*EPF407 12/16/2004
International Forum Tackles Carbon Dioxide Emission Problem
(Collaborative effort seeks to capture and store CO2 from power plants) (980)

By Cheryl Pellerin
Washington File Staff Writer

(This article is the final in a four-part series on carbon sequestration.)

Washington -- The United States is leading an international effort to make the capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions commercially competitive and safe, seeking to control greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and ultimately slow global warming.

The voluntary initiative seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and improve the technology that makes carbon dioxide capture and storage possible.

The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) is a 10-year collaboration among the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the European Commission, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, the Russian Federation, South Africa and the United Kingdom to develop improved cost-effective technologies for CO2 capture and long-term storage. The first ministerial meeting was held in June 2003 near Washington.

CSLF members work to improve, develop and disseminate carbon sequestration technologies through data gathering, information exchange and joint projects. The CSLF has recognized 10 carbon dioxide sequestration projects worldwide that demonstrate a wide range of CO2 capture, transport and storage research and activities.

CSLF members meet often, says Justin R. "Judd" Swift, deputy assistant secretary for international affairs for fossil energy at the Department of Energy (DOE). A ministerial meeting is held every 18 months and technical meetings are held twice a year. Engineers and scientists from CSLF countries also visit international projects to participate in and learn about different technologies.

"On September 14 this year, the CSLF ministers met in Melbourne, Australia, and issued a communique reaffirming their commitment to the CSLF as a framework for international cooperation in research and development for the capture, transport and storage of carbon dioxide," Swift adds.

At the meeting, two new members -- France and Germany -- joined the CSLF, 10 carbon sequestration projects were approved and a technology road map was agreed upon.

The road map, says Robert Kane, senior technical adviser for carbon management in DOE's Office of Fossil Energy, "is a document that discusses the state of the science of carbon sequestration and the gaps in understanding the technologies."

One gap is determining how much geological storage potential exists worldwide. "That's a big issue," he says. "A task force was formed at the last meeting and an international group of experts is working to assess that question."

Many such technical questions remain, primarily involving carbon dioxide storage. CO2 sequestration is really two technologies -- carbon dioxide capture and carbon dioxide storage. In CO2 capture, carbon dioxide can be collected from gaseous emissions that arise from fossil-fueled power plants, refineries, fertilizer production plants and other industrial facilities.

In CO2 storage, captured gases can be, among other methods, injected into geologic formations like sandstone or limestone saline aquifers, old oil and gas fields, and unminable coal beds. CO2 will remain underground for geologic timescales -- centuries or longer -- but geologists are still investigating what happens to the gas once it is underground.

"With storage, its all about uncertainty," says S. Julio Friedmann, who heads the Carbon Storage Initiative at the DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. "The science of storage deals with the uncertainties and reducing the uncertainties, whereas the science of capture is all about economics and cost reduction."

At this point, he adds, the state of geological assessment is sufficiently advanced to ensure that CO2 storage can be done in many places safely. Lots of capacity exists, but just how much is still to be determined. And there are other challenges.

"An ongoing issue for all CSLF countries," Swift says, "is to bring awareness to the world about the potential for carbon sequestration. A third of CO2 emissions are from power plants around the world, so if all power plants captured and stored carbon dioxide, that would reduce CO2 emissions by a third."

According to Robert Kane, "There has been a tremendous increase in interest and support for this program over the last few years both domestically and internationally at the highest levels of government and industry."

An important aspect of the program, he adds, is that a range of field experiments around the world is showing that carbon sequestration is a credible, tangible activity.

"It's not just a laboratory approach to carbon mitigation," Kane says. "It's a real live approach for projects located throughout the world that are being tested and operated, and it's a viable solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, if indeed that needs to be done."

The CSLF is also helping developing countries build the capacity to sequester carbon dioxide in their regions.

"Many nations around the world -- like Brazil, Indonesia, Venezuela or Mexico -- have large CO2 emissions but don't currently have the knowledge base or industrial base to pursue carbon capture and storage themselves," Julio Friedmann says.

"The CSLF asked those countries to join because they see the CSLF as an avenue for technology transfer," he adds. "Many countries involved in CSLF may not be able to begin projects themselves, so the CSLF gives them a way to participate in the hope that, as their economies grow, they will choose to employ this technology in a way that makes sense for their own countries."

The CSLF has an enormous mandate, Friedmann says, "and one that the global community has really embraced."

This is the final article in a four-part series about the international U.S. Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.

Part 3 is available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=December&x=20041215121236lcnirellep0.762727&t=gi/gi-latest.html

Part 2 is available at http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2004/Dec/15-595073.html

Part 1 is available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=December&x=20041213122136lcnirellep0.6637842&t=gi/gi-latest.html

Information about the CSLF is available at http://www.cslforum.org/

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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