This paper presents a first comprehensive comparison of environmental impacts of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies. Life cycle assessment studies found in the literature have been reviewed for these purposes. In total, 27 studies have been found of which 11 focus on CCS and 16 on CCU. The CCS studies suggest that the global warming potential (GWP) from power plants can be reduced by 63–82%, with the greatest reductions achieved by oxy-fuel combustion in pulverised coal and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants and the lowest by post-combustion capture in combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants. However, other environmental impacts such as acidification and human toxicity are higher with than without CCS. For CCU, the GWP varies widely depending on the utilisation option. Mineral carbonation can reduce the GWP by 4–48% compared to no CCU. Utilising CO2 for production of chemicals, specifically, dimethylcarbonate (DMC) reduces the GWP by 4.3 times and ozone layer depletion by 13 times compared to the conventional DMC process. Enhanced oil recovery has the GWP 2.3 times lower compared to discharging CO2 to the atmosphere but acidification is three times higher. Capturing CO2 by microalgae to produce biodiesel has 2.5 times higher GWP than fossil diesel with other environmental impacts also significantly higher. On average, the GWP of CCS is significantly lower than of the CCU options. However, its other environmental impacts are higher compared to CCU except for DMC production which is the worst CCU option overall.

Carbon capture, storage and utilisation technologies: A critical analysis and comparison of their life cycle environmental impacts

Humanity already possesses the fundamental scientific, technical, and industrial know-how to solve the carbon and climate problem for the next half-century. A portfolio of technologies now exists to meet the world's energy needs over the next 50 years and limit atmospheric CO2 to a trajectory that avoids a doubling of the preindustrial concentration. Every element in this portfolio has passed beyond the laboratory bench and demonstration project; many are already implemented somewhere at full industrial scale. Although no element is a credible candidate for doing the entire job (or even half the job) by itself, the portfolio as a whole is large enough that not every element has to be used.

“Stabilization wedges: Solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies” from science magazine (2004)

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has become a key technology in climate change mitigation programs worldwide. CCS is well-studied in terms of greenhouse gas emission reduction potential and cost of implementation. Impacts on human health and the environment have, however, received considerably less attention. In this work, we present a first assessment of human health and environmental impacts of a postcombustion CO(2) capture facility, focusing on emissions from amine-based scrubbing solvents and their degradation products to air. We develop characterization factors for human toxicity for monoethanolamine (MEA) as these were not yet available. On the basis of the limited information available, our assessment indicates that amine-based scrubbing results in a 10-fold increase in toxic impact on freshwater ecosystems and a minor increase in toxic impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. These increases are attributed to emissions of monoethanolamine. For all other impact categories, i.e., human toxicity, marine ecotoxicity, particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidant formation, and terrestrial acidification, the CO(2) capture facility performs equally well to a conventional NGCC power plant, albeit substantial changes in flue gas composition. The oxidative degradation products of MEA, i.e., formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and ammonia, do not contribute significantly to total environmental impacts.

Human and environmental impact assessment of postcombustion CO2 capture focusing on emissions from amine-based scrubbing solvents to air.

This paper presents a comprehensive list of Carbon Capture and Utilization technologies and applications, ranging from lab-scale R&D activities reported in academic papers to commercially establish...

Martin Aaberg

Papers

Life-cycle Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Capture for Enhanced Oil Recovery