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Why failing to accurately track emissions is the biggest threat to decarbonisation
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is one of the key pathways towards a net-zero future and significant growth is required in this industry.
Impurities in captured CO2 can adversely affect the cost and operability of a CCUS chain. Setting the CO2 specification for a CCUS project requires an understanding of the impact of impurities across the whole chain.
A Joint Industry Project (JIP) has been formed to collate current knowledge surrounding impurities and has collaborated with industry and research experts, to produce industry guidelines for setting CO2 specifications for effective and economic CCUS chains.
The guidelines provide a holistic understanding of the impact of impurities across CO2 capture, transport and storage and identify the CO2 conditioning required to meet the safety, environmental and operational requirements of CCUS projects.
A summary of each of the guideline reports is given below with a link to download the complete suite of guidelines.
(download file size 180MB)
These guidelines have been approved by the JIP Steering Committee and are intended to provide general information on the topic. The Steering Committee makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of the information contained herein. Users of these guidelines assume all risks associated with their application. The Steering Committee accepts no liability for any reliance placed on these guidelines or for any consequences arising from their use.
This Introduction to the guidelines will guide you through the suite of work packages which cover the full CCUS value chain, from capture of industrial sources of CO2 and transportation via different options through to geological storage. Additional key work packages are included which underpin the entire CCUS chain, including Thermodynamics, Reaction Chemistry and Materials & Corrosion.
Key contents of this report include:
The Thermodynamic Work Package provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the thermodynamic impact of impurities within CO2 and offers guidelines for selecting the most appropriate equations of state and benchmark data for modelling CO2 systems. The work package also identifies the knowledge gaps and the potential risks associated with the lack of data and inaccurate modelling.
The work package uses the models developed at Heriot Watt University in their thermodynamics tool HWPVT. These models include cubic, multiparameter, and hybrid equation-of-states, as well as models for transport properties and solid formation. These models are considered as the state-of-the art for CO2 thermodynamics.
The work package has gathered the experimental data available in the literature for CO2 binary mixtures and some multicomponent mixtures, and compares them with the predictions of the HWPVT models. The results show the accuracy and limitations of different models for different properties and impurities. The work package also provides pseudo-experimental data that can be used by end-users to check the quality of their own models.
Key contents of the Thermodynamics Report includes:
Impurities within CO2 streams can chemically react with their environment and with each other to create products which can adversely affect CCUS design and operation. Some reactions may produce products which cause plugging and injectivity issues, whilst others may impact material integrity through corrosion and cracking.
This Chemical Reactions Report was developed with expertise from IFE and key contents include:
CO2 streams in CCUS projects can originate from various sources, such as power plants, industrial emitters, and natural gas production and may use different capture technologies, such as pre-combustion, post-combustion, and oxyfuel. These sources and technologies can result in different types and levels of impurities in the CO2, such as water, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and hydrogen compounds. These impurities can affect the phase behaviour, corrosivity, and integrity of the materials used within the CCUS chain.
The Materials & Corrosion work package guidelines outlines the main challenges and recommendations for materials selection and corrosion control for each element of the CCUS chain, based on the available standards, guidelines, and research data.
These Materials & Corrosion guidelines were developed with expertise from Shell and key contents include:
Safety and environmental management considerations are paramount throughout the CCUS chain. This work package explores the effects impurities may have on potential CO2 releases and dispersion and to provide guidance on effective modelling and risk review.
CO2 streams from different industries have a wide variance in CO2 concentration and can be accompanied by a range of different impurities.
The Capture & Conditioning work package provides guidance on the types of impurities expected in CO2 streams and their impact on carbon capture technologies and presents processes typically used to remove impurities from CO2 streams.
Key contents of the report include:
Compression and pumping are essential for pressurising CO2 for processing and transport and ultimately to meet the injection pressures required for geological storage. Compression and pumping cover a range of CO2 phases from liquid and vapour through to supercritical conditions. Impurities can directly affect the thermodynamic and physical properties of CO2 and can impact materials and seal selection.
The Compression & Pumping work package explores the impact of impurities on compression and pumping equipment design and operation.
Key contents of the report include:
Confident measurement and control of CO2 through the CCUS chain relies on traceably accurate and reliable metering and sampling. Impurities present in the CO2 stream can affect this accuracy and understanding the precise composition, nature and the consequences of impurities present is important for regulatory reporting, custody transfer, commercial allocation, process control and storage measurement, monitoring and verification (MMV).
The Metering & Sampling work package provides a detailed discussion of the various available metering technologies and suitable analysis techniques (online and offline) applicable for the various impurities present in the CCUS gas streams.
The Metering report was prepared with support from T脺V S脺D National Engineering Laboratory (NEL). Key contents include:
The Pipeline Transport work package discusses how the presence of impurities can affect phase behaviour, water solubility and hydrate formation of CO2 streams, and how these factors can influence the design and operation of CO2 pipelines.
The report was technically supported by Fluxys and key contents include:
Impurities present in CO2 can affect shipping operations through their impact on phase behaviour, solubility and potential for chemical reactions affecting the material integrity and solid formation.
The Ship Transport work package explores the current knowledge of the impact of impurities with respect to corrosion, cargo handling and management.
The report was technically supported by DNV and key contents include:
The Geological Storage work package explores the physical and chemical impacts of impurities within reservoirs, including the effects on capacity, injectivity and integrity of the storage complex.
This work package/report was supported with input from NGI and IFE and key contents include:
To meet a CO2 specification for a CCUS chain may require the removal or reduction of impurities. Minimising the cost of additional conditioning is a key part of providing a safe and cost effective CCUS chain. This Economics work package provides guidelines for calculating the levelized cost of CO2 abatement (LCOA) for different capture and impurity removal technologies and identifies several factors that can influence the LCOA of a CCUS project.
Also provided are order of magnitude costs and LCOA data for some of the main impurity removal technologies, such as dehydration, oxygen removal, cryogenic distillation, flue gas desulphurisation, selective catalytic reduction, hydrogen sulphide removal, and mercury removal. Trade-offs between the cost of impurity removal and the cost of designing the CCUS system to tolerate the impurity are also discussed.
Why not use the Signpost tool to guide you to relevant Guideline sections based on impurities from your source industries.
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