Economic evaluation of leading technology options for sequestration of carbon dioxide

The greatest contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is the burning of fossil fuels, which releases nearly six billion tons of carbon per year into the atmosphere. These fuels will continue to be used well into the 21st century, although there is a urgent need to manage a sustainable economic development. Since power plants are the largest point sources of CO 2 emissions, capturing the carbon dioxide at power plants and sequestering it has been suggested. This approach would be complementary to the current strategics that aim at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by improving the energy efficiency and by increasing the use of non-fossil energy resources. However, a major barrier to CO2 capture and sequestration is Its cost. This thesis presents the results of a detailed analysis of costs associated with today's technology for CO2 separation and capture at three types of power plants: Integrated Gasification Combined Cycles (IGCC), coal-fired simple cycles (Pulnrized Coal, PC), and natural gas-fired combined cycles (Natural Gas Combined Cycles, NGCC). The analysis is based on studies from the literature that are reviewed and adjusted to a common economic basts. A composite cost model is then developed, and a sensitivity analysts performed to identify the cost-drivers of the capture. Finally, the economics at the three types of power plants arc predicted for a 10-year horizon, and the competitiveness of CO2 separation technologies under a specific policy scenario arc discussed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Technology and Policy Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• David, Jérémy, 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Howard J. Herzog.

• Technology and Policy Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8872

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8872