REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE AND STORAGE MARKETS WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

摘要

The authors have assembled and refined a geospatial and techno-economic database of over 2,000 stationary, anthropogenic North American sources of carbon dioxide (CO_2) accounting for over 4 gigatonnes of annual CO_2 emissions. These point sources produce CO_2 emissions streams that range from 3 to 99 percent purity by volume, thus implying that there are numerous possible prices for producing pipeline-quality CO_2 from these point sources. The authors have also collected available data on 332 candidate geologic reservoirs in the United States and Canada, and have developed and employed a methodology for estimating the effective storage capacities of these deep saline formations, enhanced oil recovery plays, gas reservoirs, and coal basins. Results indicate a large and variably distributed North American geologic CO_2 storage capacity of at least 3,800 gigatonnes of CO_2. This paper presents integrated CO_2 capture, transport, and storage cost curves for three distinct regions of the United States: West Texas, the Ohio River Valley, and the Southeastern United States. Significant disparities in the cost of deploying carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) systems will likely develop across these three regions; however with time, as available "low hanging fruit" is consumed and as interconnected CO_2 pipeline networks begin to be built up, regional prices for CCS deployment should begin to converge toward a long-term, national equilibrium.