A Life Cycle Analysis of Incremental Oil Produced via CO2 EOR

Abstract An integrated model was developed that quantitatively evaluates life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) where the CO2 is captured from a coal-fired power plant. The model includes three segments to define a cradle-to-grave system: 1) upstream, 2) gate-to-gate, and 3) downstream GHG emissions. Results show that incremental oil produced from CO2 EOR is a lower-carbon fuel, with an emissions factor lower than current U.S. domestic crude oil or any other oil source. Optimization scenarios based on the CO2 capture rate and net utilization suggest that lower emission factors for incremental oil are possible.

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