Carbon Sequestration Methods

Climate Change, Anthropocene, & Associated Issues / Carbon Sequestration

Teresa Matich reports that those still following the coal industry will no doubt be familiar with the idea of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Given growing concerns about climate change and robust demand for coal in developing nations, plenty of market watchers believe that carbon sequestration is the current key to the future of coal use. CCS technologies help reduce CO2 emisssions by capturing CO2 from gas- and coal-fired power plants and then compressing and injecting the CO2 into the ground. CO2 is often sequestered a mile or more beneath the Earth surface, as per the USEPA. The carbon is injected into porous rock beneath an impermeable layer that stops the gas from migrating upward. An estimated 40% of CO2 emissions in the U.S. alone can be chalked up to power generation, and carbon sequestration will be key to bringing that number down.

And there is plenty of room to store more carbon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, up to 20,000 billion metric tons of CO2 could be stored underground in the country. So far, this method of carbon sequestration has proven to be safe and effective. For example, the Sleipner carbon storage project in Norway has been in operation since 1996, with no evidence of CO2 leakage. In addition to being simply injected underground for storage, CO2 captured from power plants may also be sold to oil companies to enhance oil recovery. This method is being employed by SaskPower at its Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan. The project is the first post-combustion coal-fired CCS facility to be integrated with a power station. Beyond the carbon sequestration methods used for CO2 captured from power generation, there are other avenues for carbon sequestration as well. For example, according to a note on the subject from the Parliament of Australia, it may be possible to enhance carbon sequestration in plants and soil through agricultural and forestry practices. Deep ocean storage is another carbon method being considered.