News South Africa

SA to test carbon storage technology 'by 2017'

According to Business Day, the head of the South African Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage, Tony Surridge, said that the country is likely to be ready to test-inject carbon dioxide into underground storage cavities from 2017 in a bid to determine whether "carbon capture and storage" technology is viable.

This technology is - however - expensive: a 2009 report indicated a carbon price of $60 a ton was required to make capture and storage competitive. This indicates an increase in electricity prices of about 6 US cents per kilowatt hour.

The technology involves the capture of carbon dioxide (that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere) compressing it into liquid and injecting it to be stored in deep geological formations. It is typically captured from large industrial sources, and injected into geological formations such as saline reservoirs, coal seams, or depleted oil and gas fields.

Recently, Business Day reports, the Cabinet endorsed a carbon capture and storage "road map" that set out what had yet to be done if SA is to use the technology to reduce the 450-500-million tons of greenhouse gases it emits each year. According to the road map, South Africa should have a capture and storage demonstration plant by 2020 and a commercial plant by 2025.

Read the full article on www.businessday.co.za.

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