We hear a lot about this term now in the news and all industry events. What is CCS? and why it is important?

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is defined as the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it is released into the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (Carbon sequestration) for very long time.

Why must we capture Carbon?

A greenhouse gas can absorb infrared radiation, thereby trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect and leads to global warming. CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The world emits about 43 billion tons of CO2 a year (2020). Total carbon emissions from all human activities, including agriculture and land use. Therefore, we must do Capture and storage for emissions, in addition to massive emissions reduction using innovative technologies.

Available Technologies to Capture Carbon

The best most cost-effective place to capture carbon is at point Sources. These are industries with large Carbon emissions, such as Cement Processing, Steel making, Power generation, and fossil fuel-based Hydrogen production plants.

In general, there are 3 different technologies exists to capture carbon at point source.

1. Post-Combustion Capture: Here the Carbon (CO2) is removed after the combustion of the fuel. Example will be a fossil fuel-based Power plant, the CO2 will be captured from flue gasses at power stations.

2. Pre-Combustion Capture: This applied in fertilizer, Hydrogen and Power Production. Here the fossil fuel is first partially oxidized in gasifier to produce Synthesis gas (CO and H2), then the CO is reacted with steam (H2O) to get more Hydrogen and CO2. CO2 is captured from a relatively pure exhaust stream. The H2 can be used as fuel; the CO2 is removed before combustion.

3. Oxy-Fuel Combustion: Here the fuel is burned in pure Oxygen instead of Air which produce a flue gas that is mainly CO2 and water vapour. Condensing the water vapour and you remain with pure CO2 stream to be captured.