Uncertain storage prospects create a conundrum for carbon capture and storage ambitions

Advances, challenges, and perspectives for CCUS source-sink matching models under carbon neutrality target

“…For example, early models were intended for the traditional thermal power industry as the carbon sources, whereas new models have taken a broader adoption of plant-level emission sources of steel, cement, and chemical industries. Early models usually selected basins or reservoirs as the candidate storage sites with a relatively coarse spatial resolution, insufficient considerations of injection capacity constraints, and the exclusion of offshore sequestration, resulting in a non-equivalent matching between carbon sources and sinks on relevant spatial scales [31]. In general, models developed in recent years are dedicated to enriching databases, providing a considerable amount of information for carbon sources and sinks.…”

“…A recent study shows that the conversion of injected CO 2 to methane (CH 4 ) via microbial methanogenesis may be an important subsurface sink [35]. Second, the decomposition of current basins or reservoirs into high-resolution onshore and offshore storage sites through grid processing can effectively ensure spatial equivalence matching, and the inclusion of multiple constraints, such as storage potential, injection rate capacity, and storage security, will significantly improve the integrity and reliability of entire networks [31]. Third, a time and cost-efficient way of advancing CCUS is through the application of machine learning, which has been used for gauging the security and integrity of geological reservoirs.…”

Understanding the complexity of existing fossil fuel power plant decarbonization

“…Many studies argue CCS development would not be constrained by the lack of underground storage capacity. But, there is also plenty of criticism on such a conundrum around CCS ( Lane et al., 2021 ). Deep CCS beyond 90% CO 2 capture could be another technology option for the “last-mile” problem in decarbonization.…”

Perspective on the hydrogen economy as a pathway to reach net-zero CO2emissions in Europe

“…The successful implementation of large-scale, low carbon NG-based hydrogen production also critically depends on the availability of CO 2 transport and storage infrastructure, 144 requiring strong policy measures to incentivise and/or facilitate this (see also Section 5). Further down the TRL scale we find solid oxide electrolysis and biomass gasification-based hydrogen production.…”