CARBON SEQUESTRATION:

thrivikramji@gmail.com

Introduction
Carbon sequestration is the process of securely storing away CO2 originating from anthropogenic
activities and sources, so that the gas does not enter into the earth s carbon cycle. Impressive examples
of naturally sequestered CO2 are the coal seams, coal bed methane associated with shallow and deep
coal seams, oil and gas trapped in the sedimentary traps, carbonate minerals and rocks of different
geological ages. In these examples, it is the ancient geologic processes that enabled the sequestration.
Research, Development, Demonstration and finally the Implementation of these CS (Carbon
Sequestration) technologies will enable the nations of the world to continue with the use of fossil fuels and
yet force the climate change phenomenon to abate and mitigate.

Now, in the face of the threat of GHG led global warming and climate change, there are several options
for abatement before us. First one, a simpler one, is the reduction of GHG emission by cutting down the
dependency on the fossil fuel use. But there are not many takers for this proposal, as many of the leading
countries outside of G7, like Brazil, Russia, India, and China are in the processes of marching forward to
the levels of the developed nations and hence are not ready to cut the level of fossil fuel consumption at
the expense of development. Perusal of Table 1 will enable one to understand the colossal size of the
global carbon reservoir.
Table 1 Global carbon reservoir
Domain Level, GtC
World oceans 39000
In Fossil fuel deposits 16000
Soils & vegetation 2500
Atmosphere 760

Current Science 2006, published an issue with a set of papers dealing with CO2 emissions and climate
change from an Indian perspective and India s share of CO2 is summarised in Table 2.

Table 2 Summary of GHG emissions, India, 1994 (in Gt): Sources and sinks (Sharma et al, 2006, CS,
v.90)
GHG source & CO2 CO2 CH4 N2O CO2
sink emission removal emission emission equivalent
All energy 679470 n.a. 2896 11.4 743820
Industrial process 99878 n.a. 2 9 102710
Agriculture n.a. n.a. 14175 151 379723
Landuse/landuse 37675 23533 6.5 0.04 14292
change/forestry
Waste n.a. 1003 7 23233
Total , Gg/yr 817023 23533 18083 178 1228540
* GWP indexed multipliers, CH4 =21, N2O= 310.

Another option is in place FF ( Fossil Fuels) to go for renewable sources of energy like, solar, wind, tide,
nuclear, bio fuel etc. Among these, nuclear is a technology that originated in the 20th century, after the
WW2 and ceased acceptability in the same century, due to the huge production coasts, risks and
environmental threats and the question of disposal of spent fuel.

Solar power is renewable like wind and tide, but the cost of photo-voltaic elements are still prohibitively
costly preventing its acceptance across all the tiers of society and nations. Bio fuel, though quite popular
in parts of the developed world, faces stiff criticism from several quarters, primarily due to its dependence
on food crops like corn.

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Though large and small wind turbines have become commercially viable and hence attractive, critics
allege that such large scale installations mar the scenic beauty of rural and open landscapes. So
countries like Britain have erected such turbine farms in the offshore away from the visible range from
the beach and sea lovers. Yet, all these alternatives have been gaining acceptance in the societies
across the world.

It is in this back drop that in order to save the planet and population from climate change threat, the
approach of carbon capture, separation, and sequestration (CCS) gained currency in the minds of
governments and among the scientific community. Before going any length about the CCS, we shall
briefly examine the basic issues raised by climate change due to green house warming of the planet. .

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

World s climate is changing and will continue to change in the 21st century and beyond. Natural world and
human society are affected by the changing precipitation patterns and rising temperatures. The earth s
ecosystems are changing too at extraordinary rates and scales, triggering a cascade of impacts through
the ecosystem like extinction of species, expansion into new areas and mingling of formerly non-
overlapping species. Anthropogenic actions are the primary cause for this climate change and the
consequences, and primarily our approaches to energy, agriculture, water management, fishing,
biological conservation and many other activities will transform or alter the natural systems.
Manifestations of impacts of climate change are outlined in Table 3.

Table 3 Effects, likelihood and possible impacts (after Gilman et al, 2007)
Geophysical effect Probability Impacts likely to occur
Higher max. Temp., Very likely Increased deaths and serious illness in older age
more hot days, and heat (90-99%) groups & urban poor; increased heat stress in
waves over nearly all livestock & wildlife; increased risk of damage to a
landmasses number of crops; increased electric cooling demand
& reduced energy supply reliability.
Higher min. temp., Very likely Decreased cold related morbidity & mortality;
fewer cold days, frost (90-99%) decreased risk of damage to a number of crops &
days and cold waves increased risk to others; extended range & activity of
nearly over all the area. pests & other disease vectors; reduced heating
energy demand.
More intense Very likely Increased flood, landslide, mudslide & avalanche
precipitation events (90-99%) damage; increased soil erosion; increased flood run
off; increased recharge of some flood plain aquifers
Increased summer Likely Decreased crop yields, increased damage to
drying over most of mid- (67-90%) building foundations caused by ground shrinkage;
latitude continental decreased water resource quantity and quality;
interiors & associated increased risk of forest fire.
risk of drought.

In the last 20 yr., several of the leading world governments have launched a series of studies or reviews
on the nature of climate change with the help of their National Science Academies or scientific task forces
to examine the ways of dealing with the consequences of climate change. On the other hand, the IPCC
(of UN) utilises the voluntary efforts of thousands of scientists across the world, to synthesize the
available knowledge on climate change and is subsequently subjected to intensive scrutiny and
evaluation, before the final report is presented to the governments. Thus the 2007 IPCC report vouches
that the earth s temperature is unequivocally on a warming trend. And the temperature rose by 0.75 o C.
(1.3 o F) since 1850. Warming is not uniform in nature. Warming is rapid over the land. During the latter

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half of 20th century oceans have warmed causing melting of sea ice, bleaching of corals, species shifting
their geographic ranges, rise in sea levels, and seawater holding less oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Climate change also means rising sea levels due to melting of continental ice sheets, polar ice caps and
mountain glaciers, as well as thermal expansion of sea water due to warmer temperatures. The global
rise in sealevel is estimated at 1.7mm/yr in the 20th century. But from satellite measurements that began
in 1992, the estimated rate has been 3.1mm/yr (IPCC, 2007). Higher sealevel also poses a threat to the
coastal aquifers and the coastal wetland ecosystems. Manifest vulnerability of the earth s systems to
climate change are indicted in Table 4.

Table 4 Systems and nature of vulnerability to GCC

System Manifest vulnerability

Ecosystems 60% are degraded and most severely stressed; e.g., Aral sea, Central
Asia; with past climate change ecosystems shifted to new zones; Human
interference and blocking by infrastructure already stressed ecosystems
do not shift locations; even a short excursion from normality can lead to
collapse.
Aquatic 500 million in semi arid and 200 million in arid zones; allocation and
Systems access are contentious; aquatic ecosystems and humans are affected by
problems of untreated return flow entering fresh waters; agricultural
intensification can lead to contamination of surface and subsurface water.
By 2050 42% of population may live in countries with inadequate fresh
waters stocks.
Desertification due to increased drying will force 30 million to flee sub-
Saharan Africa
Urban Only 20% of 1.6 billion lived in urban areas in 1900; today it is 50% of 6.6
Systems billion are in urban areas; by 2050 with population of 9-10 billion vast
majority of large urban centers will be in global south; climate change will
aggravate all nocuous aspects of urban life in global south.
Civil systems A brew of climate change stress and related wants of city life may disrupt
civil order of population centers; may result chaotic civil life.
Tourism At 10% of world business activity tourism is a driving force in the
systems economy; warmer climate taking over temperate regions will restrict out
flow of warm air seekers; Ecotourism in south American states will
gradually vanish by relocation or disappearance of flora; shifting climate
will affect inflow of tourists; Mediterranean can become unpleasantly hot.
Nations developing tourism the stakes are especially high.

Climate change impacts the water cycle and hence transforms the pattern and rates of water availability
for a variety of pursuits. Due to warming and consequent melting of Himalyan glaciers, water through put
will rise in the Ganges-Brahmaputra system for a while, but it will be soon followed by a fall in water
discharge and hence water availability, threatening the cities and towns in the Gangetic plain. Warmer
temperature may also mean a shorter cropping season and longer drier spells leading to the food security
of billions in the tropical world. Extreme events are also affected by the warmer seasons due to larger
input of heat energy, which would accelerate the water cycle and seasons. Between 1950 and 2007, the
aerial spread of Arctic ice shrunk by more than 50% from 11.0 Km2 to 4.1 million km2, while its
thickness fell from 3.7 m to 2.5 m., a 33% decrease.

It has been estimated that about 1/3 of all CO2 emitted by us is taken-up by the oceans, causing an
increased acidification of water and consequent rise of pH of seawater. This rise will tend to impact the
marine life. For example the corals (bleaching) and other carbonate shelled (thinner than normal shells)

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organisms will suffer due to loss of bicarbonate in the shells and/or the ability of bicarbonate to stay in
solution.

CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

IPCC report (2007) observes that most of the climate warming in the last 50 yr. has been due to increase
in emission of GHG emitted by the systems and processes related directly or indirectly to human
activities. In the 19th century itself, scientists like Tyndall, Arrhenius and others established the basic
physics of GHG additions causing climate change. During post industrial revolution decades, the use of
fossil fuels as primary source of energy has been rapid injection the GHGs like CO2 and CH4 into the
atmosphere. In 2006 per capita emission of CO2 stood at 5.5 metric tons (or a total emission of 36 Billion
metric tons and the US daily average stood at 5.5 kg/person/day). As a consequence, current CO2 level
is a 35% rise from 1850. Anthropogenic source of CO2 is fixed by the use of stable isotope tools CH4, a
25 times more deadly than CO2, rose by 150%, where as another GHG, i.e., N2O (nitrous oxide) nearly
300 times hazardous, increase by 20%. The hockey stick shaped curves depicting increase in the
atmospheric content of these gases from the more stable levels in the last 10,000 yr.

Future warming Trend

Average temperature in future will certainly be warmer and its extent will depend on the human actions.
Warming in 21st century will rise if we continue our dependence on fossil fuels as a vehicle of economic
growth. IPCC proposes that if we continue this dependence (i.e., business as usual scenario)
temperature may rise by 1.1 2.9 o C in 2100. But higher rates of rise might lead to catastrophic
consequences to lifestyles, ecosystems, agriculture, and even livelihoods of vast populations (PCC,
2007). The ocean surface temperature may hit the high of .2-4oC for a B.a.U, mode, leading to high
acidification of sea water, adversely affecting the sedentary animals and plants, and sea level may rise by
o.6 m., The ice sheet s melting may compound the rate of sealevel rise by a factor of 2. Rise of
temperature also forebodes frequent conditions of extreme heat, drought and heavy precipitation adding
to the risk and frequency of incidence of droughts/floods. As climate challenge is complex and large, it
calls for adoption of a bouquet of strategies and millions of workers in different parts of the world with the
same goal but varying paths.

ROLE OF GREEN HOUSE GASES

Many gases occurring in the Earth s atmosphere act as greenhouse gases. i.e., these gases allow
sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. Some of it is re-radiated back towards space as infrared radiation
(heat). Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere, to help
maintain a livable environment in the planet. The greenhouse properties are actually displayed by many
other natural gases (like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide), while others are
exclusively human made (certain industrial gases). Over the years, if atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases remain relatively stable, the energy flux received by earth and returned to the space
should be about the same leaving the temperature of the Earth s surface roughly steady or constant.

Levels of several important greenhouse gases have increased by about 25 percent since large-scale
industrialization began around 150 years ago. During the past 20 years, about three-quarters of
anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions came from the burning of fossil fuels. Concentrations of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere are naturally regulated by numerous processes collectively known as the
carbon cycle .

The carbon flux between the oceans, land and atmosphere is modulated by natural processes like
photosynthesis, which absorbs only like 6.2 billion tons of anthropogenic CO2 emission per year, while
about 4.1 Billions tons (in terms of equivalent carbon) are added to the atmosphere annually. This
imbalance results in the continued rise of atmospheric levels of GHG.

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The GHG (Green house gas) induced GW (global warming) or warming of the lower troposphere has time
and again led scientists as well as finally the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change; Chair: Dr.
R.Pachauri) under auspices of the UN FCC, to caution the member governments and heads of states on
the stupendous and impending threats in store for the nations and the humanity and ecosystems. But, I
am tempted to believe that the consequences of GW are far more long lasting than the Global Economic
melt down that hit the US in the last quarter of 08 and subsequently the other economies of the world.
The Economic down turn is at least a phenomenon that can be fended by fiscal and financial measures
and for which there exists a model in the depression of the 1930 s in US and of the 90 s in Japan.

The GW on the other hand needs an orchestrated and scientific move by the community of nations and
governments at diverse levels of GDP, rate of economic growth, and level and access to modern
technologies and consequently of differing priorities.. As a result generating or designing an unanimous
strategy or strategies by the community of nations, to thwart the risks and dangers of uncontrolled GW, is
rather a slow and difficult process.

Though the IPCC report triggered a cause for heeding to the recommendations detailed in the report,
immediate action plans at policy level is yet to emerge from the state capitals. However, the IPCC report
provided an impetus to re-examine both long and immediate term threats by various national science
academies as well as the academia.

In the US the USEPA, Oakridge National Laboratory, USDOE, such other agencies have been devoting
close and keen attention to the issue of GW by periodic reviews of the scientific research related to issues
leading to GW or release of GHG. Beginning with the decade of 90 s and later, the geoscience
departments in the US universities and colleges have been offering undergraduate courses based on
climate change/global change/climate change in the Pleistocene, to impart among the younger citizens a
deep awareness on the GHG emissions and GW consequences.

The publication of final IPCC report and its subsequent sharing of Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, along with
the Hollywood Documentary The inconvenient Truth- by Al Gore (VP in the Clinton Presidency), further
legitimized the need for more research and technology development on Climate Change (CC) by the
national academies and committees as well as National Laboratories and Universities. A mission was
rolled out to drive home the basics of GHG emissions, consequent GW and CC consequences to K12
level and to community leaders and members.

Sources of GHG

Primary source of GHG lie in the strongly coupled system of fossil fuels and energy. Level of energy
production and per capita use are indicators of the economic growth as well as quality of life of the
citizens of any nation. For e.g., energy-related carbon dioxide emissions represented 82 percent of total
U.S. anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in 2006.

Another greenhouse gas, methane, comes from landfills, coal mines, oil and natural gas operations, and
agriculture; it represented 9 percent of total emissions. Nitrous oxide (5 percent of total emissions), is
emitted through the use of nitrogen fertilizers, from burning fossil fuels and from certain industrial and
waste management processes. Several human-made gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), that are released as byproducts of industrial
processes and through leakage, represented 2 percent of total emissions.

Hydrogen and carbon are chief constituents of fossil fuels, which up on combustion yield CO2. The
amount of carbon dioxide produced depends on the carbon content of the fuel; for example, for each unit
of energy produced, natural gas emits about half and petroleum fuels about three-quarters of the carbon
dioxide produced by coal.

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In India, 80% of electrical energy is generated by coal fired power plants. Petroleum and natural gas (he
automobile and manufacturing sectors) emit equally important share of GHG. In US, fossil fuels supply 85
percent of the primary energy consumed and emit 98 percent of emissions of carbon dioxide.

World carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase by 1.8 percent annually between 2004 and
2030 (Figure 5). Much of the increase in these emissions is expected to occur in the developing world
where emerging economies, such as China and India, fuel economic development with fossil energy.
Emissions from the countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) are expected to grow above the world average at 2.6 percent annually between 2004 and 2030.

In 2004, the United States produced about 22 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning
fossil fuels, primarily because the U.S. economy is the largest in the world and it meets 85 percent of its
energy needs through burning fossil fuels. The United States is projected to lower its carbon intensity by
36 percent from 2004 to 2030.

Abating the Phenomenon of CC

In short, CC phenomenon is global in nature, affects humanity and posterity globally, especially the
populations in poor countries. Driving force of CC is the GHG emitted by the burning of fossil fuels and
the derivatives. Therefore, under the auspices of the UN (e.g., IPCC report authored by R. Pachauri,
2007) as well as under the initiatives of nations and governments, several expert working groups and task
forces have been at work analyzing the CC phenomenon and its driving forces and mechanisms so that
potential measures for warding off the CC could be identified, developed and demonstrated. .

Such closer scientific scrutiny of CC has led to some broad realizations, foremost of which says the
changes are irreversible, unless the quanta and rates of GHG emissions are reversed to some safe
kevels, i.e., the pre-industrial revolution days. Several measures or schemes have been formulated for
reducton of GHG emission like drastic cuts and reductions in use of fossil fuels, adopting substitutes to
fossil fuels, like renewable sources of energy (e.g., wind, solar and tide), nuclear power and CCS. .

THE CARBON SEQUESTRATION

For CCS to be successful, capture and separation of CO2 are the basic steps to be gone through before
safe disposal at secure site for a long period of time. This program when demonstrated as a successful
technology ,shall ensure the current levels of fossil fuel use as the excess CO2 is captured at the
source, and injected down to the secure depths into a rock formation or transported to a secured site by a
pipe line for permanent storage in terms of a few thousand years. This method is known to the scientific
world as carbon capture and sequestration. The potential sequestration approaches/technologies, viz.,
geologic, terrestrial, biologic and oceanic are indicated in Table 5.

CCS mechanisms broadly fall under the following viz. physical mechanisms, chemical mechanisms and
biological mechanisms. The best examples of CCS by biological route are formation / accumulation of
fossil fuels and of lime stones. Inorganic removal of CO2 from the atmospheric sources to form stable
mineral phases or forms is a fitting example of chemical mechanism. Under physical mechanisms are
grouped those CCS methods, wherein CO2 is pumped down into old oil wells or in depths of the ocean.

A simple example of physical CCS is a landfill. Geo-engineering is the branch of technology of CCS in the
ancient rocks, oil wells or aquifers. In fact, pumping CO2 down was in practice in the US since 70 s for
enhanced recovery of crude from oil wells. For e.g., in the state of Texas with >10,000 CO2 wells, CO2 is
delivered to the point of pumping through a very large network (= >5000 km) of pipeline.

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 Table 5 Carbon Sequestration
Targeted geologic formations: Oil and gas reservoirs; Unmineable coal seams
(CBM), and Deep saline reservoirs- Such structures and materials are home to crude
oil, natural gas, brine and CO2 over millions of years. Coincidentally CO2 emitters like
power plants and others are located near geologic formations suitable for CO2 burial.
CO2 injection technology has been in vogue in US for enhanced recovery of
hydrocarbons.

Terrestrial sequestration Methods Forest lands. Below-ground carbon and long-term

management and utilization of standing stocks, understory, ground cover, and litter.
Agricultural lands. Crop lands, grasslands, and range lands,with emphasis on
increasing long-lived soil carbon. Biomass croplands. Long-term increases in soil
carbon and value-added organic products. Deserts and degraded lands. Restoration
of degraded lands offers significant benefits and carbon sequestration potential in both
below-and above-ground systems. Boreal wetlands and peatlands. Management of
soil carbon pools and perhaps limited conversion to forest or grassland vegetation
where ecologically acceptable
Biological & chemical sequestration Methods
Advanced catalysts for CO2 or CO conversion;
Novel solvents, sorbents, membranes and thin films for gas separation;
Engineered photosynthesis systems;
Non-photosynthetic mechanisms for CO2 fixation (methanogenesis and acetogenesis);
Genetic manipulation of agricultural and tree to enhance CO2 sequestering potential;
Advanced decarbonization systems; and Biomimetic systems

Carbon separation and concentration

The single most important requirement for a CCS process is separation of pure CO2 from other
impurities. In US, pure CO2 accumulates from synthetic ammonia production, calcination of limestone
and production of H2. Flue gas from coal-fired power plants contains 10-12 percent CO2 by volume, while
flue gas from natural gas combined cycle plants contains only 3-6 percent CO2. For effective carbon
sequestration, the CO2 from all emitting sources must be separated and concentrated to at least 90%
level, to be cost effective.

For instance, most power plants and other large point sources use air-fired combustors, a process that
exhausts CO2 diluted with nitrogen. Flue gas from coal-fired power plants contains 10-12 percent CO2 by
volume, while flue gas from natural gas combined cycle plants contains only 3-6 percent CO2. For
effective carbon sequestration, the CO2 in these exhaust gases must be separated and concentrated.

CO2 is currently recovered from combustion exhaust by using amine absorbers and cryogenic coolers.
The cost of CO2 capture using current technology, however, is on the order of $150 per ton of carbon -
much too high for carbon emissions reduction applications. Hence cost of electricity may go to 4
cents/kWh depending on the type of process. In US cost of carbon capture is estimated to represent
three-fourths of the total cost of a carbon capture, storage, transport, and sequestration system.

The most likely options currently identifiable for CO2 separation and capture include: absorption
(chemical and physical), low-temperature distillation, gas separation membranes, mineralization and
biomineralization

Opportunities for significant cost reductions exist since very little R&D has been devoted to CO2 capture
and separation technologies. Several innovative schemes have been proposed that could significantly
reduce CO2 capture costs, compared to conventional processes. "One box" concepts that combine CO2
capture with reduction of criteria pollutant emissions are being explored as well. Research leading to

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solutions in revolutionary improvements in CO2 separation and capture technologies centre around new
materials (e.g., physical and chemical absorbents, carbon fibber molecular sieves, polymeric
membranes); micro-channel processing units with rapid kinetics; CO2 hydrate formation and separation
processes and oxygen-enhanced combustion approaches. Efforts to develop retrofittable CO2 reduction
and capture options for existing large point sources of CO2 emissions such as electricity generation units,
petroleum refineries, and cement and lime production facilities are also considered actively.

Geologic sequestration

Carbon dioxide sequestration in geologic formations is primarily focused in the oil and gas reservoirs,
unmineable coal seams that are currently used only for recovery of methane (CBM), and deep saline
reservoirs which are highly porous and permeable. These geological structures had stored crude oil,
natural gas, brine and CO2 over millions of years. Yet another candidate is deeply buried basalt flows.

More over many large emitters of CO2 like large power plants and industries are conveniently located
near geologic formations that are amenable to CO2 storage. The US for that matter had been practicing
the technology of injection of CO2 for enhanced oil and gas recovery (EOR) from its own oil and gas
fields in the state of Texas, where nearly 5000 km of pipelines are already in place and working. The US
is the world leader in enhanced oil recovery technology, using about 32 million tons of CO2 per year for
this purpose. From the perspective of the sequestration program, enhanced oil recovery represents an
opportunity to sequester carbon at low net cost, due to the revenues from recovered oil/gas. The scope of
this EOR application is currently economically limited to point sources of CO2 emissions that are near an
oil or natural gas reservoir. Further, in many cases, this scheme can enhance the recovery of
hydrocarbons, providing value-added by-products that may even offset the cost of CO2 capture and
sequestration.

Currently, efforts are afoot, to determine the petrophysical controls or parameters of rock formations in
respect of movement and trapping of CO2 as well as the physico-chemical transformations if any of the
constituent minerals of the rocks which is critical to the safety and security of the underground storage
and its environmental acceptability.

Coal Bed Methane

Coal miners often face the nightmarish problem of explosive escape of trapped methane in the coal
seams occasionally resulting in fires. (Remember story of Davy s safety lamp). If the seams do occur at
huge depths them mining is not the answer, instead coal gasification is. The large amounts of methane-
rich gas that is adsorbed onto the surface of the coal is recovered by de-pressurising the coal bed by
pumping water out. Alternatively CO2 is injected into the bed. Tests have shown that the adsorption rate
for CO2 to be approximately twice that of methane, giving it the potential to efficiently displace methane
and remain sequestered in the bed. Though, CO2 injected recovery of coal bed methane has been
demonstrated in field trials in a limited manner, much more research is warranted to understand and
optimize the process.

The U.S. coal reserve at an estimated at 6 trillion tons, and 90 percent of it is currently unmineable due to
seam thickness, depth, and structural integrity. As several of the power plants are some what near such
unminable coal seams warranting limited transport of CO2 gas before injection. Further, integration of
coal bed methane with a coal-fired electricity generating system can provide an option for additional
power generation with low emissions.

Saline Formations

Though value added products and hence cost reduction in CO2 injection is not part of sequestration of
CO2 in deep saline formations, yet there are certain advantages. Firstly, the estimated carbon storage

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capacity of saline formations in the United States is large with an estimated potential of up to 500 billion
tonnes of CO2 - a viable long-term solution.

Secondly, most existing large CO2 point sources are within easy access to a saline formation injection
point (in the US), and hence sequestration in saline formations is capable of transforming large portions
of the existing U.S. energy and industrial outfits to near-zero carbon emissions via this model of low-cost
carbon sequestration retrofits.

But there is still more research needed to answer the safety and security concerns and environmental
viability, like ensuring CO2 will not contaminate the aquifers and hence drinking water supplies or escape
from the geological vaults to enter the carbon cycle. One point of support comes from the oil industry
practice of use of such saline formations for injecting the brine separated from oil back into the saline
formations with out much risk. Besides, US EPA has also allowed injection of some hazardous wastes
down into the boreholes in saline formations and hence an extra degree of feeling of viability. In addition
the Norwegian Oil Co., Statoil, is injecting a million tons per year of recovered CO2 into Utsira sand, a
saline formation under the sea, an amount which is equivalent of the out put of a 150 mw coal fired power
plant.

Terrestrial sequestration
Terrestrial carbon sequestration is defined as either the net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere or the
prevention of CO2 net emissions from the terrestrial ecosystems into the atmosphere. Photosynthesising
plant communities are the chief enablers or facilitators of this process. It is considered as one of the most
cost effective techniques of reduction of atmospheric CO2 by one or all of the following viz., afforestation,
reforestation and controlling or reducing deforestation.

Vegetation and soil are the chief storage sinks of carbon. 2.0 billion tons of carbon is annually absorbed
by the biosphere - i.e., roughly 1/3 of the carbon emission by anthropogenic actions. The soil and the root
system of certain plants detain significant amounts of this carbon. Carbon absorbed by the global
ecosystem is of the order of 2 trillion tons.

An important area of research is about the development of high precision and reliable techniques of
measurement of this carbon, especially in the context of carbon trading. The fundamental approaches in
this respect are a) protection of ecosystems that store carbon so that such storage can be increased or
maintained and b) manipulation of ecosystems like farmlands and forests, to increase carbon
sequestration beyond their current levels. The ecosystems that are the most sought after in this respect
are:

a. Forest lands where in the focus is the below-ground carbon and long-term management and
utilization of standing stocks, understory, ground cover, and litter.

b. Agricultural lands Here the focal points are crop lands, grasslands, and range lands, with
emphasis on increasing long-lived soil carbon.

c. Biomass croplands As a complement to ongoing efforts related to biofuels, the focus is on long-
term increases in soil carbon and value-added organic products.

d. Deserts and degraded lands Restoration of degraded lands offers significant benefits and carbon
sequestration potential in both below-and above-ground systems.

e. Boreal wetlands and peatlands The emphasis here is on management of soil carbon pools and
perhaps limited conversion to forest or grassland vegetation where ecologically acceptable.

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Advanced Chemical and Biological Approaches

Alternatives to carbon capture and storage are recycling or reuse of CO2 from energy systems, where the
goal is reduction of the cost and energy required to chemically and/or biologically convert CO2 into either
commercial products that are inert or long-lived or stable solid compounds. Two promising chemical
pathways are magnesium carbonate and CO2 clathrate, an ice-like material. Both provide quantum
increases in volume density compared to gaseous CO2. For instance, the entire global emissions of
carbon in 1990 could be contained as magnesium carbonate in a space of 10 kilometers by 10 kilometers
by 150 meters.

The Biological systems, incremental enhancements of carbon uptake by photosynthesis can offer a
significant positive effect. An important advantage of biological systems is that they do not require
pure CO2 and do not incur costs for separation, capture, and compression of CO2 gas. Further,
harnessing natural, non-photosynthetic microbiological processes that are capable of converting CO2
into useful forms, like methane and acetate, could represent a technology breakthrough.

In Biological systems, the areas needing closer scrutiny are advanced catalysts for CO2 or CO
conversion; novel solvents, sorbents, membranes and thin films for gas separation; engineered
photosynthesis systems; non-photosynthetic mechanisms for CO2 fixation (methanogenesis and
acetogenesis); genetic manipulation of agricultural and tree crops to enhance CO2 sequestering
potential; and advanced decarbonization systems.

Ocean storage

With its vast aerial coverage the ocean system is a potential candidate for carbon storage. Several
concepts have emerged in this respect.

a. Dissolution' or injecting CO2 from ship or pipeline into the water column at depths of 1000 m or
more, to allow CO2 subsequently to dissolve.

b. 'Lake' deposition of CO2 directly on the sea floor at depths of 3000 m, or more where CO2 is denser
than water and is expected to form a 'lake' that would delay dissolution of CO2 into the environment.

c. Convert the CO2 to bicarbonate using lime stone

d .Store the CO2 in solid clathrate hydrates already available on ocean floor or growing more solid
clathrate.

Obviously, negative are the environmental effects of oceanic storage, and is a least understood area.
Large levels of CO2 can kill organisms; yet another problem is the tendency of dissolved CO2 to
eventually equilibrate with the atmosphere and hence transient nature of storage. Secondly more CO2
can acidify the ocean with all the now known consequences, and the unknown one like the adverse
environmental effects on benthic forms of the bathypelagic, abyssopelagic and hadopelaghic are poorly
understood.. Much work needs to be done before defining the extent of the potential problems.

The time it takes water in the deeper oceans to circulate to the surface has been estimated to be in the
order of 1600 years, varying upon currents and other changing conditions. Costs for deep ocean disposal
of liquid CO2 are estimated at US$40 80/ton between capture and deposition. Biomass burial in regions
of higher rates oceanic sedimentation is also considered as another method.

The bicarbonate approach would reduce the pH effects and enhance the retention of CO2 in the ocean,
but this would also increase the costs and other environmental effects.

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Mineral storage

Reacting CO2 to form carbonates with naturally occurring minerals of Ca or Mg is also considered due to
many potential advantages.. Most notable is the fact that carbonates have a lower energy state than CO2,
which is why mineral carbonation is thermodynamically favorable and occurs naturally (e.g., the
weathering of rock over geologic time periods). Secondly, the raw materials such as magnesium based
minerals are abundant. Finally, such carbonates are unarguably stable and thus re-release of CO2 into
the atmosphere is not an issue. However, conventional carbonation pathways are slow under ambient
temperatures and pressures. The significant challenge being addressed by this effort is to identify an
industrially and environmentally viable carbonation process that will allow mineral sequestration
economically.

In this process, CO2 is exothermically reacted with abundantly available metal oxides to produce stable
carbonates.. The reaction rate can be made faster, for example by reacting at higher temperatures and/or
pressures, or by pre-treatment of the minerals which require additional energy input. The IPCC estimates
that a power plant equipped with CCS using mineral storage will need 60-180% more energy than a
power plant without CCS.

Leakage

For well-selected, designed and managed geological storage sites, IPCC estimates that risks are
comparable to those associated with current hydrocarbon activity. CO2 could be trapped for millions of
years, and well selected storages are likely to retain over 99% of the injected CO2 over 1000 years. For
ocean storage, the retention of CO2 would depend on the depth; IPCC estimates 30 85% would be
retained after 500 years for depths 1000 3000 m. Mineral storage is not regarded as having any risks of
leakage. The IPCC recommends that limits be set to the amount of leakage that can take place. This
might rule out deep ocean storage as an option.

It should also be noted that at the conditions of the deeper oceans, mixing is very low (where carbonate
formation/acidification is the rate limiting step), but the formation of water-CO2 hydrates is favorable. (a
kind of solid water cage that surrounds the CO2).

Regarding, safety of CO2 sequestration, Norway's Sleipner gas field, the oldest plant that stores CO2 on
an industrial scale, is the living example- at geosequestration program of CO2 with the most definite form
of permanent geological storage of CO2.

CO2 Reuse

Making jet fuel by scrubbing CO2 from atmosphere will allow aviation to continue in a low carbon
economy. A potentially useful way of dealing with industrial sources of CO2 is to convert it into
hydrocarbons where it can be stored or reused as fuel or to make plastics. There are a number of
projects investigating this possibility, currently, biofuels, represent the other potentially carbon neutral jet
fuel available.

Carbon dioxide scrubbing with potassium carbonate is used to create liquid fuels. Although the creation of
fuel from atmospheric CO2 is potentially very useful in the creation of a low carbon economy, as transport
fuels are currently hard to make without fossil fuels. Research is underway to make use of emitted CO2 to
manufacture methanol and other hydrocarbons.

SUMMARY

This review of CCS has brought to light several points of crucial interest to the society especially in
respect of climate change and future climate trends.

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Though the adverse effect of green house gases came to be known from the early days of chemistry, the
concern about climate change due to steadily rising GHG emissions came to the fore say only from the
nineties. The Earth summit, the Kyoto protocol, the UNFCCC and the finally the IPCC s final report in
2007, became the wake up call for all the governments in the industrial and developing world.

Carbon capture and sequestration is now considered as one of the very viable options as it can be used
to mitigate and post pone the threat of climate change and at the same time without modifying or
decelerating the current consumption pattern of fossil fuels. Many of the mechanisms are known in the
scientific world, but designing a technology appropriate and demonstration of the same to the society is
the first step. The efforts in this direction have already been launched.

The terrestrial sequestration is a method to be considered for aggressive implementation in a populous

nation like India where a large chunk of the population is in the BPL category and live in the villages, and
follow some sort of poaching the vegetation as the surest means of energizing the cooking stove.

However, as geoscientists and with the varied geology around us in India, we have a major role to play in
the identification of suitable, safe and secure geological formations for carbon disposal.

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank Prof. V. Radhakrishnan and the BD University administration for enabling me to be here
and make a presentation on this theme. I have made use of the several internet sites for gathering
information that went into this monograph.

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