Final report for One North East And NEPIC 21/12/10 - The Carbon ...

The case for a Tees CCS networkFinal ReportUK industrial emissions in 2009 were ca. 110 Mt CO 2 /year. 27 Emission reductions of onlyca. 7 Mt CO 2 /year can likely be achieved by 2020 through very low cost incrementalmeasures such as fuel switching and efficiency improvements in industry, i.e. a smallfraction of industrial emissions. 28 However, for a step change reduction in industrialemissions to occur, and assuming comparable overall manufacturing output in the UK in2030, other approaches will be required 29 .2.4 Global potential for carbon dioxide capture transport andstorageThe G8 30 and others have identified that a step change in CO 2 emissions reductions inpower and industry can be achieved through the deployment of carbon dioxide capture,transport and storage (CCS) technology 31 . CCS involves separating and purifying the CO 2from one or more sources such power stations, blast furnaces, and chemical plantsfollowed by transportation of the CO 2 to a secure geological formation for injection andlong term storage.Although the process requires additional energy to capture the CO 2 , as a carbonabatement measure CCS is expected to be applicable to stationary sources emitting atleast 50,000 tCO 2 per year, and cost competitive with other carbon abatement options(including nuclear power and renewable energy-based options).Although the individual elements of capture, transport and injection have beendemonstrated, CCS is still considered to be a technology in the demonstration phase – theprincipal requirement being to test that an integrated system can operate at a large scale.The International Energy Agency estimates CCS could deliver 19% of global CO 2reductions by 2050 - equivalent to 10 Gt CO 2 /year, split almost equally among power andindustrial/upstream sources 32 . The corresponding cumulative investment would likely be inthe region $5 trillion. Globally, the cost of meeting 2050 emissions targets is predicted torise by 70% without CCS. 32The International Energy Agency‟s CCS roadmap envisages work commencing on up to100 CCS projects by 2020, primarily involving coal-fired power plants and low-cost earlyopportunities; such as high purity CO 2 streams from gas processing and ammonia plants.Consistent with this the G8 has committed to launch the demonstration of up to 20demonstration plants worldwide by the end of 2010.27 Combination of indirect and direct emissions, based on The Committee on Climate Change (2010) 2 ndProgress Report – Meeting Carbon budgets and ensuring a low carbon recovery. available athttp://downloads.theccc.org.uk/0610/pr_meeting_carbon_budgets_chapter3_progress_reducing_emmissions_buildings_industry.pdf28Data taken from the CCC (2008) Building a Low Carbon Economy, available athttp://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/building-a-low-carbon-economy. This report also identifies a further 4 MtCO 2/year saving at up to £40/t that might come from increased deployment of CHP systems. The cost of asyngas network for Teesside is analysed in a parallel study by Amec.29 Very recently AEA has identified the potential abatement for 2030 from incremental improvement is 18 Mt. AEA(2010) Analysing the opportunities for abatement in major emitting industrial sectorshttp://downloads.theccc.org.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/4th%20Budget/Final%20Report%20ED56369.pdf30 See for example, http://globalccsinstitute.com/news/media_releases.html31 See for example, http://www.ipcc-wg3.de/publications/special-reports/special-report-on-carbon-dioxide-captureand-storage32IEA (2009) Technology Roadmap for Carbon Capture and Storage, available athttp://www.iea.org/papers/2009/CCS_Roadmap.pdf12