The notion of capturing carbon from waste streams and storing it deep underground, away from the atmosphere, has long been tempting for mitigating climate change. Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is even woven into mitigation scenarios published by organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
But bringing these technologies to market has been a challenge, largely due to cost and lack of incentive. Now, though, researchers say that there is at least one easy way to kick-start CCS in the U.S. — by capturing carbon dioxide from biorefining.
The gas stream from ethanol biorefineries is remarkably pure carbon dioxide mixed with only small amounts of water and trace organic compounds. That means no costly separation techniques are required to capture the CO2, says Daniel Sanchez, a postdoctoral researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, CA. At most, he says, the process involves pumps, compressors, and perhaps a dehydration unit — nothing that can’t be added to existing ethanol refineries.
There are only four CCS projects worldwide currently, sequestering about 3.7 megatons of carbon dioxide per year (another 28 megatons is pumped underground for use in enhanced oil...
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