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Using infrastructure optimization to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands extraction and processing.
Richard S Middleton1, Adam R Brandt
1Los Alamos National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, United States. rsm@lanl.gov
Environmental Science & Technology
|January 2, 2013
Summary
The Alberta oil sands industry can effectively manage CO(2) emissions through integrated capture, transport, and storage infrastructure. Significant carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment requires a carbon price above $110/tonne CO(2).
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Energy Economics
Background:
- Alberta oil sands are a major source of oil and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Future growth in the oil sands industry will increase CO(2) emissions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an integrated framework for optimizing CO(2) capture, transport, and storage infrastructure for the oil sands industry.
- To analyze the impact of carbon pricing on CO(2) management strategies.
Main Methods:
- Developed an integrated economic and engineering framework.
- Optimized CO(2) management infrastructure under various carbon price scenarios.
- Assessed the sensitivity of CO(2) management to carbon price and capture technology.
Main Results:
- The oil sands industry is well-suited for CO(2) trunk lines due to source-sink proximity.
- Transport costs are less critical in integrated systems.
- Significant CO(2) capture and storage requires carbon prices exceeding $110/tonne CO(2).
- Infrastructure deployment is sensitive to capture rates and technology.
Conclusions:
- An integrated framework can guide the safe and cost-effective deployment of CO(2) capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) infrastructure.
- Policy makers and stakeholders can use this framework to understand CCUS development in the oil sands.
- Carbon pricing is a critical factor for enabling large-scale CCUS in the oil sands.
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