Carbon capture | CCS project pipeline grows The Global CCS Institute is understandably bullish about prospects for carbon capture
Carbon capture and storage technology continues to gain momentum around the world, not least in the USA.
The Global CCS Institute, notes, for example that the infrastructure investment and jobs act, passed by the US House of Representatives on 5 November contains the “single largest appropriation of money for CCS in the history of the technology.”
Major provisions for CCS are contained in the bill, including $2.5 billion appropriated for CCS demonstration projects, $1 billion for large-scale CCS pilot projects and $3.5 billion for regional direct air capture (DAC) hubs over the next five years. The bill also contains the SCALE Act in its entirety, which will direct nearly $5 billion to
support the development and financing of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure and sites.
A growing project pipeline Meanwhile, the GCCSI’s latest annual report, Global Status of CCS 2021, indicates that the CCS project pipeline is growing more robustly than ever. The large increase in commercial CCS facilities announced in the first half of 2021 has led to project pipeline capacity levels not seen since 2011, about 149.3 Mtpa, with the project pipeline capacity annual average growth rate since 2017 running at about 30%, GCCSI estimates.
But despite this growth, there clearly remains a massive gap between “today’s CCS fleet and what is required to reduce global anthropogenic emissions to net zero”, GCCSI cautions. Limiting global warming to 2°C requires installed CCS capacity to increase from around 40 Mtpa today to over 5600 Mtpa by 2050, the GCCSI estimates. Table 1 summarises the number of commercial CCS facilities at various stages of
Table 1. Commercial CCS facilities as of September 2021 Operational 27
Under Number of facilities Capture capacity (Mtpa) 36.6
construction 4
3.1
development in the Global CCS Institute’s CO2RE database. There are 135 (two suspended) in the project pipeline. In the first nine months of 2021, 71 projects were added – with one former project removed because development ceased. These numbers represent “an astonishing doubling of the total number of CCS facilities that are operating or in development since the 2020 global status report was published”, comments the GCCSI.
The United States again leads the global league table, hosting 36 of the added facilities. US success demonstrates convincingly that where policy creates a business case for investment, projects proceed, GCCSI concludes. Other leading countries are Belgium with four, the Netherlands with five and the UK, with eight. Most growth as of September in 2021 was in early development (25.9 Mtpa) and advanced development projects (9.0 Mtpa). Project numbers in construction, or operational, were stable. Given the long lead times for CCS projects (up to ten years, depending on location) it will be a while before this growth in early and advanced development translates into operating projects, notes GCCSI.
Table 2 shows largest contributors to growth of projects in development.
Figure 1 shows CCS projects by sector and scale over time.
As new projects are announced and developed, the range of scale of facilities is
Table 2 Largest contributors to growth of projects in development, as of September 2021
Early development Dave Johnson plant
G2 Net Zero LNG
NextDecade Rio Grande LNG Keadby 3 power station Repsol Sakakemang
Barents Blue Clean Ammonia
Advanced development Shell Refinery Rotterdam CCS
Stockholm Exergi BECCS
Air Liquide Refinery Rotterdam CCS Lawler Biorefinery CCS
Copenhill (Amager Bakke) Waste to Energy CCS
Casselton Biorefinery CCS Marcus Biorefinery CCS
Industry
Electricity generation Natural gas processing Natural gas processing
Country
United States United States United States
Electricity generation United Kingdom Natural gas processing Chemical production
Indonesia Norway
Hydrogen production Netherlands
Electricity and heat generation Sweden Hydrogen production Bioethanol production
Waste processing
Bioethanol production Bioethanol production
Netherlands United States
Denmark
United States United States
Mean CO2 capture
capacity (Mtpa) 4.00 4.00 5.00 2.10 1.80 1.60
1.20 0.80 0.80 0.53
0.50 0.47
0.43
In advanced development
58 46.7 Early
development 44
60.9
Operation suspended Total
2 2.1 135 149.3
becoming broader, GCSSI concludes. Individual capture plants are larger, with facilities like Shell’s Rotterdam hydrogen project developing in the megatonne range. At the same time, networks such as that of Summit Carbon Solutions in the USA are making smaller scale capture viable – their smallest capture plant has a capacity of just 90 000 tonnes a year, notes GCCSI. “Capacities this small would be difficult to justify without supporting network infrastructure.” The recently approved Norcem Brevik project, part of the Langskip network in Norway, has CCS expanding into a new sector – cement manufacturing, notes GCCSI. As a significant global emitter with limited decarbonisation options, the cement sector’s use of CCS is an essential step towards net zero and the Norcem project is expected to provide valuable CCS learning and insights, says GCCSI.
The rise of networks
Historically, CCS projects tended to be vertically integrated, with a capture plant having its own dedicated downstream transport system. This favoured large-scale projects, where economies of scale made downstream costs reasonable. Recently, the GCCSI report observes, there
has been a trend toward projects sharing CO2 transport and storage infrastructure (pipelines, shipping, port facilities, and storage wells), and these ‘CCS networks’ mean smaller projects can also benefit from economies of scale. See Figure 2.
The Porthos network in Rotterdam entered advanced development early in 2021, the report notes. A shared pipeline will transport liquid CO2
from four new blue hydrogen projects – being developed by Air Products, Air Liquide, ExxonMobil and Shell in the Port of Rotterdam region – to storage about 20 km offshore, beneath the North Sea. The Netherlands government has committed €2.1 billion in grants to these four projects in support of this network. Also in Rotterdam, TotalEnergies and Shell have partnered to develop the Aramis CCS network; a “world-scale network” with a proposed capacity in excess of 20 Mtpa. This project, in early development, proposes storage in the Rotliegendes Sandstones Formation beneath the North Sea at 3–4 km depth. Transport modes will be mixed: a combination of liquefied CO2 phase CO2 phase CO2
transported by barges; gas-
by onshore pipelines; and dense- by offshore pipeline. It is expected
22 | November/December 2021 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
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