UKCCSC News 4 February 2010

Hi Folks,

Something of a red letter day, though the details are a bit sparse in the article:

“EU agrees to split billions for green power, coal” Reuters (2 Jan)

“”The proposal has gone through and this is by far the biggest support mechanism in the world for clean coal,” said British politician Chris Davies, who designed the scheme.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE61156020100202

More details here, unless a stray advert covers the text :

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8079e90-1146-11df-a6d6-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

2) “Obama unveils new biofuels, carbon capture, initiatives” AFP (3 Jan)

“The president said he wanted 10 commercial carbon capture and storage projects up and running by 2016”

https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gpgP1Yehwpz4Y-OxTJhHq3PCpO3A

3) And here’s how he’s going to get the ball rolling:

“Obama Creates Carbon Capture And Storage Task Force” Nasdaq (3 Feb)

https://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201002031458dowjonesdjonline000566&title=obama-creates-carbon-capture-and-storage-task-force

4) The Lacq CCS pilot scheme in France has finally opened for business:

“Total inaugurates end-to-end carbon capture and storage pilot in France” Energy Efficiency News (13 Jan)

“The €60 million Lacq facility uses Air Liquide’s oxycombustion carbon capture technology….

The carbon is then piped from the Lacq site to the Rousse geological storage site 27 km away, where it is injected into a depleted natural gas reservoir 4.5 km underground.”

https://www.energyefficiencynews.com/power-generation/i/2711/

5) Another report on the costs of CCS, this time for new-build post-combustion capture by the Process Economics Program:

“Advanced Carbon Capture”

“MEA scrubbing adds 4.5¢/KWh to the cost of power generation via supercritical pulverized coal. The advanced amine and chilled ammonia processes show similar overall economics, each adding 4.1¢/KWh”

The report is by SRI Consulting and probably costs hard cash to acquire.

https://www.sriconsulting.com/PEP/Reports/Phase_2009/RP180C/

6) “Aberthaw carbon capture plant row” Wales Online (11 Jan)

“The plant will take 1% of the flue gas produced by the coal combustion process and treat it by first absorbing sulphur dioxide and then carbon dioxide.

The proposal does not include measures for the long-term storage of the gases and is intended only to demonstrate the feasibility of the capture process.”

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/01/11/aberthaw-carbon-capture-plant-row-91466-25567747/

7) “UK and UAE launch £1 million energy policy research fund” Energy Efficiency News (22 Jan 10)

“The agreement between the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Masdar Institute will also set up a partnership between government and the private sector to help small businesses deploy low-carbon energy sources.”

https://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/2744/

8) Carbon legislation is having a rough ride in Aus: “Gloom gathers around divisive Australia CO₂ laws” Reuters (1 Feb)

“Reviled by conservatives and rejected by swing voting senators, Australia’s plan for the world’s most comprehensive emissions scheme appears dead in 2010”

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61019I20100201

9) A (free) evening meeting at the Geol Soc in London, convenient if you happen to work close by:

Carbon Capture 16th March 2010 – hazards arising from Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) schemes.

It looks like this is about high pressure gases in pipes and not potential leakage from storage schemes.

https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/page6701.html

10) This Month’s free holiday is in Edinburgh, a bit late for Hogmanay and too early for the Festival…

6th Institute of Mathematics and its Applications conference on Modelling Permeable Rocks with special focus on CO₂ storage. Edinburgh University, 29th March – 1st April 2010

• Faults and fractures, influence of geomechanics
• Process modelling/pattern formation
• Quantitative techniques for data collection
• Geostatistical techniques
• Uncertainty in modelling heterogeneity
• Integration and upscaling of data into flow models

https://www.ima.org.uk/Conferences/modelling_permeable_rocks.html/index.html

That’s All Folks

Mark