On November 8, Emmanuel Macron presented France’s strategy to decarbonise its industry after a meeting with representatives of the 50 sites that emit the most greenhouse gases in the country. The President of the Republic indicated that this national strategy would be guided by “technology planning” by mentioning the three main systems that could be implemented.
The former technology is notorious and is already growing rapidly in France, as it is the carbon-free hydrogen sector in which France aims to become a leader. The second is the exploitation of biomass within the framework of uses that do not present alternatives. The last one is carbon capture and sequestration and then its industrial reuse, which remains relatively unknown.
Various capture processes and as many geological contexts for storage
As its name suggests, the CCS (Editor’s note: to carbon capture and storage) consists of capturing CO2 in the fumes emitted by factories and other industrial sites and isolating it from the atmosphere by storing it in underground geological formations. For this, there are three different capture processes.
First of all, post-combustion, which aims to wash the fumes in contact with a solvent that absorbs the gas and is then heated in a regeneration tower to separate the CO2: the Dunkirk platform uses this model. Higher up, pre-combustion has a more restricted application and allows CO2 to be extracted from fuels such as oil or coal. Finally, oxy-combustion has the advantage of facilitating carbon capture by favoring oxygen to obtain more concentrated smoke than with ambient air.
As for the main families of geological context capable of storing carbon, there are three: ultrabasic rocks, depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, and saline aquifers.
These are rocks with porosities located up to 3 kilometers deep and which can be accessed by drilling for the gas to flow through them. Saline aquifers are quite present in the Paris Basin and are close to depleted reservoirs with the only difference being that they have never contained hydrocarbons. “They are, therefore, more favorable in the long term and CO2 comes to take the place of brine”, specifies the expert from the Office of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM).
A genesis at the end of the last century
While this technology has recently benefited from increasing exposure in France, it has actually been used since the late 20th century elsewhere. C’est la Norvège qui a été précurseuse en la matière en instaurant une taxe pour chaque tonne de CO2 émise dans les années 1990 et en lançant le tout premier projet de CCS au large de ses cotes en 1996 pour capter et stocker 1 million tons every year. “The Americans even injected CO2 into the ground in the 1970s, but it was to recover more oil and not for climate purposes,” adds Thomas Le Guénan. Even so, the United States today enjoys an important ecosystem of start-ups that multiply CCS projects.
A France lagging behind but with focused geographical areas
In the CCS, Europe is divided in two. For years the North Sea has been used to produce oil and is now a natural storage site where countries other than Norway, such as the UK and the Netherlands, are positioning themselves. “They are aware of the high political level of CCS issues”, says Thomas Le Guénan. Germany has long banned carbon storage under pressure from a part of the population skeptical about the property consequences of this technology.
In France, five zones are actively considering the development of CCS. It is obviously Dunkerque where the capture projects are already very concrete and contemplate the export of CO2 to storage sites in the North Sea. The reflection has also started on the side of Le Havre with an export of the captured carbon. The BRGM works a lot in the Parisian sedimentary basin, and more specifically in the Grandpuits area (Seine-et-Marne), although this mainly contains small CO2 emitters. In the southwest, it is the area of Lacq, a town near Pau, which is being targeted for its past in gas production. A cross-border project with Spain could also see the light. Finally, the Rhône Valley is the last space, from Lyon to Marseille, with the prospect of storage in the Mediterranean, but the scenarios here are less mature.
A necessary change of scale in the coming years
Currently, some thirty large facilities capture and store 40 million tons a year around the world: a drop of water compared to the 40 gigatonnes of C02 that are emitted each year. A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gives reason for hope by estimating the storage capacity of CO2 at 1,000 gigatons.
To illustrate the essential acceleration in CCS, the IFP Energies Nouvelles expert mentions the example of Dunkerque. Still in the experimental phase, the case of the ArcelorMittal plant should make it possible to capture up to half a ton of C02 per hour when the industrial scale requires multiplying this figure by 200 or even 300. In this sense, Thomas Le Guénan advocates for the mobilization of large industrialists who have the possibility of connecting to carbon storage hubs, or even creating one themselves. Proof of this is the colossal Northern Lights project, led by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell, whose first phase will end in a year and a half. Starting in mid-2024, several countries will be able to store the CO2 they have captured there, up to a limit of 1.5 million tons each year.
The increase in carbon quotas is a lever of profitability for the CCS
While the recent adoption of the EU border tax on carbon is a new factor to consider for industrialists considering CCS, the drop in the value of carbon allowances traded within the European community is a true blessing. Its especially low level during the 2010s put a stop to many projects, but by rising again to around 90 euros per ton today, it now plays a more encouraging role against the big manufacturers. In fact, the cost of CCS technology varies between 50 and 180 euros per ton of CO2. “This strong variation is explained by the degree of carbon concentration that varies according to the industry and with it the degree of facility to capture this CO2”, specifies Florence Delprat-Jannaud.
One technology for small and large transmitters
The cost of an infrastructure can vary from several tens to several hundred million euros (760 million dollars in the case of Northern Lights for example). The strategic choice of acquiring an infrastructure of this type is influenced by several factors, such as the composition of the fumes or the obligation or not to carry out works in the installation. However, it is suitable for most large industrial emitters, in particular manufacturing companies, coal-fired power plants that produce electricity, but also for the steel and cement sectors and the chemical industry.
And smaller emitters also have a place to play in the process, moving towards mutualisation in the capture but also in the transport of CO2 to storage sites to reduce the impact of the investment cost. “A solution for them may also be to combine carbon storage with geothermal energy to generate heat at the same time”, recalls Thomas Le Guénan.
A “CCS plan” presented by the Government before the summer
In another part of the ecosystem, start-ups and philanthropic funds are investing in atmospheric capture, which the IPCC also promotes in a logic of deployment of all portfolios of solutions to the climate emergency. More expensive than conventional CCS, this technology consists of capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere, which could offset very diffuse carbon emissions. In just under a year, the State of Wyoming will open a large specialized atmospheric capture site with an annual goal of 5 million tons captured by 2030.
While European states continue to reflect on methods and financing mechanisms to create infrastructure and start up the sector, Emmanuel Macron has already announced that the government will present a “CCS plan” before the summer. Likewise, part of the 200 million euro allocation planned to accelerate research into decarbonization solutions will be allocated to this technology.
Source: BFM TV
