CO2 Emission Reduction by Carbon Capture and Storage into Subsurface Reservoirs in Iran

Increase of greenhouse gases in atmosphere has been lead to the biggest environmental challenge of the earth which is known as global warming. Efforts to slow this warming have been focused on issues such as energy management, use of renewable energies, forestation and finally capture and sequestration of CO2 in geological formations which is the most possible option for mitigation of GHG emissions from anthropogenic sources. Acid gas (H2S, CO2) obtained from sweetening of natural gas is considered as a major CO2 source and injection of these gases into subsurface formations has been suggested as a solution to prevent them from releasing to the atmosphere. Iran with vast sour oil and gas reserves and more than 50 power plants is ranked 10th among CO2 emitting countries and therefore is supposed to control emission of GHG as to get prepared for policies which may be implemented by UNFCCC after 2012. In this paper, after a brief introduction to CCS technology, the data base of CO2 emission sources in Iran and high priority emission sources are introduced. The phase behavior studies of acid gas injection into one of Iranian oil reservoirs are given.