Carbon SequestrationSana Ehsan 1218

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Defining Carbon Sequestration

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removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in a reservoir

the process of capture and long-term storage of

atmospheric carbon dioxide

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Consequences Of CS

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• Before human-caused CO2 emissions natural processes maintained a near balance between the uptake of CO2 and its release back to the

atmosphere.

• However, existing CO2 uptake mechanisms (“sinks”) are insufficient to offset the accelerating

pace of emissions related to human activities.

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What is carbon dioxide capture and sequestration?

• can greatly reduce CO2 emissions from new and existing coal- and gas-fired power plants and

large industrial sources.• Three-step process

Capture of CO2 from power plants or industrial processes

Transport of the captured and compressed CO2 (usually in pipelines).

Underground injection and geologic sequestration

set of technologies

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Why is it important?

• in reducing greenhouse gas emissions• enabling low-carbon electricity generation

from power plants• more than 40% of CO2 emissions in the United

States are from electric power generation• CCS technologies are currently available and

can dramatically reduce (by 80-90%) CO2 emissions from power plants that burn

fossil fuels.• .

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Sequestration methods

• enhancing the storage of carbon in soil (soil sequestration)

• enhancing the storage in forests and other vegetation (plant sequestration)

• storing carbon in underground geological formations (geo sequestration)

• storing carbon in the ocean (ocean sequestration)

• chemical reactions to form inorganic carbonates (mineral carbonation)

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Soil Sequestration• soils contains 700-3000 Gt of carbon• >3 times the amount of carbon stored in

the atmosphere as CO2

• soil carbon land clearing & cultivation• Managing agricultural soils to organic

carbon content• improve soil health and productivity essential nutrients water-holding capacity

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Management practices increase C content (soil)

• low-tillage or no tillage • use of manures and compost• conversion of monoculture systems to

diverse systems• crop rotations• winter cover crops• perennial vegetation on steep slopes• An alternative and promising approach

biochar

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Plant Sequestration

• Plants use sunlight energy - convert CO2 from the atm. to carbohydrates

• for their growth and maintenance, photosynthesis.

• one third of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion already sequester by Natural terrestrial biological sinks.

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• uptake of CO2 decreases as plants grow to their full capacity

• the capacity is limited and longevity of storage depends on the final fate of the timber or plant material

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Biological storage could be enhanced through

agriculturalforestry practice

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re-vegetation

significant shorter-term contribution to c.c

mitigation.

Geosequestration

• Underground injection and storage of GHGs

• 3 component scheme of CCS1.capture of CO2 either before or after

combustion of the fuel2.transport of the captured CO2 to the site of

storage, and3.injection and storage of the CO2.

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• predominantly aimed at mitigating emissions of CO2, but geo-sequestration may also prove to be applicable to other greenhouse gases.

• long-term storage options • most promising due to higher confidence in

the longevity of storage; large capacity of potential storage sites; and generally greater understanding of the mechanisms of storage.

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Ocean sequestration

• the largest carbon store on earth• inject CO2 directly into the deep ocean to

utilise its enormous storage capacity• Models suggest that CO2 injected into the

deep ocean would remain isolated from the atmosphere for several centuries,

• enhance the ocean carbon involves large scale ocean fertilisation with iron to stimulate phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis

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Mineral sequestration

• known as mineral carbonation• reaction of CO2 with metal oxides that are

present in common, naturally occurring silicate rocks.

• results in natural carbonate products that are stable on a geological time scale

• natural reaction is slow• accelerated through energy-intensive

preparation of the reactants17

Why action is needed now

• CO2 emissions equivalent to more than the total amount of carbon stored in U.S. forests

• trends continue double by 2050 and increase by a factor of three to four by 2100.

• According to the IPCC Report 2007, sequestration and reduction of emissions over the next two to three decades will potentially have a substantial impact on long-term opportunities to stabilize levels of atmospheric CO2 and mitigate impacts of climate change.

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Carbon Offsets

• Reduction in emissions of CO2 or GHGs made in order to compensate an emission

made elsewhere.

• Eg. planting trees to offset one’s gas emissions from driving a car to work every day.

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References • Roger, S. and Brent, S. (2012). Carbon Sequestration in

Forests and Soils. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 4, 127–144.

• http://unfccc.int/essential_background/glossary/items/3666.php#C

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration#cite_note-6• Chris, H. (2008). Squaring the Circle on Coal - Carbon

Capture and Storage (CCS) Claverton Group conference, Bath 24-26 October.

• Pacala, S. and Socolow, R. (2004) Stabilization wedges-solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies. Science. 305, 968-972.

• http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3097/pdf/CarbonFS.pdf• http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ccs/• http://www.epa.gov/aml/revital/cseqfact.pdf

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• http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/analysis/stavins/?p=225.• MIT (2007) the Future of Coal: Options for a Carbon-

Constrained World , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007.

• Post, W. M., Emanuel, W. R., Zinke, P. J. and Stangenberger, A. G. (1982). Soil carbon pools and world life zones.  Nature. 298, 156–9.

• Goodward, J. and Kelly, A. (2010). Bottom Line on Offsets. World Resources Institute. Retrieved 2010-09-08.

• Hagen, V.B. and Burnett, M. (2006). Emerging markets for carbon stored by Northwest forests. In: Forests, carbon and climate change: a synthesis of science findings. Portland, OR: Oregon Forest Resources Institute: 131–155.

• Pacala, S. and Socolow, R. (2004). Stabilization wedges-solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies: Science. 305, 968-972.

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