Commercial CO2 Storage: Around the
Corner or Around the Bend?
Robert C. Trautz
Principal Technical Leader
CREA Energy Innovation Summit
Denver, Colorado
October 27, 2014
Overview of Geologic Storage Options
• Saline formations
(2,102–20,043 Gt)
– Widely distributed but
data are sparse
• Oil and gas fields (226 Gt)
– Depleted fields
– Enhanced oil recovery
(EOR)
– Enhanced natural gas
recovery (EGR)
• Unminable coal seams
(56-114 Gt)
– Enhanced coal bed
methane (ECBM)
• Other
– Basalts, shales, cavities
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
(Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
CO2 emissions from the US power sector
was 2.1 billion metric tonnes (Gt) in 2012
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What Is Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and Its
Benefits/Challenges?
• Benefits:
– Injection of CO2 produces more oil
– Depending upon oil prices and production
costs, CO2 has a beneficial use and price
P u rc ha se d C O 2
R e cy cle d
CO2
Injected
CO2
A n th ro po gen ic an d/or
N atu ral S o urce s
fro m
P ro duc tio n W ell
– Potential market demand for CO2 is high (25 to
32 Gt) and supply is low (4 to 7 Gt)
Z on e o f
E fficie n t S w ee p
• Challenges:
Im m ob ile O il
– Large gap exists between CO2 capture cost
($60-$80/tCO2) and EOR price for CO2 (<$40/t)
C O 2 D is s olv e d (S e q ue s te re d)
in th e Im m o bile
O il an d G a s P h a s es
– Location, location, location …
CO2
S to re d
in P ore
S pa ce
D river
W ater
CO2
W ater
CO2
M iscible
Zone
O il
B ank
A dditional
O il
R ecovery
Im m ob ile O il
J A F 019 81.C D R
– Demand for power is variable
– CO2 supplied by power station is relatively
constant but EOR operators recycle CO2
reducing use as the field matures
CO2 is injected into the oil reservoir to enhance oil
production by miscible and immiscible displacement
(Figure courtesy of Advanced Resources International)
EOR provides a market for CO2 that partially offsets the high cost of capture
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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EPA Regulatory Framework for CO2 has
Arrived or Just Around the Corner
No federal climate legislation exists in the US that would
help incentivize CCS, therefore, State incentives are needed
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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CO2 Emissions
Controls
• Emissions Accounting/Reporting (Arrived)
– Greenhouse Gas Mandatory Reporting Rules (Final 2009)
• Subpart D—Electricity Generation
• Subpart PP—Suppliers of Carbon Dioxide (capture facilities)
• Subpart RR—Geologic Sequestration of CO2
• Subpart UU—Injection of Carbon Dioxide for EOR
• Emission Controls (Arrived)
– Best available control technology = CCUS
– UIC geologic sequestration rule (Final Dec. 2010)
– RCRA exclusion for geologic sequestration
(Final Jan. 2014)
• Emission Limits (Around the Corner)
– Draft New Source Performance Standard (Jan. 2014)
– Draft Existing Source Performance Standard
(June 2014)
EOR May Be Around the Bend for New (and
existing?) EGU
• NSPS and Class VI GS rules may have a significant impact on CCS
deployment
• EOR operators must report under Subpart RR if they receive CO2 from
an EGU
– File a monitoring, reporting and verification plan with EPA, subject to
public comment process
– Reopen the plan if significant operational changes occur, which are
frequent in EOR operations
– Continue monitoring after EOR operations cease
• EOR operators face legal challenge
– Conversion of Class II to Class VI wells
– Some State laws prohibit oil and gas field developers from
encumbering property in a manner that would preclude future
resource recovery
– It could trigger renegotiation of hundreds of land use contracts
EOR operators have stated they will refuse to take CO2 from a regulated
source rather than attract these legal issues
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Saline Storage May Arrive Faster than
Anticipated in the US
• The power industry may have to turn to saline storage early
• Saline storage projects have greater risk compared to oil & gas
– Little economic value, so geologic data are scarce for saline
aquifers
– Storage capacities and injection rates are highly uncertain
– Field development costs will be greater with no economic pay
back
• Commercial experience is limited to three
large-scale saline storage projects
– Sleipner, Snohvit and In Salah
– All involve CO2 separation from natural
gas
– Each project ~1 Mt CO2/yr
– A single 1,000 MW EGU will need to
store ~3.4 Mt CO2 /yr to meet the NSPS
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
6
Is Commercial CCS Around the Corner or
Around the Bend?
• The US is the global leader in CCS research and
demonstration projects
• Commercial-scale projects currently under construction or
proposed are heavily subsidized by the US Department of
Energy. Examples include:
– Southern Co. Kemper County AL (under construction EOR)
– NRG Parrish TX (proposed – EOR)
– Summit Energy TX (proposed – EOR)
– FutureGen2 Oxy-fired (proposed – saline)
It is likely that subsidies will continue to be needed in the future to
spur CCS commercialization and reduce CO2 emissions
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Together…Shaping the Future of Electricity
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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