Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage in salt caverns holds promise for China's hard-to-abate sectors

Wei Liu, Xingyu Duan, Liangliang Jiang, Yiwen Ju, Kai Wen, Nanlin Zhang, Aliakbar Hassanpouryouzband, Jifang Wan, Xiang-Zhao Kong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is an effective technology for grid-scale peak shaving, while Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) plays a crucial role in carbon reduction. As China strives to peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 faces significant challenges, especially for the hard-to-abate sectors pose significant challenges. Building on the principles of CAES and CCUS, this paper introduces a novel approach: Compressed Carbon Energy Storage (CCES), , which integrates CAES and CCUS. CCES uses salt caverns to store compressed supercritical CO2 instead of air. This study explores the feasibility of CCES in salt caverns, addressing stability, tightness, containment, site selection, and capacity potential in China. Key findings include: 1) CCES, an advanced version of CAES, offers doubles the installed capacity compared to traditional CAES by combining the benefits of both CAES and CCUS benefits. 2) CCES salt caverns in typical bedded salt formations can maintain stability and integrity for 100 years. 3) Optimal cavern depths for supercritical CO2 storage range 800-1500 m, with a minimum cavern volume of 25 × 104 m3 for a capacity of at least 300 MW. 4) CO2 storage in salt caverns offers better tightness compared to air, methane (CH4), and hydrogen (H2), with an interlayer permeability threshold of ≤ 1.0 × 10–18 m2 for adequate tightness. 5) Potential CCES sites in China have been identified, with preliminary estimates suggesting a total capacity of 46.62-69.93 GW and theoretical capacity of up to 280 million tons of CO2 for China’s hard-to-abate sectors.
Original languageEnglish
JournalThe Innovation Energy
Volume2
Issue number1
Early online date31 Dec 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 31 Dec 2024

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