Sustainability of CCS

A long term project with the lower carbon dioxide emission (CO 2) is needed to combat the
climate change. A long term project can be done by taking into account the three bottom
lines of sustainability from the first step of the project. These include economic, social
and environmental parts and represent the profit, people, and planet respectively. It is
apparent that nowadays the energy systems are strongly dependent on fossil fuels. Their
combustion discharges a lot of CO2 to the atmosphere. In Canada, the main source of
electricity generation comes from coal-fired materials. SaskPower is the predominant
electricity utility of Canada, gets 44 % of its total power from coal according to 2014 data.
That is why carbon capture and storage unit (CCS) is installed in SaskPower. The
realization of CCS project needs considerably high amount of capital. Therefore,
sustainable development in the CCS was done in a way that, it's continuous benefits in
environmental and social parts exceed its economical expenses.
Social Sustainability
The primary reason to utilize CCS is to obtain social and environmental benefits which
are achieved by reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere. As the value of the social cost is
inversely proportional to the amount CO2 emission which damages social health, this
project is developing socially sustainable base. As CCS is new technology, the social
acceptance holds an important role in the realization of it. The misperceptions and wrong
analysis of risk assessment by the public can prevent the possibility of the project.
Therefore, from the begging of the project, public dialogs are created to expand the
knowledge of the society relating to the advantages and risks of CCS. 1In 2005, the
survey done in Canada showed that people support the CCS project very slightly. The
different type of question asked on 2007 survey related to CCS demonstrated that the
supporters of the project have increased. Nowadays public is supporting CCS but the
supporters of renewable energy technologies are much higher. In spite of this, CCS is
seen less dangerous than known technologies, including nuclear power, coal-burning
power plants and so. on. As CCS is implemented in Canada, there is a need for a deep
understanding and sharing of the information with the public more intensively to address
the concerns. There are many social advantages from the implementation of CCS. One
of them is the creation of the new and large range of job opportunities for the community
members. New job opportunities will be available in core engineering, pipeline design,
project management, marketing and some skills will be needed for the storage of CO 2 to
deal with the identification of suitable storage site, injection well specifications and so.
on. Energy intensive industries also SaskPower require the CCS project otherwise those
industries are seen to be unsustainable in the future. In this way, the utilization of CCS
will ensure the jobs and welfare of the society by increasing the life time of these
commercial industries.

Economic Sustainability
Coal is an abundant material and it has an affordable and low cost. It is unlikely possible
to diminish its usage in the industry because of its dramatic impact on climate change
and global warming. Policymakers understand the importance of CCS to reduce the
amount of GHG in the atmosphere, but there is an issue which is related to the high cost
of capture and storage of CO 2. In this project, the economic feasibility of the CCS project
has done by understanding every component of CCS including capture, transport, and
storage site. Actually, the availability of CCS project in SaskPower increases the lifetime
of the plant otherwise the plant could be closed due to high emission. The CCS project
develops new business opportunities by decreasing the costs of managing the effect of
climate change. In the project 53 $ will be paid for per tonne of the CO captured.
2

However, the price paid for per tonne is

25 $

. This means there is no benefit. As CO2

captured will be sold in the enhanced oil recovery the future gains strongly depend on the
oil prices. The project develops in an economically unsustainable manner, so some key
steps should be taken for cost reductions. 2For instance, in terms of materials, Research
and Development (R&D) lets to the improvement of solvents and sorbents and this, in
turn, increases the rate of chemical reaction. It is apparent that faster reactions yield
smaller residence time and dimensions of vessel gets smaller. Small vessels decrease
the capital cost. Apart from that, innovations in equipment design of capture technology
will lead energy efficiency, huge size and cost diminishment. Obviously the possibilities
for cost reduction of capture technology is remarkable and this will contribute to
sustainable development of the project.
3

Environmental Sustainability

CO2 is the main GHG gas that is leading to dramatic changes in global warming and
climate change. 4Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that average
global temperature will rise 1.16.4 by the end of the 21st century because of the
emission of GHG in the atmosphere. Our project analyzes CCS technology, especially
with regards to a commitment to economic sustainability. The environmental
management system is created and it enforces the necessary part of our obligation which
is the identification and monitoring of the emission on the water, air, and land. During the
project, our environmental responsibilities and aims are combined with the administrative,
mechanical and financial contemplations. In conclusion, it is possible to emphasize that
the CCS technology is implementing mainly for creating environmental sustainability for
the wellbeing of our planet.

Environmental Impact
CO2 capture and storage technology is utilized to diminish the anthropogenic GHG
discharges. Environmental benefits of the technology are predominating its possible
environmental risks. The environmental impact can vary depending on the storage site,
operation mode, energy consumption and so. on. 4The possible negative impacts include
the followings:

The disposal of chemical waste

Land and soil degradation
Pollution of ground and surface water
NO X , SO x
Emission of
, heavy metals, and hydrocarbons in our case also
amines

Implementation of CO2 capture in the power plant will reduce the

because here the

SO 2

SO 2

emission

also extracted after the fuel combustion stage. In spite of the

fact that the extraction and transportation of extra coal will prompt higher
discharges, the analysis of the CCS life-cycle proofs that

SO 2

SO 2

emission should fall

overall. The usage of MEA as a solvent also has a strong negative environmental
impact. Generally, CCS allows reducing the emission of CO2 up to 90 % while
protecting the importance of the fossil fuels in the energy portfolios.

Reference
1

https://www.pembina.org/reports/ccs-discuss-public-views.pdf

https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/insights/authors/RonMunson/2014/11/05/futurecarbon-capture-will-focus-cost-reduction

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3108120/

http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/6844/1/Environmental_Sustainability_and_Climate_Change_
Mitigation.pdf