OPTIMIZING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW COST SURFACE MODULE FOR THE SIMCCS SOFTWARE

Modifications to the global climate are partly driven by the anthropogenic release of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is directly linked to an increase in global temperature. Strategies that limit CO₂ emissions like carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology can significantly reduce emissions by capturing CO₂ before releasing it to the atmosphere. Despite several promising high-profile demonstration projects, commercial-scale deployment of CCUS has not ensued. CCUS research has focused largely on capturing CO₂ emissions from coal-fired power plants, but recent research suggests that considering other industrial sources (e.g., ethanol production) could offer a more feasible approach for near-term CCUS deployment. Accomplishing this goal will require robust techno-economic assessment of integrated CCUS technology systems. The SimCCS software tool can be used to assess the effectiveness of developing regional systems to capture and transport CO₂ for injection into geologic reservoirs. SimCCS determines an optimal geospatial arrangement of CCUS infrastructure by incorporating industrial source and geologic sink locations. Continued development of SimCCS includes the integration of a new cost surface tool, which is an integral part of determining the least-cost system buildout. We present a novel approach for calculating cost surfaces to advance applications of the SimCCS software. In addition, we present results from case studies in basins in the US and China where SimCCS is incorporated into a Science Gateway platform to enable international collaboration for addressing complex system problems and financial risk of technology implementation via application of High Performance Computing cyberinfrastructure.