China's First Megaton Carbon Capture Project Breaks Ground

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) broke ground on the Sinopec Qilu-Shengli Oilfield carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project on July 5, 2021, and operations are scheduled to start by the end of this year.

China's first megaton CCUS project, it is expected to become the country's largest CCUS full industrial chain demonstration base and will provide application cases for large-scale development of CCUS.

According to Sinopec Group, the project is expected to eliminate 1 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, an equivalent of planting nearly 9 million trees and shutting down 600,000 economy cars for a year, which will contribute to realizing China's goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

The Sinopec Qilu-Shengli Oilfield carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project is under construction. [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]

Zhang Yuzhuo, chairman of Sinopec Group, said that CCUS is an important measure to effectively reduce carbon emission.

He explained that the International Energy Agency predicts that CCUS will help cut down 14 percent of carbon dioxide emission by 2050.

As China is home to abundant geological petroleum reserves, it is suitable for carbon dioxide displacement. Therefore, speeding up development of the CCUS industry will lay a foundation for guaranteeing the country's energy security and promoting low-carbon transformation in the fossil energy industry.

Studies show that more than 1 billion tons of carbon emission will be neutralized through CCUS in China in the future.

Two researchers at Sinopec Group experiment on a carbon emissions reduction technology. [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]

According to Sinopec Group, it plans to launch a CCUS R&D center and build a carbon dioxide utilization technology innovation system to extend the clean carbon sequestration industrial chain and create an innovative hub for carbon emission reduction technologies.

The company also intends to build another megaton CCUS demonstration base within five years to further support China's carbon peak and neutrality goals.

(Executive editor: Niu Yilin)