Section 1030
Group # R04
INVESTING IN CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE
Greg Jakubiec (gjj6@pitt.edu)
embrace of a completely new, renewable source of energy
that entirely skips the burning of fossil fuels and does not
emit carbon dioxide. This allows for a complimentary
method that can be implemented faster and create a
smoother transition than entirely switching over to
renewable sources of energy in a relatively short amount of
time. The widespread use of CCS during the transition from
fossil fuel based energy sources to renewable ones would
greatly ease the transition period to these renewable energy
sources.
UNDERSTANDING OUR CURRENT
SITUATION
Over the course of the last half-century, humanity has
become concerned with the issue of carbon emissions and
anthropogenic global warming. In a nutshell, the human race
is apparently causing the globe to steadily warm at a faster
rate than is natural. Under normal environmental conditions,
the greenhouse effect of the earth’s atmosphere acts to retain
heat within its confines, so that the earth is warm enough to
support life, and therefore human existence and society.
However, within the last century, the release of certain
gases, such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane
into the atmosphere, has caused the greenhouse effect to
compound and the earth to slowly become warmer than is
natural or desirable. These gases are created by the burning
of fossil fuels. Because of these gases and the resulting
greenhouse effect, the global temperature has risen by 1.3
degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the 20th century,
and continuing to emit greenhouse gases at the current rate,
will increase the global temperature by 3 to 7 degrees
Fahrenheit by the year 2100, as scientists from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change conclude [1].
Although these numbers may seem small, this could
potentially have a devastating effect on society, seeing as
world ecosystems are very dependent on the delicate balance
of temperature, and this change would result in disturbances
to wildlife habitats and migratory patterns and cause
extinctions of various species of plants and animals, as well
as floods and droughts, rising sea levels and violent storms.
As a result, many people have proposed different solutions
to climate change. One important part of the solution is
Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS. CCS is processes in
which the carbon contained within the byproducts of burning
fossil fuels are eventually stored to prevent them from being
emitted into the atmosphere. CCS will play an integral role
in eventually getting our societal level of emissions under
control, and therefore is something that must be further
researched and invested in.
METHODS OF CCS
There are three main methods of Carbon Capture and
Storage, including post-combustion capture, pre-combustion
capture, and oxyfuel capture.
Post-combustion CCS
During post-combustion capture, an extra stage is applied
after the combustion reaction takes place, that filters and
removes the excess CO2 using an amine solvent, and then
compresses it and stores it away from the atmosphere. The
solvent is then heated and reused.
Pre-combustion CCS
Pre-combustion CCS occurs before the final combustion
stage of a CO2 emitting reaction. Pre-combustion carbon
capture is done by first splitting the initial fuel that is to be
used (usually being methane or some form of coal or similar
organic compound), into carbon monoxide (CO) and
hydrogen, and then by using a synthesis reaction to combine
the CO with water, converting it into CO2 and H2 using very
high pressures, which is known as a shift conversion. The
CO2 can then be exported and stored, while the H2 can be
used in combustion reactions to create energy. Precombustion CCS generally requires less energy than postcombustion CCS, because of the large amount of heat
constantly needed in post-combustion CCS for the heating of
the solvent. Pre-combustion CCS, however, is not nearly as
efficient in terms of the amount of carbon that is actually
mitigated because of the complication of the process. [4].
THE IMPORTANCE OF CCS IN
MITIGATING CO2 EMISSIONS
Carbon Capture and Storage is an important piece in the
solution to anthropogenic global warming. The CCS process
allows for the curbing of emissions that are currently taking
place by simply attaching an extraneous system to the
processes that are already happening, as opposed to the
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Greg Jakubiec
which says: “ Engineers shall hold paramount the safety,
health, and welfare of the public.” [8] It could be argued that
putting large amounts of taxpayer money towards CCS does
not “hold paramount the welfare of the public”, because it
may be seen as inefficient and wasteful, or perhaps there are
other methods of mitigating global warming that may be
more effective in the long term, especially since CCS would
be very expensive and only solves the problem in the
relatively short-term, since we would still eventually run out
of fossil fuels, and other sources of energy would still have
to be found eventually.
However, I believe that investing money in a plan for
CCS does in fact uphold the importance of the welfare of the
public. This is because it is far more viable in the short term
than investing the same amount of money into wind or solar
power, or another source of alternative energy, at this time.
Utilizing CCS would allow us as a country and society to do
more research on the technologies behind those types of
energy sources before fully embracing them, which would
allow us to refine them and make them more efficient,
resulting in a more cost-efficient process in the long run,
which would definitely uphold the code of ethics.
As a future engineer, I find it of the utmost importance
that the code of ethics is upheld, and the idea of investing
money into CCS is definitely in line with the code.
A Graphical Representation of the different methods of CCS [2].
EFFICIENCY, COST AND
IMPLEMENTATION
Although CCS has yet to be embraced by the United
States, it has begun to be used in other countries, namely
Canada and Turkey, and these other countries’
implementation of CCS provides for a great starting point
for the US to create their own policies regarding CCS.
Canada specifically provides a very appropriate example
because of its similarity to the United States in terms of
economic and cultural trends. Canada has committed
upwards of $3 million, over the course of the last two years
[5], to CCS, due to the urgency and importance of the
situation. This money is to be used for the research and
development of new and more efficient CCS technologies,
as well as developing and implementing market standards
and regulations to ease the transition to CCS. Canada also
currently has thirty-five research and development projects
underway involving the use of CCS, as well as many
specific projects that plan to utilize CCS. With these policies
in place, it is estimated that up to one million tons of CO2
will be captured and stored, significantly reducing the
amount of fossil fuels emitted into the atmosphere and
effectively slowing the symptoms of the greenhouse effect
and climate change. [5] If the United States, as well as other
developed countries, would embrace the same concept, the
world would be much closer to solving the problem of
anthropogenic global warming.
EDUCATION
This paper has been an enlightening educational
experience that has helped me to become acquainted with
the style and formatting in which engineering papers are
often written. The basic format of this paper is far different
than many of the papers I have written in the past,
specifically in high school. The majority of those were
single columned, double-spaced, and completely lacking
subtitles. The citations and references were also in a
completely different format (usually MLS). By writing this
paper, I’ve grown more accustomed to this style of
formatting and referencing. The general writing style is also
different than other papers that I have been assigned in the
past. Other papers were typically not written in first person,
and I was often given credit for pretention and the use of
large, obscure words and sentence structures. While writing
engineering papers, this is not only unnecessary, but
discouraged
Furthermore, writing this paper has helped me to become
more educated about the topic I’ve written about, namely the
process and idea of Carbon Capture and Storage and our
potential investment in it. I’ve also thought more about the
ethics behind engineering dilemmas, specifically CCS.
As a total educational experience, this writing assignment
been a positive experience and I’ve learned many things
about writing, engineering and ethics.
THE ETHICS OF INVESTING IN CCS
The issue of whether not it is in society’s best interest to
invest large sums of money into different projects aimed at
combatting global warming and finding a new source of
renewable energy for future use is one that has been debated
for nearly 50 years now. The main ethical dilemma behind
CCS is whether or not it is a good idea to invest government
money into it, which would decide whether or not investing
in CCS follows the Code of Ethics for Civil Engineers,
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Greg Jakubiec
http://www.asce.org/uploadedFiles/Ethics__New/Code%20of%20Ethics%20October%202010.pdf.
THE FUTURE OF CCS
Due to the widespread effects of human-induced climate
change over the course of the next few decades, as well as
centuries, humanity must find various different solutions to
this ever-pertinent issue. One very useful solution is Carbon
Capture and Storage; capturing the carbon that is being
emitted into our atmosphere as it is emitted in order to
greatly curb the net amount being released. CCS must be
implemented and invested in on a large scale here in the
United States, as well as other developed and developing
countries throughout the world.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my parents, for providing me with
the guidance and opportunities to make it this far in my
academic endeavors.
REFERENCES
[1] B. Abbott. (2010). “Brief Explanation of Global
Warming.” National Geographic. (Magazine).
[2] R, Stuart Haszeldine. (2009). “Carbon Capture and
Storage: How Green can Black be?” Science. (Magazine).
DOI: 10.1126/science.1172246. p. 385
[3] S. Licht. (2011). “Efficient Solar-Driven Synthesis,
Carbon Capture, and Desalinization, STEP: Solar Thermal
Electrochemical Production of Fuels, Metals, Bleach.”
Advanced Materials. (Online article).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201103198
/pdf.
[4] J. Gibbons, H. Chalmers. (2008). “Carbon Capture and
Storage.”
Energy
Policy.
(Journal).
http://ac.elscdn.com/S0360544206001952/1-s2.0-S0360544206001952main.pdf?_tid=595dca30-1190-11e2-bc5100000aacb360&acdnat=1349732424_1c3bcf8ad885f2a2916
97e5dedc02905.
[5] M. Mitrović, A. Malone. “Carbon capture and storage
(CCS) demonstration projects in Canada.” Energy Policy.
(2011).
(Journal).
http://ac.elscdn.com/S1876610211008411/1-s2.0-S1876610211008411main.pdf?_tid=2f02f868-1191-11e2-bc5100000aacb360&acdnat=1349732783_35b0f0fa0c917705354
31b075780ea83
[6] “Scottish Carbon capture and Storage.” (2012).
(Website).
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/sccs/capture/precombustion.html
[7] M. V. Kok and A. Vural. (2011). “The Clean Coal and
Carbon Capture and Storage
Technology of Turkey.” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery,
Utilization, and Environmental Effects. (Publication).
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15567036.201
1.606454.
[8] “Code of Ethics for Engineers.” (2012). National Society
of
Professional
Engineers.
(Publication).
http://www.nspe.org/resources/pdfs/Ethics/CodeofEthics/Co
de-2007-July.pdf.
[9] “Code of Ethics.” (2012). American Society for Civil
Engineers.
(Publication).
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