Carbon dioxide is injected and oil is extracted – China’s first million-ton-scale CCUS project comes online at Qilu Petrochemical

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Carbon dioxide is being injected to extract oil – China’s first million-ton-scale CCUS project comes online at Qilu Petrochemical 2022-08-26 20:22·Dazhong Daily On August 25, during the ceremony marking the start of operations for this million-ton-scale CCUS project for oil extraction as well as the commissioning of the carbon dioxide transportation pipelines, Sinopec announced that China’s largest demonstration base for the entire carbon capture, utilization, and storage value chain, and the country’s first million-ton-scale CCUS project – the “Qilu Petrochemical-Shengli Oilfield Million-Ton-Scale CCUS Project” – had officially begun operating. This marks the entry of China’s CCUS industry into a stage of mature commercial operation. https://p3-sign.toutiaoimg.com/tos-cn-i-tjoges91tu/TFcQ9Ag3jD5bOB~noop.image?_iz=58558&from=article.pc_detail&x-expires=1662247102&x-signature=suyTomNbrPQrDhN6vMnRlcVW2wc%3D Han Feng, deputy chief engineer of Sinopec Group and representative as well as party secretary of the Qilu branch, said: “The CCUS project is referred to as an ‘industrial forest.’ Once operational, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million tons per year, which is equivalent to planting nearly 9 million trees or stopping nearly 600,000 economy cars from running for a year. This approach can help promote the cleaner use of fossil fuels, the larger-scale use of clean energy, and lower carbon emissions in production processes, thereby creating a replicable and scalable ‘Qilu model.’” ”From the announcement of the CCUS project to January 29 of this year, it was completed in just 96 days. On April 1 this year, the project commenced trial production by feeding materials and starting up the operation ； On April 3, the entire process was completed, producing qualified carbon dioxide products, and the trial production was a success. After the project was put into operation, the liquid carbon dioxide captured by Qilu Petrochemical was transported by road to the Shengli Oilfield for oil displacement. This project involves capturing and purifying carbon dioxide generated by the refining and chemical enterprises under Sinopec, transporting it to oilfield companies, and injecting it underground where it is sealed away; this approach enables a win-win situation both in terms of using carbon dioxide for oil extraction and in terms of reducing emissions. The project consists of carbon dioxide capture at Qilu Petrochemical and carbon dioxide flooding and sequestration in the Shengli Oilfield, and it is of great significance for establishing a \"human-made carbon cycle\" model. The carbon dioxide emissions from the gasification unit of Qilu Petrochemical’s Second Fertilizer Plant represent high-quality carbon dioxide resources, with a large volume of emissions and a purity of up to 90%. In the carbon capture process, Qilu Petrochemical uses liquefaction and purification technologies to recover carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases of gasification units ； In terms of carbon utilization and sequestration, Shengli Oilfield takes advantage of the fact that supercritical carbon dioxide can mix easily with crude oil; it injects carbon dioxide into oil wells to improve the fluidity of the crude oil and to displace it from the micro-pores, thereby significantly increasing oil recovery rates. It is estimated that 2.965 million tons of additional oil can be recovered over the next 15 years. Meanwhile, the carbon dioxide is sequestered underground through the displacement of oil and gas, as well as through dissolution and mineralization processes, turning waste into a valuable resource. Wang Yuliang, General Manager of Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Company, said, \"As part of the Sinopec Group, the CCUS project carried out through cooperation between Qilu Petrochemical and Shengli Oilfield enjoys natural advantages. In accordance with the unified plan, the carbon dioxide transmission pipeline from Qilu Petrochemical to Shengli Oilfield will be launched and put into operation as soon as possible, thereby reducing transportation costs. This project aims to become a model base and benchmark project for a complete CCUS industry chain that can be replicated and promoted elsewhere.\" ”