CO2 point emission and geological storage capacity in China

Carbon dioxide capture and geological storage (CCS) is regarded as an effective option to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels. CCS is particularly important to China due to its large and rapidly rising emissions and high dependence on fossil fuel, and large remaining coal reserves. This paper presents the key results of the authors’ study to evaluate o pportunities for the deployment of CCS technologies within China. It focuses on the data, methodology, and results of basin-scale CO2 sto rage capacity and CO2 point emission estimation in China. There is a total estimated theoretical CO2 geological storage capacity of 3088 gigat ons in China’s onshore and offshore basins, including a storage capacity of 3066 gigatons for deep saline formations accounting for 99% of total geological storage resource. China also has an annual emission about 3.9 billion tons of CO2 from large point sources in 2007. In view of initial site-source matching analysis, He huai Basin, Bohai Bay Basin, Subei Basin and Sichuan Basin have the best potential for CCS deployment. There is significant potential for CCS technologies to deliver deep, sustained and cost-effective emissions reductions for China over the course of this century