Advantage of CCUS
According to the Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics, CCUS technology is, at present, the only carbon capture technology that can reduce emissions at emission facilities. Some of the advantages that CCUS present are:
CCUS can reduce emissions at the source
The ability of CCUS to directly capture CO2 from the source and then store it in geological formations is estimated to reduce as much as 20% of total CO2 emissions from industrial and energy production facilities.
Other pollutants can be removed at the same time
During the oxygen-fue combustion, the fuel is burned in an oxygen concentrated environment, which can lead to a significant reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide gases. Astudy conducted by the Argonne National Laboratory showed a 50% decrease in Nix gases in oxy-fuel combustion.
The social cost of carbon can be reduce
During the oxy-fuel combustion, the fuel is burned in an oxygen concentrated environment, which can lead to a significant reduction of nitrogen oxide (Nix) and sulfur dioxide gases. Carbon social cost is a dollar value of the estimated costs and benefits to society from climate change caused by one additional metric ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere in a year. By removing CO2 directly at the source, net damages to society could be reduced.
Disadvantages of CCUS
Despite the benefit that CCUS can help with emission reduction by reducing the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, there are several issues related to the technology and its implementation that still need to be addressed. These disadvantages are:
The high cost of implementation
There are currently no regulatory drives in most places to incentivize or require the use of CCUS. The use of this technology requires significant investment into its requirement of high cost of equipment and materials to store CO2, and to build and infrastructure to transport and then store it, could pose significantly high costs.
Uncertain public support
The public has also a critical perception of the widespread implementation of CCUS. According to a study done by Align CCUS Eu, public awareness of CCUS in the world is considered as lacking. The public is uncertain about CCUS, what it entails, and has a negative perception towards it. People tend to reject large infrastructure like CCUS being built near them because of the perceived risks outlined above.
License to ramp up emissions
CCUS technology can be perceived in a wrong direction and be used by emission heavy industries to push for the regular use of CCUS while maintaining polluting projects, thus defeating the true purpose of CCUS. This point is often used by NGOs in criticisms of the practice.
Storage capacity for CO2 is uncertain
The availability of geological storage is not considered a barrier in the short to medium term. However, there are uncertainties with regards to the long-term ability of storage sites to sequester carbon without significant leakage. There is some potential for seismic activity caused by underground injection of CO2 storage capacity to properly implement CCUS.
Transportation considerations
While the risk of accidents during transportation is relatively low, the potential for leaks still exists. Transportation of CO2 to the storage sites is also very costly, since significant energy is required to compress the CO2 and maintain high pressure throughout the pipelines, which are expensive themselves. Potential CO2 source must be connected to an appropriate storage site via pipeline, which can make CCUS implementation more difficult and expensive on areas that have no geological formations suitable for storage.