Carbon

Sequestration
Red Balansay
ESS 315
 What Is It?
• Also known as “carbon capture”
• A geoengineering technique for the long-term storage of
carbon dioxide (or other forms of carbon) for the
mitigation of global warming
• More than 33 billion tons of carbon emissions (annual
worldwide)
• Ways that carbon can be stored (sequestered):
– In plants and soil “terrestrial sequestration” (“carbon sinks”)
– Underground “geological sequestration”
– Deep in ocean “ocean sequestration”
– As a solid material (still in development)
Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration
 Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration
• The process through which CO2 from the atmosphere is
absorbed naturally through photosynthesis & stored as carbon in
biomass & soils.
• Tropical deforestation is responsible for 20% of world’s annual
CO2 emissions, though offset by uptake of atmospheric CO2 by
forests and agriculture
• Ways to reduce greenhouse gases:
– avoiding emissions by maintaining existing carbon storage in
trees and soils
– increasing carbon storage by tree planting or conversion from
conventional to conservation tillage practices on agricultural
lands
 Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration
(continued)
• Carbon seq. rates differ based on the species of tree, type of
soil, regional climate, topography & management practice
– Pine plantations in SE United States can accumulate almost
100 metric tons of carbon per acre after 90 years (~ 1
metric ton : 1 year)
• Carbon accumulation eventually reaches saturation point
where additional sequestration is no longer possible (when
trees reach maturity, or when the organic matter in soils builds
back up to original levels before losses occurred)
• After saturation, the trees or agricultural practices still need to
be sustained to maintain the accumulated carbon and prevent
subsequent losses of carbon back to the atmosphere
Geological Sequestration

Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium

 Geological Sequestration
• Storing of CO2
underground in rock
formations able to retain
large amounts of CO2
over a long time period
– Held in small pore
spaces (have held oil and
nat. gas for millions of
years)
Layers shown: Coal, brine aquifer, gas bearing sandstone,

gas bearing shale

 Geological Sequestration
(continued)
• Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (Illinois Basin)
– 1/7 regional partnerships selected to determine the best approaches for
capturing and storing CO2 that might otherwise contribute to global
climate change
– assess geological carbon sequestration options in the 60,000 square
mile Illinois Basin (Within the Basin are deep, noneconomic coal
resources, numerous mature oil fields and deep saline rock formations
with potential to store CO2)
– Feb 2009: Successfully completed 8,000 ft deep injection well
• By 2013, a total of one million metric tons of carbon dioxide (roughly the
annual emissions of 220,000 automobiles) is expected to be stored within
the formation.
Ocean Sequestration
 Ocean Sequestration
• “Carbon is naturally stored in the ocean via two pumps,
solubility and biological, and there are analogous man-made
methods, direct injection and ocean fertilization, respectively.
Eventually equilibrium between the ocean and the atmosphere
will be reached with or without human intervention and 80%
of the carbon will remain in the ocean. The same equilibrium
will be reached whether the carbon is injected into the
atmosphere or the ocean. The rational behind ocean
sequestration is simply to speed up the natural process.”
 Ocean Sequestration
• Carbon sequestration by
direct injection into the deep
ocean involves the capture,
separation, transport, and
injection of CO2 from land
or tankers  
• 1/3 of CO2 emitted a year
already enters the ocean
• Ocean has 50 times more
carbon than the atmosphere
National Energy Technology
Laboratory
 National Energy Technology
Laboratory
• (NETL)
• Develop technologies to capture, separate, and store carbon
dioxide (CO2) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
without adversely influencing energy use or hindering
economic growth
• Contributes greatly to Obama’s goal of the development of
technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• NETL envisions having a technology portfolio of safe, cost-
effective, commercial-scale greenhouse gas capture, storage,
and mitigation technologies that are available for commercial
deployment beginning in 2020.
 National Energy Technology
Laboratory
• NETL’s primary Carbon Sequestration Research &
Development Objectives:
– lowering the cost and energy penalty associated with CO2
capture from large point sources
– improving the understanding of factors affecting CO2
storage permanence, capacity, and safety in geologic
formations and terrestrial ecosystems
• Once met, new and existing power plants and fuel processing
facilities in the U.S. (and around the world) will have the
potential to be retrofitted with CO2 capture technologies.
Offset Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
• At the global level, the IPCC Third Assessment Report estimates that ~100
billion metric tons of carbon over the next 50 years could be sequestered
through forest preservation, tree planting and improved agricultural
management.
– Offset 10-20% of estimated fossil fuel emissions
• Obama’s Clean Coal Plan
– fund five essentially pilot projects with commercial scale coal-fired
power plants that have carbon capture & sequestration
Offset Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
• Carbon Sequestration is not yet viable at a
commercial level
• Small scale projects demonstrated (lab
experiments) but CS is still a developing
technology
• Concern with injecting carbon dioxide into
ground or ocean because fear of leaks into water
table or escape of CO2 into a massive bubble that
can potentially suffocate humans and animals
 Sources
• Overview:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration
• http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/carbon_seq/index.html
• Obama:
• http://www.cleanairconservancy.org/blogDetail.php?id=486
• http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy_more#relief
• Terrestrial Sequestration:
• http://www.epa.gov/sequestration/faq.html
• Geological Sequestration:
• http://sequestration.org/
• http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/sequestration/geologic/index.html
• Ocean Sequestration
• http://www.princeton.edu/~chm333/2002/fall/co_two/oceans/