No abstract

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has been identified as a method of sequestering CO 2 recovered from power plants. In CO 2 -flood EOR, CO 2 is injected into an oil reservoir to reduce oil viscosity, reduce interfacial tension, and cause oil swelling which improves oil recovery. Previous studies suggest that substantial amounts of CO 2 from power plants could be sequestered in EOR projects, thus reducing the amount of CO 2 emitted into the atmosphere. This claim, however, ignores the fact that oil, a carbon rich fuel, is produced and 93% of the carbon in petroleum is refined into combustible products ultimately emitted into the atmosphere. In this study we analyze the net life cycle CO 2 emissions in an EOR system. This study assesses the overall life cycle emissions associated with sequestration via CO 2 -flood EOR under a number of different scenarios and explores the impact of various methods for allocating CO 2 system emissions and the benefits of sequestration.

This paper reviews methodological approaches for determining the carbon footprint of captured CO2 as carbon feedstock, and shows why some approaches lead to suboptimal choices of CO2 sources and that increased consistency in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on CCU is needed.

Natural gas based hydrogen production with carbon capture and storage is referred to as blue hydrogen.

SignificanceCarbon dioxide removal through the permanent sequestration of biogenic CO2 is a critical technique for climate change mitigation, but most bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies are technically immature or commercially unavailable. In contrast, examples of CCS of biogenic CO2 resulting from fermentation emissions already exist at scale. Here, we evaluate low-cost, commercially ready sequestration opportunities for existing biorefineries in the United States. We find that existing and proposed financial incentives suggest a substantial near-term opportunity to catalyze the growth of CCS infrastructure, improve the impacts of conventional biofuels, support development of carbon-negative biofuels, and satisfy low-carbon fuel policies.