 Is underground the lesser of two evils..? |
Carbon capture and storage is the process of storing carbon dioxide instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is separated out and injected into porous rock - normally under the sea - from which oil and gas have been extracted.
Porous rocks are an ideal place to store CO2 because they have already stored oil or gas for millions of years without any escaping.
There are several ways of separating the CO2.
The Peterhead plant in the North East of Scotland, uses a chemical process to separate the CO2 from North Sea gas.
This energy plant then burns the remaining hydrogen leaving just water. The CO2 can also be "captured" after burning.
Either way, once it has been "captured", the CO2 is injected back into the rocks, using technology which the oil and gas industry has long used to help push extra oil out of nearly-exhausted wells.
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