The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood
This letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO _2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO _2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the ons...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034030 |
| _version_ | 1797748179257524224 |
|---|---|
| author | Carey W King Gürcan Gülen Stuart M Cohen Vanessa Nuñez-Lopez |
| author_facet | Carey W King Gürcan Gülen Stuart M Cohen Vanessa Nuñez-Lopez |
| author_sort | Carey W King |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO _2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO _2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the onshore coastal region of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. All captured CO _2 in excess of that needed for EOR is sequestered in saline formations at the same geographic locations as the oil reservoirs but at a different depth. We analyze the extraction of oil from the same set of ten reservoirs within 20- and five-year time frames to describe how the scale of the carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network changes to meet the rate of CO _2 demand for oil recovery. Our analysis shows that there is a negative system-wide net present value (NPV) for all modeled scenarios. The system comes close to breakeven economics when capturing CO _2 from three coal-fired power plants to produce oil via CO _2 -EOR over 20 years and assuming no CO _2 emissions penalty. The NPV drops when we consider a larger network to produce oil more quickly (21 coal-fired generators with CO _2 capture to produce 80% of the oil within five years). Upon applying a CO _2 emissions penalty of 60$2009/tCO _2 to fossil fuel emissions to ensure that coal-fired power plants with CO _2 capture remain in baseload operation, the system economics drop significantly. We show near profitability for the cash flow of the EOR operations only; however, this situation requires relatively cheap electricity prices during operation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:01:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fb403d8c3d804fceb29ac1f1f150ca03 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:01:10Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-fb403d8c3d804fceb29ac1f1f150ca032023-08-09T14:37:43ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262013-01-018303403010.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034030The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR floodCarey W King0Gürcan Gülen1Stuart M Cohen2Vanessa Nuñez-Lopez3Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2275 Speedway, Stop C9000, Austin, TX 78712, USACenter for Energy Economics, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin , 1801 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX 77019, USAMechanical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin , 204 E Dean Keeton Street, Stop C2200, Austin, TX 78712, USABureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin , 10100 Burnet Road, Building 130, Austin, TX 78758, USAThis letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO _2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO _2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the onshore coastal region of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. All captured CO _2 in excess of that needed for EOR is sequestered in saline formations at the same geographic locations as the oil reservoirs but at a different depth. We analyze the extraction of oil from the same set of ten reservoirs within 20- and five-year time frames to describe how the scale of the carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network changes to meet the rate of CO _2 demand for oil recovery. Our analysis shows that there is a negative system-wide net present value (NPV) for all modeled scenarios. The system comes close to breakeven economics when capturing CO _2 from three coal-fired power plants to produce oil via CO _2 -EOR over 20 years and assuming no CO _2 emissions penalty. The NPV drops when we consider a larger network to produce oil more quickly (21 coal-fired generators with CO _2 capture to produce 80% of the oil within five years). Upon applying a CO _2 emissions penalty of 60$2009/tCO _2 to fossil fuel emissions to ensure that coal-fired power plants with CO _2 capture remain in baseload operation, the system economics drop significantly. We show near profitability for the cash flow of the EOR operations only; however, this situation requires relatively cheap electricity prices during operation.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034030carbon capture and storageCO2enhanced oil recoveryeconomics |
| spellingShingle | Carey W King Gürcan Gülen Stuart M Cohen Vanessa Nuñez-Lopez The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood Environmental Research Letters carbon capture and storage CO2 enhanced oil recovery economics |
| title | The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood |
| title_full | The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood |
| title_fullStr | The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood |
| title_full_unstemmed | The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood |
| title_short | The system-wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage network: Texas Gulf Coast with pure CO2-EOR flood |
| title_sort | system wide economics of a carbon dioxide capture utilization and storage network texas gulf coast with pure co2 eor flood |
| topic | carbon capture and storage CO2 enhanced oil recovery economics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034030 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT careywking thesystemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT gurcangulen thesystemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT stuartmcohen thesystemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT vanessanunezlopez thesystemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT careywking systemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT gurcangulen systemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT stuartmcohen systemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood AT vanessanunezlopez systemwideeconomicsofacarbondioxidecaptureutilizationandstoragenetworktexasgulfcoastwithpureco2eorflood |