Page 34 - Gi flipbook February 2018

IGEM NEWS | Young Persons Paper Competition 2017

Capturing learnings from

the Shell Peterhead carbon

capture and storage project

By Alissa Cotton, CO2 Implementation Analyst at Shell Research and YPPC 2017 finalist

LOW CARBON ENERGY
PRODUCTION FROM NATURAL
GAS WITH CCS
Low carbon energy from natural gas
with CCS can be produced via two
main processes:
• Low carbon power production
– produced from natural gas-fired
power generation with CCS facilities
(as the Peterhead CCS project would
have established) (Figure 2a); and,
• Low carbon hydrogen production
– produced from steam methane
reforming or auto-thermal reforming
of natural gas with CCS applied, to
produce low carbon hydrogen. The
hydrogen could subsequently be
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arbon capture and CO reduction target by 2050 would used across multiple industries in a
storage (CCS) increase by 40 per cent without CCS. ‘polygenerational’ capacity, for
comprising CO capture With specific regard to natural gas, example for low carbon heat,
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from an industrial point energy production with CCS allows transport and chemicals production
source, with subsequent natural gas to remain in the energy mix (Figure 2b).
C compression, transport as a low carbon energy source,
and permanent geological storage of contributing to global energy security PETERHEAD CCS PROJECT
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the CO , has been identified as an and supply, whilst simultaneously The Peterhead CCS (PCCS) project
essential technology for society to minimising CO emissions to would have been the world’s first
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meet net zero global greenhouse gas atmosphere from natural gas use across commercial-scale demonstration of post
(GHG) emissions in the second half of the power and industrial sectors. combustion CO capture, transport and
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this century. Energy demand is
predicted to increase to the year
2050 and beyond, primarily due to a
growing global population and a FIGURE 1. Energy Demand Growth to 2050
desired increase in living standards in
which energy use is inherent. An
energy mix comprising fossil fuels,
including natural gas, along with
renewable, biomass and nuclear
energy sources will therefore be
required to meet this increasing
demand (Figure 1), but decarbonisation
will need to be inherent if society is to
meet the aims of the Paris Agreement,
including to limit the increase in global
average temperature to well below
2°C above pre-industrial levels.
CCS is recognised internationally as a
climate mitigation technology, without
which the cost of global energy
decarbonisation would be more
expensive. The IEA estimated that the
cost of meeting a 50 per cent global

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