NETL tools aid carbon capture, storage challenges

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) researchers are touting the benefits of a recently developed suite of tools designed to help address carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) challenges.

The effort would help stakeholders effectively evaluate the costs of implementing the technologies in electric power and industrial plants while offering movement toward widespread implementation of CCUS technologies.

Understanding the nuances of how various components such as capture, transport, and storage connect and the costs of the individual components and larger integrated systems has proven to be challenging, officials said, noting the tools and resources can effectively evaluate CCUS costs during each step of the value chain.

The tools and resources include the NETL Cost of Capturing CO2 from Industrial Sources and four-volume NETL Baseline Studies for Fossil Energy Power Plants; the Carbon Capture Retrofit Databases (CCRDs), including Pulverized Coal, Natural Gas Combined Cycle, and Industrial Sources; the FE/NETL CO2 Transport Cost Model; and the CO2 EOR Life Cycle (CELiC) Model.

NETL researchers are also developing additional tools and resources that include techno-economic models for offshore CO2 saline storage, onshore CO2 EOR, and offshore CO2 EOR.

The tools and resources will be released to the public upon completion.