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CCS

What is CCS?

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a method of capturing and storing CO2, to prevent its release into the atmosphere.  The main processes involve capture of CO2, transportation, and then permanent storage deep underground. Storage options include depleted oil and gas reservoirs and salt caverns.

How can etasca help?

The etasca team has extensive commercial and technical experience in CCS projects having worked on some of the largest projects globally.

Interested?  contactus@etasca.com

million tons

CCS capacity in
operation in 2023

%

CAGR

CCS capacity growth
expected (2023 – 2030)

Commercial considerations:

CCS is a key lever to net-zero for hard to abate industries – with capacity to grow at a CAGR of 30% to 2030

  • Around half of the cement sector and 30 percent of steel sector carbon emission reductions are expected to be delivered by CCS by 2050. There is approximately 50 million tons of CO2 CCS capacity in operation as of 2023 – this is expected to grow to ca. 325 million tons by 2030, representing a CAGR of 30%.

The CO2 concentration of the emissions plays a large role in determining CCS economics.

  • Conventional carbon capture technology is through chemical absorption using amine-based solvents, which is well commercialised. However, lower concentration CO2 emissions/sources and highly variable operations require far more energy and utilities to capture equivalent CO2 volumes.

Government backed support is required. 

  • Most CCS developments are currently government funded or supported, e.g., against future ETS price curves and volume backstop guarantees for anchor projects through to 2030.   
  • Current CCS projects are typically based around agglomerating the emissions from industrial clusters or hubs, to drive economies of scale and reduce unit transport costs by increasing efficiencies and duplications in development phases.
  • Project business models are based on the CCS transport and storage company receiving revenues from the emitters for offtake the CO2.

Liabilities for the sequestered CO2 is an ongoing topic of discussion. 

  • Legal and insurance frameworks are currently being developed in many regions to allocate risk and liability between emitters, developers, and governments.

Technical considerations:

Schedules can be long

  • Schedules can be long (well over 5 years) for implementation given extensive acquisition of land rights, lengthy permitting process for pipeline routing and the complexity of integrating into retro-fitted infrastructure.  There can also be multiple phasing involved.

CO2 when depressurised into a reservoir is subject to the Joule Thompson effect, potentially forming hydrates. 

  • As such, heating is required which can be expensive when sited offshore. Similarly, brine extraction from saline aquifers when injecting in dense phase is a complex operation requiring additional wells over depleted reservoirs.

CCS projects often need to be integrated into complex existing facilities that may have otherwise been decommissioned. 

  • Modifying (or removing) topside facilities, re-purposing pipelines, re-purposing cement bonds for acidic environments in addition to creating monitoring wells amongst many other considerations all create a large degree of complexity that needs careful management.  Complex legal and tax implications can often arise when offshore sequestration projects are executed alongside operational or decommissioning plans.

All-in CCS cost varies greatly depending on the source for CO2 capture, e.g., concentration, transportation distance and sequestration configuration: 

  • CO2 capture: ranges from $10 (high-concentration process CO2) to over $300 (direct air capture) per ton of CO2, opex-intensive.
  • CO2 transport: relatively low at $1-$5 per ton of CO2 per 100km for onshore pipeline transportation, capex-intensive.
  • CO2 sequestration: depending on configuration and site, average ca. $10-$30 per ton of CO2.
  • Comparison vs EU ETS CO2 price of ca. $90 per ton of CO2 2023 average.

Pipelines are the most cost-efficient way of transporting large volumes of CO2 long distances. 

  • This lends itself to the hubs-and-spoke or hubs and cluster approach where multi-stakeholders are able to share the high upfront investment costs of developing CCS projects. 
  • CO2 shipping is also emerging as a transportation option and involves high-pressure liquefaction. CO2 shipping allows the transportation of CO2 from high emitting areas to available sequestration options.