Reports have indicated that the Powerfuel Power Ltd Hatfield site in South Yorkshire has now been short listed to be a site for the European scheme to start Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
€1.25bn has been allocated by the European Commission for 5 European sites to enable the capture of carbon.
Carbon dioxide is been emitted into our atmosphere (also called CO2) from cars, fires, boilers or whenever we burn any type of fuel, anywhere. The biggest source for this release is cars, trucks, and power stations that are non-nuclear.
To prevent the ever increasing amount of CO2 building up in our atmosphere which could be possibly helping with global warming and other problems it can caught and stored. The fact we would need to collect probably billions of tons of CO2, we cannot just build tanks or storage units, but ironically use the natural storage facilities of old gas and oil fields such as those in the North Sea.
The system would also be installed at power plants to capture and compress carbon dioxide on site rather than just letting it go.
Capturing CO2
There are 3 main ways to capture Carbon Dioxide
Post-combustion capture
Just after the fuel has been used and burnt the Carbon Dioxide is then removed from the flue gas. A process that is already being implemented for supplying pure CO2 to very niche markets.
Pre-combustion capture
A process called gasification is when the fuel is converted into CO2 and Hydrogen through. The CO2 can then be removed before use.
Oxyfuel combustion
This process involves burning the fuel in pure O2 (oxygen). This only produces CO2 and water vapour. After the water vapour condenses a pure stream of CO2 is produced.
World wide storage sites from Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage