Gas storage
7 Oct 2005
BASF and the JGC Corporation of
The joint effort between the two companies is being sponsored by the METI, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Natural gas, an increasingly important source of energy, contains CO2 when it is extracted, most of which is usually removed directly at the natural-gas source. This is achieved by means of a solvent which temporarily absorbs the CO2 from the high-pressure natural gas stream. The solvent is then regenerated at low pressure, and fed back to the process.
The CO2 released in the regeneration process has traditionally been emitted to the environment causing several million tons of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere each year.
This effect is eliminated if the CO2, once removed from the natural gas, is injected back underground for storage. To do that, however, the CO2 must first be compressed above the its supercritical pressure. This has to date required high energy input, which the two companies hope to reduce with the new process they are working on.
They plans to develop a solvent that will not be affected by high pressure levels and elevated temperatures during regeneration, remaining stable and intact in the process. Using the new solvent will mean that the regeneration process can be operated at a higher pressure, reducing the cost of compressing the CO2 for underground re-injection.
The two chemical giants plan to build a plant in
