Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage in salt caverns holds promise for China's hard-to-abate sectors

Wei Liu; Xingyu Duan; Liangliang Jiang; Yiwen Ju; Kai Wen; Nanlin Zhang; Aliakbar Hassanpouryouzband; Jifang Wan; Xiang-Zhao Kong

doi:10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2024.100065

The Innovation Energy > 2025 Vol. 2 > No. 1 > 100065

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Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage in salt caverns holds promise for China's hard-to-abate sectors

1.
State key laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
2.
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary AB T2N 4V8, Canada
3.
Key Laboratory of Earth System Numerical Modeling and Application / College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
4.
National Engineering Laboratory for Pipeline Safety, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
5.
Research Center of Coastal and Urban Geotechnical Engineering, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
6.
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
7.
China Energy Digital Technology Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100044, China
8.
Geothermal Energy & Geofluids, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland

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Corresponding authors: jial@ucalgary.ca (L. J.); juyw03@163.com (Y. J.)
Received Date: August 26, 2024

Accepted Date: December 26, 2024

Published Online: December 31, 2024

The Innovation Energy 2(1), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2024.100065 | Cite this article

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. The concept of CCES is proposed by combining CCUS and CAES.
  
  The feasibility of CCES was evaluated, including stability and tightness.
  
  Site selection criteria and suggestions for CCES are proposed.
  
  The installed capacity of CCES salt caverns in China can reach 46.62-69.93 GW.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is an effective technology for grid-scale peak shaving, while Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) plays a crucial role in carbon reduction. As China strives to peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 faces significant challenges, especially for the hard-to-abate sectors pose significant challenges. Building on the principles of CAES and CCUS, this paper introduces a novel approach: Compressed Carbon Energy Storage (CCES), , which integrates CAES and CCUS. CCES uses salt caverns to store compressed supercritical CO₂ instead of air. This study explores the feasibility of CCES in salt caverns, addressing stability, tightness, containment, site selection, and capacity potential in China. Key findings include: 1) CCES, an advanced version of CAES, offers doubles the installed capacity compared to traditional CAES by combining the benefits of both CAES and CCUS benefits. 2) CCES salt caverns in typical bedded salt formations can maintain stability and integrity for 100 years. 3) Optimal cavern depths for supercritical CO₂ storage range 800-1500 m, with a minimum cavern volume of 25 × 10⁴ m³ for a capacity of at least 300 MW. 4) CO₂ storage in salt caverns offers better tightness compared to air, methane (CH₄), and hydrogen (H₂), with an interlayer permeability threshold of ≤ 1.0 × 10^–18 m² for adequate tightness. 5) Potential CCES sites in China have been identified, with preliminary estimates suggesting a total capacity of 46.62-69.93 GW and theoretical capacity of up to 280 million tons of CO₂ for China’s hard-to-abate sectors.

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Liu W., Duan X., Jiang L., et al. (2025). Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage in salt caverns holds promise for China's hard-to-abate sectors. The Innovation Energy 2:100065. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2024.100065

Liu W., Duan X., Jiang L., et al. (2025). Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage in salt caverns holds promise for China's hard-to-abate sectors. The Innovation Energy 2:100065. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2024.100065

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Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage in salt caverns holds promise for China's hard-to-abate sectors

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