Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: Advances made by Sinopec and future prospects

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) has emerged as a critical technology for addressing climate change and achieving net-zero emissions. Since the 1980s, Sinopec has actively advanced research and development (R&D) across the entire innovation chain of CCUS. The company has established multiple large pilot-scale testing platforms, including a kiloton-scale carbon capture unit and industrial loops for pipeline transportation of CO 2 , thereby forming a comprehensive CCUS technical system. Sinopec has completed million-tonne-scale CCUS demonstrating project, achieving industrialization and large-scale application of CCUS nationwide. To treat low-partial-pressure flue gas, process gas, and high-concentration tail gas, Sinopec has developed efficient capture technologies based on chemical absorption, hot potassium carbonate process, and cryogenic rectification. Furthermore, the company has developed long-distance supercritical CO 2 (SC-CO 2 ) pipeline transport technology and constructed China’s first hundred-kilometer-scale high-pressure pipeline. For low-permeability oil reservoirs characterized by poor physical properties and strong heterogeneity, Sinopec has innovatively developed the theory of CO 2 high-pressure miscible flooding and associated technologies, including CO 2 flooding, producing gas recovery factor, and safety assessment for CO 2 geological storage, ensuring prolonged and safe storage of CO 2 . However, CCUS still faces challenges including high technical costs, limited integration, and difficulties in source-sink matching. To overcome these challenges, it is essential to accelerate technical iterations and cluster development, establish multi-scenario coordinated developmental patterns, and promote the large-scale commercial applications of CCUS. • A full-chain CCUS technology system has been established. • Sinopec completed China's first million-tonne-scale CCUS project. • The CO 2 high-pressure miscible flooding theory has been developed.