China establishes world’s 18th large-scale CCS facility

(Posted on 03/09/18)

China is continuing to set the pace in deploying carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a vital climate change technology with the announcement that the Jilin CCS facility has reached a storage capacity of 0.6 million tonnes of CO₂ per annum.

This makes Jilin CCS the world’s 18^th large-scale CCS facility in operation, joining the ranks of major commercial CCS facilities in the United States, Canada, Norway, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Global CCS Institute CEO, Brad Page, says 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 recognises that CCS is the only clean technology that can be applied to decarbonise major industries and has the added potential to create new revenue streams which enable economic growth.”

Mr Page says CCS is now part of long term, five-year strategic plans across China and acceleration has been aided by the roll-out 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. Jilin CCUS is located in northeastern China and is capturing CO₂from 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 (NCSC), says injecting CO₂ into oil reservoirs for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) 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 tonnes, and 410,000 tonnes of CO₂respectively.

CCS has been proven as essential to a net zero future by pre-eminent research and analysis including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).