Life-cycle assessment of carbon dioxide capture for enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

The development and deployment of Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is a cornerstone of the Norwegian government's climate strategy. A number of projects are currently evaluated/planned along the Norwegian West Coast, one at Tjeldbergodden. CO2 from this project will be utilized in part for enhanced oil recovery in the Halten oil field, in the Norwegian Sea. We study a potential design of such a system. A combined cycle power plant with a gross power output of 832 MW is combined with CO2 capture plant based on a post-combustion capture using amines as a solvent. The captured CO2 is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). We employ a hybrid LCA method to assess the environmental impacts of the system. The study focuses on the modifications and operations of the platform during EOR. We allocate the impacts connected to the capture of the CO2 to electricity production, and the impacts connected to the transport and storage of CO2 to the oil produced. Our study shows a substantial reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions from power production by 80% to 75g/kWh. It also indicates a reduction of the emissions associated with oil production per unit oil produced, mostly due to the increased oil production. Reductions are especially significant if the additional power demand due to EOR leads to power supply from the land.