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CCS can enable the safe extraction, transport and sequestration of carbon emissions to help organisations increase their competitiveness through the energy transition. Companies across industries can benefit from CCS by improving regulatory compliance, receiving carbon tax credits and enhancing the environmental sustainability of operations.

For years, refiners have been utilising captured carbon to enhance oil or gas recovery. Today, companies across sectors are looking into innovative applications of CCS to not only support internal carbon intensity requirements but to add significant value to an end product. Examples include the application of CCS to produce higher-value blue hydrogen, to create lower carbon intensity (CI) fuels or even to aid in the supply of low-carbon electricity to the grid.

In continuation of the Paris Agreement, a large international community has committed to working towards limiting the increase of global average temperatures. There have been ongoing policy efforts to support this goal like the European Green Deal, Germany鈥檚 Hydrogen Strategy, Costa Rica鈥檚 National Electric Transportation Plan and China鈥檚 commitment to carbon neutrality before 2060. One of the primary aims of these agreements is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and approach climate neutrality.

Organisations across industries have many options for managing carbon emissions, including energy efficiency initiatives, fuel switching and process optimisation. In order to meet the demands of the energy transition, no one solution will be sufficient.

CCS in particular provides 鈥渙ne of the most cost-effective solutions available for large-scale emissions reduction鈥� for some industrial and fuel transformation processes, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA).¹ That cost-effectiveness can be improved depending on taxes on carbon and government subsidies for the development of CCS. The Canadian government, for example, has announced plans to raise carbon tax from $50 to $170 by 2030.² In the U.S., a COVID stimulus bill passed by Congress in January 2021 includes a tax break for companies for capturing carbon as well as a $2 billion dollar CCS project fund.³

Discover how Shell Catalysts & Technologies is working towards India鈥檚 energy transformation

The main driver for CCS in industry applications is the affordable sequestering GHG emissions, which voids the atmosphere of the warming potential of those emissions. To put the capture and storage potential into perspective, to date, CCS at has accounted for safely storing over 5 million tonnes of CO₂.

The need to jumpstart CCS into wide-scale adoption is accelerating 鈥� more than 2,000 operating carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facilities will be needed by 2040, constituting a 100-fold scale-up in order to meet global climate goals, according to the IEA鈥檚 Sustainable Development Scenario.⁴ With the aid of government initiatives supporting CCS, organisations are continuing to improve the environmental sustainability of operations by considering and investing in CCS.

Learn more about Shell鈥檚 Quest CCS project by.

There are four central steps to the carbon capture and storage process chain:

• Capture
• Compression
• Transport
• Utilisation and storage

Every step of this chain is critical to carbon management, starting with the capture of CO₂ from industrial emissions. Taking a refining context for example, there are a variety of streams where capturing technologies are relevant to reduce pollution, such as with power production, a fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), a fluid coking unit (FCU), furnace offgas, a sulphur recovery unit, a tail gas offgas unit and a hydrogen manufacturing unit (HMU).

The compression step is enabled by readily available technology capable of compressing emissions to 1,200 pounds per square in gauge (psig) or about 82.7 bar. After compression, the emissions must be transported to a secure sequestration location. Pipelines are the most frequently used solution in this step.

However, there are other CO₂ transportation options being explored, such as by Equinor, Total and Shell in the Northern Lights project (part of 鈥淧roject Longship鈥�) to ship compressed emissions to central storage locations. The final sequestration step stores the emissions safely underground in geological repositories.

Shell Catalysts & Technologies specialises in the capture of CO₂ from pre- and post-combustion flue gas from industrial emissions, partnering with organisations for the transportation and sequestration of the captured CO₂.

CANSOLV CO₂

厂丑别濒濒鈥檚&苍产蝉辫;CANSOLV CO₂ capture system is proven to capture nearly all the CO₂ (99%) from low pressure, post-combustion flue gas.

ADIP-ULTRA

ADIP-ULTRA is used for the pre-combustion capture from flue gas. We have significantly upgraded past solvent performance which offers a step change to the industry鈥檚 CO₂ removal capability.

Shell Blue Hydrogen Process

Resource holders can diversify their own portfolio with low-carbon products by investing in affordable blue hydrogen production. The Shell Blue Hydrogen Process utilises CCS to capture and store emissions generated during the production of hydrogen while producing large quantities of hydrogen at lower costs and lower carbon intensities versus competitive options.

 of our on-demand blue hydrogen webinar where our experts discuss the economic advantages of blue hydrogen.

1. The leverages ADIP-ULTRA to capture CO₂ from the Scotford Upgrader鈥檚 HMU. Those emissions are then compressed and stored safely 2 km underground.
   
2. The Boundary Dam power station in Saskatchewan uses the CANSOLV CO₂ process to capture emissions from the flue gases of a coal-fired power station and is used for enhanced oil recovery in nearby oilfields. Boundary Dam is SaskPower鈥檚 largest coal-fired power station and is a significant source of power for the region.

Each of these projects captures up to 1 Mt/y of CO₂ which has an emissions reduction equivalence to taking 250,000 North American cars off the road.

Related Reading: Behind Shell Technologies: CANSOLV CO鈧� Capture with Dr. Paul-Emmanuel Just and Karl Stephenn

By improving compliance and enhancing the sustainability of operations, organisations can better prepare for a changing energy future and the global emphasis placed on decarbonisation.

It is well understood that CCS alone will not be sufficient to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change. There is no 鈥渟ilver bullet鈥�. CCS must be applied in conjunction with the wide-spread application of renewable power, a more in-depth approach to energy efficiency, the use of alternative non-carbon based fuels and many other pivots we need to make as a society to reach our ambitious energy transition goals.

Retrofitting a plant with CCS does however offer the means to have an immediate tangible impact without the need to completely reconsider the way companies deliver products today. And by relying on the best available science and proven carbon reduction methods, energy producers and industrial manufacturers could increase their long-term competitiveness.

1 _{鈥淭ransforming Industry through CCUS 鈥� Analysis.鈥� IEA, International Energy Agency, 2020, www.iea.org/reports/transforming-industry-through-ccus.}

2 _{Brain Platt, 鈥淔ederal carbon tax to increase to $170 per tonne by 2030 as Liberals unveil new climate plan,鈥� The Chronicle Herald, Dec. 2020, https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/canada/federal-carbon-tax-to-increase-to-170-per-tonne-by-2030-as-liberals-unveil-new-climate-plan-530233/.}

3 _{Leslie Kaufman, 鈥淲ill Covid Stimulus Be the Breakthrough Carbon Capture Has Been Waiting For?鈥� Bloomberg, Jan. 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-04/will-covid-stimulus-be-the-breakthrough-carbon-capture-has-been-waiting-for-kjigd4i0.}

4 _{The Economy Wide Value of Carbon Capture and Storage. Global CCS Institute, Apr. 2020, www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Value-of-Carbon-Capture-and-Storage-V4-1.pdf.}