained by natural
processes.
Navier-Stokes equations
The general equations describing the flow of fluids.
Near-field
The region close to a signal source.
NGCC
Natural gas combined cycle: natural-gas-fired power plant
with gas and steam turbines.

Oxidation
The loss of one or more electrons by an atom, molecule, or
ion.
Oxyfuel combustion
Combustion of a fuel with pure oxygen or a mixture of
oxygen, water and carbon dioxide.
Packer
A device for sealing off a section of a borehole or part of a
borehole.
Partial oxidation
The oxidation of a carbon-containing fuel under conditions
that produce a large fraction of CO and hydrogen.
Partial pressure
The pressure that would be exerted by a particular gas in a
mixture of gases if the other gases were not present.
pCO2
The partial pressure (q.v.) of CO2.

Non-hazardous waste
Non-harmful substances that have been released or discarded
into the environment.

PC
Pulverized coal: usually used in connection with boilers fed
with finely ground coal.

NPV
Net present value: the value of future cash flows discounted to
the present at a defined rate of interest.

Pejus level
The level in the ocean below which the functioning of animals
deteriorates significantly.

Numerical approximation
Representation of physico-mathematical laws through linear
approximations.

Pelagic
Relating to, or occurring, or living in, or frequenting, the open
ocean.

Observation well
A well installed to permit the observation of subsurface
conditions.

Perfluorocarbon
Synthetically produced halocarbons containing only carbon
and fluorine atoms. They are characterized by extreme
stability, non-flammability, low toxicity and high global
warming potential.

OECD
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
OSPAR
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of
the North-East Atlantic, which was adopted at Paris on 22
September 1992.
Outcrop
The point at which a particular stratum reaches the earths
surface.
Overburden
Rocks and sediments above any particular stratum.
Overpressure
Pressure created in a reservoir that exceeds the pressure
inherent at the reservoirs depth.

Permeability
Ability to flow or transmit fluids through a porous solid such
as rock.
Permian
A geological age between 290 and 248 million years ago.
Phytotoxic
Poisonous to plants.
Piezo-electric transducer
Crystals or films that are able to convert mechanical energy in
electrical energy or vice-versa.

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Pig
A device that is driven down pipelines to inspect and/or clean
them.

Reduction
The gain of one or more electrons by an atom, molecule, or
ion

Point source
An emission source that is confined to a single small location

Reduction commitment
A commitment by a Party to the Kyoto Protocol to meet its
quantified emission limit.

Polygeneration
Production of more than one form of energy, for example
synthetic liquid fuels plus electricity.
Pore space
Space between rock or sediment grains that can contain fluids.
Poroelastic
Elastic behaviour of porous media.
Porosity
Measure for the amount of pore space in a rock.

Reforestation
Planting of forests on lands that have previously contained
forests but that have been converted to some other use.
Regional scale
A geological feature that crosses an entire basin.
Remediation
The process of correcting any source of failure.

Post-combustion capture
The capture of carbon dioxide after combustion.

Renewables
Energy sources that are inherently renewable such as solar
energy, hydropower, wind, and biomass.

POX
Partial oxidation (q.v.)

Rep. Value
Representative value

Pre-combustion capture
The capture of carbon dioxide following the processing of the
fuel before combustion.

Reproductive dysfunction
Inability to reproduce.

Primary legal source

Legal source not depending on authority given by others.

Reserve
A resource (q.v.) from which it is generally economic to
produce valuable minerals or hydrocarbons.

Probability density function

Function that describes the probability for a series of
parameter values.

Reservoir
A subsurface body of rock with sufficient porosity and
permeability to store and transmit fluids.

Prospectivity
A qualitative assessment of the likelihood that a suitable
storage location is present in a given area based on the
available information

Residual saturation
The fraction of the injected CO2 that is trapped in pores by
capillary forces.

Proven reserve
For oil declared by operator to be economical; for gas about
which a decision has been taken to proceed with development
and production; see Resource.
Province
An area with separate but similar geological formations.
PSA
Pressure swing adsorption: a method of separating gases
using the physical adsorption of one gas at high pressure and
releasing it at low pressure.
Rank
Quality criterion for coal.

Resource
A body of a potentially valuable mineral or hydrocarbon.
Retrofit
A modification of the existing equipment to upgrade and
incorporate changes after installation.
Risk assessment
Part of a risk-management system.
Root anoxia
Lack, or deficiency, of oxygen in root zone.
Root zone
Part of the soil in which plants have their roots.

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Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

Safe Drinking Water Act
An Act of the US Congress originally passed in 1974. It
regulates, among other things, the possible contamination of
underground water.
Saline formation
Sediment or rock body containing brackish water or brine.
Saline groundwater
Groundwater in which salts are dissolved.
Sandstone
Sand that has turned into a rock due to geological processes.
Saturated zone
Part of the subsurface that is totally saturated with
groundwater.
Scenario
A plausible description of the future based on an internally
consistent set of assumptions about key relationships and
driving forces. Note that scenarios are neither predictions nor
forecasts.
SCR
Selective catalytic reduction
Scrubber
A gas-liquid contacting device for the purification of gases or
capture of a gaseous component.
Seabed
Borderline between the free water and the top of the bottom
sediment.
Seal
An impermeable rock that forms a barrier above and around a
reservoir such that fluids are held in the reservoir.
Secondary recovery
Recovery of oil by artificial means, after natural production
mechanisms like overpressure have ceased.
Sedimentary basin
Natural large-scale depression in the earths surface that is
filled with sediments.
Seismic profile
A two-dimensional seismic image of the subsurface.
Seismic technique
Measurement of the properties of rocks by the speed of sound
waves generated artificially or naturally.
Seismicity
The episodic occurrence of natural or man-induced
earthquakes.

Selexol
A commercial physical absorption process to remove CO2
using glycol dimethylethers.
Shale
Clay that has changed into a rock due to geological processes.
Shift convertor
A reactor in which the water-gas shift reaction, CO + H2O =
CO2 + H2, takes place.
Simplex orifice fitting
An apparatus for measuring the flow rate of gases or liquids.
Sink
The natural uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere, typically in
soils, forests or the oceans.
SMR
Steam methane reforming: a catalytic process in which
methane reacts with steam to produce a mixture of H2, CO and
CO2.
SNG
Synthetic natural gas: fuel gas with a high concentration of
methane produced from coal or heavy hydrocarbons.
SOFC
Solid oxide fuel cell: a fuel cell (q.v.) in which the electrolyte
is a solid ceramic composed of calcium- or yttrium-stabilized
zirconium oxides.
Soil gas
Gas contained in the space between soil grains
Solubility trapping
A process in which fluids are retained by dissolution in liquids
naturally present.
Sour gas
Natural gas containing significant quantities of acid gases like
H2S and CO2.
Source
Any process, activity or mechanism that releases a greenhouse
gas, an aerosol, or a precursor thereof into the atmosphere.
Speciation
The determination of the number of species into which a
single species will divide over time.
Spill point
The structurally lowest point in a structural trap (q.v.) that can
retain fluids lighter than background
fluids.

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Spoil pile
Heap of waste material derived from mining or processing
operations.

Subsoil
Term used in London and OSPAR conventions, meaning the
sediments below the seabed.

SRES
Special Report on Emissions Scenarios; used as a basis for the
climate projections in the TAR (q.v.).

Sub-bituminous coal
Coal of a rank between lignite (q.v.) and bituminous (q.v.)
coal.

Stabilization
Relating to the stabilization atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases.

Sustainable
Of development, that which is sustainable in ecological, social
and economic areas.

Stable geological formation

A formation (q.v.) that has not recently been disturbed by
tectonic movement.

Supercritical
At a temperature and pressure above the critical temperature
and pressure of the substance concerned. The critical point
represents the highest temperature and pressure at which the
substance can exist as a vapour and liquid in equilibrium

Steam reforming
A catalytic process in which a hydrocarbon is reacted with
steam to produce a mixture of H2, CO and CO2.
Storage
A process for retaining captured CO2 so that it does not reach
the atmosphere.
Strain gauge
Gauge to determine the deformation of an object subjected to
stress.

Syngas
Synthesis gas (q.v.)
Synthesis gas
A gas mixture containing a suitable proportion of CO and H2
for the synthesis of organic compounds or combustion.
Synfuel
Fuel, typically liquid fuel, produced by processing fossil fuel.

Stratigraphic
The order and relative position of strata.

Tail gas
Effluent gas at the end of a process.

Stratigraphic column
A column showing the sequence of different strata.

Tailing
The waste resulting from the extraction of value from ore.

Stratigraphic trap
A sealed geological container capable of retaining fluids,
formed by changes in rock type, structure or facies.

TAR
Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change

Stimulation
The enhancement of the ability to inject fluids into, or recover
fluids from, a well.

TCR
Total capital requirement

Stripper
A gas-liquid contacting device, in which a component is
transferred from liquid phase to the gas phase.

Technical Potential
The amount by which it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by implementing a technology or practice that has
reached the demonstration phase.

Structural trap
Geological structure capable of retaining hydrocarbons, sealed
structurally by a fault or fold.

Tectonically active area

Area of the Earth where deformation is presently causing
structural changes.

Structure
Geological feature produced by the deformation of the Earths
crust, such as a fold or a fault; a feature within a rock such as a
fracture; or, more generally, the spatial arrangement of rocks.

Tertiary
Geological age about 65 to 2 million years ago.

Structure contour map

Map showing the contours of geological structures.

Tertiary recovery
Oil generated by a third method; the first is by pressure release
or depletion, and the second by oil driven out by the injection
of water.

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Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

Thermocline
The ocean phenomenon characterized by a sharp change in
temperature with depth.
Thermohaline
The vertical overturning of water masses due to seasonal
heating, evaporation, and cooling.
Top-down model
A model based on applying macro-economic theory and
econometric techniques to historical data about consumption,
prices, etc.
Toxemia
Poisoning, usually of the blood.
Toxicology
Scientific study of poisons and their effects.
Tracer
A chemical compound or isotope added in small quantities to
trace flow patterns.
Transaction cost
The full cost of transferring property or rights between parties.
Trap
A geological structure that physically retains fluids that are
lighter than the background fluids, e.g. an inverted cup.
Ultramafic rocks
An igneous rock consisting almost entirely of iron- and
magnesium-rich minerals with a silica content typically less
than 45%.
UNCLOS
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was
adopted at Montego Bay on 10 December 1982.
Unconformity
A geological surface separating older from younger rocks and
representing a gap in the geological record.
Under-saturated
A solution that could contain more solute than is presently
dissolved in it.
UNFCCC
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
which was adopted at New York on 9 May 1992.
Unminable
Extremely unlikely to be mined under current or foreseeable
economic conditions

Updip
Inclining upwards following a structural contour of strata.
Upper ocean
The ocean above 1000m depth.
Vacuum residue
The heavy hydrocarbon mixture that is produced at the bottom
of vacuum distillation columns in oil refineries.
Vadose zone
Region from the water table to the ground surface, also called
the unsaturated zone because it is partially water-saturated.
Validation
In the context of CDM (q.v.), the process of the independent
evaluation of a project by a designated operational entity on
the basis of set requirements.
Ventilation
The exchange of gases dissolved in sea-water with the
atmosphere, or gas exchange between an animal and the
environment.
Verification
The proving, to a standard still to be decided, of the results
of monitoring (q.v.). In the context of CDM, the independent
review by a designated operational entity of monitored
reductions in anthropogenic emissions.
Viscous fingering
Flow phenomenon arising from the flow of two largely
immiscible fluids through a porous medium.
Well
Manmade hole drilled into the earth to produce liquids or
gases, or to allow the injection of fluids.
Well with multiple completions
Well drilled with multiple branching holes and more than one
hole being made ready for use.
Well-bore annulus
The annulus between the rock and the well casing.
Wellhead pressure
Pressure developed on surface at the top of the well.
Wettability
Surface with properties allowing water to contact the surface
intimately.
Zero-carbon energy carrier
Carbon-free energy carrier, typically electricity or hydrogen.

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Annex III: Units

Annex III
Units

415

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Table AIII.1 Basic SI units

Physical Quantity

Unit

Name

Length

meter

Mass

Table AIII.2 Multiplication factors

Multiple

Symbol
m

kilogram

Time

Thermodynamic temperature
Amount of substance

10

109

mole

mol

Table AIII.3 Special names and symbols for certain SI-derived units
Physical
Quantity
Force

Pressure

Name

newton

Symbol

pascal

Energy

joule

Frequency

hertz

Power

Unit

watt

Table AIII.5 Other units

Definition

kg m s

kg m s

Pa
W

Hz

kg m1 s2 (= N m2)
2

kg m2 s3 (= J s1)

s1 (cycles per second)

Symbol

Description

Darcy, unit for permeability, 10-12 m2

ppm

ppb

Kilowatt hour

Year

Megawatt hour

MtCO2

Megatonnes (1 Mt = 109 kg = 1 Tg) CO2

tCO2 MWh-1

tonne CO2 per megawatt hour

US$ kWh-1

Multiple

Prefix

Symbol

centi

10

hecto

deci

nano

10

pico

12

1015

milli

micro

femto

10
2

10

106

109

10

12

1015

deca

kilo

Gigatonnes (1 Gt = 1012 kg = 1 Pg) CO2

US dollar per kilowatt hour

da
k

mega

tera

giga
peta

G
P

Table AIII.4 Decimal fractions and multiples of SI units having

special names
Physical quantity

Unit

Name

Symbol

Area

hectare

ha

104 m2

Pressure

bar

bar

105 N m2 = 105 Pa

Length

Volume

micron
litre

Pressure

millibar

Mass

gram

Mass

Parts per billion (109), mixing ratio (nmol mol1)

kWh

GtCO2

Symbol

106

Parts per million (106), mixing ratio (mol mol1)

Hour

MWh

Prefix

tonne

m
L

mb
t

Definition
106 m

103 m3

102 N m2 = 1 hPa
103 kg

103 kg

Degree Celsius (0C = 273 K approximately)

Temperature differences are also given in C (= K) rather than the more correct form of Celsius degrees

yr

10

kg

second
kelvin

10

Annex IV: Authors and Reviewers

Annex IV
Authors and reviewers

AIV.1 Authors and Review Editors

Technical Summary
Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Edward Rubin
Carnegie Mellon University, United States
Leo Meyer TSU IPCC Working Group III, Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency (MNP),
Netherlands
Heleen de Coninck TSU IPCC Working Group III, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN),
Netherlands
Lead Authors
Juan Carlos Abanades Instituto Nacional del Carbon (CSIC), Spain
Makoto Akai National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
Sally Benson
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States
Ken Caldeira
Carnegie Institution of Washington, United States
Peter Cook Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), Australia
Ogunlade Davidson Co-chair IPCC Working Group III, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sierra Leone,
Sierra Leone
Richard Doctor
Argonne National Laboratory, United States
James Dooley
Battelle, United States
Paul Freund
United Kingdom
John Gale
IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, United Kingdom
Wolfgang Heidug
Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., Netherlands (Germany)
Howard Herzog
MIT, United States 1
David Keith
University of Calgary, Canada1
Marco Mazzotti
ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland (Italy)
Bert Metz Co-chair IPCC Working Group III, Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency (MNP),
Netherlands
Balgis Osman-Elasha Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources, Sudan
Andrew Palmer University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Riitta Pipatti
Statistics Finland, Finland
Koen Smekens Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Netherlands (Belgium)
Mohammad Soltanieh Environmental Research Centre, Dept. of Environment, Climate Change Office, Iran
Kelly (Kailai) Thambimuthu
Centre for Low Emission Technology, CSIRO, Australia (Australia and Canada)
Bob van der Zwaan Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), The Netherlands

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Review Editor
Ismail El Gizouli

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

IPCC WGIII vice-chair, Higher Council for Environment & Natural Resources, Sudan

Chapter 1: Introduction
Co-ordinating Lead Author
Paul Freund

United Kingdom

Lead Authors
Anthony Adegbulugbe Centre of Energy Research and Development, Nigeria
yvind Christophersen
Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, Norway
Hisashi Ishitani School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan
William Moomaw Tufts University, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, United States
Jose Moreira University of Sao Paulo, National Reference Center on Biomass (CENBIO), Brazil
Review Editors
Eduardo Calvo
IPCC vice-chair WGIII, Peru
Eberhard Jochem Fraunhofer Institut/ETH Zrich, Germany/Switzerland (Germany)
Chapter 2: Sources of CO2
Co-ordinating Lead Author
John Gale

IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, United Kingdom

Lead Authors
John Bradshaw
Zhenlin Chen
Amit Garg
Dario Gomez
Hans-Holger Rogner
Dale Simbeck
Robert Williams

Geoscience Australia, Australia

China Meteorological Administration, China
Ministry of Railways, India
Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA), Argentina
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Austria (Germany)
SFA Pacific Inc., United States
Center for Energy & Environmental Studies, Princeton University, United States

Contributing Authors
Ferenc Toth
Detlef van Vuuren

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Austria

Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency (MNP), Netherlands

Review Editors
Ismail El Gizouli
Jrgen Friedrich Hake

IPCC WGIII vice-chair, Sudan

Forschungszentrum Jlich, Germany

Chapter 3: Capture
Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Juan Carlos Abanades
Mohammad Soltanieh
Kelly (Kailai) Thambimuthu

Instituto Nacional del Carbon (CSIC), Spain

Environmental Research Centre, Dept. of Environment, Climate Change Office, Iran
Centre for Low Emission Technology, CSIRO, Australia (Australia and Canada)

Lead Authors
Rodney Allam
Air Products PLC, United Kingdom
Olav Bolland
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
John Davison
IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, United Kingdom
Paul Feron
TNO Science and Industry, Netherlands
Fred Goede
SHE Centre, Sasol Ltd, South Africa
Alice Herrera Industrial Technology Development Institute, Department of Science and Technology,
Philippines

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Annex IV: Authors and Reviewers

Masaki Iijima
Danil Jansen
Iosif Leites
Philippe Mathieu
Edward Rubin

Dale Simbeck
Krzysztof Warmuzinski
Michael Wilkinson
Robert Williams

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan

Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Netherlands
State Institute for Nitrogen Industry, Russian Federation
University of Liege, Belgium
Carnegie Mellon University, United States
(Crosscutting Chair Energy Requirements)
SFA Pacific Inc., United States
Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Poland
BP Exploration, United Kingdom
Center for Energy & Environmental Studies, Princeton University, United States

Contributing Authors
Manfred Jaschik
Anders Lyngfelt
Roland Span
Marek Tanczyk

Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Poland

Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Institute for Thermodynamics & Energy Technologies, Germany
Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Poland

Review Editors
Ziad Abu-Ghararah
Tatsuaki Yashima

IPCC WGIII vice-chair, Saudi Arabia

Nihon University, Advanced Research Institute for the Sciences and Humanities, Japan

Chapter 4: Transport of CO2

Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Richard Doctor
Andrew Palmer

Argonne National Laboratory, Hydrogen and Greenhouse Gas Engineering, United States
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Lead Authors
David Coleman
John Davison
Chris Hendriks
Olav Kaarstad
Masahiko Ozaki

Kinder Morgan, United Kingdom

IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, United Kingdom
Ecofys, Netherlands
Statoil ASA, Industry and Commercialisation, Norway
Nagasaki R & D Centre, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Japan

Contributing Author
Michael Austell

Kinder Morgan, United Kingdom

Review Editors
Ramon Pichs-Madruga
Centro de Investigaciones de Economia Mundial (CIEM), IPCC WGIII vice-chair, Cuba
Svyatoslav Timashev Science and Engineering Center, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian
Federation
Chapter 5: Underground geological storage
Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Sally Benson
Peter Cook

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States

Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), Australia

Lead Authors
Jason Anderson
Stefan Bachu
Hassan Bashir Nimir
Biswajit Basu
John Bradshaw
Gota Deguchi

Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Belgium (United States)

Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Canada
University of Khartoum, Sudan
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., India
Geoscience Australia, Australia
Japan Coal Energy Centre, Japan

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

John Gale
Gabriela von Goerne
Bill Gunter
Wolfgang Heidug
Sam Holloway
Rami Kamal
David Keith
Philip Lloyd
Paulo Rocha
Bill Senior
Jolyon Thomson
Tore Torp
Ton Wildenborg
Malcolm Wilson
Francesco Zarlenga
Di Zhou

IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, United Kingdom

Greenpeace, Germany
Alberta Research Council, Canada
Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., Netherlands (Germany)
British Geological Survey, United Kingdom
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
University of Calgary, Canada
Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Petrobras - Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., Brazil
DEFRA, United Kingdom
Defra Legal Services, International Environmental Law, United Kingdom
Statoil R&D Centre, Norway
TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, Netherlands
University of Regina, Canada
ENEA-Cr. Casaccia PROT-PREV, Italy
South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Contributing Authors
Michael Celia
Jonathan Ennis King
Erik Lindeberg
Salvatore Lombardi
Curt Oldenburg
Karsten Pruess
Andy Rigg
Scott Stevens
Elizabeth Wilson
Steve Whittaker

Princeton University, United States

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
SINTEF Petroleum Research, Norway
University of Rome La Sapienza, Laboratory of Fluid Chemistry, Italy
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States
CSIRO Petroleum Resources, Australia
Advanced Resources International, United States
Office of Research and Development / US EPA, United States
Saskatchewan Industry & Resources, Canada

Review Editors
Gnther Borm
David G. Hawkins
Arthur Lee

GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Germany

Natural Resources Defense Council, United States
Chevron Corporation, United States

Chapter 6: Ocean storage

Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Ken Caldeira
Makoto Akai

Carnegie Institution of Washington, United States

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan

Lead Authors
Peter Brewer
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, United States
Baixin Chen
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan (China)
Peter Haugan
Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway
Toru Iwama
Seinan Gakuin University, Faculty of Law, Japan
Paul Johnston
Greenpeace Research Laboratories, United Kingdom
Haroon Kheshgi
ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company, United States
Qingquan Li
National Climate Centre, China Meteorological Administration, China
Takashi Ohsumi
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, Japan
Hans Prtner Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Marine Animal Ecophysiology,
Germany
Christopher Sabine
Global Carbon Programme; NOAA/PMEL, United States
Yoshihisa Shirayama
Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University, Japan
Jolyon Thomson
Defra Legal Services, International Environmental Law, United Kingdom

421

Annex IV: Authors and Reviewers

Contributing Authors
Jim Barry Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, United States
Lara Hansen
WWF, United States
Review Editors
Brad De Young
Fortunat Joos

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

University of Bern, Switzerland

Chapter 7: Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide

Co-ordinating Lead Author
Marco Mazzotti

ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland (Italy)

Lead Authors
Juan Carlos Abanades
Rodney Allam
Klaus S. Lackner
Francis Meunier
Edward Rubin
Juan Carlos Snchez M.
Katsunori Yogo
Ron Zevenhoven

Instituto Nacional del Carbon (CSIC), Spain

Air Products PLC, United Kingdom
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Columbia University, United States
CNAM-IFFI, France
Carnegie Mellon University, United States
Environmental consultant, Venezuela
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), Japan
Helsinki University of Technology, Finland (The Netherlands)

Review Editors
Baldur Eliasson
R.T.M. Sutamihardja

Eliasson & Associates, Switzerland

The Office of the State Minister for Environment Republic of Indonesia, Indonesia

Chapter 8: Costs and economic potential

Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Howard Herzog
Koen Smekens

MIT, United States

Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Netherlands (Belgium)

Lead Authors
Pradeep Dadhich
James Dooley
Yasumasa Fujii
Olav Hohmeyer
Keywan Riahi

The Energy Research Institute, India

Battelle, United States
School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan
University of Flensburg, Germany
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria

Contributing Authors
Makoto Akai
Chris Hendriks
Klaus Lackner
Ashish Rana
Edward Rubin
Leo Schrattenholzer
Bill Senior

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan

Ecofys, Netherlands
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Columbia University, United States
National Institute for Environmental Studies, India
Carnegie Mellon University, United States
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria
DEFRA, United Kingdom

Review Editors
John Christensen
Greg Tosen

UNEP Collaborating Centre on Energy and Environment (UCCEE), Denmark

Eskom Resources and Strategy, South Africa

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Chapter 9: Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting
Co-ordinating Lead Authors
Balgis Osman-Elasha
Riitta Pipatti

Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources, Sudan

Statistics Finland, Finland

Lead Authors
William Kojo Agyemang-Bonsu
A.M. Al-Ibrahim
Carlos Lpez
Gregg Marland
Huang Shenchu
Oleg Tailakov

Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana

King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia
Institute of Meteorology, Cuba
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States
China Coal Information Institute, China
International Coal and Methane Research Centre - UGLEMETAN, Russian Federation

Review Editors
Takahiko Hiraishi
Jos Domingos Miguez

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan

Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil

Annex I: Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels

Co-ordinating Lead Author
Paul Freund

United Kingdom

Lead Authors
Stefan Bachu
Dale Simbeck
Kelly (Kailai) Thambimuthu

Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Canada

SFA Pacific Inc., United States
Centre for Low Emission Technology, CSIRO, Australia (Australia and Canada)

Contributing Author
Murlidhar Gupta

CANMET Energy Technology Centre, Natural Resources Canada (India)

Annex II: Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations

Co-ordinating Lead Author
Philip Lloyd

Energy Research Institute, University of Capetown, South Africa

Lead Authors
Peter Brewer
Chris Hendriks
Yasumasa Fujii
John Gale
Balgis Osman Elasha
Jose Moreira
Juan Carlos Snchez M.
Mohammad Soltanieh
Tore Torp
Ton Wildenborg

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, United States

Ecofys, Netherlands
School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan
IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, United Kingdom
Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources, Sudan
University of Sao Paulo, Biomass Users Network (BUN), Brazil
Environmental consultant, Venezuela
Environmental Research Centre, Dept. of Environment, Climate Change Office, Iran
Statoil R&D Centre, Corporate Strategic Technology, Norway
TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, Netherlands

Contributing Authors
Jason Anderson
Stefan Bachu
Sally Benson
Ken Caldeira
Peter Cook
Richard Doctor

Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Belgium (United States)

Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Canada
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States
Carnegie Institution of Washington, United States
Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), Australia
Argonne National Laboratory, Hydrogen and Greenhouse Gas Engineering, United States

423

Annex IV: Authors and Reviewers

Paul Freund
Gabriela von Goerne

United Kingdom
Greenpeace, Germany

AIV.2 Crosscutting Chairs

Crosscutting group
Costs
Energy requirements
Legal issues and environmental
impacts
Public perception and risks
Technical and economic potential

Chair
Howard Herzog, MIT, United States
Ed Rubin, Carnegie Mellon University, United States
Wolfgang Heidug, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., Netherlands
(Germany)
David Keith, University of Calgary, Canada
James Dooley, Battelle, United States

AIV.3 Expert Reviewers

Argentina
Charles Balnaves
Gustavo Galliano
Hctor Ginzo
Martiros Tsarukyan

BHP Petroleum Pty Ltd

Repsol YPF, Argentina Technology Centre
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship
Department of Atmosphere protection, Ministry of Nature Protection

Australia
Barry Hooper
Bill Koppe
Brian Evans
Iain MacGill
John Torkington
Jonathan Ennis-King
Lincoln Paterson
Peter McNally
Robert Durie
Tristy Fairfield

CO2CRC, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Anglo Coal Australia
Curtin University
School of Engineering & Telecommunications
Chevron Australia Pty Ltd
CSIRO Petroleum
CSIRO
Greenhouse & Climate Change Co-ordinator
CSIRO, Division of Energy Technology
Conservation Council of Western Australia

Austria
Klaus Radunsky
Margit Kapfer
Torsten Clemens

Umweltbundesamt
Denkstatt
OMV E&P

Belgium
Aviel Verbruggen
Ben Laenen
Dolf Gielen
Kris Piessens

Universiteit Antwerpen
VITO
International Energy Agency
Geological Survey of Belgium

Benin
Sabin Guendhou

Benin Centre of Scientific and Technical Research

Brazil
Paulo Antnio De Souza
Paulo Cunha

Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, Department of Environmental and Territorial Management

Petrobras

Bulgaria
Teodor Ivanov

Ministry of Environment and Water

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Canada
Bob Stobbs
C.S. Wong
Carolyn Preston
Chris Hawkes
Don Lawton
Steve Whittaker

Canadian Clean Power Coalition

OSAP, Institute of Ocean Sciences
Canmet Energy Technology Centre, Natural Resources
University of Saskatchewan
University of Calgary, Department of Geology and Geophysics
Saskatchewan Industry and Resources

China
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen
Xiaochun Li
Xu Huaqing
Zhang ChengYi

National Sun Yat-Sen University

RITE
ERI
National Climate Center

Denmark
Flemming Ole Rasmussen
Kim Nissen
Kristian Thor Jakobsen

Danish Energy Authority, Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs

Elsam Kraft A/S
University of Copenhagen

Dominican Republic
Rene Ledesma

Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources

Egypt
Mohamed Ahmed Darwish

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority

Finland
Allan Johansson
Ilkka Savolainen

Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT Processes, Emission Control - Greenhouse Gases

France
Isabelle Czernichowski
Jean-Xavier Morin
Marc Gillet
Martin Pcheux
Paul Broutin
Rene Ducroux
Yann Le Gallo

BRGM (French Geological Survey)

Alstom
Observatoire National sur les Effets du Rchauffement Climatique
Institut des Foraminifres Symbiotiques
IFP-Lyon
Centre of Initiative and Research on Energy and the Environment
Institut Franais du Ptrole

Germany
Axel Michaelowa
Franz May
Gert Mller-Syring
Jochen Harnisch
Jrgen Engelhardt
Martina Jung
Manfred Treber
Matthias Duwe
Peter Markewitz
Sven Bode
Ulf Riebesell
Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs

Hamburg Institute of International Economics

Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources
DBI Gas- und Umwelttechnik GmbH
Ecofys Gmbh
Forschung und Entwicklung Rheinbraun AG
Hamburg Institute of International Economics
GermanWatch
Climate Action Network Europe
Forschungszentrum Jlich GmbH
Hamburg Institute of International Economics
AWI
Forschungszentrum Jlich GmbH

India
Auro Ashish Saha
M.M. Kapshe

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College

MANIT

425

Annex IV: Authors and Reviewers

Ireland
Pat Finnegan

Greenhouse Ireland Action Network

Israel
Martin Halmann

Weizmann Institute of Science

Italy
Fedora Quattrocchi
Umberto Desideri

Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology

University of Perugia

Japan
Atsushi Ishimatsu
Nagasaki University
Hitoshi Koide
Waseda University
Imai Nobuo
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Koh Harada Institute for Environmental Management, Institute of Advanced Industrial, Science and
Technology
Kozo Sato
Geosystem Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Mikiko Kainuma
NIES, National Institute for Environmental Studies
Shigeo Murai
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth
Takahisa Yokoyama
CS Promotion Office
Yoichi Kaya The Japan Committee for IIASA, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the
Earth (RITE )
Mexico
Antonio Juarez Alvarado
Directore Energy development, Min of Energy
Aquileo Guzman
National Institute of Ecology
Jose Antonio Benjamin Ordez-Daz National Autonomous University of Mexico, PhD. Student
Julia Martinez
Instituto National Ecologica
Lourdes Villers-Ruiz
Andador Epigmenio Ibarra
The Netherlands
Annemarie van der Rest
Bert van der Meer
Bob van der Zwaan
Dorothee Bakker
Evert Wesker
Ipo Ritsema
Jos Cozijnsen
Jos Keurentjes
Karl-Heinz Wolf
Nick ten Asbroek
Rob Arts
Suzanne Hurter
Wouter Huijgen

Shell Nederland BV
TNO Built Environment and Geosciences
ECN Policy Studies
University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Shell Global Solutions International, Dept. OGIR
TNO Built Environment and Geosciences - National Geological Survey
Consulting Attorney Energy & Environment
Eindhoven University of Technology
Delft University of Technology
TNO Science and Industry
TNO Built Environment and Geosciences
Shell International Exploration and Production
ECN Clean Fossil Fuels

New Zealand
David Darby
Peter Read
Wayne Hennessy

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences

Massey University
CRL Energy Ltd

Nigeria
Christopher Ugwu

Nigeria Society for the Improvement of Rural People (NSIRP), University of Nigeria

Norway
Asbjrn Torvanger
Bjorn Kvamme
Gelein de Koeijer

Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research

Institute of Physics, University of Bergen
Statoil ASA

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IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Guttorm Alendal
Hallvard Fjsne Svendsen
Hans Aksel Haugen
Kristin Rypdal
Lars Eide
Lars Golmen
Martin Hovland
Todd Allyn Flach

Bergen Centre for Computational Science

NTNU, Chemical Engineering Department
Norsk Hydro ASA, Environment and Energy Consulting
CICERO
Norsk Hydro
Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
Statoil ASA
DNV Research, Energy and Resources, Det Norske Veritas

Philippines
Flaviana Hilario

Climatology and Agrometeorology Branch

Russian Federation
Michael Gytarsky

Institute of Global Climate and Ecology

Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Al-Hazmi

Sabic

Spain
Pilar Coca
Angel Maria Gutierrez

ELCOGAS
NaturCorp Redes, s.a.

Sweden
Christian Bernstone
Erlstrm Anders
Jerry Jinyue Yan
Kenneth Mllersten
Marie Anheden

Vattenfall Utveckling AB
Geological Survey of Sweden
Lule University of Technology
Swedish Energy Agency Climate Change Division
Vattenfall Utveckling AB

Switzerland
Daniel Spreng
Jose Romero

ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zrich

Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape

United Kingdom
Andy Chadwick
David Reiner
John Shepherd
Jon Gibbins
Nick Riley
Paul Zakkour
Raymond Purdy
Sevket Durucan
Simon Eggleston
Stef Simons
Stefano Brandani
Stuart Haszeldine
William Wilson

British Geological Survey, Geophysics & Marine Geoscience

University of Cambridge, Judge Institute of Management
Southhampton Oceanography Centre
Energy Technology for Sustainable Development Group
Reservoir Geoscience, British Geological Survey
ERM Energy & Climate Change
Centre for Law and the Environment, Faculty of Laws, University College London
Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, Royal School of Mines
IPCC NGGIP Technical Support Unit
University College London, Centre for CO2 Technology
Centre for CO2 Technology
University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute
Cambrensis Ltd.

United States
Anand Gnanadesikan
Craig Smith
David Archer
Don Seeburger
Eric Adams
Franklin Orr
Granger Morgan

GFDL
University of Hawaii at Monoa
University of Chicago
IPIECA
MIT
Stanford University
Carnegie Mellon University

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Annex IV: Authors and Reviewers

Grant Bromhal
Greg Rau
Hamid Sarv
Jette Findsen
Julio Friedman
Karl Turekian
Larry Myer
Leonard Bernstein
Neeraj Gupta
Neville Holt
R.J. Batterham
Richard Rhudy
Robert Buruss
Robert Finley
Robert Fledderman
Robert Socolow
Scott Imbus
Seymour Alpert
Steve Crookshank
Steven Kleespie
Susan Rice
Tom Marrero
Vello Kuuskra
Veronica Brieno Rankin

U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

Institute of Marine Sciences
Babcock & Wilcox Research Center
Science Applications International Corporation
University of Maryland
Yale University
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
L.S. Bernstein & Associates, L.L.C.
Battelle
EPRI
Rio Tinto
EPRI
US Geological Survey
Illinois State Geological Survey
MeadWestvaco Forestry Division
Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University
IPIECA
Retired
Policy Analysis & Statistics, American Petroleum Institute
Rio Tinto
Susan A. Rice and Associates, Inc
University of Missouri
Advanced Resources International, Inc.
Michigan Technological University

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Annex V: List of major IPCC reports

Annex V
List of major IPCC reports

429

430
List of Major IPCC Reports
Climate Change - The IPCC Scientific Assessment
The 1990 report of the IPCC Scientific Assessment Working
Group
Climate Change - The IPCC Impacts Assessment
The 1990 report of the IPCC Impacts Assessment Working
Group
Climate Change - The IPCC Response Strategies
The 1990 report of the IPCC Response Strategies Working
Group
Emissions Scenarios
Prepared by the IPCC Response Strategies Working Group,
1990
Assessment of the Vulnerability of Coastal Areas to Sea
Level Rise - A Common Methodology, 1991
Climate Change 1992 - The Supplementary Report to the
IPCC Scientific Assessment
The 1992 report of the IPCC Scientific Assessment Working
Group
Climate Change 1992 - The Supplementary Report to the
IPCC Impacts Assessment
The 1992 report of the IPCC Impacts Assessment Working
Group
Climate Change: The IPCC 1990 and 1992 Assessments
IPCC First Assessment Report Overview and Policymaker
Summaries, and 1992 IPCC Supplement
Global Climate Change and the Rising Challenge of the
Sea
Coastal Zone Management Subgroup of the IPCC Response
Strategies Working Group, 1992
Report of the IPCC Country Study Workshop, 1992

IPCC Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

Climate Change 1995 - The Science of Climate Change
Contribution of Working Group I to the Second Assessment
Report

Climate Change 1995 - Scientific-Technical Analyses of
Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation of Climate Change
- Contribution of Working Group II to the Second Assessment
Report
Climate Change 1995 - The Economic and Social
Dimensions of Climate Change - Contribution of Working
Group III to the Second Assessment Report
The IPCC Second Assessment Synthesis of ScientificTechnical Information Relevant to Interpreting Article 2 of
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1995
Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories (3 volumes), 1996
Technologies, Policies and Measuares for Mitigating
Climate Change - IPCC Technical Paper 1, 1996
An Introduction to Simple Climate Models Used in the
IPCC Second Assessment Report - IPCC Technical Paper
2, 1997
Stabilisation of Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases: Physical,
Biological and Socio-Economic Implications - IPCC
Technical Paper 3, 1997
Implications of Proposed Co2 Emissions Limitations IPCC
Technical Paper 4, 1997
The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment
of Vulnerability
IPCC Special Report, 1997
Aviation and the Global Atmosphere
IPCC Special Report, 1999

Preliminary Guidelines for Assessing Impacts of Climate

Change, 1992

Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology

Transfer
IPCC Special Report, 2000

IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

(3 volumes), 1994

Emissions Scenarios
IPCC Special Report, 2000

Climate Change 1994 - Radiative Forcing of Climate

Change and An Evaluation of the IPCC IS92 Emission
Scenarios

Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry

IPCC Special Report, 2000

IPCC Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change

Impacts and Adaptations
1995

Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in

National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, 2000

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Annex V: List of major IPCC reports

Climate Change and Biodiversity - IPCC Technical Paper
V, 2002
Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis - Contribution of
Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report
Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation &
Vulnerability - Contribution of Working Group II to the Third
Assessment Report
Climate Change 2001: Mitigation - Contribution of Working
Group III to the Third Assessment Report

Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report

Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-use Change
and Forestry
IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, 2003
Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate
System: Issues Related to Hydrofluorocarbons and
Perfluorocarbons
IPCC/TEAP Special Report, 2005