Carbon capture to get a boost

When it comes to coal, there are two extreme opinions – for or against. Those for the fuel are not giving up on ways to take the carbon bite out of coal. While carbon capture and sequestration technology remains controversial, a team from MIT has been studying a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technique called pressurized oxy-fuel combustion. This process converts the carbon dioxide emissions of a power plant into a pressurized liquid stream meant to be pumped underground.

NYT reports similar plans of American Electric Power’s to inject about 100,000 tons annually for two to five years at ist Mountaineer plant in West Virginia. The plan, to begin in the next few days, is to convert carbon dioxide to a fluid into a layer of sandstone 7800 feet below and then into a layer of dolomite even below. The liquid will displace salt water and assume a shape of a squashed football 30-40 feet high and hundreds of yards long!

E.ON and Siemens have launched a carbon capture pilot project at E.ON’s Staudinger coal-fired power plant in Grosskrotzenburg near Hanau, Germany.

A post-combustion capture process developed by Siemens will be used to remove over 90% of the CO2 from the flue gases of one of the units at the E.ON plant. Siemens will run the carbon capture facility until the end of 2010 to test the long-term chemical stability and efficiency of the cleaning agents under real operating conditions. The initial pilot project could, if successful, form the basis of large-scale demonstration of the technology.

There are still some who fear we haven't understood the geology of deep terrains where we plan to pump and store the carbon. Will the displaced water be affected? Will the carbon stay in a stable form? Is CCS just a way of burying troubles?