Hj. Herzog et Em. Drake, CARBON-DIOXIDE RECOVERY AND DISPOSAL FROM LARGE ENERGY-SYSTEMS, Annual review of energy and the environment, 21, 1996, pp. 145-166
Increases in greenhouse gas emissions and concerns about potential glo
bal climate change are stimulating worldwide interest in the feasibili
ty of capture, disposal, and utilization of CO2 from large energy syst
ems. Technology to capture CO2 from power plant flue gas, while energy
intensive and expensive, is commercially available. Capture from adva
nced combustion systems offers a further opportunity to significantly
reduce cost and energy requirements of CO2 capture compared to that fr
om today's pulverized coal power plants. No viable disposal options ex
ist today for large quantities of captured CO2. Ocean disposal of CO2
and geological storage, especially in depleted oil and gas wells, are
leading candidates. Although some niche utilization may occur, utiliza
tion seems unlikely to become a major sequestration option. Since CO2
capture and sequestration is a relatively expensive mitigation option,
it can be regarded as an insurance policy. However, since CO2 mitigat
ion options are few in number, continued research to reduce the costs
of CO2 capture and to develop feasible sequestration options is import
ant.