Can carbon capture and storage unlock `unburnable carbon'?
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The concept of ‘unburnable carbon’ emerged in 2011, and
stems from the observation that if all known fossil fuel
reserves are extracted
and converted to CO
2
(unabated), it would exceed the carbon budget and have a very significant
effect on the climate. Therefore, if global warming is to
be limited to the COP21 target, some of the known fossil fuel
reserves should remain unburnt.
Sev
eral recent reports have highlighted the scale of
the challenge, drawing on scenarios of climate change
mitigation and their implications for the projected consump
tion of fossil fuels. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is
a critical and available mitigation opportunity and its contribution
to timely and cost
-
effective decarbonis
atio
n of the
energy system is widely recognised. However, while some st
udies have considered the role
of CCS in enabling access
to more fossil fuels, no detailed analysis
on this issue has been undertaken.
Th
is paper presents a critical review focusing on the technologies
that can be applied to en
able access to, or ‘unlock’,
fossil fuel reserves in a way that will meet climate targets and mitigate climate change. It also quantifies the impact of
CCS in unlocking unburnable carbon in the first and in the second half of the century.
stems from the observation that if all known fossil fuel
reserves are extracted
and converted to CO
2
(unabated), it would exceed the carbon budget and have a very significant
effect on the climate. Therefore, if global warming is to
be limited to the COP21 target, some of the known fossil fuel
reserves should remain unburnt.
Sev
eral recent reports have highlighted the scale of
the challenge, drawing on scenarios of climate change
mitigation and their implications for the projected consump
tion of fossil fuels. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is
a critical and available mitigation opportunity and its contribution
to timely and cost
-
effective decarbonis
atio
n of the
energy system is widely recognised. However, while some st
udies have considered the role
of CCS in enabling access
to more fossil fuels, no detailed analysis
on this issue has been undertaken.
Th
is paper presents a critical review focusing on the technologies
that can be applied to en
able access to, or ‘unlock’,
fossil fuel reserves in a way that will meet climate targets and mitigate climate change. It also quantifies the impact of
CCS in unlocking unburnable carbon in the first and in the second half of the century.
Editor(s)
Dixon, T
Laloui, L
Twinning, S
Date Issued
2017-01-01
Date Acceptance
2016-04-04
Citation
13th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT-13, 2017, 114, pp.7504-7515
ISSN
1876-6102
Publisher
Elsevier Science BV
Start Page
7504
End Page
7515
Journal / Book Title
13th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT-13
Volume
114
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Sponsor
Shell Global Solutions International BV
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000419147307069&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
PO 4550156770
EP/M001369/1
Source
13th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies (GHGT)
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Energy & Fuels
Engineering, Environmental
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Engineering
Unbumable carbon
CO2
fossil fuel
CCS
integrated assessment model
emission
2 DEGREES-C
CCS DEPLOYMENT
FOSSIL-FUELS
TECHNOLOGY
TON
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2016-11-14
Finish Date
2016-11-18
Coverage Spatial
Lausanne, Switzerland