Deployment of CO2 storage technologies – key element of a diversified energy economy?
Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in USA and the North China Electric Power University in Beijing are working on the idea of using CO2 pollution in an energy storage system that can back up renewable sources like solar and wind.
According to Curtis M. Oldenberg, a senior scientist at LBL, when there is energy surplus CO2 can be captured and compressed to a fluid state and used in a closed loop where when there is energy shortage the gas will spin a turbine without combustion, thus producing electricity. Time will show whether the C02 can be creatively used and if it can provide real energy-storage solution to get more energy.
This method accomplished better results in energy storage density than standard compressed-air systems, as per a paper published in the journal Energy Conversion and Management.
The subject of CO2 storage feasibility was also discussed at a seminar held at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago in March 2017 and hosted by the Chicago Council on Science and Technology.
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