As the world unites in the quest to fight climate change, many new studies make the case that capturing and storing CO2 underground is an effective method in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Polarcus provides invaluable insight for offshore CCS projects
through its advanced subsurface imaging.
The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) call for reductions in CO2 emissions to come from a blend of sustained growth in renewables, energy efficiency, and decarbonizing energy production and consumption through technologies like CCS.
As climate change continues to ignite concern worldwide, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) becomes a promising way to reduce the harmful CO2 emitted from power generation and industrial processes into the atmosphere.
The IPCC has stated that CCS needs to achieve 13% of the world’s necessary emission reductions by 2050. In fact, if applied routinely the IEA estimates that CCS could account for 20% of the emission reduction by 2050.
As the leading marine geophysical service provider committed to sustainable business practices, Polarcus believes that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) plays a vital role in solving our planet’s climate challenges. Polarcus has conducted several large-scale CCS projects, and has also funded and collaborated in research programs on the topic.
In 2010, Polarcus successfully conducted two pilot CCS projects for Gassnova, the Norwegian state enterprise for CCS offshore Norway. The total size of both projects was over 1,000 sq. km.
In 2011, Polarcus conducted research with Cambridge Carbon Capture Ltd (CCC) to develop carbon mineralization technology. While the University collaboration was fruitful and truly innovative, the results indicated that such technology was more sustainable for onshore CCS processes.
The latest CCS project Polarcus conducted was for the government entity CarbonNet, offshore Australia. The project investigated the potential for establishing a commercial-scale CCS network. The network would bring together multiple carbon dioxide capture projects in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, transporting CO2 via a shared pipeline and injecting it into deep underground, offshore storage sites in Bass Strait.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology that can capture up to 90% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced from the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation and industrial processes, preventing the carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Furthermore, the use of CCS with renewable biomass is one of the few carbon reduction technologies that can be used in a ‘carbon-negative’ mode – actually taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Learn more: http://www.ccsassociation.org/what-is-ccs/
