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AbstractPrincipal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to evaluate groundwater quality data acquired in the pre-injection and injection periods for the Illinois Basin – Decatur Project (IBDP), a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project located in Decatur, Illinois, USA. For the pre-injection and injection periods three principal components explained 76.6% and 80.0% of the total data variance, respectively. Analysis of the pre-injection data set determined that highly positive loadings for total dissolved solids, chloride, bromide, sodium, magnesium, potassium, and electrical conductance designated the first component (PC1) as the salinity factor. High loadings for calcium, iron, and sulfate in component two (PC2) represents an oxidation-reduction component. The third component (PC3) represents groundwater acidity because of highly positive loading of pH. For the injection data set the variables contributed to the first component are bromide, sodium, total dissolved solids, chloride, electrical conductance, potassium, sulfate, iron, and calcium. Sulfate, magnesium, and calcium contribute to the second component and pH to the third component and represent salinity, dissolution, and acidity of groundwater. The results of the PC analysis indicate that water-rock interactions are the primary mechanism governing groundwater quality during both periods. The results of this analysis indicate that CO2 injection activities have not impacted the quality of the shallow groundwater in the project area.

AbstractOver the past 35 years, the oil and gas industry has developed many technology improvements and operating practices for injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Over this time, the US oil and gas industry has operated over 13,000 CO2 EOR wells, over 3,500 miles of high pressure CO2 pipelines and has injected over 600 million tons of CO2 without any significant safety or environmental endangerment events. Today, the US produces over 245,000 barrels of oil per day as a direct result of CO2 EOR. This presentation will describe many of the technical improvements and operational practices that have been developed as a result of the oil and gas industry’s experiences with CO 2 EOR. When these technologies and practices are applied, operators can expect facility and wellbore integrity at levels equivalent to those seen for conventional oil an d gas operations. Many of the technologies and practices that have been developed for CO2 EOR may have applicability in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, recognizing however, that each project should be designed to meet its site specific conditio ns. The CO2 EOR experiences of the oil and gas industry represent the largest collective base of technical information available on CO2 injection and, as such, provide valuable information for development and implementation of CCS field projects as they move forward.

AbstractThis paper provides a financial analysis for new supercritical pulverized coal plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) that compares the effects of two relevant climate policies. First, an updated cost estimate is presented for new supercritical pulverized coal plants, both with and without CCS. The capital cost escalation of recent years can be attributed to rising materials, plant supply, and plant contractor constraints. This estimate is then compared with recent estimates from public sources. Second, several current and proposed public policies relevant to CCS are presented. Finally, a financial analysis is performed to evaluate the effectiveness of two likely US carbon regulations on deploying Nth-plant CCS technology. The major conclusion is that the leading US carbon cap-and-trade bills will likely not be sufficient to deploy CCS technology in a manner consistent with a 550 ppm CO2 stabilization scenario. A more aggressive carbon policy including CCS research, development, and demonstration must be considered to achieve this goal with significant CCS deployment.

AbstractEnergy is the biggest crisis to humanity in the future. Nowadays, most of the energy used on earth comes from oil, gas and coal. According to the recent exploring and consuming rates, the energy will be exhausted in 50-100 years. Whether we can solve the crisis is closely related to the survival of humanity on the earth. The irradiation from the sun is the biggest energy source. Building PV power plant to utilize the energy from sun will be an only way to sustain the life cycle on the earth. However, the development of PV power plants require the huge supply of PV cell and the fabrication process may bring a quantity of pollution and waste, which is harmful to the environment. On the other hand, super large PV power plant will occupy huge land. If the land cannot be explored and used reasonably, this will not benefit the human life either. In this article, we address the discussions about the above problems and propose the initial suggestions about development trend of PV industry and the safety operation mode of super PV power plant.

AbstractIn the last years, the number of installed biofuels power plants is increased in northern Italy, due to favorable legislation on renewable energy sources, posing the issue to assess the resulting environmental effects. The European legislation on emissions for renewable fuels power plants provides guidelines to be integrated in the local regulations; moreover, local authorities have to identify the critical power plants in terms of pollution and the key parameters to grant licenses for the future plants.The aim of this paper is to describe a methodology and the calculation routine developed to assess the environmental effects of biomass plants in terms of simple indexes. The used approach is based on the Cross-Media Effects described by a European Commission Reference Document. In particular, several indexes are introduced to cover the most relevant environmental effects, as: air toxicity, global warming, acidification, eutrophication and photochemical ozone creation. For every considered pollutant (such as NOx, CO, etc.) directly emitted by the power plant, specific factors have been identified, in order to calculate the contribution to the different environmental indexes. Finally, a numerical evaluation of different biomass power plants, installed in Emilia Romagna region, is provided, in order to assess their environmental cross-media potential and to compare such kind of power plants with large scale, fossil-fuelled power plants.

AbstractFree cooling is one of the most potential ways of reducing the energy consumption of data centers. Thermosyphon has superior heat transferability thus it is suitable for application in free cooling. However, a separate thermosyphon free cooling system usually cannot provide sufficient cooling capacity in warm seasons. In order to overcome this weakness and avoid two sets of equipment, hybrid system of thermosyphon free cooling and vapor compression refrigeration for data centers has been developed by researchers. The cooling performance of this kind of system depends greatly on the climate outside therefore its applicability in different time and zones needs to be studied. In this paper, the climate data from five cities of different climate zones in China is collected. The performance model of the hybrid system is built up. Based on the climate data and performance model, the annual energy consumption is then calculated and compared with traditional air conditioner. The result shows that the energy-saving potential of the hybrid system varies in different climate zones, and when the mode switching temperature is relatively high, it is distinct in most climate zones of China.

AbstractElectrochemical splitting of calcium carbonate (e.g., as contained in inexpensive and abund ant minerals such as limestone) is proposed as a novel method of forming hydroxide solutions that can absorb, neutralize, and store carbon dioxide from the air or from waste streams. CaCO3 is dissolved in the presence of the highly acidic anolyte of a saline water electrolysis cell, forming Ca(OH)2 and H2CO3 (or H2O and CO2). By maintaining a pH between 6 and 9 in the resulting solution, subsequent hydroxide reactions with CO2 primarily produce dissolved calcium bicarbonate, Ca(HCO3)2. Thus, for each mole of CaCO3 split, there can be a net capture of up to 1 mole of CO2. The resulting dissolved Ca(HCO3)2 can be diluted and stored in the ocean, or in reservoirs on land or underground. Net process cost is estimated to be <$100/tonne CO2 mitigated.Other potential co-benefits of the approach include: i) production of significantly carbon-negative H2 if renewable - or nuclear - derived electricity is used as the power source, ii) the option of locally producing electricity and freshwater via fuel cell oxidation of the H2, iii) direct neutralization of ongoing ocean acidification if the Ca(OH)2 generated is added to seawater, iv) preservation or enhancement of otherwise threatened marine shellfish and coral populations, via CO2 absorption and Ca(HCO3)2 formation in or addition to the marine environment, and v) safe ut ilization of the ocean’s vast carbon storage and energy production potentials for CO2 mitigation and “super green” hydrogen generation.