UAE's carbon capture project to remove 800.000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year

Since the opening of Boundary Dam a month ago, there seems to be a significant uptick in CCS-related news around the net.  In particular, journalists have discovered the most recent "Global Status of CCS" report.  Although issued already in February, it has gone relatively unnoticed until recently.  However, along with the news from Boundary Dam, it provides a background narrative of CCS regaining momentum despite significant setbacks over the last years.  In particular, the report notes a 50 percent increase in projects under construction or in operation since 2011, with Boundary Dam as the most prominent example.

However, the report also mentions developments for CCS in the industrial sector, which until now has been little discussed.  Whereas CO2 emissions from power production can at least in theory be replaced (in the longer run) by renewable energy, no such substitution is possible in the production of commodities such as cement, petrochemicals and steel.  In these cases, the emissions do not so much stem from energy generation from fossil fuels, as from release of CO2 inherent to the input materials and manufacturing process itself.

Emissions from the industrial sector are significant.  According to IEA, they constitute between one fourth and one third of worldwide CO2 emissions.  Since changing to renewable energy sources will do nothing about these emissions, CCS is the only option available to curb them.  However, little has happened on this front.

Until now.

According to the aforementioned report, two industrial CCS projects will become operational over the next two years.  One is the Illinois Industrial CCS Project, which is expected to start operations in 2015.  The plant captures CO2 from the production of biofuels, which means that it may actually be producing negative emissions.  Moreover, the captured CO2 will be stored in an onshore saline formation, meaning it will not be used for enhanced oil recovery, like so many other CO2 injection operations in the US.

The other project mentioned by the report is the UAE carbon capture project to remove 800.000 tonnes of CO2 annually from steel production.  The captured CO2 will here be used for enhanced oil recovery.  Whereas critics may question the environmental friendliness of such a scheme, there are a few arguments why this is, in fact, a relevant event for emission reductions.  First of all, oil produced from CO2 injection will necessarily have a lower impact on total CO2 emissions due to the carbon locked up by the CO2 injections themselves.  Second, as a the pioneer CCS project for the steel industry, it will provide a very interesting case study both for the industry itself and the wider researcher community.  Lessons learned from this project may help develop the technology, bring down costs, and lower the barriers for applying CCS elsewhere.

Overall, the Illinois and UAE projects may become to the industrial sector what Boundary Dam has been for the electricity generating sector: powerful examples of CCS as proven technologies.