CO2 value chain and legal aspects

Beyond individual developments in capture, transport and storage (CCS value-chain), NCCS allows investigation on how to better integrate and reduce the cost of the entire CCS value chain. Indeed, decisions taken when designing the different elements of the chain can be sub-optimal when taking the entire chain perspective.

For example, this task investigates how to best integrate the entire CCS value chain when shipping is the mean of transport. This means:

  • identifying both optimal ship transport conditions (pressure and temperature)
  • how to manage/handle impurities along the chain

This task will also help to demonstrate the importance of CCS to decarbonize the energy and industrial sector to reach the Paris agreement target. It will also provide recommendations on the best measures to cut the cost of CCS both in a short and long-term perspective, and assess shortcomings in the current legal framework applicable to CCS operations at the national and international levels. This will help enable a faster and cheaper deployment of CCS technology (NCCS' main ambition is to fast-track CCS technology).

Results 2017

One of the critical activities in 2017 was to provide benchmarking reference points to evaluate the impact of new knowledge resulting from other centre activities, as well as the potential of activities of interest.

Two reference CCS chains were selected and defined in discussions with partners, assessed and evaluated in collaboration with Task 6:

  • CCS from a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant
  • CCS from a hydrogen production plant

The obtained results show that the CO2 capture and conditioning cost is the main contributor to the CCS cost (57-70%), while the transport and storage costs account for 16-17% and 18-26% of the chain cost. Equally important, the semi-detailed cost breakdown was presented to provide a deeper understanding of the key contributors to the cost of the whole chain, and therefore to identify points, which if reduced, could have the most impact.

The results of the assessment of these reference chains are expected to be used by task leaders, Centre management, and industrial partners to:

  • Follow the impact of different performed activities throughout the Centre
  • Support the prioritization of existing and new activities in the Centre
  • Assess how the Centre has performed in terms of reaching its ambitions

Task leader