In response to the increase in the global concentrations of greenhouse gases, the IEA Greenhouse Gas R & D Programme is carrying out an assessment of greenhouse gas abatement technologies with particular reference to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel power generation systems. The work is supported internationally by 13 OECD countries as well as the Commission of European Communities and two sponsors RWE and DMT. The Programme has examined, on a consistent basis, the options available for capturing and disposing of the CO2 product from a range of gas and coal fired power generation plant types, each with an output of 500MW(e). Systems under consideration include PF+FGD, IGCC, NGCC and a CO2/O-2 recycle scheme. CO2 capture technologies considered include chemical and physical absorption, solid adsorption, cryogenics, membrane separation and gas separation membranes. Carbon dioxide disposal options considered are; disposal in the oceans, in aquifers, in depleted gas reservoirs and terrestrial storage as a solid. In addition, a number of studies have evaluated the utilisation of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery and the manufacture of chemicals, including a detailed investigation of dimethy carbonate production. Comparison is also made with the alternative stance of compensatory forest plantations and substitution of fossil fuels with biomass. Emphasis has been placed on a requirement to determine the impact of the various technologies on the cost of electricity generation. This has been achieved by analysing the costs of specific schemes, on a common basis, and comparative results are presented for various CO2 abatement options. A number of studies have also been carried out to evaluate transport options and the environmental impact of these technology combinations for carbon dioxide disposal. The results indicate that by combining the most favourable technologies for CO2 capture and disposal to efficient power generation technology, electricity generation costs could be increased by around 40%. Alternative schemes have similar or even greater cost penalties. Analysis shows that the cost of CO2 capture dominates these added figures unless CO2 transport distances are very large. Carbon dioxide disposal is the area where further R & D is urgently required to provide environmental impact data. A further series of studies have recently been completed to examine the implications of considering the full life cycle involved in the power generation process, incorporating carbon dioxide capture and disposal, starting from extracting the fuel to storing the CO2 product, over the natural life of power stations systems.
