Capturing and storing CO2 to combat the greenhouse effect. What IFP is doing

The growing awareness of the international community and the convergence of the scientific data concerning climate change make it urgent to deploy, throughout the world, technologies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Indeed, the growth of the world energy demand will prevent any rapid reduction of the use of fossil fuels - oil, natural gas, and coal - that are the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. To reconcile the use of these resources with control of the emissions responsible for global warming, the capture and storage of CO2 are a very promising approach; the economic and industrial stakes are high. To meet the objective of reducing CO2 emissions, IFP is exploring three approaches: The first approach is to reduce energy consumption by improving the efficiency of energy converters, in particular internal combustion engines. A second approach is to reduce the carbon content of energy by favoring the use of natural gas or by incorporating in the fuel recycled carbon (biofuels and synfuels) and by developing hydrogen as an energy carrier. The third approach is to capture the CO2 from industrial processes used for electricity, steel, and cement production, which emit it in large quantities, then store it underground so as to keep it out of the atmosphere. This approach for reducing the CO2 emissions consists in capturing the CO2 (Post-combustion, oxy-combustion), transporting it to the place of storage, then injecting it underground to store it. Storage sites are selected and evaluated prior to injection in order to estimate the injectivity, the propagation of CO2 in the subsoil and the impact of geochemical and geomechanical transformations on the tightness of the overburden and of the injection well. The injection phase is followed by a phase of monitoring to ensure the safety and long-term viability of CO2 storage facilities. IFP, through the research it is conducting either alone or in partnership with universities, research centers, and the industrialists concerned, has become a major player in the field of CO2 capture and storage. This brochure describes IFP's recent work in this field