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Preface
It is widely recognised that global warming is occurring due to
increasing
levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere.
Methods of capturing and then storing CO2 from major sources,
such as fos-
sil fuel burning power plants, are being developed in order to
reduce thelevels emitted to the atmosphere by human activities.
This book reports on
progress in this field and provides a context within the range
of natural
absorption processes in the oceans and forests and in soil, and
of methane
emissions from melting permafrost and hydrates. Comparisons of
fossil fuels
with alternative energy sources such as solar and nuclear are
made and pol-
icy issues are reviewed.
The opening chapter, by Klaus Lackner of Columbia University,
USA,
compares the impacts of fossil fuels with alternative energy
sources. The ever-
growing need for energy to drive economic growth in both
developed anddeveloping countries, coupled to an overwhelming
dependence on fossil fuels,
has led to rising atmospheric levels of CO2 and to climate
change. The various
possible strategies to combat this are explored within a
wide-ranging discussion
of energy which provides a basis for the discussion of carbon
capture and
storage (CCS). Policy developments related to those CCS
technologies con-
sidered closest to deployment then are reviewed in Chapter 2 by
Jon Gibbins
and Hannah Chalmers of Imperial College, London. The need for
incentives as
well as mandatory requirements for commercial-scale
demonstration and
deployment of CCS technologies is discussed.
The importance of coal for large-scale power generation has
focused atten-
tion on CCS as a means of continuing the exploitation of
reserves. Australia is a
country rich in coal reserves, with a well-developed CCS
programme which is
reviewed by Allen Lowe, Burt Beasley and Thomas Burly for the
Australian
Coal Association in Chapter 3. Then in Chapter 4 Dermot Roddy
and Gerardo
Gonzalez of Newcastle University, UK, describe the potential of
underground
coal gasification with CCS as a source of clean energy.
Recognising the par-
ticular problems associated with energy intensive industries,
Chapter 5, written
by David Pocklington and Richard Leese of the Mineral Products
Association,
v
Issues in Environmental Science and Technology, 29
Carbon Capture: Sequestration and Storage
Edited by R.E. Hester and R.M. Harrisonr Royal Society of
Chemistry 2010
Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, www.rsc.org
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addresses the potential for carbon capture and storage in cement
manufacture.
Geological storage of CO2, the final stage in most CCS schemes,
is reviewed in
Chapter 6 by Nicholas Riley of the British Geological
Survey.
The next three chapters are concerned with natural processes and
examine
the potential for enhancement of carbon sequestration as well as
the problems
associated with rising CO2 levels. Chapter 7, by Stephen Chapman
of the
Macaulay Institute in Scotland, explores carbon sequestration in
soils and
plants; Chapter 8, by Maria Nijnik, also of the Macaulay
Institute, reviews
CCS in forests; and Chapter 9, by Carol Turley of the Plymouth
Marine
Laboratory (PML), UK, examines uptake, transport and storage by
oceans
and the consequences of change. In the final Chapter 10,
Vassilis Kitidis of the
PML reviews methane biogeochemistry in the Arctic Ocean with
particular
reference to methane hydrates and permafrost.
The quest for large-scale clean energy is a global concern and
this bookmakes an important contribution to the current debate on
how best to utilise
the worlds huge remaining fossil-fuel resources without adding
an unma-
nageable burden of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The book
will be of
value not only to those scientists, engineers, industrialists
and policy makers
immediately involved with energy supply and large-scale
manufacturing, but
also more widely to all concerned with major environmental
issues such as
climate change, ocean acidification, deforestation and the
socio-economic and
political choices needing to be made in this fast-moving
field.
Ronald E Hester
Roy M Harrison
vi Preface
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