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Dutch IGCC pioneers chalk up pain and gain Emergency response is behind schedule in the European public sector A new refining industry in Europe's Asian Corridor Commission proposes milestone energy proposal Replace fuel oil with distillate? Cancelled projects will sustain margins “Marine distillate not fuel oil from 2010” Branson's biofuels megastore You heard it here first: refinery CO2 storage a reality in Norway Buncefield 2: Investigation critical Where now for Swedish Class 1 diesel My slow awakening to climate change The luckiest motorist alive Safety row goes on over Europe's largest LNG terminal New WHO guidelines on city air quality put focus on diesel Would LNG really 'evaporate harmlessly' in an accident? Another lesson in the thermobaric bomb Spare a thought for the oil-rich But will the good times keep on rolling? Carbon storage and the zero emissions refinery Everything just changed E85 and high octane gasolines The problem of small-minded young engineers New Permit Regulations Biodiesel newbuilds and a new green superfuel Spilled wine and our split industry Drilling down into the prospects for IGCC The beginning of the start of the end of oil | Carbon storage and the zero emissions refinery The head of a new business, with its first major project in Europe, is watching the US energy market like a hawk. “We see Hydrogen for power and Carbon Dioxide sequestration as a material climate change management and business opportunity,” says Lewis Gillies, Head of Decarbonised Fuels at BP. His newly assembled team is behind BP’s project to reform natural gas, return the CO2 to underground reservoirs and burn hydrogen in an adapted gas turbine in Scotland. By being a significant participant in an international research initiative, the Carbon Capture Project, BP has already come some way in identifying technology that can deliver much needed energy without contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. “What we’re doing is providing a technological solution to the problem of CO2 emissions,” says Mr Gillies. Following the G8 Statement on Climate Change, Energy and Sustainable Development, he says there’s a new consensus on addressing that problem. “There was a definite shifting in the US stance at the summit. In the communiqué they all signed up to a recognition of global warming as an issue which needs addressing, it is just that the US is choosing to pursue technological solutions rather than targets.” That’s key for the Decarbonised Fuels unit because the US is likely to be a major customer for the best greenhouse gas mitigating technologies. The main significance of the Scottish project is it demonstrates such technologies at commercial scale. “The Carbon Capture [research] Project has been very focused,” he says, “but rapid technology development doesn’t come until you have real commercial demands.” BP wants to see a halving of the cost of carbon dioxide capture and storage, for example. BP has other projects in its sights, not least in China where new coal generation projects are being announced almost weekly. But would these ventures take BP into the coal business? “Well, we are looking at a coal project, but our job is to provide clean fuels. Coal may be the feedstock in that. That’s important in the US because of its massive indigenous coal resources and concerns over security of supply,” he adds. Refining without CO2 Today nobody expects refineries to be in the forefront of action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But if you read last month’s column you’ll know I’m going out on a limb to suggest that the Gleneagles G8 summit will have a major impact any new refining projects in the US and Europe. Rodney Allam, Director of Technology Development at Air Products Gases Group in the UK, is a leading figure among the group of technology suppliers contributing to the Carbon Capture Project (CCP). He says that although the obvious place to start reducing CO2 emissions is at big power plants, a number of drivers will influence new refinery projects. “Firstly, in Europe, there’s the economic value of the CO2 credits, which are rising because UK generators are well over their caps and buying credits for their coal-powered stations,” says Mr Allam. Whereas a large coal-fired power station such as DRAX in the UK may emit over 20 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide, the largest refineries emit only around 2.5 millions tonnes. Nevertheless, all European Union refineries are now capped. “For a coastal refinery with adjacent offshore gas and oil fields, the arguments for CO2 capture and storage add up quite quickly if one considers possible modifications to the refinery combined heat and power units.” The natural gas would be reformed in a pre-combustion capture process like that which will be demonstrated by BP in Scotland. Hydrogen goes to the refinery to facilitate clean fuels processing and it also goes for power production and heating. The CO2 goes back to the oil field. Alternatively, oxy-fuel modifications for CO2 capture could be fitted to the existing boilers and process heaters as proposed in the CCP studies. “The possibility that the CO2 is used in enhanced oil recovery means you might recover two barrels of oil for every tonne of CO2,” says Mr Allam. “That helps the costs of capture and storage considerably.” Oil companies are leaning heavily on tax authorities to increase tax allowances for such so-called tertiary oil extraction. Then there are the air quality concerns, which have been a major problem in identifying new sites for grass roots refinery construction in the US. “SO2 and NOX are a major headache,” he says. “Europe has its Large Combustion Plant Directive which constrains SO2 and NOX levels.” A new permit mechanism under the European Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Directive is currently bearing down on the industry as well. “In the past, refineries were not included in the Large Combustion Plant Directive, but now they generally have to comply with that too,” he continues. “Many refineries burn high sulphur fuels in their boilers. Now they increasingly have pressures to remove sulphur from their emissions. When modifications are made to capture CO2 from a combustion plant, virtually all the SO2 and NOX is also removed for disposal. The alternative is to convert to very expensive low sulphur fuels with full NOX control. CO2 capture will also encourage refineries to use high sulphur residual material as fuel such as bitumen. “At present, there are no agreed standards for the quality of CO2 intended for geological storage, particularly for enhanced oil recovery,” he says. “To prevent corrosion in pipelines SO2, NOX and dewpoint will need to be reduced to low levels.” Rodney Allam says that the emphasis placed on environmental initiatives by consumers, policy makers and some oil companies may well mean that the ultra low emissions refinery makes its debut long before simple economics would suggest. That an oil company can offset CO2 emission from a landlocked refinery while increasing oil recovery at fields near a coastal site, and do so profitably, is already quite conceivable. That it may as a result win favour with government for tertiary oil taxation concessions, and new construction permits, has wider implications. The good will and market share it may gain from marketing a climate-friendly road fuel is another aspect. But, says Rodney Allam, it shouldn’t be forgotten that European oil companies have their own mechanisms driving sustainable development. “BP had internal CO2 trading before Europe, its management set that goal back in the late 90’s,” he says. In other words, long before it made economic sense. Furthermore, this debate is valid only as long as our industry sells fuels containing carbon at all. At some point, the refining industry has to pause to consider the massive effort going on today to bring vehicles, homes and industries into the hydrogen era. “In the future refiners will have to capture all the carbon in all the feedstocks because they’ll be selling hydrogen,” says Mr Allam. • Tim Lloyd Wright, HP’s European Editor, has chaired international downstream conferences, edited refining publications, and reported for UK newspapers and BBC Radio. Tim also runs a motivation and lifestyle business in Sweden which has created 12weekfitness.com. | |||||||
Download Energy Industry Resumé with work samples Profile: Tim Lloyd Wright MA Here you'll find a brief profile of my work with international energy, transport and associated environmental issues. Energy trends articles You heard it here first: refinery CO2 storage a reality in Norway From the archive... Over-processed fuel leaves oil tankers adrift | ||||||||
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