Shadowed Potential

Although it provides a controversial climate fix, Carbon Capture and Sequestration can prove to be fruitful in the future if carbon pricing becomes more prevalent

- Krishna Gupta

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technologies are not new and were used primarily by oil and gas companies in the 1950s to increase their productivity and purify natural gas. Oil companies would simply inject CO2 into the oilfields to increase the pressure in the reservoir, leading to more oil being pushed up. However, CCS technologies were repurposed in the 1990s, as a response to the increased awareness about greenhouse gas emissions and the global warming they caused. Let us discuss these in more detail.

CCS: PROMISING OR QUESTIONABLE?

As noted above, CCS is a well-known technology, which involves the separation of CO2 from the flue gas produced by power plants and other large industries such as cement plants, steel plants and fertilizer units. This flue gas is then cooled in a Cooling Tower, after which it is passed through an 'absorber', which is a solution containing chemicals called amines. The CO2 binds itself to the amines and stays in the 'absorber' and the clean exhaust is released into the air. The 'absorber' is further heated and the CO2 separated from the amines makes it more pure. This purified CO2 is then transported mainly by pipelines (in a liquefied form) and injected into abandoned oil and gas fields or underground saline aquifers.