CCS
Carbon capture and storage
What is it?
Where will the gas be stored?
How much carbon dioxide can be stored?
Decarbonised fuels
This carbon dioxide will then be separated and piped offshore to an oilfield which is coming to the end of its useful life. It is extremely difficult to extract the remaining 30% of the oil the carbon dioxide being pumped into the oilfield. The carbon dioxide being pumped in will help the remaining oil to be extracted. The extra money earned from this helps to compensate the cost for decarbonising the fuel.
Storage as carbonates
This process does occur naturally and has produced the majority of our limestone rock as calcium carbonate but it is extremely slow and efforts to speed up are very energy intensive. A power station using mineral storage would require 60-180% more energy than a power plant without CCS. More research is required if mineral storage is to become a viable form of CCS.