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what is it? Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies are designed to take carbon dioxide from fossil fuels (either before or after they are burned) and inject it into underground storage sites, usually geological formations. Proponents of the technology (often employees of the fossil fuels industry) say that it can provide significant emissions reductions, and allow us to go on burning coal, oil, natural gas, and even unconventional fossil-fuels such as tar sands, while still reducing emissions sufficiently to stabilise the global climate. In reality it is not a viable way of effectively reducing CO2 emissions.
Carbon Capture andstorage CAPTURING CO2 WHERE IT IS PRODUCED, TRANSPORTING IT, AND PUMPING IT INTO UNDERGROUND STORAGE SITES TO REDUCE EMISSIONS. THE TECHNOLOGY HAS SEVERE LIMITATIONS, LIKELY IMPOSSIBLE AT THE SCALE REQUIRED, BUT IS USED AS A SMOKESCREEN FOR THE CONTINUED EXPANSION OF FOSSIL FUEL PRODUCTION.
There are three main types of CCS technology. The first is post combustion capture, where CO2 is ‘scrubbed’ from the exhaust gases after fuel is burned. The second is pre-combustion capture, where the fuel is heated and mixed with oxygen to produce hydrogen (a clean burning fuel) and carbon dioxide, which is then removed. Thirdly, oxy-fuel combustion involves burning the fuels in oxygen rather than air, producing pure CO2 which can then be removed. Once the CO2 has been extracted it can be transported to storage sites in pipelines. Underground oil and gas fields (either depleted fields or declining fields as part of enhanced oil/gas recovery – see ‘Other Unconventional Fossil Fuels’ factsheet) are most likely to be used for storage, but underground saline aquifers (underground layers of rock containing salt water), underground coal seams, basaltic rocks beneath the seafloor, ocean storage and mineral carbonation (where CO2 is reacted with minerals to form solids) have also been suggested. Although the various technologies involved in CCS have been tested on a relatively small scale for some time, they have only been put together on an industrial scale in a handful of installations. There are currently no commercial installations and no large-scale installations dealing with emissions from electricity production.