Comments on the article "geological, ocean and mineral C[O.sub.2] sequestration options: a technical review, by D.A. Voormeij and G.J. Simandl.The article by Voormeij and Simandl provides an excellent overview of the technical issues surrounding C[O.sub.2] sequestration sequestration In law, a writ authorizing a law-enforcement official to take into custody the property of a defendant in order to enforce a judgment or to preserve the property until a judgment is rendered. . I would like to add a comment on how government policies can affect the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. when oil reservoirs An oil reservoir, petroleum system or petroleum reservoir is often thought of as being an underground "lake" of oil, but it is actually composed of hydrocarbons contained in porous rock formations. are used to store C[O.sub.2]. At present, C[O.sub.2] is routinely injected into many oil reservoirs in order to increase oil recovery. This injected C[O.sub.2] is returned to the atmosphere with the oil. If C[O.sub.2] injection is combined with sequestration, the carbon dioxide released at the wellhead well·head n. 1. The source of a well or stream. 2. A principal source; a fountainhead. 3. The structure built over a well. wellhead Noun 1. is captured and re-injected into the reservoir. Financial incentives such as subsidies or tax credits for sequestration should target projects that reduce the net amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Otherwise such policies may result in the development of sequestration projects that create higher levels of atmospheric C[O.sub.2]. To determine which sequestration projects are most effective, we need to calculate the net amount of C[O.sub.2] that will be removed from the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide to be removed can be obtained directly from the atmosphere. More typically it is the by-product by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. by-product Noun 1. of an industrial application that would otherwise release the C[O.sub.2] to the atmosphere. The net amount of C[O.sub.2] removed from the atmosphere is equal to the original amount of C[O.sub.2] removed minus the amount of C[O.sub.2] released to the atmosphere as a result of the sequestration process. The sequestration process can create C[O.sub.2] during the collection, transport, compression, separation, drying and injection of carbon dioxide. Plans to sequester sequester v. to keep separate or apart. In so-called "high-profile" criminal prosecutions (involving major crimes, events, or persons given wide publicity) the jury is sometimes "sequestered" in a hotel without access to news media, the general public or their C[O.sub.2] in oil reservoirs should include a lifecycle C[O.sub.2] audit for the reservoir to determine what the net effect will be on atmospheric C[O.sub.2] levels. For some oil reservoirs, it may not be cost effective for producers to use C[O.sub.2] injection as an enhanced oil recovery Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a generic term for techniques for increasing the amount of oil that can be extracted from an oil field. Using EOR, 30-60 %, or more, of the reservoir's original oil can be extracted [1] compared with 20-40% [2] method. In such cases, subsidies or tax credits for sequestration may make it profitable for an oil company to carry out C[O.sub.2] injection with sequestration. The C[O.sub.2] injected will result in extra oil being produced. Most of this extra oil will be burned, creating additional atmospheric C[O.sub.2]. The net C[O.sub.2] removed from the atmosphere will be equal to the amount of atmospheric C[O.sub.2] sequestered se·ques·ter v. se·ques·tered, se·ques·ter·ing, se·ques·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to withdraw into seclusion. 2. To remove or set apart; segregate. See Synonyms at isolate. 3. less the amount of C[O.sub.2] released to the atmosphere as a by-product of the sequestration process and less the amount of C[O.sub.2] released from the reservoir in the form of additional crude oil that is produced. This latter amount may be larger than the C[O.sub.2] removed from the atmosphere, leading to a net increase in atmospheric C[O.sub.2]. Subsidies should target projects where a life-cycle C[O.sub.2] audit has shown the greatest reduction in the amount of atmospheric C[O.sub.2]. In some cases subsidies could also be given to sequestration projects where increased oil production leads to a greater amount of greenhouse gas greenhouse gas n. Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. greenhouse gas production. This should only be done where the additional oil from a sequestration project is replacing another energy source that produces even greater amounts of greenhouse gases. |
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