First facility for carbon capture, utilisation and storage in MENA region
The first commercial-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facility in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is now operational. The project developed in Abu Dhabi aims to sequester up to 800,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. It is one of only 22 large-scale CCUS ventures, either in operation or under construction worldwide. The facility harnesses the CO₂ emitted by steel plants and injects it as a substitute for rich gas into the emirate’s oil reservoirs to help enhance their output. The technology works in 3 stages: carbon dioxide is first captured on site at the Emirates Steel manufacturing complex, then it is compressed and dehydrated; the final step involves conveying the CO2 via a 43-kilometre underground pipeline for enhanced oil recovery injection into two onshore oilfields.
The past five years have heralded hugely positive developments for global carbon capture projects. However, it comes nowhere near the amount of carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere required. The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (GCCS) has recently highlighted the fact that despite CCS being listed by the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) as one of the ley technologies needed to reduce emissions, the pace of development had been slow. Alex Zapantis from the International Energy Agency declared "For CCS to play its part in meeting that two degree target set in Paris, the amount of carbon dioxide captured by 2040 must increase to around 4,000 million tonnes a year”. The rate of capture must therefore increase by a factor of about 100 over the next two decades.
Rapid Industrialization coupled with increase in pollution is expected to drive the CCS market. According to the Carbon Capture and Storage Market research report, the global CCS market is projected to grow at 9.18% CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) during the period 2017-2021. In monetary terms, the global market is estimated to be worth more than USD 15 billion by 2023, with projected annual gains of around 25% from 2016 to 2023. The 2016 GCCS report reveals that continued proactive and multi-government support is intrinsic to the ongoing success of CCS and the ability to reach Paris climate targets.Governments around the world need to promote CCS with policies on subsidies, emissions abatement and carbon pricing, in the same way renewable energy is already being promoted.
The Global Status of CCS: 2016 Summary Report | IPCC Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture & Storage