China's Sinopec Corp said on Monday it had put into operation the country's largest carbon capture, utilization and storage facility in eastern China. China and plans to build two more factories of similar size by 2025.
The state-owned oil giant is one of the leading companies building pilot carbon capture, utilization and storage projects in China, part of the country's goal of peaking carbon emissions by 2030.
The new CCUS project, which began construction just over a year ago, involves capturing carbon dioxide produced at Sinopec's Qilu refinery in Shandong province during a hydrogen manufacturing process, and then injecting it into 73 oil wells in the Shengli oil field.
Sinopec has estimated that 10.68 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be injected into the oilfield over the next 15 years, increasing crude oil production by nearly 3 million tonnes.
Currently, CO2 from the Qilu refinery is transported by truck to the oil field, but Sinopec expects to complete a pipeline to move the CO2 by the end of the year, which will be the first of its kind in China.
"While China's CCUS remains at an experimental stage, it is on par with global peers, although it lags behind in some key technological expertise," Sinopec said in a press release.
Sinopec will explore the creation of a research and development center for carbon capture, utilization and storage by 2025, with a focus on developing cutting-edge technologies such as combining CCUS with wind and solar energy, CCUS with hydrogen and biomass energy. , said the company.
Last year, Sinopec captured and stored more than 1.52 million tons of carbon dioxide.
The aim is to build two more pilot projects in the coming years in the nearby Huadong and Jiangsu oil fields.
Sources: investing.com
