![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Industry | Carbon sequestration |
---|---|
Founded | 2007 |
Founders | Reykjavík Energy, the University of Iceland, CNRS, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University |
Headquarters | , |
Website | https://www.carbfix.com/ |
Carbfix is an Icelandic company founded in 2007. It has developed an approach to permanently store CO2 by dissolving it in water and injecting it into basaltic rocks. Once in the subsurface, the injected CO2 reacts with the host rock forming stable carbonate minerals, thus providing permanent storage of the injected CO2 [1]
Approximately 200 tons of CO2 were injected into subsurface basalts in a first-of-a-kind pilot injection in SW-Iceland in 2012. Research results published in 2016 showed that 95% of the injected CO2 was solidified into calcite within 2 years, using 25 tons of water per ton of CO2. [2] [3] [4] Since 2014, this technology has been applied to the emissions of the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant. H2S and CO2 are co-captured from the emission stream of the power station and permanently and safely stored via in-situ carbon mineralization at the Húsmúli reinjection site. [5] The process captures approximately one-third of the CO2 emissions (12,000 tCO2/y) and 60% of the H2S emissions (6,000 tH2S/y) from the power plant. The Silverstone project aims to deploy full-scale CO2 capture, injection, and mineral storage at the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant from 2025 onwards. [6]
Carbfix is currently operating four injection sites in Iceland in relation to the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant: the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Plant, The Orca direct air capture plant near Hellisheiði and within the CO2 Seastone project in Helguvík (see chapter “Current status”).
Carbfix was founded by the then Icelandic President, Dr Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Einar Gunnlaugsson at Reykjavík Energy, Wallace S. Broecker at Columbia University, Eric H. Oelkers at CNRS Toulouse (France), and Sigurður Reynir Gíslason at the University of Iceland to limit the Greenhouse gas emissions in Iceland. [7] Reykjavik Energy supplied the initial funding for Carbfix. Further funding has been supplied by The European Commission and the Department of Energy of the United States. In addition to finding a new method for permanent carbon dioxide storage, another objective of the project was to train scientists. [8]
Captured CO2 is dissolved in water, either prior to or during injection into mafic or ultramafic formations, such as basalts. The dissolution of CO2 in water can be expressed as:
CO2 (g) + H2O(l) ⇌ H2CO3 (aq)
↔ H+(aq) + HCO3- (aq)
↔ 2H+(aq) + CO32-(aq)
By dissolving the CO2 in water instant solubility trapping is achieved, which is the second most secure trapping mechanism of CO2 storage: [9] No CO2 bubbles are present in the CO2-charged water, which is furthermore denser than the water that is present in the formation, so that the CO2-charged water has rather the tendency to sink than to migrate upwards towards the surface. [10]
The CO2-charged water is acidic, typically having a pH of 3-5 depending on the partial pressure of CO2, water composition, and the temperature of the system. The CO2-charged water reacts with the subsurface rocks and dissolves cations such as Calcium, Magnesium, and Iron. [11] The dissolution of cation-bearing silicate minerals; for example, the dissolution of pyroxene, a common mineral in basalt and peridotite, can be expressed as:
2H+ + H2O + (Ca,Mg,Fe)SiO3 = Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+ + H4SiO4
The cations can react with the dissolved CO2 to form stable carbonate minerals, such as Calcite (CaCO3), Magnesite (MgCO3), and Siderite (FeCO3), a reaction that can be expressed as:
Ca2+,Mg2+,Fe2+(aq) + CO32-(aq) → CaCO3 (s), MgCO3 (s), FeCO3 (s)
Ultramafic and mafic rock formations are most efficient due to their high reactivity and their abundance in divalent metal cations. The degree to which the released cations form minerals depends on the element, the pH and the temperature. [1]
Drilling and injecting carbonated water at high pressure into basaltic rocks at Hellisheiði has been estimated to cost less than $25 a ton. [12]
This project commenced carbon injection in 2012. [13] [14] [15] [16] The funding was supplied by the University of Iceland, Columbia University, France's National Centre of Scientific Research, the United States Department of Energy, the EU, Nordic funds and Reykjavik Energy. [14]
These funding sources include the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No. 764760 and 764810. The European Commission through the projects CarbFix (EC coordinated action 283148), Min-GRO (MC-RTN-35488), Delta-Min (PITN-GA-2008-215360), and CO2-REACT (EC Project 317235). Nordic fund 11029-NORDICCS; the Icelandic GEORG Geothermal Research fund (09-02-001) to S.R.G. and Reykjavik Energy; and the U.S. Department of Energy under award number DE-FE0004847.
Cost is around US$25 per tonne of CO2. [17]
Reinjection of geothermal fluid from the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant started in Húsmúli reinjection field, in September 2011. Commissioning of the reinjection site caused significant induced seismicity that was felt in nearby communities. [18] [19] This problem was addressed by introducing a new workflow where preventive steps are taken to minimize this risk, including the adjustment of the injection rates. [20] The implementation of the workflow resulted in the decrease of the annual number of seismic events greater than magnitude 2 in the area from 96 in 2011 to one in 2018, [21] which is considered satisfactory and demonstrates that current operations are within regulatory boundaries.
Carbfix started injection of CO2 captured from the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant and dissolved in condensate from the plant’s turbines into one of the existing reinjection wells in the Húsmúli reinjection field in April 2014. [22] No increased seismicity was noted after the injection of CO2 started implying that seismicity is not induced by the injection of the condensate-dissolved CO2. [23]
Carbfix is currently operating four injection sites in Iceland with emphasis on injection of CO2 captured from point-sources of CO2, CO2 that is captured and transported to an injection site, and CO2 that is captured directly from the atmosphere using direct air capture (DAC) technology. [24]
Point source capture and mineral storage of CO2
Carbfix has since June 2014 captured and injected CO2 and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant. The geothermal gases are dissolved in condensate from the power plant’s turbines in a specially designed scrubbing tower and injected to a depth of 750 m underground into basaltic rocks. [5] [25] Currently about 68% of the H2S and 34% of the CO2 from the plant’s emissions are captured and injected, which amounts to about 12,000 tons of CO2 per year, and about 5,000 tons of H2S per year. [5] Results show that over 60% of the injected CO2 was mineralized within 4 months of injection, and over 85% of the injected H2S within 4 months of injection. [26]
Carbfix is currently working on scaling up the operations at the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant through the EU Innovation Fund project Silverstone, aiming for near-zero geothermal power production from 2025 by capturing over 95% of CO2 and 99% of H2S from the plant’s emissions. This accounts for up to 40,000 tons of CO2 and up to 12,000 tons of H2S per year. [27]
Carbfix has since early 2023 started the capture and injection of CO2 and H2S from the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Plant in SW-Iceland as a part of the Europe Horizon 2020 funded GECO project. [28] The same approach is used as at the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant, but with optimized capturing efficiency of the scrubbing tower. The gases are dissolved in condensate from the plant‘s turbines and injected into the basaltic subsurface below 900 m. [29]
Injection and mineral storage of CO2 captured from the atmosphere using direct air capture technologies
The world’s first injection of CO2 captured from the atmosphere was carried out in Hellisheiði in SW-Iceland in 2017, as part of the Europe H2020 funded project CarbFix2. The CO2 was captured using a Direct Air Capture (DAC) unit developed by the Swiss green-tech company Climeworks. The CO2 was then dissolved in water and injected into the basaltic subsurface. [30] [31]
In 2021, the world’s first commercial DAC combined with storage plant, Orca, was commissioned in Hellisheiði in collaboration between Climeworks and Carbfix. The plant has the capacity to capture up to 3,600 tons of CO2 directly from the atmosphere that are injected into basalts for permanent mineral storage. [32]
In 2024 Climeworks and Carbfix are commissioning the Mammoth DAC plant, with the capacity to capture up to 36,000 tons per year which will be injected into the basalt for permanent mineral storage at the Geothermal Park in Hellisheiði. [33] [34]
CO2 capture, transport and storage
Cross-border transport of CO2 was first demonstrated as part of the DemoUpCarma project in August 2022. [35] The project was funded by the Swiss Federal Offices and led by ETH. [36] [37] The CO2 was captured from a biogas upgrading plant in Bern, Switzerland, and transported to Iceland where it was first injected at the Hellisheiði site. The current injection site of DemoUpCarma project is in Helguvík, Iceland, where the CO2 is co-injected with seawater as part of the R&D project CO2Seastone. [38]
In July 2021, Carbfix was awarded the largest research grant ever granted to an Icelandic company, when it was nominated for the EU Innovation Fund grant of 15 million EU for the Coda Terminal project. [39] [40]
The Coda Terminal will be developed in Straumsvík, SW-Iceland as the first cross-border carbon transport and storage hub in Iceland. CO₂ will be captured at industrial sites in N-Europe, focusing on the hard-to-abate sector, and shipped to the Terminal where it will be unloaded into onshore tanks for temporary storage. The CO₂ will then be pumped into a network of nearby injection wells where it will be dissolved in water during injection into the basaltic bedrock. The operations will be scaled up in steps reaching up to 3 million tons of CO₂ per year from 2031. [41]
Amine gas treating, also known as amine scrubbing, gas sweetening and acid gas removal, refers to a group of processes that use aqueous solutions of various alkylamines (commonly referred to simply as amines) to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from gases. It is a common unit process used in refineries, and is also used in petrochemical plants, natural gas processing plants and other industries.
Coal pollution mitigation is a series of systems and technologies that seek to mitigate health and environmental impact of burning coal for energy. Burning coal releases harmful substances that contribute to air pollution, acid rain, and greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation includes precombustion approaches, such as cleaning coal, and post combustion approaches, include flue-gas desulfurization, selective catalytic reduction, electrostatic precipitators, and fly ash reduction. These measures aim to reduce coal's impact on human health and the environment.
Calcium (20Ca) has 26 known isotopes, ranging from 35Ca to 60Ca. There are five stable isotopes, plus one isotope (48Ca) with such a long half-life that it is for all practical purposes stable. The most abundant isotope, 40Ca, as well as the rare 46Ca, are theoretically unstable on energetic grounds, but their decay has not been observed. Calcium also has a cosmogenic isotope, 41Ca, with half-life 99,400 years. Unlike cosmogenic isotopes that are produced in the air, 41Ca is produced by neutron activation of 40Ca. Most of its production is in the upper metre of the soil column, where the cosmogenic neutron flux is still strong enough. 41Ca has received much attention in stellar studies because it decays to 41K, a critical indicator of solar system anomalies. The most stable artificial isotopes are 45Ca with half-life 163 days and 47Ca with half-life 4.5 days. All other calcium isotopes have half-lives of minutes or less.
Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir is a professor of environment and natural resources at the University of Iceland, the academic director of the Environment and Natural Resources graduate programme as well as the director of University of Iceland Arctic Initiative.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location. The CO2 is captured from a large point source, such as a natural gas processing plant and is typically stored in a deep geological formation. Around 80% of the CO2 captured annually is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a process by which CO2 is injected into partially-depleted oil reservoirs in order to extract more oil and then is largely left underground. Since EOR utilizes the CO2 in addition to storing it, CCS is also known as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. It plays a crucial role in limiting climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There are two main types of carbon sequestration: biologic and geologic.
The Sleipner gas field is a natural gas field in the block 15/9 of the North Sea, about 250 kilometres (160 mi) west of Stavanger, Norway. Two parts of the field are in production, Sleipner West, and Sleipner East (1981). The field produces natural gas and light oil condensates from sandstone structures about 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) below sea level. It is operated by Equinor. The field is named after the eight-legged steed Sleipnir of Odin a widely revered god in Norse mythology.
Geothermal energy is a significant part of renewable energy in Turkey: it is used for geothermal heating and generates 3% of the nation's electricity. Turkey is the world's second largest user of geothermal heating, after China. Many greenhouses, spas and homes are heated by underground water; and many more buildings could be heated in this way.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology that can capture carbon dioxide CO2 emissions produced from fossil fuels in electricity, industrial processes which prevents CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage is also used to sequester CO2 filtered out of natural gas from certain natural gas fields. While typically the CO2 has no value after being stored, Enhanced Oil Recovery uses CO2 to increase yield from declining oil fields.
Enhanced coal bed methane recovery is a method of producing additional coalbed methane from a source rock, similar to enhanced oil recovery applied to oil fields. Carbon dioxide (CO2) injected into a bituminous coal bed would occupy pore space and also adsorb onto the carbon in the coal at approximately twice the rate of methane (CH4), allowing for potential enhanced gas recovery. This technique may be used in conjunction with carbon capture and storage in mitigation of global warming where the carbon dioxide that is sequestered is captured from the output of fossil fuel power plants.
Enhanced weathering, also termed ocean alkalinity enhancement when proposed for carbon credit systems, is a process that aims to accelerate the natural weathering by spreading finely ground silicate rock, such as basalt, onto surfaces which speeds up chemical reactions between rocks, water, and air. It also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, permanently storing it in solid carbonate minerals or ocean alkalinity. The latter also slows ocean acidification.
The Hellisheiði Power Station is the eighth-largest geothermal power station in the world and largest in Iceland. The facility is located in Hengill, southwest Iceland, 11 km (7 mi) from the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station. The plant has a capacity of 303 MW of electricity and 200 MWth of hot water for Reykjavík's district heating. The power station is owned and operated by ON Power, a subsidiary of Reykjavík Energy.
Listwanite (also sometimes spelled listvenite, listvanite, or listwaenite) is a rock type that forms when the groundmass of ultramafic rocks, most commonly mantle peridotites, is partially altered to carbonate minerals and cut by ubiquitous carbonate veins containing one or more of magnesite, calcite, dolomite, ankerite, and/or siderite. Original pyroxene and olivine in the peridotite are commonly altered to Mg- or Ca-carbonate and hydrous Mg-silicates, such as serpentine and talc. Complete carbonation of peridotite means that every single atom of magnesium and calcium as well as some of the iron atoms have combined with CO2 to form secondary carbonate minerals such a magnesite, calcite, and siderite, while the remaining silica atoms, formerly found in pyroxene and olivine (prior to alteration), are found in quartz, serpentine, and talc. Thus, in terms of bulk mineralogy, listwanites consist primarily of quartz (often of a rusty red colour), carbonate, serpentine, talc, ± mariposite/fuchsite (i.e., Cr-muscovite) ± gold.
ON Power, is an Icelandic power company, headquartered in Reykjavík, that produces and sells electricity to industry and households by harnessing renewable, mainly geothermal, resources. ON Power also provides water for space heating in Reykjavík and surrounding areas. Traditionally, ON Power's main service area is Reykjavík and surrounding areas in the south-west part of Iceland, although households and businesses can buy electricity from any supplier in Iceland, regardless of location.
Direct deep-sea carbon dioxide injection was a (now abandoned) technology proposal with the aim to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by direct injection into the deep ocean to store it there for centuries. At the ocean bottom, the pressures would be great enough for CO2 to be in its liquid phase. The idea behind ocean injection was to have stable, stationary pools of CO2 at the ocean floor. The ocean could potentially hold over a thousand billion tons of CO2. However, the interest in this avenue of carbon storage has much reduced since about 2001 because of concerns about the unknown impacts on marine life, high costs and concerns about its stability or permanence.
Direct air capture (DAC) is the use of chemical or physical processes to extract carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air. If the extracted CO2 is then sequestered in safe long-term storage (called direct air carbon capture and sequestration, the overall process will achieve carbon dioxide removal and be a "negative emissions technology".
Climeworks AG is a Swiss company specializing in direct air capture (DAC) technology. The company filters CO2 directly from the ambient air through an adsorption-desorption process. At its first commercial direct air capture and storage plant, Orca, in Hellisheidi, Iceland, the air-captured CO2 is handed over to storage partner Carbfix, who injects it deep underground where it mineralizes and turns into stone. Climeworks's machines are powered by renewable energy or energy-from-waste, with a carbon dioxide re-emission rate of less than 10%.
The Orca carbon capture plant is a facility that uses direct air capture to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (The name, "Orca" comes from the Icelandic word, "orka" which means "energy". It was constructed by Climeworks and is joint work with Carbfix, an academic-industrial partnership that has developed a novel approach to capture CO2. The plant uses dozens of large fans to pull in air and pass it through a filter. The filter is then released of the CO2 it contains through heat. The CO2 extracted is later mixed with water and pushed into the ground, using a technology from Carbfix.
Trapping mechanisms for carbon geosequestration prevent carbon dioxide stored in geological structures from leaking into the atmosphere. As a means to lower greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide from carbon sequestration, especially in terms of carbon capture and storage, is able to be directed from power plants and other sources of greenhouse gas emissions, with carbon dioxide emissions being pumped into subterranean storage facilities. However, there is still the risk of the carbon dioxide leaking from the underground storage facilities. To address this, several trapping mechanisms have been proposed and researched.
{{cite book}}
: |journal=
ignored (help)