About CARMA: Project overview

Research field

Project goals

Project activities

Project team, funding & duration

The research field: carbone dioxide capture and storage

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) is a set of technologies for the capture of CO2 from its anthropogenic point sources, its transport to a storage location or treatment plant, and its isolation from the atmosphere. This is only one, though very important, option in a portfolio of actions to fight the increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration and to mitigate climate change, while at the same time allowing for the predictable continued use of fossil fuels.

Deployment of CCS technologies is expected to be limited in the next 5 to 10 years, but to provide a significant CO2 sink in at best 20 years from now. Capture of CO2 using existing separation techniques can be applied to large point sources, i.e. power plants or industrial plants; CO2 can be easily transported over large distances using pipelines and ships; CO2 storage can be in geological formations, or by fixing it as mineral carbonates.

There are at least three reasons to consider CCS technologies:

1. fossil fuel based power generation is one of the candidate options in the Swiss energy roadmap;
2. reduction of CO2 emissions is a global issue and requires concerted international action; new technology and know-how developed within this project would have a global value and could be commercialized and implemented worldwide;
3. even though significant additional cost and energy penalties are associated with the implementation of CCS, this technological option will be needed to bridge the gap until CO2-free/neutral energy technologies are able to become the most prominent primary energy source.

Project goals

Based on this analysis, the aim of the CARMA project is twofold:

• to explore the potential and the feasibility of CCS deployment in Switzerland and in a few other countries within the framework of future energy scenarios;
• to exploit available expertise to develop new CCS technologies and know-how, which might be applied in Switzerland and worldwide.

Project activities

To pursue these global objectives five research activities have been identifiFor each of these activities a sub-project team has been set up. In addition, a sixth sub-project team will be responsible for the project management and the coordination of activities, among which the project’s information and dissemination, and the transfer of technology.

Project team

The project is carried out by a team of scientists from ETH Zurich, EPF Lausanne, Paul Scherrer Institut, University of Bern, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz and GeoForm.

Funding

CARMA is funded by CCEM (Competence Center for Energy and Mobility) and CCES (Competence Center for Environment and Sustainability) of the ETH Domain, and by public and private organizations.

Duration

The project has started in January 2009 and will last until December 2012.