The World's Largest Carbon Capture Tech Is Now Online
Just last week, NRG Energy and JX Nippon announced the completion of the world's largest carbon capture system, called Petra Nova. Petra Nova will collect almost all of the carbon dioxide produced at the WA Parish plant, the largest power plant in Texas and one of the largest in the country.
The best way to slow or reverse climate change is to remove as much CO2 from our atmosphere as possible. Technologies that attempt to do this are called "carbon capture and storage" technologies, as they capture the CO2 and store it underground.
Most CCS technologies operate at coal power plants, where the concentration of CO2 is the highest. This is how Petra Nova is designed. The system collects CO2 from the plant's exhaust and pipes it to a nearby oil field to use in enhanced oil recovery.
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Petra Nova can collect 90 percent of the CO2 emitted by the plant, which amounts to more than 5,000 tons per day. Since testing began in September, the system has collected more than 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide. That CO2 is then piped to the West Ranch oil field to extract more oil. The system is expected to boost oil production by 10,000 to 15,000 barrels per day.
While using captured CO2 to drill for more oil isn't the most environmentally friendly use of CCS, it does allow Petra Nova to pay for itself. This fits with a growing trend among energy companies to start viewing CCS less as an environmental obligation and more as a potential source of revenue. Incentivizing companies to reduce their CO2 emissions is perhaps the best way to halt the effects of climate change.
Source: NRG via Houston Business Journal
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