Carbon Capture

and Storage
Building a Bridge to Sustainable Energy

Why CCS?

Capture

Transport & Storage

Engineering

10

Safety & Security

12

Questions & Answers

14

Technological innovations will be essential to feed the worlds energy appetite,

which is growing and will continue to grow. To satisfy this appetite, well need to
produce more energy. But well also need to dramatically reduce the amount of
energy we derive from oil, coal, and natural gas so we can halve carbon-dioxide
emissions by 2050. Theres broad consensus among climate researchers that halving emissions is the only way to halt the rise in global temperatures.
The way out of this bind is to change. All of us. The utility industry must produce energy more cleanly. And consumers must use energy more wisely. At E.ON,
were committed to being a pacesetter for energy change.
One important way were changing is by systematically making our energy
mix cleaner and at the same time ensuring that we can meet rising demand and
keep energy affordable. The energy mix were now developing will enable us to
halve our carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity by 2030.
Its a massive undertaking. Integral to this undertaking is innovate.on, our groupwide research initiative: making coal a low-carbon option, developing the next
generation of nuclear power plant, rapidly expanding renewables, and helping our
customers use energy more efficiently.
One aspect of this initiative is our effort to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. CCS could reduce the carbon emissions of fossil-fuelled
power generation to nearly zero. We think CCS has great promise as a bridging
technology on the way to a truly sustainable energy system. Thats why E.ON is
working hard to make CCS commercially viable as quickly as possible, while also
investing heavily in other, new generation technologies.
Unfortunately, theres no silver bullet to stop climate change. No single technology is enough. We need to explore all available options so that we can achieve
a balance between climate protection, supply security, and affordability. At E.ON,
we believe that CCS is an important option and one thats worth pursuing. We
invite you to read on and learn how CCS can help us all make the transition to a
truly sustainable energy future.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) could dramatically reduce the carbon
emissions of power generation, acting as a bridging technology for the transition
from fossil fuels to renewables.

Why CCS?
By far most of the electricity, around 80 percent
worldwide, comes from fossil fuels like coal and
natural gas. Fossil-fuelled power stations release
large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2)one of
the greenhouse gasesinto the earths atmosphere. Consequently, power generation is one of
the biggest contributors to climate change.
The transition from high-carbon to low-carbon
energy is under way around the world. But to effectively slow climate change, the transition must be
rapid. This presents enormous challenges to governments and power companies alike.
Developing and deploying new technologies on
this scale is a vast undertaking. And throughout the
transition, electricity networks must remain reliable
and electricity prices affordableunless we want to
risk supply shortages and economic dislocation.

CCS technology could play several roles in the

energy industrys transformation to a low-carbon,
sustainable future.
CCS is an important additional option for significantly cutting CO2 emissions
We believe its prudent to pursue all CO2-abatement
technologies. Thats why E.ON is developing a diverse
range of low-CO2 options that complements energyefficiency measures with renewable technologies,
nuclear power, and CCS. This broad approach will
ensure that we have all the tools we need for a
sustainable energy business.

Renewables & CCS

Even when most of our energy comes from renewable sources, there may still be a need for fossil-fuel
power as baseload and back-upwhich will need CCS to stop CO2 being emitted.

Good weather conditions

for renewable energy

Poor weather conditions

for renewable energy

Typical electricity demand

Typical electricity demand

Requirement for controllable backup

(another role for CCS)
Renewables (matches demand)

Renewables (cannot match demand)

Baseload (a role for CCS)

Baseload (a role for CCS)
6 am

12 am

6 pm

6 am

12 am

6 pm

Why CCS?

Capture

Transport &
Storage
Engineering

Safety &
Security
Questions &
Answers

CCS is a useful bridging technology

Increasing the share of low-carbon energy technologies on the scale required to tackle climate
change is a huge undertaking that will take decades.
Developing CCSparticularly for retrofitting onto
existing power stationswould enable the energy
industry to cut CO2 emissions dramatically enough
and soon enough to help mitigate climate change,
while keeping the lights on as we make the transition to true sustainability.
CCS allows electricity production to match demand
Currently, nuclear power and most renewable technologies cant effectively match their output to
consumer demand. Nuclear tends to run only at
full output, while the output of many renewable
technologies tends to vary with weather conditions.
Fossil-fuelled power stations can vary their output
on demand. CCS will enable some of these power

stations to continue to provide this flexibility without

significantly increasing overall CO2 emissions.
CCS helps maintain supply security
The key to maintaining a reliable and affordable
energy supply is diversity. Its like the old adage not
to put all your eggs in one basket: a problem with
any single fuel source or electricity generation technology is not necessarily a problem for your whole
energy supply if you have other fuel sources and
other generation technologies to fall back on.
For this reason, many believe its important to
keep coal in our energy mix.
Coal offers real advantages. Its cheap and relatively abundant compared with other fossil fuels and
is mined in many countries around the world. Its
also easy to store at a power station, for use when
needed.

Energy technologies and their expected contributions

to tackling climate change
Emissions (Gt CO2)
70
Business as usual emissions 62 Gt

60

CCS industry and transformation (9%)

CCS power generation (10%)
Nuclear (6%)

50

Renewables (21%)

40

Power generation efficiency and fuel switching (7%)

End use fuel switching (11%)

30

End use electricity efficiency (12%)

20

2005

End use fuel efficiency (24%)

Target emissions 14 Gt

10
2010

Source: IEA 2008.

2015

2020

2025

2030

2035

2040

2045

2050

The technology to capture CO2 from a mixture of gases already exists. The chemical
industry has been using it for decades. The challenge for the energy industry
is to develop CO2 capture techniques that work efficiently for large-scale power
generation where the amount of CO2 to be captured is significantly greater.

Capture
A number of techniques are currently being developed that could make CO2 capture commercially
viable on a scale big enough for power stations.
These techniques can be grouped into three main
categories.
Oxyfuel
Todays power stations burn coal in air. Their exhaust
stream consists of a mixture of gases (predominantly
water vapour, nitrogen, and CO2). An oxyfuel power
station would burn coal in almost pure oxygen. Its
exhaust stream would consist of almost pure CO2 and
water. Any remaining impurities are then removed
and the CO2 is ready for transport and storage.
One drawback is that separating oxygen from
air is energy-intensive. Another is that burning coal in
pure oxygen results in very high temperaturestoo
high for standard boilers. The solution to this problem is to pipe some of the exhaust gas back into
the boiler, which moderates the combustion temperature. But this means you have to modify the boiler
to exhaust gas and operate with a mixture of oxygen
and exhaust gas instead of air.
Pre-combustion
As the name suggests, the pre-combustion technique involves removing the CO2 from the fuel
before the fuel is burned. In the case of coal, you
do this by transforming coal into a mixture of CO2
(which you capture and store) and hydrogen (which
you use as fuel to generate electricity). An advantage of the pre-combustion technique is that hydrogen is a very clean fuel. The only by-product of
hydrogen combustion is water.
But pre-combustion capture has similar drawbacks to the oxyfuel process: parts of the process
are energy-intensive, and you have to design an
entirely newand quite complexpower plant.

Post-combustion
Power stations already have access to equipment
that removes nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and
other pollutants from their exhaust gas. The postcombustion capture technique adds another step
to the process: the capture of CO2.
This is accomplished by running the exhaust
gas through a special washing solution that absorbs
CO2. The CO2 is then separated from the solution,
which is recirculated into the scrubbing process,
creating a continuous cycle.
This is the method already used to separate
gases in the chemical industry. In other words, its a
proven technology. And it has another big advantage:
it can be retrofitted onto existing power stations
or any other industrial process that emits lots of CO2.
Making it happen
All three capture techniques show great promise.
Thats why governments and energy companies the
world over are investing millions to perfect them as
quickly as possible.
But right now, each technique involves a processproducing pure oxygen, separating CO2 from
gas mixtures, or heating the washing solutionthat
uses too much energy. Refining these processes to
significantly reduce their energy consumption is the
main aim of CCS development programmes.
Its important to remember, though, that all
forms of pollution control make power stations
less efficient. So even if CCS becomes commercially
viable, power stations that have CCS will always
be less efficient than those that dont.
For more detailed information about carboncapture technologies, visit eon.com/ccs.
E.ONs view
Were developing all three capture techniques. But
we think that post-combustion capture has the most
promise. It will be more cost-effective and has a
decisive advantage: it can be retrofitted onto existing
power stations.

Why CCS?

Capture

Transport &
Storage
Engineering

Three main capture processes

Safety &
Security
Questions &
Answers

Oxyfuel
Nitrogen

Air

Transport
and storage

Recirculate to control boiler temp.

Air
separation
unit

Boiler

Compressed and
dehydrated

Oxygen

Carbon
dioxide +
Water vapour

Fuel

Water

CO2

Steam
turbine

Steam

Electricity

Pre-combustion
Nitrogen

Air

Air
separator

Transport
and storage
Gasifier

Compressed and
dehydrated
Shift
reactor

Oxygen

Syngas

Hydrogen
Carbon
dioxide +
Hydrogen

Fuel

Fuel

CO2
Hydrogen
Flue gas

Steam
Air

Gas
turbine

Heat
recovery
steam
generator
(HRSG)

Electricity

Transport
and storage
Compressed and
dehydrated

Air

Carbon dioxide + Nitrogen + Water vapour

Nitrogen + Water

CO2

Steam

Fuel

Chemical wash

Steam

Steam
turbine

Steam
turbine

Electricity

Post-combustion

Boiler

Steam

Electricity

Once captured from power stations, CO2 must be moved to a storage facility.
Permanent underground CO2 storage is only possible in particular kinds of
geological formations with specific features. So a network of pipelines will be
needed to connect power stations to storage facilities.

Transport and Storage

13 km

Cap rock
Storage formation

Getting it there: CO2 transport

Permanent CO2 storage only works in places where
the geological conditions are right. Ideally, power
stations would be located very close to suitable
geological formations. But this wont always be
possible, particularly for existing power stations
that are retrofitted with CO2 capture equipment.
In these cases, CO2 will have to be transported
from the power station to the storage site.
This will require a network of CO2 pipelines
similar to the networks that exist today for transporting natural gas and water. Such networks will
likely develop around clusters of big CO2 emitters:
places with lots of heavy industry and power stations,
like the Thames Estuary, or the Port of Rotterdam.
This cluster approach will make it possible to gather
the most CO2 at the least cost and environmental
impact.
Networks of CO2 pipelines are a sensible longterm scenario. But the first CCS projects will probably
involve a single pipeline running from a power
station to a storage site. It may even make sense to
transport CO2 in tanker ships if, say, smaller volumes
need to be transported over long distances.
Keeping it there: CO2 storage
Two kinds of geological formations are suitable for
deep underground CO2 storage. The first is an area
that contains (or once contained) fossil fuels like oil
or natural gas. The second is a deep-lying porous
structure: a rock with microscopic pores filled with
saltwater.
A potential storage site must have sufficient
capacity and what is known as injectivity. In other
words, it must be big enough and have the right
physical conditions to accept and indefinitely store
the required volume of CO2.

Why CCS?

Capture

Transport &
Storage
Engineering

Safety &
Security
Questions &
Answers

Such sites exist deep underground both on land

and offshore. Identifying them is a meticulous task
similar to exploring for oil or natural gas. Here,
industrys decades-long experience in underground
natural-gas storage is particularly useful. This geological expertise can be transferred to the task of
finding and developing safe and secure CO2 storage
sites.
It may be possible to combine permanent CO2
storage with oil and gas production. This process,
known as enhanced recovery, involves injecting
CO2 into a nearly depleted oil or gas field in order
to flush out the final reserves. It has been used
in the oil industry for many years.
Monitoring it along the way: regulation for the
new CO2 infrastructure
Like any other industrial operation, CO2 transport
and storage will be regulated by governments and
monitored by independent agencies to ensure safety
and environmental compliance. Much of the regime
used for natural-gas transport can be transferred
to CO2 transport.
As with transport, storage monitoring can also
draw on industrys considerable experience.
Monitoring technology already exists that can provide assurance that a storage site remains safe and
secure, and many CO2 storage facilities are already
in operation around the world.
Though already good, monitoring technology
is getting even better, and significant advances
are expected by the time CCS would become commercially viable. Research in the area of monitoring
technology is currently under way to improve
existing approaches and to find new methods that
provide even more information.

13 km

Cap rock

Storage formation

10

At E.ON, our business is power and gas. We have outstanding engineering

expertise in all areas of the energy industry. We make and deliver power where
its needed, safely and efficiently.

Engineering

Power Station
2

5
4

3
8
9

Post-Combustion CO2-Capture Unit

10

Engineering design: a 3-D computer-generated image of a CCS demonstration plant on a full-scale coal-fired power station.

11

Why CCS?

Capture

1 Boiler House

Coal is ground to a fine powder and mixed with warm

air before being burned in the boilers. Inside the boiler house, water is fed through miles of pipes and heated to steam at very high temperature and pressure.
2 Turbine Hall

The energy in the steam is transferred to the turbines, which are connected to generators producing

electricity. Once as much energy as possible has

been taken out of the steam, it is condensed to
water and recirculated to the boiler house.

Transport &
Storage
Engineering

3 Transformer

The electrical power generated by the power station is transformed to a very high voltage (e.g.,
400,000 volts) ready for transport along the transmission system.
4 NOX Reduction

Exhaust gases from the burning of coal in air contain nitrogen oxides (NOX) which contribute to acid
rain. A process known as selective catalytic reduction
reduces NOX by over 70 percent.
5 Electrostatic Precipitators

The exhaust gases also contain dust and particulates. Electrostatic precipitators use an electric
charge to attract and remove 99.8 percent of dust
particles. The collected dust is recycled for use in the
construction industry.
6 Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD)

Sulfur present in the coal during burning is transformed to acidic sulfur dioxide (SO2). The desulfurization process removes over 90 percent of this by
using the SO2 present in the exhaust gas to transform limestone into gypsum, which is used in the
construction industry.
7 Absorber

The remaining exhaust gas is now ready to have

its CO2 removed. In the absorber column, it meets
a counterflowing washing solution which absorbs
around 90 percent of the CO2. What is left (now
mostly nitrogen) passes on to the chimney.
8 Stripper

The washing solution is now heated, which drives

out the absorbed CO2, which is then cooled and
dried for transport. This process uses heat from the
power station, reducing the stations efficiency. The
washing solution is recirculated to the absorber
and used again.
9 Compressor

The CO2 is compressed for pipeline transport.

10 Pipeline

The CO2 is transported via pipeline to a permanent,

secure storage site deep underground.

Safety &
Security
Questions &
Answers

12

CO2 is all around us. It makes up a tiny proportion (about 0.04 percent) of the air
we inhale and a bigger proportion (about 4 percent) of the air we exhale. CO2
doesnt burn or explode. It puts bubbles in fizzy drinks, is used in fire extinguishers,
and its solid form (dry ice) has many uses. CO2 can be safely handled and used.
It can also be safely and securely transported and stored.

Safety and Security

Pipeline transport is safe: for CO2, too
People understand pipelines. We know that when
we light a burner on a gas stove or switch on the
heating, pipelines stretching hundredsperhaps
thousandsof kilometers run from our kitchen or
heating to the regions where natural gas is produced. We tend not to worry about gas pipes in the
walls of our homes and under the side-walks of our
neighbourhood. Were confident that the technologies and practices involved are proven, safe, and
properly monitored and regulated.
CO2 transport will be very similar, except that
CO2 isnt flammable and the pipelines would form
a transmission network located far from most peoples homes. It may surprise you to learn that thousands of kilometers of CO2 pipelines are already in
operation around the world, many of them in the
United States. The safety procedures for CO2 transport are well known and tested.
Creating the infrastructure necessary for largescale CO2 transport from power stations will be a
huge engineering undertaking. But CO2 transport
itself doesnt pose an unknown safety challenge.

Nature stores CO2: we can, too

Underground gas storage seems harder for people
to understand. How can a gas be pumped underground and stay there without leaking?
Here, its helpful to remember that, prior to
extraction, natural gas is in permanent storage. It has
been trapped underground naturallywithout
leakingfor millions of years. It would remain there
for millions more if people didnt drill for it. CO2 also
occurs naturally in leakproof geological formations.

13

Why CCS?

Capture

Transport &
Storage
Engineering

Safety &
Security
Questions &
Answers

There are four complementary ways that CO2 can

be trapped in geological formations:
1

In structural or stratigraphic trapping, CO2

resides in the tiny spaces (known as pore
spaces) of the reservoir rock. When this porous
rock lies beneath a layer of different rock
thats impermeable (known as cap rock), the
CO2 is trapped. This is how natural gas is
trapped underground for millions of years.
Under the right conditions, this type of storage
is effectively permanent.
In residual trapping, a microscopic physical
process causes some of the CO2 to adhere to
the surface of the pore spaces, effectively preventing it from moving and creating whats
known as an immobile phase.
In solubility or dissolution trapping, some of
the CO2 dissolves into the saltwater contained
in the pore spaces, preventing escape; this
makes the CO2-laden saltwater tend to sink
further underground because its heavier than
the saltwater alone.
Finally, in mineral trapping, some of the CO2
reacts chemically with its surroundings to form
a new substance that becomes part of the rock.

CO2trapping processes

Structural
trapping

<100 years

13 km

All these processes only occur under certain conditions, and some, such as mineral trapping, can take
a very long time. However, all trapping mechanisms
are complementary and act to increasingly immobilize the CO2 over time.

Residual
trapping

Solubility
trapping

Mineral
trapping

<5,000 years

1
2
4

14

Why CCS?

Though CCS technologies arent new, theyre unfamiliar to most people.

Its understandable that people have questions. And even that people may
be sceptical. Here are our answers to some of the most common questions
about CCS.

Questions & Answers

Is it safe to store CO2 underground?
Yes. In fact, underground CO2 storage occurs naturally. Companies and research consortia around
the world are already using what theyve learned
from nature to operate safe and secure CO2 storage
sites. Further research is under way to refine these
techniques and ensure that theyre absolutely safe
for indefinite storage.
Its important to remember that its in no ones
interest to pursue unsafe practices. At E.ON, were
working closely with regulators to make sure that
theres an efficient and effective system in place
wherever we operate to ensure the safety and security of all CCS operations.
Safety and Security (pages 12 and 13 of this
brochure) provides an overview of the processes
involved in storing CO2.

Will CCS be ready in time to make a difference?

All aspects of CCS technology are already in use
across the world. The task were working on now
is to scale up these technologies and make them
more efficient so that they can be used on the
much larger scale necessary to capture CO2 from
power plants.
This will take time. But the first demonstrations
of CCS technologies in Europe will be ready by 2015,
and we expect these technologies to be commercially viable by 2020. Its expected that fossil fuels
will still be making up a significant proportion of
global electricity generation at that time, so CCS
will be able to make a substantial difference.
Capture (pages 10 and 11 of this brochure)
describes the capture technologies were currently
developing.

Isnt CCS just a way for companies like E.ON to keep

on doing what theyve always done: burn fossil fuels?
No. We know that climate change is real and that
we must dramatically lower our CO2 emissions as
quickly as possible by changing the way we produce
and supply energy. CCS is one of several ways
along with renewables, nuclear power, and energy
efficiencythat were moving towards a low-carbon future.
If everything goes right, renewables could, one
day, meet all our energy needs. But we need to get
from here to there. We believe that CCS could play
a key transitional role in significantly lowering CO2
emissions while renewable energy increases its
share of energy production.
For information about the role CCS we think
could play, check out Why CCS? on pages 4 and 5
of this brochure.

Isnt CCS too costly to ever be commercially viable?

From watches and mobile phones to the pollution
control equipment already fitted to power stations,
all technologies are costly in their initial phase (just
look at how mobile phone technology has advanced
and the costs of owning one reduced over the last
few years). This is also true of CCS. Todays CCS
technologies are expensive to build and run. But
thats because theyve not yet been developed to an
industrial scale, the process thats under way now.
Will CCS be a cheaper option to reduce CO2 emissions
than other options like renewables or nuclear power?
Thats difficult to foresee. We believe that the best
way to ensure that the most effective and efficient
solutions are deployed is to ensure that all options
are developed and available.

Capture

Transport &
Storage
Engineering

Safety &
Security
Questions &
Answers

ec.europa.eu
www.zeroemissionsplatform.eu
www.cslforum.org
www.ccsassociation.org.uk
www.bellona.org/ccs
www.iz-klima.de
www.eon.com/ccs

09/2009

E.ON AG E.ON-Platz 1 40479 Dsseldorf Germany

T +49 211-4579-453 F +49 211-4579-566
info@eon.com www.eon.com