Monday, February 2, 2015

CO2 sequestration more challenging than thought

Recent MIT simulations suggest that when CO2 is injected underground into saline aquifers, much less of it may solidify than most carbon capture and storage (CCS) studies have assumed. The implications are that such CCS may be less stable than hoped and also that the capacity for CO2 sequestration would be much lower than past research has calculated (see "Sequestration on shaky ground" from MIT News).

This form of CCS is not very relevant for mitigating emissions from liquid fuel use. However, the hypothetical "BECCS" (bioenergy with CCS) systems that some analysts have highlighted as a potential source of so-called low-carbon liquid fuels would also face such limitations.

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