CO2 SINK
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 * GENERAL INFORMATION  *


CO2 Capture and Storage

Approximately one third of all CO2 emissions due to human activity come from fossil fuels used for generating electricity. A variety of other industrial processes also emit large amounts of CO2, for example oil refineries, cement works, and iron and steel production. These emissions could be reduced substantially, without major changes to the basic process, by capturing and storing the CO2. There are many ways in which CO2 emissions can be reduced, for example by an increase of the efficiency of power generation or by the use of renewable energy. However, most scenarios suggest that these steps alone will not achieve the required reductions in CO2 emissions in time. The capture and geological storage of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion could play an important part in solving this problem.

Status of CO2 Storage

Having captured the CO2 it would need to be stored securely in the underground for a long time horizon. Major geological formations, suitable for storage, have been identified deep under the earth's surface. These are depleted oil and gas reservoirs, coal beds and saline aquifers. The potential global capacity for underground storage is large and estimated to correspond to hundreds of years of man-made CO2 emissions. The fact that CO2 occurs naturally in the earth and has been stored over geological time scales improves the credibility of deep underground storage. Underground injection of CO2 into oil fields has already been used for decades by industry to en-hance recovery. The main priority for CO2 storage is to establish its acceptability as safe and reliable in the long-term. Ensuring evidence that any losses of CO2 will be insignificant is a major issue.

An outline of CO2 storage technology can be found in the publication: Putting Carbon Back in the Ground, which can be downloaded at www.ieagreen.org.uk.

 

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