How Does Gas Storage Options?

In today’s world, the topic of energy is dominated by one thing: ancient organic matter. Carbon and oxygen that existed in this matter when it was alive is still present and is released in the form of carbon dioxide when the coal and oil it was compressed into is burned. The problem is that the carbon that was buried over millions of years was never naturally supposed to be released back into the atmosphere it used to exist in at such an alarming rate. The amount of carbon dioxide flooding into our atmosphere needs to be limited or there will be severe consequences in our future.

“Power plants use flue gas desulfurization equipment, also known as scrubbers, to clean sulfur from the smoke before it leaves their smokestacks. In addition, industry and the U.S. government have cooperated to develop technologies that can remove impurities from coal or that can make coal more energy-efficient so less needs to be burned.” (Coal).

Carbon Capture and Sequestration is the process of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide by injecting the compound back in the ground. The process takes 3 steps:

Scrubbing Carbon Dioxide Lab By: Ryan Cargie Partner: Isabel Brandt December 10, 2015 Introduction: **see works cited page for websites Currently, in order to get the energy from coal you must burn the coal which is a dirty process. To get the energy, one grinds the coal into a fine powder and then it is burned in the air which produces steam and it can then be used for energy. This process often creates the pollutant nitrogen oxide and in addition carbon dioxide which is hard to isolate because of the small amount of it that is produced in the exhaust. Recently there have been two new discoveries on ways to reduce this dirtiness and the pollution created from the burning.

Oil and gas have been the world’s commercial energy sources in recent century and it still remain this important role in the 21st century. As industrial productions have grown by approximately 50 times during the 20th century, this led to tremendous increasing of the energy consumption. Presently, oil and gas account for almost 40 per cent of the world energy sources because they are unique commodities and easy to transport in many areas with low costs. The advances of technologies make petroleum become cleaner, safer and more efficient energy. Consequently, oil and gas could meet more strictly environmental regulations and comply with the widely demands of sustainable development. However, petroleum is a scarce resource and the demands of energy consumption will be increased. Humans try to improve recovery rates by enhancing technology and developing infrastructure for better accessibility. Presently, the volatility and high prices of oil market have been a significant cause for concerning among many countries. Even the increasing price trend in recent year, the market has still remained

Fossils fuels have been the main source of energy since the beginning of this industrial advancement. Due to the anthropogenic emission of CO2,

The removal of CO₂ may be a huge challenge and a spotlight has centered on removing CO₂ from the exhaust of fuel power plants, wherever it's gift in higher concentrations. Typically, that CO₂ is destined for carbon capture and storage (CCS), however an alternative choice is that, it’s doable to require CO₂ directly from exhaust gases and create new chemicals.

In an attempt to meet climate emissions goals, scientists are obtaining and using carbon dioxide emitted by power plants and other sources. In theory, carbon dioxide is easy to capture. This is because it is acidic, and it reacts effortlessly with simple bases like amines. In practice, however, amine scrubbing, the method used by some power plants to capture carbon dioxide for cleaning flue gases, is defeated because it encloses the greenhouse gas in water-based solutions. An abundance of energy is required to heat these great amounts of water in order to release the carbon dioxide that was captured and to renew the amines.

After it is brought out of the ground, the coal is then transported by either a train or a barge to refineries. Upon arriving at the refineries, the coal is either washed by water, or put through a chemical bath to remove some impurities. At the power plant, the coal is then pulverized to a powder just before being burned. The coal powder is then pushed into a furnace where it ignites while still airborne. This fuels the fire which heats up pipes with water running through them. The water begins to boil, and under pressure, the water evaporates and becomes steam, this steam rises and goes through turbines which rotates a generator, and creates electricity. Part or the water is then condensed and put back into the pipes to repeat the process, although much water is lost in the process. During the burning process, the coal powder under goes a chemical reaction that releases its chemical properties into the air. Some of these elements that can be released are sulfur, nitrogen, carbon, arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, and some traces of uranium. After the coal has been burned, the emissions are then pumped through filters and scrubbers. Scrubbers use limestone to catch and filter out as much sulfur as possible. After the power has been made in the power plant and the coal has been used, it is then

Another method being employed is dubbed “carbon capture and storage.” This method removes the carbon from the gaseous coal as it is being exhausted from the plant and then it is stored underground instead of being released into the atmosphere. This does not remove the carbon completely because it is now just underground, but it is better there than in the atmosphere. That all said, coal is still less efficient per unit used to generate electricity and in how much it costs to make it more environmentally friendly than nuclear and some ways of using natural gas.

Society today relies primarily on carbon-based fuels, whether it be coal, natural gas, oil, or gasoline. Consumption of these fuels is anticipated to grow in the future. Research is being conducted to remove or decrease carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and cars. As we saw in the video “The Story of Stuff” the toxic gases emitted from the incinerators is an enormous environmental and social problem.

There are several research projects currently tackling this issue. Some have found methods to convert CO2 into methanol, or hydrocarbon fuel. But these are not very useful at this time. Other attempts have produced products that are either too expensive or not scalable.

Any technology that reduces the environmental impact of burning coal falls under the clean coal technologies umbrella (Halber, 2008, para. 1). The two most common categories of these technologies deal with the removal and storage, most commonly in subterrestrial caverns, of carbon dioxide before or after the burning of coal or the removal of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, the cause of acid rain (Seeker, 2016, 1.36), from coal before it is burned. Clean coal technologies that focus on the former category have one main advantage over the traditional methods of burning coal; the amount of pollution released is greatly decreased. If all coal was burned using these technologies CO2 output could be reduced by up to 85% (Monbiot, 2009, p. 84). However, according to Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Beyond Coal campaign, the coal industry primarily employs technologies that fall into the latter technology category as the removal of CO2 is currently too costly (Cho, 2013, para. 4). The United States Department of Energy claims that the current cost for the removal of CO2 from coal is $60 per ton while the target price is $40 per ton (United States Department of Energy, n.d., para. 3). Furthermore, many environmentalists cite concerns that the CO2 may leak from

CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas, which mainly comes from the use of fossil fuels. Many people feel that content of CO2 in the atmosphere is the main reason for manmade global warming. The main sources of CO2 emissions involve electricity generation, industrial processes, fumes from transportation and commercial buildings and use. Emissions of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, to the atmosphere are expected to cause even more of a significant change in global climate (Davison, 2007). The main focus to try to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is to reduce the amount that is released from coal-fired power plants. Greenhouse gas emissions that involve the productions of electricity come from natural gas production and coal-fired power plant operations. Natural gas production accounts for twenty-four percent and coal-fired power plant operations accounts for seventy-five percent, while the other one percent is caused by other electricity generation operations. The main reason why coal-fired power plants have a higher percentage of emissions is because the sulfur content of coal is much higher than that of other fossil fuels (Jarmaillo et al., 2007). This proves that there is a great need to find an alternative fossil fuel to use instead of coal. Although coal is easy to mine, transport and process for the electricity generation process, it is also the

The world has seen a drastic reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, the benefits of the transition from burning coals to using natural gases. The consequences however, are seemingly becoming more damaging than experts thought. Natural gases are primarily composed of methane gas (CH4), gases which are 35 times the potency of carbon dioxide and traps much more heat radiation. The United States alone is responsible for 30% to 60% of global growth in human-caused methane emissions in the past 14 years (Magill 2016). During the process of extraction and transportation of natural gases, is where the problem resides. Methane leakage occurs from processing plants and storage facilities becoming a major concern for the environment. The big question is, how much methane actually escapes into the atmosphere and what are the challenges humans face trying to prevent further leakages.