Plans to capture, transport and store CO2 in secure reservoirs beneath the North Sea
ExxonMobil has signed an Expression of Interest to absorb, transportation, and store CO2 from its Fife Ethylene Plant as part of Scotland’s intended Acorn carbon capture project.
The agreement, which includes the ethylene factory at Mossmorran, Scotland, supplements an earlier announced Memorandum of Understanding to collect and store emissions from gas terminals at the St Fergus complex in Peterhead, Scotland, which includes ExxonMobil’s joint venture gas terminal.
The initial phase of Acorn, which is bidding to be included in the UK government’s first wave of carbon capture clusters, has the potential to achieve more than half of the country’s objective of capturing and storing 10 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.
It can store more than 20 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year if developed further by the mid-2030s.
The Acorn project has revealed aims to capture and store CO2 from the Grangemouth Refinery, and the addition of Mossmorran facilities will support Scotland’s industrial sector in emission reduction.
Joe Blommaert, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions stated the application of carbon capture and storage technology at the Fife Ethylene Plant shows the company’s commitment to reducing CO2 emissions from the industrial sector.
“With the right government policies in place and industry collaboration, the carbon capture and storage opportunities we are evaluating, such as in Scotland, have the potential to move forward with current technologies for large-scale, game-changing emissions reductions.”
The Fife Ethylene Plant has accomplished a $170 million investment programme to update essential infrastructure and incorporate new technologies that will substantially increase operating dependability and performance.
The unit, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2022, is meant to minimise noise, light, and vibration. The investment could reduce the usage of the plant’s raised flare by at least 98 per cent.
Together with ExxonMobil’s involvement in the Acorn project, these investments show a commitment to lowering emissions and ensuring Fife’s future as a competitive asset.
According to the International Energy Agency, carbon capture and storage may save up to 15 per cent of global emissions by 2040, while the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that international decarbonisation efforts might be twice as expensive if it is not widely deployed.
