Professor ZENG Rongshu and his team propose capturing CO₂ from coal chemical plants where the CO₂ is purity and relatively cheap to collect, thus offering an early opportunity for industrial-scale full chain carbon capture and storage (CCS) implementation.

The total amount of high concentration CO₂ that will be emitted (or is being emitted) by the coal chemical factories approved by the National Development and Reform Commission described in this paper is 42 million tonnes. If all eight projects could utilize CCS, it would be of great signifi- cance for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in China. Basins which may provide storage sites for captured CO₂ in North China are characterized by large sedimentary thicknesses and several sets of reservoir-caprock strata. Some oil fields are nearing depletion and a sub-set of these are potentially suitable for CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and CCS demonstration but all these still require detailed geological characterization. The short distance between the high concentration CO₂ sources and potential storage sites should reduce transport costs and complications.

The authors believe these high purity sources coupled with EOR or aquifer storage could offer China an opportunity to lead development in this globally beneficial CCS option.

Figure 1. Sources of CO₂ (red) and main sedimentary basins (green) in the northern sedimentary basins of China. (Image by ZENG)

Figure 2. Total calculated potential stored CO₂ (figures on the graph in red in Mt) for the Damintun, Shuguang, Huanxiling and Gaosheng oil fields of the Liaohe Oil Field. (Image by ZENG)

Zeng et al. New potential carbon emission reduction enterprises in China: deep geological storage of CO₂ emitted through industrial usage of coal in China. Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology, 2013, 3: 106-115 (Download Here)