Emily Pickrell, UH Power Scholar
WA Parish power plant on Friday, September 5, 2014 in rural Fort Bend, TX. The ground was … [+]
Eric Kayne / Invision / AP
The new Biden administration has been in office for just over a week, and carbon is already being captured as one of the leaders in the war on climate change.
It’s not new: the technology has been commercially available since the 1970s and is currently being used to help industrial plants reduce their carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. spraying into the air, mostly through powerful scratches on the site. A more advanced plan, direct air capture, recommends leaking carbon released from the atmosphere.
Concerns about the damage from warmer temperatures – 80% of Americans now say they believe in climate change – have made carbon sequestration as relevant as never before. It is considered so important that it passed the bipartisan scrutiny, prominently featured in the Energy Act 2020, was included in the final round of pandemic spending in late December and was signed to law by former president Donald Trump, despite his long-standing vocal objections. .
And the Biden administration is already talking even more, with plans to invest $ 2.3 trillion in the fight against climate change, with carbon capturing one of the key tools listed in the campaign strategy aige.
A more practical challenge is that carbon emissions are still seen largely as a cost to companies. One of the obstacles to carbon capture technology is coming up with creative ways to turn it into a valuable product.
“How can I encourage the growth of a carbon sequestration scheme so that market forces can take over?” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, chemical engineer and chief energy officer at the University of Houston. “That’s what drives innovation and reduces costs.”
It is an issue that the 2020 legislation seeks to address, seeking to immediately increase funding for carbon capture, use and storage to more than $ 1 billion, up from the current $ 200 million budget. -currently. Plans include six new carbon capture technology projects by the end of 2025.
The legislation is designed to capture innovation in carbon sequestration. That is the goal of big players like ExxonMobil
XOM
But the conversion of carbon dioxide to silver products remains limited. The greatest demand for captured carbon dioxide is in refined oil regeneration, a complex and expensive process that injects carbon dioxide to crack dissolved oil that could not be realized. .
The independent oil producer Occidental is promising, with a proposed direct air capture device that demonstrates how technology can be commercialized when the financial benefits are clear. Occidental has said it will start construction by 2022 and is currently working to secure funding. The plant uses new technology to capture carbon dioxide out of the air, later using it for better oil regeneration in the Permian Basin in West Texas.
“We are very committed to (direct air capture) and we are excited about it because this is a win for us,” said CEO Vicki Hollub at Anadarko’s third quarter employment call in 2010. Hollub then recorded the benefits that: it reduced its cost to obtain better oil, sell its technology to others and, at the same time, “help the world reduce CO2 out of the atmosphere ”.
While Occidental promotes the benefits, a look at mathematics reveals future economic challenges. Direct capture of carbon dioxide costs $ 600 per tonne of CO2, according to the Center for Carbon Management and Energy Sustainability at the University of Houston. Occidental plans rely heavily on a federal tax credit designed to encourage investment in carbon sequestration.
The benefits for Occidental also depend on existing circumstances. Occidental in West Texas has many oil reserves that require the use of improved oil recovery methods using carbon dioxide.
Current high production costs are expected to fall with continued advances in technology, as with solar and wind generation, said Steve Capanna, director of U.S. Climate Policy and Analysis at the Defense Fund the Environment. The EDF sees investment in air capture just as a starting point for developing the types of technology the U.S. will need by the 2040s to meet climate targets.
But if engineers can make advanced technologies like air capture just produce for shareholders on their own – without government incentives and without specific applications like those at Occidental – the financial benefits will push the technologies forward with them yourself.
Researchers at the University of Toronto are exploring ways to use carbon dioxide to create plastics. Stanford University, working with the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Acceleration Laboratory, is looking at ways to generate zero emissions fuels from CO2.
If they succeed in finding high-value practices, it will be the first step in bringing the $ 600 per tonne price tag down to companies. Add to that developments in capture technology, and a reduction in the need for storage, and costs are falling further. Suddenly, even future proposals such as direct air capture – which is currently dependent on government subsidies – could start to attract a market.
“If we can start to find carbon dioxide use and the market for it and make that a real driver, we will give it enough runway so that it makes economic sense,” Krishnamoorti said. “As we begin to look for ways to integrate it with renewables, it may be possible to further reduce capture costs. ”
It looks ambitious, but take a look at what has happened with solar energy investment.
Yield has dropped from $ 370 per megawatt-hour in 2009 to less than $ 50 per megawatt-hour in 2020. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is building a promising plant cut that in half: its $ 1 billion, 690-megawatt sunflower. in Los Angeles, now under construction, promises power at $ 20 per megawatt – plus $ 13 for storage.
It’s a good reminder that when the market is run with government-inspired ideas, the results can be transformative indeed.
Emily Pickrell a veteran energy reporter, with over 12 years of experience covering everything from oil fields to industrial water policy to the latest on Mexico ‘s climate change laws. Emily has reported on energy issues from across the US, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Prior to journalism, Emily worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office and as an auditor for the international aid agency, CARE.
UH Energy is a hub at the University of Houston for energy education, research and technology promotion, working to shape the future of energy and to create new approaches in the energy industry.