During 2010 important CCS project activity has been recorded. Several newly identified projects counterbalanced delays and cancellations. By the end of last year, 234 active or planned CCS projects were identified across a range of technologies, project types and sectors. Seventy-seven of these 234 projects are large-scale integrated projects (LSIP) (GCI, 2011a).
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Table 3-6 – Asset lifecycle model (GCI, 2011a)
Final Investment Decision Planning Active Project phase
Identify Evaluate Define Execute Operate
Developer’s goals Establish preliminary scope and business strategy Establish development options and execution strategy Finalise scope and execution plan Detailed design and construction Operate maintain and improve costs Select concept Start- up
Of the 77 LSIP, 8 are operating projects and 4 projects are in the execution stage of the asset lifecycle. The remaining 65 LSIP are in different phases of development planning (phases of the asset lifecycle preceding the final investment decision) (GCI, 2011a).
All 8 operating LSIP and the 4 in execution are associated with the oil and gas sector: they either capture CO2 via natural gas processing or they inject CO2 for EOR (Table 3-7).
Table 3-7 – Active CCS LSIP (GCI, 2011a).
Name Location Capture Storage
Operation stage
Sleipner CO2 Injection Norway Gas processing Deep saline formation
Snøhvit CO2 Injection Norway Gas processing Deep saline formation
In Salah CO2 Injection Northhern Africa Gas processing Deep saline formation
Weyburn-Midale CO2
Monitoring and Storage Project
Canada/United States Pre-combustion (synfuels)
EOR with MMV
Rangely Weber Sand Unit CO2 Injection
Project
United States Gas processing EOR with MMV
Salt Creek Enhanced Oil Recovery
United States Gas processing EOR
Enid Fertiliser United States Pre-combustion
(fertiliser)
EOR
Sharon Ridge EOR United States Gas processing EOR
Execution stage
Southern Company IGCC Project
United States Pre-combustion (power) EOR
Occidental Gas Processig Plant
United States Gas processing EOR
Enhance Energy EOR Project
Canada Pre-combustion
(fertiliser and oil refining)
EOR
Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project
Australia Gas processing Deep saline formation
Within the power generation sector there are 42 LSIP in development planning. Most of those are planned for coal-fired applications and are in different stages of development planning. An important exception is the Southern Company IGCC Project, which is in the Execute phase (GCI, 2011a). Among the LSIP there are 2 iron and steel projects, 1 cement project and 1 pulp and paper project (GCI, 2011a).
Most LSIP are found in developed countries, such as in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, with a few in emerging markets such as China. Driven by a variety of incentives being offered by the government as well as the extensive practice of EOR, the United States has the largest amount of newly identified LSIP and dominates project activity. The biggest sum of cancellations and
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delays of LSIP has occurred in Europe. Still, Europe has also had the highest amount of projects moving forward in the asset lifecycle. With six and five LSIP, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands present the largest number of projects in the Europe. Even though public funding (from the European Union and some National Governments) is supporting activity, weak economic conditions and difficulties surrounding use of onshore storage sites have increased uncertainty in investment decision making in Europe (GCI, 2011a).
Figure 3-1 presents all active and planned projects by industry sector and by asset lifecycle stage.
Figure 3-1 - All active and planned projects by industry sector and by asset lifecycle stage (GCI, 2011a).
The power industry, which has been, up till now, the foremost beneficiary of government arrangements in support of large-scale demonstration of CCS, accounted for almost half of all active and planned project activity in 2010 (GCI, 2011a).
Pre-combustion and post-combustion capture technologies dominate the LSIP, with 33 projects (43%) and 21 projects (27%) correspondingly (GCI, 2011a).
The flexibility of the pre-combustion capture technology is shown through the spread of projects across power generation (19), synthetic natural gas (5), coal-to-liquids (3), fertiliser production (3), oil refining (2) and H2 production (1). The bulk of pre-combustion capture within LSIP is being
developed for new build facilities. In contrast, around 60% of the post-combustion capture projects involve retrofitting existing facilities (GCI, 2011a).
Oxy-fuel combustion is being planned or considered within 4 projects, all in the power generation industry, including the recently restructured FutureGen 2.0 project in the United States (GCI, 2011a). In order to compare the status of technologies being considered for CCS implementation there are 4 categories to designate the level of technology maturity in use: commercial, demonstration, pilot and bench. These are primarily defined by the scale of the activity in a particular industry. For instance a commercial process is presented for sale by one or more trustworthy vendors with standard commercial assurances; a large-scale demonstration process entails the integration of technologies into a full-size structure to demonstrate viability and commercial readiness in a specific application. When
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in a pilot stage, a process or technology is being tested in a realistic environment, typically at one to two orders of magnitude minor than a full-scale demonstration, once it has been created in a controlled environment in a bench or laboratory scale successfully (GCI, 2011a).
All active and planned projects by industry sector and by technology maturity are presented in Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-2 - All active and planned projects by industry sector and by technology maturity (GCI, 2011a).
Pipelines are the most common means for CO2 transport within LSIPs and almost 90% of LSIPs
involve transporting CO2 or are planning to transport CO2 via pipelines (GCI, 2011a).
Potential storage of CO2 is evenly split between EOR and deep saline formations options (GCI,
2011a). Table 3-8 presents the CO2 storage current large-scale projects but does not include those
projects where the exact storage type has not been specified.
Table 3-8 – CO2 storage large-scale projects (GCI, 2011a)
Storage type Current large-scale projects
Depleted oil and gas reservoirs 8 in the planning stages
Enhanced oil or gas recovery with CO2 32, most are in North America (5 operational; 24
planned; 3 in construction)
Deep saline formations 26 (3 operational; 22 planned; 1 in construction)
Unmineable coal seams None (TBC)
Basalt formations 1 (planned)
In the near to medium term EOR will probably continue to be a common form of potential storage. Despite the fact that this route can act as an „enabler‟ for a less costly and faster mechanism for the demonstration of capture technologies, additional improvements in the monitoring and verification of injected CO2 to demonstrate permanent storage is considered crucial. Deep saline formations offer
much greater storage potential in the longer term but, the time and expense of proving up this storage option, particularly in offshore applications, should not be undervalued (GCI, 2011a).
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Several LSIPs in the Define phase have satisfactory funding to complete their current asset lifecycle stage of development; however, a large number of projects in the Identify and Evaluate stages may not advance except if additional funding is forthcoming (GCI, 2011a).