BEIJING—China is continuing to set the pace in deploying carbon capture and storage as a vital climate-change technology with the announcement that the Jilin CCS facility has reached a storage capacity of 0.6 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum.
This makes Jilin CCS the world’s 18th large-scale CCS facility in operation, joining the ranks of major commercial CCS facilities in the United States, Canada, Norway, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Global CCS Institute CEO Brad Page said this shows the speed at which China is accelerating CCS deployment and the commitment that national, regional and municipal governments are according the technology.
“Over the past year, China has shown a massive resolve in deploying CCS technology, and there are now more than 20 projects in various stages of development.
China recognizes that CCS “is the only clean technology that can be applied to decarbonize major industries and has the added potential to create new revenue streams, which enable economic growth.”
Page said CCS is now part of long-term, five-year strategic plans across China and acceleration has been aided by the rollout of an emissions trading scheme, with a carbon price about to be introduced.
“This is the type of policy confidence and predictability which we have long been advocating. It shows that, with the right support, collaborative participation and economic instruments, CCS can play its part in helping the world meet climate-change targets.”
PetroChina has placed a big attention on CCS development, and Jilin is one of two national CCS projects in its charge.
The Jilin Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage is in northeastern China and is capturing CO2 from a natural-gas processing plant at the Changling gas field and transporting it by pipeline to onshore injections sites.
Dr. Liu Qiang, director of Strategy and Planning Department at the National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, said injecting CO2 into oil reservoirs for Enhanced Oil Recovery has been practiced by PetroChina Jilin on a pilot scale since 2006, creating the co-benefit of enhancing oil production while reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.
China is already developing two other large-scale CCS facilities—the Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical CCS facility in Zibo (Shangdong Province), and the Yanchang CCS facility in Xi-an (Shaanxi Province). These facilities will capture 400,000 tons, and 410,000 tons of CO2, respectively.
CCS has been proven as essential to a net zero future by pre-eminent research and analysis, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency.