CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION: AN INTERESTING SOLUTION TO NIGERIA’S POLLUTION

Abstract

Nigeria has suffered long and hard from the adverse effects of air pollutants left unattended. The latest is the menace of the so-called ‘black soot’, which has plagued the people of Port Harcourt and its environs. This, and many similar dangerous emissions have been directly related by researchers and observers to the release of carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, from various industrial processes. There is thus, the need to act with speed and fervor. Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is an emerging technology in the world today, which seeks to extract excess carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere, and transport this excess carbon to designated sites for sequestration or storage. In this way, the adverse polluting effects of the increase in ambient CO₂ concentration can be mitigated. This study investigates the applicability of post-combustion carbon capture (PCC), one of the more-proven CCS techniques, to the Nigerian pollution situation, the potential cost implications, and the energy penalty that may be incurred from the retrofitting of this technology to the already-existing power plants in order to make for cleaner energy production. The paper also investigates the long-term and short-term impacts of applying PCC technologies on the Nigerian economy.