Daily Management Review

China is developing technology to capture greenhouse gases


05/13/2019


China has long overtaken the United States as the world's largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. According to data collected by the European Union, in 2017 in China, 10.877 billion tons of CO2 was emitted into the atmosphere, writes Asia Times.



Kentaro IEMOTO
Kentaro IEMOTO
Most of China’s CO2 emissions come from coal-fired power plants or from chemical processes, such as the production of synthetic ammonia, methanol and fertilizers. The country now seeks to capture some of the CO2.

China has been actively working on technologies for capturing, compressing and injecting carbon dioxide into underground geological formations for storing CO2 instead of being released into the atmosphere.

The facility, built in the aquifers under the city of Ordos in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, is expected to capture at least 100 thousand tons of greenhouse gases per year. This project is part of an initiative launched by the state-owned corporation CHN Energy Investment Corp in Inner Mongolia, which remains one of the most dependent on fossil fuels and coal in China’s provinces.

The facility in Ordos can now catch up to 90% of CO2 emitted when using fossil fuels in local power generation. The carbon dioxide produced by burning coal will be liquefied after being captured.

Liquefied CO2 will be pumped through wells into aquifers at a depth of 1500 to 2500 m for storage.

A subsidiary under the auspices of Sinopec is also building a carbon capture and storage facility in Shandong Province, where a fertilizer plant is located that produces large amounts of CO2. Carbon dioxide will be captured by cryogenic distillation and transported via pipeline to a nearby oil field. Upon completion, the facility will allow to capture and inject 400 thousand tons of CO2 per year.

Although long-term CO2 storage is a relatively new concept, three additional facilities also function or are in the late stages of construction in China. At least eight more sites across the country are in the early stages of planning and development, most of which are designed to capture emissions from power plants.

source: asiatimes.com