Assessment of CO2 capture technologies for CO2 utilization in enhanced oil recovery

CO2 capture is considered to be a viable means of reducing the harmful environmental impacts of the fossil fuel usage. The net cost of CO2 capture can be reduced and, consequently, the adoption of CO2 capture methods can be enhanced by developing revenue streams for the captured CO2. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), which is the process of withdrawing crude from oil reservoirs after primary and secondary withdrawal, is viewed as an attractive means of CO2 utilization. The EOR process has the capacity to take large volumes of CO2 captured from power plants and use them for the production of incremental oil. The process which is known as CO2‐EOR has synergistic benefits for the oil and gas and power generation industries. Different CO2 capture technologies are currently being used and their suitability of supplying captured CO2 for utilization in EOR may not be similar. This study analyzes the ease of utilization of CO2 captured from power plants in EOR applications. The analysis is done by comparing different capture technologies in terms of cost and purity of CO2 captured and their suitability of integration with the EOR. The results determine that the post‐combustion CO2 capture is the most EOR friendly technique in terms of CO2 stream purity, while the chemical looping combustion (CLC) is the most EOR amenable in terms of the capture cost. The results show that the CO2 capture efforts from power plants using CLC can be fully covered by additional oil revenue at oil prices above $27.9 per barrel ($175.5/m3). © 2021 The Authors. Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.