Assessment of CO 2 capture technologies for CO 2 utilization in enhanced oil recovery

CO 2 capture is considered to be a viable means of reducing the harmful environmental impacts of the fossil fuel usage. The net cost of CO 2 capture can be reduced and, consequently, the adoption of CO 2 capture methods can be enhanced by developing revenue streams for the captured CO 2 . 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 CO 2 utilization. The EOR process has the capacity to take large volumes of CO 2 captured from power plants and use them for the production of incremental oil. The process which is known as CO 2 ‐EOR has synergistic benefits for the oil and gas and power generation industries. Different CO 2 capture technologies are currently being used and their suitability of supplying captured CO 2 for utilization in EOR may not be similar. This study analyzes the ease of utilization of CO 2 captured from power plants in EOR applications. The analysis is done by comparing different capture technologies in terms of cost and purity of CO 2 captured and their suitability of integration with the EOR. The results determine that the post‐combustion CO 2 capture is the most EOR friendly technique in terms of CO 2 stream purity, while the chemical looping combustion (CLC) is the most EOR amenable in terms of the capture cost. The results show that the CO 2 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/m 3 ). © 2021 The Authors. Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.