Our Webinar Notes: The Global Status of CCUS – How to visualise the specifications of any CCUS project worldwide.

CCUS: the global status of Carbon Capture, Usage, and Storage.

• Governments are rolling out their carbon capture objectives – Majority of strategies to reach their objectives have CCUS embedded in the planning. 

• There is currently equipment in place over 70 locations globally.
• Not all sites capture and store.
• Capture sites – the co2 is captured and then vented.
• Storage sites only –Where co2 is put into the subsurface to test a piece of equipment.
• Nominal Capacity: 48 Mil Tons per year. (Nominal capacity – the volume of the tank when filled to the brim)
• Uk’s co2 Emissions: 370 Mil tons per year.
• Majority of CCUS use: Well recovery or various industrial use.
• Other uses: places in Brazil and North America where it is used to make soft drinks.

Types of Projects:

• Commercial: mainly happening in North America (EOR Projects). These projects are of large scale and likely have some level of Government underpinning it.
• North America dominates with majority of operational projects. co2 is captured by the industrial plant types such as natural gas processing plants and coal fired power plants. 
• EOR Projects: Projects that are just capturing anthropogenic co2.
• Saline Aquifer: Norway and Australia. (Saline aquifers are geological formations consisting of water permeable rocks that are saturated with salt water, called brine.)

EOR Projects:

• Synfuel & Weybrurn – Midale EOR Project: Captured 28Million Tons since start.
• Petra Nova Project: Captures co2 which is transferred to the oilfield. Due to technical problems & low oil prices resulted it unsuccessful.
• Gas Processing Mat – Texas: Cost billion of dollars to set this project up. It is the largest EOR licence and project holder in North America. The co2 is extracted from natural gas and is then used for the oilfield.

Saline Aquifer Projects:

• Shovit & Sliepner Projects: Gas is processed on site. Based in Norway. The gas is being processed on site – it is not being transported over long distances. Capturing co2 and inserting it back into wells.
• Quest CCS Project – Based in Canada.Large industrial plant. Capturing co2 and transporting it around 65km away – injecting into the Mount Simon Formation (Basal Cambrian Sand) saline aquifer.

Overall Conclusion

• Majority of projects are EOR & undertaken by the oil and gas industry.
• Majority have government sponsorship.
• Looking forward: 126 active projects – Not set in stone however are being considered and planned. Involves hydrogen.
• Co2 reduction scale required is massive.
• A potential model for a co2 service – companies take the co2 from you and dispose of it.

We would like to thank the TROVE renewables team for sharing their knowledge with us. Thank you Jeremy Lockett and Matthew Bellshaw for presenting. We are looking forward to the following webinars.