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ACCSEPT was a two-year research project (2005-2007) funded under the 6th research framework programme ofthe European Commission. The project leader was Det Norske Veritas (DNV), and the partners were Baker andMcKenzie, the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), the Institute for European Environmental Policy(IEEP), Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, and Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge.There were three main focuses of the project: a Europe-wide survey of stakeholders and their opinions on CCS;stakeholder consultation through two workshops; and research into the economics, regulation, legal and socialaspects of CCS. The project website is www.accsept.org, where all the outputs and related material can be found.This paper summarizes the conclusions of the work

We present an approach that uses the huge fluid and thermal storage capacity of the subsurface, together with geologic CO 2 storage, to harvest, store, and dispatch energy from subsurface (geothermal) and surface (solar, nuclear, fossil) thermal resources, as well as energy from electrical grids. Captured CO 2 is injected into saline aquifers to store pressure, generate artesian flow of brine, and provide an additional working fluid for efficient heat extraction and power conversion. Concentric rings of injection and production wells are used to create a hydraulic divide to store pressure, CO 2 , and thermal energy. Such storage can take excess power from the grid and excess/waste thermal energy, and dispatch that energy when it is demanded, enabling increased penetration of variable renewables. Stored CO 2 functions as a cushion gas to provide enormous pressure-storage capacity and displaces large quantities of brine, which can be desalinated and/or treated for a variety of beneficial uses. Geothermal power and energy-storage applications may generate enough revenues to justify CO 2 capture costs.

Equipping power plants with carbon capture technologies increases the (cooling) water demand of these plants. This study explores the potential impact of such increase in water demand on the regional water scarcity in Europe. A database with key characteristics of 458 of the largest European power plants is developed and the water use of these power plants is estimated. The water use of the power plants are spatially linked to current water stress index levels. Several prospective scenarios are developed accounting for variations in the future configuration of Europe's electricity generation and different penetration rates of carbon capture technology. Regional water stress index levels are calculated to compare the potential impact of applying carbon capture technologies on the water stress. Preliminary results indicate that the increase of water use due to carbon capture technology is partly expected to be compensated by the deployment of more efficient energy conversion methods which require less cooling water. As such, no significant increase in water stress is expected in the short term (2030), as the carbon capture penetration level in European power plants is expected to be quite low. However, on the long term (2050), large scale instalment of carbon capture technologies in power plants might significantly increase the water stress throughout Europe., Energy Procedia, 63, ISSN:1876-6102, 12th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT-12

This communication explores the carbonation potential of activated serpentine at flue gas conditions. A first series of single-step batch experiments was performed varying the temperature and the slurry density to systematically assess the precipitation regime of the relevant Mg-carbonates and the fate of the Si species in solution. The results suggested that the reaction progress was hindered by a passivating layer of re-precipitated silica, quartz, or carbonates, as well as by equilibrium limitations. Among several strategies that were tested to overcome these limitations, a simple double-step process that is driven by a temperature swing in combination with a low-level CO2 pressure swing is presented. Exploratory experiments are shown that prove the viability of our process, first by applying a discontinuous method, and secondly by implementing a methodology to cycle the liquid phase continuously between a dissolution reactor and a precipitator. In this way, it was possible to produce highly pure Mg-carbonates that may serve various industries., Energy Procedia, 63, ISSN:1876-6102, 12th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT-12

Hydrogen production from natural gas, combined with advanced CO2 capture technologies, such as iron-based chemical looping (CL), is considered in the present work. The processes are compared to the conventional base case, i.e. hydrogen production via natural gas steam reforming (SR) without CO2 capture. The processes are simulated using commercial software (ChemCAD) and evaluated from a technical point of view considering important key performance indicators such as hydrogen thermal output, net electric power, carbon capture rate and specific CO2 emissions. The environmental evaluation is performed using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) with the following system boundaries considered: i) hydrogen production from natural gas coupled to CO2 capture technologies based on CL, ii) upstream processes such as: extraction and processing of natural gas, ilmenite and catalyst production and iii) downstream processes such as: H2 and CO2 compression, transport and storage. The LCA assessment was carried out using the GaBi6 software. Different environmental impact categories, following here the CML 2001 impact assessment method, were calculated and used to determine the most suitable technology. Sensitivity analyses of the CO2 compression, transport and storage stages were performed in order to examine their effect on the environmental impact categories. ISSN:1876-6102

This work describes a promising alternative to conventional thermal processes for absorber/desorber processing of for removal of CO[subscript 2] from flue gas streams at fossil fuel fired power plants. Our electrochemically-mediated amine regeneration (EMAR) process offers the advantages of an electrical system coupled with the desirable high output purities typical of amine sorbents that are difficult to achieve with most electric systems such as pressure-swing sorption, membrane separation, and oxy-fuel combustion. Preliminary experimental results are presented that demonstrate the feasibility of using ethylenediamine as the CO[subscript 2] sorbent and copper electro-cycling to isothermally modulate the amine affinity for CO[subscript 2]. Cupric ions entirely deactivate ethylenediamine at a ratio of 2:1 diamine to copper. Open-circuit potential measurements at 50°C indicate the required energy to desorb CO[subscript 2] and regenerate the ethylenediamine is 18 kJ/mole CO[subscript 2] under open-circuit conditions. Kinetic over-potentials are sufficiently low to ensure acceptable energy losses. Lower energies can be achieved by increasing the temperature or by changing the amine., Siemens Corporation (CKI Research Fund), United States. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Research Grant DE-AR0000083)

Gasification-based plants with coal-CO[subscript 2] slurry feed are predicted to be more efficient than those with coal-water slurry feed. This is particularly true for high moisture, low rank coal such as lignite. Nevertheless, preparation of the CO[subscript 2] slurry is challenging and the losses associated with this process have not been accounted for in previous analyses. This work introduces the Phase Inversion-based Coal-CO[subscript 2] Slurry (PHICCOS) feeding system, in which coal-CO[subscript 2] slurry is prepared at ambient temperature via coal-water slurry. Steady-state process simulation is used to estimate the performance of the proposed slurry preparation and feeding system for bituminous coal and lignite. An Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant with carbon capture is used here as a potential application, but this concept is applicable to any high-pressure coal feeding process. The economic attractiveness of the PHICCOS feeding system is assessed through calculation of its capital costs and resulting levelized cost of electricity, relative to competing commercial technologies. The findings of this work show that the PHICCOS feeding system offers a good tradeoff between overall process performance and costs. It is the most cost-effective method for feeding lignite and the second most attractive for bituminous coal, for which the competing technology is marginally cheaper. The PHICCOS feeding system is hence the only feeding system which is consistently cost-effective across the entire coal rank spectrum and is increasingly so for high-moisture and high-ash coal., BP (Firm)

This paper presents results from a survey on stakeholder attitudes towards Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The survey is the first to make a global comparison across three major regions; USA, Japan, and Europe. The 30-question survey targeted individuals working at stakeholder organizations that seek to shape, and will need to respond to, policy on CCS, including electric utilities, oil & gas companies, CO2-intensive industries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The results show generally small differences across the regions and between the different groups of stakeholders. All believed that the challenge of significant reductions in emissions using only current technologies was severe. There is a widespread belief both that renewable technologies such as solar power and CCS will achieve major market entry into the electricity sector within the next 10 to 20 years, whereas there is more skepticism about the role of hydrogen and especially nuclear fusion in the next 50 years. All groups were generally positive towards renewable energy. Yet, there were some notable areas of disagreement in the responses, for example, as expected, NGOs considered the threat of climate change to be more serious than the other groups. North Americans respondents were more likely to downplay the threat compared to those of the other regions. The Japanese were more concerned about the burden that would be placed on industry in the coming decade as a result of emissions constraints and NGOs were more likely to believe that the burden would be light or very light. NGOs believed CCS to be far more attractive than nuclear fusion power but much less than renewables. As expected, the risk for leakage from reservoirs was ranked number one of the risk options given., Alliance for Global Sustainability, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan), Carbon Sequestration Initiative, Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS project “Pathways to Sustainable European Energy Systems” funding)

Post combustion absorption technologies represent one of the most commercially ready technologies for CO2 capture. Solvent selection is the critical consideration in post-combustion absorption capture technology. In order to compare the performance of different solvents, it is necessary to perform simulations on a consistent basis and perform a process analysis of the system. The focus of this work was to develop consistent simulations for MEA and K2CO3 systems in ASPEN. The simulations have been developed within the ASPEN RateSep framework and are valid for both natural gas and coal fired power plants. This paper describes the methodology of the simulations and some results from the two systems. The MEA base case was validated with reported values in literature. Potassium carbonate was found to be particularly useful for pressurized combustion and for CO2 removal from product gases of reforming of natural gas or coal., Research Council of Norway, Statoil ASA

This paper provides a financial analysis for new supercritical pulverized coal plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) that compares the effects of two relevant climate policies. First, an updated cost estimate is presented for new supercritical pulverized coal plants, both with and without CCS. The capital cost escalation of recent years can be attributed to rising materials, plant supply, and plant contractor constraints. This estimate is then compared with recent estimates from public sources. Second, several current and proposed public policies relevant to CCS are presented. Finally, a financial analysis is performed to evaluate the effectiveness of two likely US carbon regulations on deploying Nth-plant CCS technology. The major conclusion is that the leading US carbon cap-and-trade bills will likely not be sufficient to deploy CCS technology in a manner consistent with a 550 ppm CO[subscript 2] stabilization scenario. A more aggressive carbon policy including CCS research, development, and demonstration must be considered to achieve this goal with significant CCS deployment., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Carbon Sequestration Initiative, MIT Industrial Performance Center

The focus of this study is the analysis of an integrated reforming combined cycle (IRCC) with natural gas as fuel input. This IRCC consisted of a hydrogen-fired gas turbine (GT) with a single-pressure steam bottoming cycle for power production. The reforming process section consisted of a pre-reformer and an air-blown auto thermal reformer (ATR) followed by water-gas shift reactors. The air to the ATR was discharged from the GT compressor and boosted up to system pressure by an air booster compressor. For the CO[subscript 2] capture sub-system, a chemical absorption setup was modeled. The design case model was modeled in GT PRO by Thermoflow, and in Aspen Plus. The Aspen Plus simulations consisted of two separate models, one that included the reforming process and the water-gas shift reactors. In this model were also numerous heat exchangers including the whole pre-heating section. Air and CO[subscript 2] compression was also incorporated into the model. As a separate flow sheet the chemical absorption process was modeled as a hot potassium carbonate process. The models were linked by Microsoft Excel. For the CO[subscript 2] capture system the model was not directly linked to Excel but instead a simple separator model was included in the reforming flow sheet with inputs such as split ratios, temperatures, and pressures from the absorption model. Outputs from the potassium model also included pump work and reboiler duty. A main focal point of the study was off-design simulations. For these steady-state off-design simulations GT MASTER by Thermoflow in conjunction with Aspen Plus were used. Also, inputs such as heat exchanger areas, compressor design point, etc., were linked in from the Aspen Plus reforming design model. Results indicate a net plant efficiency of 43.2% with approximately a 2%-point drop for an 80% part load case. Another off-design simulation, at 60% load, was simulated with a net plant efficiency around 39%. The CO[subscript 2] capture rate for all cases was about 86%, except for the reference case which had no CO[subscript 2] capture., Research Council of Norway, StatoilHydro

Electrochemically mediated amine regeneration is a new post-combustion capture technology with the potential to exploit the excellent removal efficiencies of thermal amine scrubbers while reducing parasitic energy losses and capital costs. The improvements result from the use of an electrochemical stripping cycle, in lieu of the traditional thermal swing, to facilitate CO[subscript 2] desorption and amine regeneration; metal cations generated at an anode react with the amines, displacing the CO[subscript 2], which is then flashed off, and the amines are regenerated by subsequent reduction of the metal cations in a cathode cell. The advantages of such a process include higher CO[subscript 2] desorption pressures, smaller absorbers, and lower energy demands. Several example chemistries using different polyamines and copper are presented. Experimental results indicate an open-circuit efficiency of 54% (15 kJ per mole CO[subscript 2]) is achievable at the tested conditions and models predict that 69% efficiency is possible at higher temperatures and pressures. A bench scale system produced 1.6 mL min[superscript −1] CO[subscript 2] while operating at 0.4 volts and 42% Faradaic efficiency; this corresponds to a work of less than 100 kJ per mole., United States. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Grant DE-AR0000083)