ECO2^® Background

During the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels such as coal or gasoline, carbon dioxide (CO2) is formed and released. Unlike other regulated pollutants that are generally trace contaminants, carbon dioxide is the preferred product of combustion, with its formation resulting in much of the energy released in the combustion process. It is also produced in much greater concentrations than the other emissions, generally making up from 5-20 percent of the combustion exhaust gas.

While CO2 emissions from power plants are currently unregulated at the federal level, there is a growing consensus that standards limiting CO2 emissions will be promulgated within the coming years.  CO2 emissions from the electric power sector account for 40 percent of total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions and around 41 percent of global CO2 emissions result from coal consumption.  Because coal is one of the most abundant fuel supplies, with 50 percent of United States' electricity and 41 percent of the world's electricity generated from coal, it is important that the development and deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) solutions is expedited.  See chart on this page for U.S. and world electricity generation by fuel.

Several organizations have advocated the use of CCS as an important step in climate change mitigation.  Today, there are few carbon capture technologies commercially available for use on coal-fueled power plants, and none have been deployed at the scale of the typical baseload plant.  In addition, existing carbon capture technologies which are used in other industrial applications have capital and operating costs that are considered prohibitive for conventional coal-fueled power plants.

Source: EIA report #:DOE/EIA-0484 (2008)