CO2 Capture and Usage: Harnessing the CO2 Content in Natural Gas for Environmental and Economic Gains

Abstract

Summary Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and usage (CCU) is currently a global topical issue, and is viewed as one possible route to reduction of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. The core issues facing the world in current times--development, economy, and environment--are identified as being dependent on the provision of clean, efficient, affordable, and reliable energy services. Currently, the world is highly dependent on fossil fuels for provision of energy services, and the amount of which renewable energies can sufficiently replace is minimal. The deployment of appropriate CO2-separation technologies for the processing of natural gas is viewed as an abatement measure toward global CO2-emissions reduction. Selection of the optimum technology among the several separation technologies for a particular separation need requires special attention to harness the economic and environmental benefits. The captured CO2 would also require appropriate disposal or usage so as to sequester or ’delay’ its re-entry into the atmosphere. These challenges of CCU--involving natural gas particularly during processing, which has become an area of intense research--shall be discussed in the paper with respect to the selected technique for CO2 capture. A typical natural-gas-production scenario in Nigeria shall be analyzed for potential CO2 capture. Further discussion shall be on the identification of the recovered CO2 gas-usage framework, such as CO2 flooding [in enhanced oil recovery (EOR)], for additional revenue generation, assessment of the CO2 savings, and the contribution to the clean development mechanism (CDM).