The future looks bright for CCS. The IEA has set up goals to reduce the carbon emissions by 50% by 2050. A large part of this will be from CCS. Without CCS the IEA predicts that reducing carbon emissions by 50% will cost 70% more than with CCS.

The IEA road map from 2013 has set up 3 goals for different time frames.

Goal 1: By 2020, the capture of CO2 is successfully demonstrated in at least 30 projects across many sectors, including coal- and gas-fired power generation, gas processing, bioethanol, hydrogen production for chemicals and refining, and DRI. This implies that all of the projects that are currently at an advanced stage of planning are realised and several additional projects are rapidly advanced, leading to over 50 MtCO2 safely and effectively stored per year.

Goal 2: By 2030, CCS is routinely used to reduce emissions in power generation and industry, having been successfully demonstrated in industrial applications including cement manufacture, iron and steel blast furnaces, pulp and paper production, second-generation biofuels and heaters and crackers at refining and chemical sites. This level of activity will lead to the storage of over 2,000 MtCO2/yr.

Goal 3: By 2050, CCS is routinely used to reduce emissions from all applicable processes in power generation and industrial applications at sites around the world, with over 7 000 MtCO2 annually stored in the process.

Resources:

IEA. Technology Roadmap. Rep. Iea, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 4 May. 2014.

Written by: Michael Duncan

Edited by: Eric Gallant