The installation of carbon capture technology on the ethylene manufacturing plants that make plastic bags and packaging from natural gas and the utilization of captured carbon in nearby depleted oil fields could promote development of a CCS network, according to a study by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“The team’s study found that large, clustered sources of ethylene coupled with the high demand for CO2 in enhanced oil recovery could support an integrated pipeline network from New Mexico across the Gulf region to Mississippi. This kind of a large, commercially viable and fully integrated CO2 capture network could stimulate wide-ranging industry ‘buy-in,’” the Department of Energy said in a press release.
By selling captured carbon for use in enhanced oil recovery, companies operating ethylene plants can recover their carbon capture costs, making the installation and operation of the capture technology economical, the study explains. Many of these plants are clustered on the Gulf Coast, very close to depleted oil fields in which EOR could help to extract up to 15 percent more oil.