FILE NOTE “OPPORTUNITIES FOR EARLY APPLICATION OF CO2 SEQUESTRATION TECHNOLOGY” Overview

One of the aims of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG) is to understand how to facilitate the introduction of technologies capable of making deep reductions in CO2 emissions, for example capture and geological storage of CO2. This technology faces a number of barriers to its introduction, such as the high cost of capture of CO2 from power plant. This high cost arises from the amount of equipment required to scrub the CO2 from the flue gas streams due to the low concentration of CO2 (4-14% by volume) in the exhaust gases. However, many industrial processes generate exhaust gas streams containing high purity (>90%) CO2, which means that the cost of capture from these sources would be significantly lower.