Carbon Capture and Storage – The Science of “Clean Coal”
Jen Hawse on April 15th, 2009You’ve probably seen the ads, heard the talk on radio and cable news, and know that Obama has talked about it as a possible step away from foreign oil. But, with all this hype, how can we get to the nitty gritty? What exactly is clean coal?
Scientific American has taken a stab at answering this in a series running the gamet from how it works practically to why it’s not being more readily used today. The reason, the same reason why renewable energy sources aren’t beating out coal production in the first place, is it’s currently more expensive than burning coal.
Although coal is currently cheaper, there are consequences from burning it such as substantial carbon emissions contributing to global warming and mercury pollution. This past fall Germany launched the world’s first carbon capture demonstration plant, using all oxygen to burn the carbon then compressing the burned material into rock deep inside the Earth.
The technology is in its early stages and bears watching. Given the expense of carbon capture technology, renewables may still be a better alternative, while avoiding unknown risks of burying carbon.
Learn for yourself about the technology in the SciAm series here.
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Doesnt Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage take two good oxygen atoms out of the atmosphere to every one bad carbon atom? Doesnt this actually increase the proportion of bad carbon atoms to good oxygen in the atmosphere?
The Carbon in the atmosphere in the form of Carbon dioxide (CO2), it is this gas that is responsible for the enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change. Carbon Capture and Storage isn't stripping just carbon out of exhausts, it is removing carbon dioxide. Oxygen is in MUCH greater concentration than CO2 in the atmosphere. So don't panic, CCS isn't going to suffocate us.
Perhaps you need to steer clear of the pure oxygen…
Interesting post and interesting comment by climate jimmy. Technically it is not only carbon dioxide that causes global warming. There are 5 other so-called Kyoto Protocol gases that were identified to be great contributors to climate change. Concentrations of the other five gases are reported as CO2 equivalents because CO2 volume is significantly higher than the others, but studies have shown that the other gases have worse effect than CO2. Carbon capture and storage is pretty interesting but too experimental. Planting trees is probably way better, IMHO.
So I am confused, this technology takes oxygen from the atmosphere, bonds it to carbon and buries it? Maybe I am missing something but at what point does the oxygen get returned to the atmosphere? Or are we under the illusion that there is an endless supply of oxygen available for us to do this forever?