Impact of carbon tax on CCUS source-sink matching: Finding from the improved ChinaCCS DSS

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) may play an important role for China to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060. It is of practical significance to identify an optimal CCUS transport infrastructure to connect many CO2 emission sources and storage sinks widely scattered across different areas. There is, however, little research on source-sink matching (SSM) for national-scale CCUS involving different emission industries and different types of storage sinks. To analyse wide CCUS implementation under carbon taxes and CO2 pipeline networks across China in the future, this study estimated the storage potential of 214 onshore oilfields, and conducted nationwide SSM in the Chinese Mainland via the improved ChinaCCS decision support system (DSS). It is found that the CO2 storage potential reaches approximately 3.6 Gt when all onshore oilfields are considered for CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and it reaches approximately 4.6 Gt when all onshore oilfields are regarded as depleted oil reservoirs. In the case of a carbon tax on carbon emissions, a step-like growth in the CO2 capture and storage amount occurs with increasing carbon tax, that is when the carbon tax ranges from $25.74-33.09/t CO2 and $44.12-51.47/t CO2, the CCUS amount rapidly increases, while the CCUS amount remains relatively stable at the other carbon tax levels. When the carbon tax is higher than $51.47/t CO2, all CO2 emission sources fully implement CO2 capture, large complex networks constructed in North, East and Central-South China, where CO2 is sequestered near emission sources. Under the above scenario, the total length of 780 pipelines is 5.03 x 104 km, the average transport distance is 67.85 km, and pipes with diameters of 12 and 16 inches represent the majority. Considering the possibility of implementing CCUS in North, East and South China in the future, it is necessary to further select reasonable CO2 capture sources and storage sinks, while reserving areas for pipeline laying.

Automated summary

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is crucial for China's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. This study highlights the potential of onshore oilfields for CO2 storage and provides insights into nationwide source-sink matching (SSM) using an improved decision support system. The results contribute to the understanding of CCUS implementation and infrastructure planning in China.