scholarly journals Towards monitoring localized CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from space: co-located regional CO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub> enhancements observed by the OCO-2 and S5P satellites

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (14) ◽  
pp. 9371-9383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Oliver Schneising ◽  
Sven Krautwurst ◽  
Christopher W. O'Dell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Measurement Noise ◽  
Background Concentration ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fire Emissions

Abstract. Despite its key role in climate change, large uncertainties persist in our knowledge of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and no global observing system exists that allows us to monitor emissions from localized CO2 sources with sufficient accuracy. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite allows retrievals of the column-average dry-air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2). However, regional column-average enhancements of individual point sources are usually small, compared to the background concentration and its natural variability, and often not much larger than the satellite's measurement noise. This makes the unambiguous identification and quantification of anthropogenic emission plume signals challenging. NO2 is co-emitted with CO2 when fossil fuels are combusted at high temperatures. It has a short lifetime on the order of hours so that NO2 columns often greatly exceed background and noise levels of modern satellite sensors near sources, which makes it a suitable tracer of recently emitted CO2. Based on six case studies (Moscow, Russia; Lipetsk, Russia; Baghdad, Iraq; Medupi and Matimba power plants, South Africa; Australian wildfires; and Nanjing, China), we demonstrate the usefulness of simultaneous satellite observations of NO2 and XCO2. For this purpose, we analyze co-located regional enhancements of XCO2 observed by OCO-2 and NO2 from the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite and estimate the CO2 plume's cross-sectional fluxes. We take advantage of the nearly simultaneous NO2 measurements with S5P's wide swath and small measurement noise by identifying the source of the observed XCO2 enhancements, excluding interference with remote upwind sources, allowing us to adjust the wind direction, and by constraining the shape of the CO2 plumes. We compare the inferred cross-sectional fluxes with the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC), and, in the case of the Australian wildfires, with the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). The inferred cross-sectional fluxes range from 31 MtCO2 a−1 to 153 MtCO2 a−1 with uncertainties (1σ) between 23 % and 72 %. For the majority of analyzed emission sources, the estimated cross-sectional fluxes agree, within their uncertainty, with either EDGAR or ODIAC or lie somewhere between them. We assess the contribution of multiple sources of uncertainty and find that the dominating contributions are related to the computation of the effective wind speed normal to the plume's cross section. The flux uncertainties are expected to be reduced by the planned European Copernicus anthropogenic CO2 monitoring mission (CO2M), which will provide not only precise measurements with high spatial resolution but also imaging capabilities with a wider swath of simultaneous XCO2 and NO2 observations. Such a mission, particularly if performed by a constellation of satellites, will deliver CO2 emission estimates from localized sources at an unprecedented frequency and level of accuracy.

scholarly journals Towards monitoring localized CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from space: co-located regional CO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub> enhancements observed by the OCO-2 and S5P satellites

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Oliver Schneising ◽  
Sven Krautwurst ◽  
Christopher W. O'Dell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Background Concentration ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Dry Air

Abstract. Despite its key role for climate change, large uncertainties persist in our knowledge of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and no global observing system exists allowing to monitor emissions from localized CO2 sources with sufficient accuracy. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite can retrieve the column-average dry-air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2). However, regional column-average enhancements of individual point sources are usually small compared to the background concentration and its natural variability. This makes the unambiguous identification and quantification of anthropogenic emission plume signals challenging. NO2 is co-emitted with CO2 when fossil fuels are combusted at high temperatures. It has a short lifetime of the order of hours so that NO2 columns often exceed background levels by orders of magnitude near sources making it a suitable tracer of recently emitted CO2. Based on six case studies (Moscow, Russia; Lipetsk, Russia; Baghdad, Iraq; Medupi and Matimba power plants, South Africa; Australian wildfires; and Nanjing, China), we demonstrate the usefulness of simultaneous satellite observations of NO2 and the column-average dry-air mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2). For this purpose, we analyze co-located regional enhancements of XCO2 observed by OCO-2 and NO2 observed by the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite and estimate the CO2 plume's cross-sectional fluxes. We take advantage of the nearly simultaneous NO2 measurements with S5P's wide swath by identifying the source of the observed XCO2 enhancements, excluding interference with remote upwind sources, allowing to adjust the wind direction, and by constraining the shape of the CO2 plumes. We compare the inferred cross-sectional fluxes with the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC), and, in the case of the Australian wildfires, with the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). The inferred cross-sectional fluxes range from 32 Mt CO2/a to 158 Mt CO2/a with uncertainties (1σ) between 23 % and 72 %. For the majority of analyzed emission sources, the estimated cross-sectional fluxes agree within their uncertainty with either EDGAR or ODIAC or lie in between them. We assess the contribution of multiple sources of uncertainty and find that the dominating contributions are related to the computation of the effective wind speed normal to the plume's cross-section. The planned European Copernicus anthropogenic CO2 monitoring mission (CO2M) will not only provide precise measurements with high spatial resolution but also imaging capabilities with a wider swath of simultaneous XCO2 and NO2 observations. Such a mission, in particular as a constellation of satellites, will deliver CO2 emission estimates from localized sources at an unprecedented frequency and level of accuracy.

CO2 Emission Abatement in CC-IGCC Power Plants: Energy and Economic Comparisons

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Gambini ◽  
Michela Vellini
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Exhaust Gas ◽  
Gas Treatment ◽  
Low Co2 ◽  
Global Efficiency

In this paper two methodologies, able to avoid CO2 dispersion in atmosphere, have been analyzed: • treating exhaust gases in order to remove, liquefy and store the produced carbon dioxide; • de-carbonizing fossil fuels before using them in the combustion in order to inhibit completely carbon dioxide production. These methodologies have been implemented in advanced power plants based on gas turbine: a combined cycle power plant (CC), fed by natural gas, and an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), fed by coal. The exhaust gas treatment is based on a chemical process of absorption, while the fossil fuel decarbonization is based on partial oxidation of methane, steam methane reforming and coal gasification. These systems require material and energetic integrations with the power sections and so the best interconnections must be investigated in order to obtain good overall performance. With reference to thermodynamic and economic performance, significant comparisons have been made between the above mentioned reference plants. An efficiency decrease and an increase in the cost of electricity have been obtained when power plants are equipped with systems able to reduce CO2 emissions. However, in order to obtain low CO2 emissions when coal is used, the coal decarbonization must be implemented: in this case it is possible to attain a global efficiency of about 38%, a specific emission of 0.1117 kg/kWh and an increase of kWh cost of about 32%. Vice versa, in order to obtain low CO2 emissions when natural gas is used, the exhaust gas treatment must be implemented: in this case it is possible to attain a global efficiency of about 50.7%, a specific emission of 0.0391 kg/kWh and an increase of kWh cost of about 15%. The clean use of coal seems to have good potential because it allows low energy penalizations (about 7.5 percentage points) and economic increases of about 32%. Because of the great availability, the homogeneous distribution and the low cost of this fuel, these results seem to be very interesting especially in the viewpoint of a transition towards the “hydrogen economy”, based, at least in the medium term, on fossil fuels.

Pre-Combustion Removal of Carbon Dioxide From Natural Gas Power Plants and the Transition to Hydrogen Energy Systems

1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Mori ◽  
S. M. Masutani ◽  
G. C. Nihous ◽  
L. A. Vega ◽  
C. M. Kinoshita
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Hydrocarbon Fuel ◽  
Hydrogen Energy ◽  
Power Cost ◽  
Gas Treatment

A system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from combustion power plants is described. Unlike earlier proposals based on flue gas treatment, the problem is addressed prior to combustion by reforming the hydrocarbon fuel into H2 and CO2. Following separation, H2 is burned in place of the original fuel and the captured CO2 is liquefied and injected into the deep ocean at a depth sufficient to ensure effective containment, and to minimize damage to the marine environment. Calculations indicate moderate plant thermal efficiency and power cost penalties. In addition, the H2 production potential of this system may be exploited as a means to facilitate the transition from fossil fuels to future hydrogen energy systems.

scholarly journals Determination of the emission rates of CO<sub>2</sub> point sources with airborne lidar

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 2717-2736
Author(s):  
Sebastian Wolff ◽  
Gerhard Ehret ◽  
Christoph Kiemle ◽  
Axel Amediek ◽  
Mathieu Quatrevalet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Observation System ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Flux Method ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
The Cross

Abstract. Anthropogenic point sources, such as coal-fired power plants, produce a major share of global CO2 emissions. International climate agreements demand their independent monitoring. Due to the large number of point sources and their global spatial distribution, the implementation of a satellite-based observation system is convenient. Airborne active remote sensing measurements demonstrate that the deployment of lidar is promising in this respect. The integrated path differential absorption lidar CHARM-F is installed on board an aircraft in order to detect weighted column-integrated dry-air mixing ratios of CO2 below the aircraft along its flight track. During the Carbon Dioxide and Methane Mission (CoMet) in spring 2018, airborne greenhouse gas measurements were performed, focusing on the major European sources of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, i.e., large coal-fired power plants. The flights were designed to transect isolated exhaust plumes. From the resulting enhancement in the CO2 mixing ratios, emission rates can be derived via the cross-sectional flux method. On average, our results roughly correspond to reported annual emission rates, with wind speed uncertainties being the major source of error. We observe significant variations between individual overflights, ranging up to a factor of 2. We hypothesize that these variations are mostly driven by turbulence. This is confirmed by a high-resolution large eddy simulation that enables us to give a qualitative assessment of the influence of plume inhomogeneity on the cross-sectional flux method. Our findings suggest avoiding periods of strong turbulence, e.g., midday and afternoon. More favorable measurement conditions prevail during nighttime and morning. Since lidars are intrinsically independent of sunlight, they have a significant advantage in this regard.

scholarly journals Carbon Capture and Sequestration: A comprehensive Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 578-594
Author(s):  
Naimish Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Co2 Emission Reduction ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
And Storage

Abstract: More than ever, the fate of anthropogenic CO2 emissions is in our hands. Since the advent of industrialization, there has been an increase in the use of fossil fuels to fulfil rising energy demands. The usage of such fuels results in the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, which result in increased temperature. Such warming is extremely harmful to life on Earth. The development of technology to counter the climate change and spreading it for widespread adoptions. We need to establish a framework to provide overarching guidance for the well-functioning of technology and mechanism development of Carbon Capture and Storage. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is widely regarded as a critical approach for achieving the desired CO2 emission reduction. Various elements of CCS, such as state-of-the-art technology for CO2 collection, separation, transport, storage, politics, opportunities, and innovations, are examined and explored in this paper. Carbon capture and storage is the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it is discharged into the environment (CCS). The technology can capture high amounts of CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion in power plants and industrial processes. CO2 is compressed and transferred by pipeline, ship, or road tanker once it has been captured. CO2 can then be piped underground, usually to depths of 1km or more, and stored in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, coalbeds, or deep saline aquifers, depending on the geology. CO2 could also be used to produce commercially marketable products. With the goal of keeping world average temperatures below 1.5°C (2.7°F) and preventing global average temperature rises of more than 2°C (3.6°F) over pre-industrial levels, CCS model should be our priority to be implemented with the proper economical map

Oxy-fuel Combustion Power Cycles: A Sustainable Way to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emission

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anand Pavithran ◽  
Meeta Sharma ◽  
Anoop Kumar Shukla
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Energy Generation ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Power Cycles ◽  
Power Cycle

The energy generation from the fossil fuels results to emit a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The rise in the atmospheric carbon dioxide level is the primary reason for global warming and other climate change problems for which energy generation from renewable sources is an alternative solution to overcome this problem. However, the renewables sources are not as reliable for the higher amount of energy production and cannot fulfil the world’s energy demand; fossil fuels will continue to be consumed heavily for the energy generation requirements in the immediate future. The only possible solution to overcome the greenhouse gas emission from the power plant is by capturing and storing the carbon dioxide within the power plants instead of emitting it into the atmosphere. The oxy-fuel combustion power cycle with a carbon capture and storage system is an effective way to minimize emissions from the energy sectors. The oxy-fuel power cycle can reduce 90–99% of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. Moreover, the oxy-fuel power cycles have several advantages over the conventional power plants, these include high efficiency, lesser plant footprint, much easier carbon-capturing processes, etc. Because of these advantages, the oxy-fuel combustion power cycles capture more attention. In the last decades, the number of studies has risen exponentially, leading to many experimental and demonstrational projects under development today. This paper reviews the works related to oxy-fuel combustion power generation technologies with carbon capture and storage system. The cycle concepts and the advancements in this technology have been briefly discussed in this paper.

scholarly journals Detectability of CO<sub>2</sub> emission plumes of cities and power plants with the Copernicus Anthropogenic CO<sub>2</sub> Monitoring (CO2M) mission

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 6695-6719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit Kuhlmann ◽  
Grégoire Broquet ◽  
Julia Marshall ◽  
Valentin Clément ◽  
Armin Löscher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Atmospheric Transport ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Small Scale

Abstract. High-resolution atmospheric transport simulations were used to investigate the potential for detecting carbon dioxide (CO2) plumes of the city of Berlin and neighboring power stations with the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission, which is a proposed constellation of CO2 satellites with imaging capabilities. The potential for detecting plumes was studied for satellite images of CO2 alone or in combination with images of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) to investigate the added value of measurements of other gases coemitted with CO2 that have better signal-to-noise ratios. The additional NO2 and CO images were either generated for instruments on the same CO2M satellites (2 km× 2 km resolution) or for the Sentinel-5 instrument (7.5 km× 7.5 km) assumed to fly 2 h earlier than CO2M. Realistic CO2, CO and NOX(=NO+NO2) fields were simulated at 1 km× 1 km horizontal resolution with the Consortium for Small-scale Modeling model extended with a module for the simulation of greenhouse gases (COSMO-GHG) for the year 2015, and they were used as input for an orbit simulator to generate synthetic observations of columns of CO2, CO and NO2 for constellations of up to six satellites. A simple plume detection algorithm was applied to detect coherent structures in the images of CO2, NO2 or CO against instrument noise and variability in background levels. Although six satellites with an assumed swath of 250 km were sufficient to overpass Berlin on a daily basis, only about 50 out of 365 plumes per year could be observed in conditions suitable for emission estimation due to frequent cloud cover. With the CO2 instrument only 6 and 16 of these 50 plumes could be detected assuming a high-noise (σVEG50=1.0 ppm) and low-noise (σVEG50=0.5 ppm) scenario, respectively, because the CO2 signals were often too weak. A CO instrument with specifications similar to the Sentinel-5 mission performed worse than the CO2 instrument, while the number of detectable plumes could be significantly increased to about 35 plumes with an NO2 instrument. CO2 and NO2 plumes were found to overlap to a large extent, although NOX had a limited lifetime (assumed to be 4 h) and although CO2 and NOX were emitted with different NOX:CO2 emission ratios by different source types with different temporal and vertical emission profiles. Using NO2 observations from the Sentinel-5 platform instead resulted in a significant spatial mismatch between NO2 and CO2 plumes due to the 2 h time difference between Sentinel-5 and CO2M. The plumes of the coal-fired power plant Jänschwalde were easier to detect with the CO2 instrument (about 40–45 plumes per year), but, again, an NO2 instrument could detect significantly more plumes (about 70). Auxiliary measurements of NO2 were thus found to greatly enhance the capability of detecting the location of CO2 plumes, which will be invaluable for the quantification of CO2 emissions from large point sources.

Study of carbon dioxide gas treatment based on equations of kinetics in plasma discharge reactor

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (22) ◽  
pp. 1750210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Abedi-Varaki
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Reaction Rate ◽  
Plasma Reactor ◽  
Reaction Rates ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Dbd Plasma ◽  
Gas Treatment ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Gas

Carbon dioxide (CO2) as the primary greenhouse gas, is the main pollutant that is warming earth. CO2 is widely emitted through the cars, planes, power plants and other human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil). Thus, there is a need to develop some method to reduce CO2 emission. To this end, this study investigates the behavior of CO2 in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. The behavior of different species and their reaction rates are studied using a zero-dimensional model based on equations of kinetics inside plasma reactor. The results show that the plasma reactor has an effective reduction on the CO2 density inside the reactor. As a result of reduction in the temporal variations of reaction rate, the speed of chemical reactions for CO2 decreases and very low concentration of CO2 molecules inside the plasma reactor is generated. The obtained results are compared with the existing experimental and simulation findings in the literature.

scholarly journals Aspects of using biomass as energy source for power generation

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-190
Author(s):  
Raluca-Nicoleta Tîrtea ◽  
Cosmin Mărculescu
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Flue Gas ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Sulphur Content ◽  
Heating Value ◽  
Biomass Plant ◽  
Biomass Power Plants

AbstractBiomass represents an important source of renewable energy in Romania with about 64% of the whole available green energy. Being a priority for the energy sector worldwide, in our country the development stage is poor compared to solar and wind energy. Biomass power plants offer great horizontal economy development, local and regional economic growth with benefic effects on life standard. The paper presents an analysis on biomass to power conversion solutions compared to fossil fuels using two main processes: combustion and gasification. Beside the heating value, which can be considerably higher for fossil fuels compared to biomass, a big difference between fossil fuels and biomass can be observed in the sulphur content. While the biomass sulphur content is between 0 and approximately 1%, the sulphur content of coal can reach 4%. Using coal in power plants requires important investments in installations of flue gas desulfurization. If limestone is used to reduce SO2emissions, then additional carbon dioxide moles will be released during the production of CaO from CaCO3. Therefore, fossil fuels not only release a high amount of carbon dioxide through burning, but also through the caption of sulphur dioxide, while biomass is considered CO2neutral. Biomass is in most of the cases represented by residues, so it is a free fuel compared to fossil fuels. The same power plant can be used even if biomass or fossil fuels is used as a feedstock with small differences. The biomass plant could need a drying system due to high moisture content of the biomass, while the coal plant will need a desulfurization installation of flue gas and additional money will be spent with fuel purchasing.

scholarly journals Determination of the Emission Rates of CO<sub>2</sub> Point Sources with Airborne Lidar

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Wolff ◽  
Gerhard Ehret ◽  
Christoph Kiemle ◽  
Axel Amediek ◽  
Mathieu Quatrevalet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Flux Method ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
The Cross

Abstract. Anthropogenic point sources, such as coal-fired power plants, produce a major share of global CO2 emissions. International climate agreements demand their independent monitoring. Due to the high amount of point sources and their global spatial distribution, a mobile measurement approach with fast spatial coverage is needed. Active remote sensing measurements by airborne lidar show much promise in this respect. The integrated-path differential-absorption lidar CHARM–F is installed onboard an aircraft, in order to detect weighted vertical columns of CO2 mixing ratios, below the aircraft along its flight track. During the Carbon Dioxide and Methane mission (CoMet) in spring 2018, airborne greenhouse gas measurements were performed, focusing on the major European sources of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, i.e. large coal–fired power plants. The flights were designed to transect isolated exhaust plumes. From the resulting enhancement in the CO2 mixings ratios, emission rates can be derived in terms of the cross–sectional flux method. On average, we find our results roughly corresponding to reported annual emission rates, but observe significant variations between individual overflights ranging up to a factor of 2. We suppose that these variations are mostly driven by turbulence. This hypothesis is supported by a high–resolution large eddy simulation that enables us to give a qualitative assessment of the influence of plume inhomogeneity on the cross–sectional flux method. Our findings suggest avoiding periods of strong turbulence, e.g. midday and afternoon. More favorable measurement conditions prevail during nighttime and morning. Since lidars are intrinsically independent of sunlight, they have a significant advantage in this regard.

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