Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) [UPSC Notes]

As a step towards energy transition measures which was declared as a policy goal by the government in the recent budget, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has received a 35,000-crore grant in the 2023-24 Budget. MoPNG is expected to utilize the fund to install carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology. In this article, you can learn more about CCUS for the IAS exam.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)

• The CCUS involves the capture of carbon dioxide, processing, transport and disposition or converting CO2 to value-added products.
• There are many types of CCUS, it majorly involves the capture of carbon from large emitters such as power generators or industries that use fossil fuels or biomass as fuel.
• Apart from MoPNG, the Ministry of Coal plans to use CCUS technologies for effective carbon capture.
• The central government also plans to unveil a comprehensive national policy on CCUS.

GHG Emission by India:

• India is the third largest emitter of carbon after China and the US. India emits 2.65 Giga tonnes of CO2 annually which is 7% of total CO2 emissions worldwide in 2019.
• China and the US are responsible for 28% and 15% of total global emissions comparatively.
• In this context, CCUS will be crucial to meet nationally determined contribution targets aimed by the Indian government.
• As per the updated NDC, India is committed to reducing the Emissions Intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent by 2030, from the 2005 level and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• According to MoPNG data, the top three sectors that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in India are the energy sector (68.7%), Agriculture (19.6%) and Industrial processes (6%).

Government Plan for CCUS:

• The government initially plans to utilize the oilfields of state-owned oil marketing companies for prospective CCUS projects.
• As per the plan, to enhance oil recovery and sequestration, the CO2 captured from the Indian oil corporation’s oilfield in Koyali in Gujarat and Digboi in Assam is transported through pipelines to ONGC’s  ONGC’s Gandhar oil field in Gujarat and Oil India’s Naharkatiya oil field in Assam, respectively.
• The coal ministry has proposed a production-linked incentive scheme for coal gasification projects to achieve its coal gasification target of 100 million tonnes (MT) of coal gasification capacity in the country by 2030.
• Since coal continues to be the primary source of power generation, experts opine that coal gasification will enable it to make it a clean source of energy.
• NTPC also intends to capture waste flue gas CO2 and utilize it to develop value-added products.
• According to NTPC, developing fuel-grade methanol by utilising flue gas CO2, along with green hydrogen, is one of the major steps to achieve the target of generating green power.

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