本文转自《Omaha World -Herald 》发布的题为“Carbon from coal, ethanol plant emissions could be stored underground in Nebraska”的报道。

作者：Aaron Sanderford / World-Herald staff writer

日期：2018.07.20

原文链接：https://www.omaha.com/news/plus/carbon-storage-could-be-coming-to-nebraska/article_3389f6a2-7759-57ac-8d0a-689b69bdd9bd.html

The Nebraska Public Power District will take part in a federal study to develop ways to safely and economically collect and store the carbon produced by coal-fired power plants and ethanol plants.

内布拉斯加州公共能源区将参与一项联邦研究，以开发安全、且经济的收集和储存燃煤电厂和乙醇厂生产的碳的方法。

The two-year U.S. Department of Energy study, focused on testing the viability of creating regional storage hubs for captured carbon, will cost NPPD ratepayers about $750,000 in in-kind work, but will unlock more than $13 million in federal funds, NPPD says.

NPPD表示，为期两年的美国能源部研究项目的重点是，测试创建碳捕集区域和存储中心的可行性，这将花费NPPD纳税人大约75万美元进行实物工作，但将为联邦基金提供超过1300万美元的资金。

NPPD has for years worked with the Energy Department on a related study of how to capture carbon emissions from Unit 2 at Nebraska’s largest coal-fired power plant, Gerald Gentleman Station, near Sutherland, Nebraska. Design work is expected to wrap up in 2019, NPPD says.

NPPD多年来一直与能源部合作，研究如何在内布拉斯加州最大的燃煤电厂——靠近内布拉斯加州萨瑟兰的杰拉尔德绅士站(Gerald Gentleman Station）的2号机组中捕集碳排放。 NPPD表示，设计工作预计在2019年结束。

Carbon capture is scientific shorthand for pulling carbon dioxide from the smokestacks and emissions of factories and other industrial sites, a costly process that is becoming less expensive over time.

碳捕获技术是将二氧化碳从烟囱及工厂和其他工业场所排放出来的一种科学方法，这是一个成本高昂的过程，但随着时间的推移变得越来越便宜。

Supporters of the technology point to the massive Petra Nova power plant in Thompsons, Texas, where engineers have figured out a way to cut the carbon emissions of part of a single coal-fired unit by 90 percent.

该技术的支持者指出，在德克萨斯州Thompsons的大型Petra Nova电厂，工程师们已经找到了将单个燃煤机组部分碳排放量减少90％的方法。

That project’s success was instrumental in congressional passage this year of expanded federal tax credits for carbon capture.

该项目的成功有助于今年国会通过扩大碳捕获的联邦税收抵免。

The federal interest in captured carbon appears aimed at extending the use of fossil fuels while keeping more of the damaging byproducts of burning them from entering the atmosphere and contributing to a changing climate.

联邦政府对捕获的碳的兴趣似乎是为了扩大化石燃料的使用，同时防止更多燃烧化石燃料所产生的有害副产品进入大气层并导致气候变化。

Both studies dovetail with the Trump administration policy of protecting the economic competitiveness of coal-fired power plants. The newest also could connect carbon-emitting ethanol plants to the new carbon storage hubs.

这两项研究都与特朗普管理的保护燃煤电厂经济竞争力的政策相吻合。 最新的技术还可以将碳排放乙醇工厂连接到新的碳储存中心。

The carbon could be injected into the ground and stored in the pores of the rock formations that form salt water reservoirs at sites near existing oil wells in Red Willow County in southwest Nebraska and Kearny County in southwest Kansas, federal documents show.

联邦文件显示，碳可以注入地下并储存在岩层的孔隙中，这些岩层在内布拉斯加州西南部的红柳县和堪萨斯州西南部的卡尼县的现有油井附近的地点形成盐水库。

The federal funding announcement mentions the possibility of siting the Nebraska carbon storage in one of the most productive oilfields in Nebraska, Sleepy Hollow, which is east of McCook and southwest of Bartley.

联邦政府的资金声明提到了在内布拉斯加州最高产油田之一Sleepy Hollow碳储存的可能性，Sleepy Hollow位于McCook东部和Bartley西南部。

This part of Red Willow County is sparsely populated, perhaps a farm every square mile, said Jacqueline Riener, a County Board member and former environmental engineer who lives in McCook.

位于McCook的县委员会成员兼前环境工程师Jacqueline Riener说，红柳县的这一部分人口稀少，每平方英里可能是一个农场。

In Texas, carbon dioxide captured from Petra Nova is injected into oil wells to boost their productivity, the New York Times reports. The same might be possible in Nebraska.

据纽约时报报道，在德克萨斯州，Petra Nova捕获的二氧化碳被注入油井，以提高其生产力。 内布拉斯加州可能也是如此。

The main environmental risks of carbon dioxide injection concern whether it can be held below ground over time or whether it will leak out due to geologic shifts or for other reasons, said Adam Liska, a professor of biological systems engineering and program coordinator for the energy science minor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

二氧化碳注入的主要环境风险是关于它是否可以随时间保持在地下或由于地质变化或其他原因是否会泄漏，内布拉斯加大学林肯分校生物系统工程教授和能源科学项目协调员Adam Liska说。

Unlike fracking, which produces wastewater that contains toxic chemicals, carbon dioxide injections should be safer, he said. They also shouldn’t cause earthquakes, he said.

他说，与生产含有有毒化学物质的废水的水力压裂技术不同，二氧化碳注入应该更安全。 他说，他们也不应该引发地震。

Riener, the County Board member, said, “I don’t think anybody out here is going to have a problem as long as we don’t believe it’s going to hurt us. As long as the environmental regulators watch everything and as long as everybody does their jobs.”

县委员会成员Riener说：“我认为，只要我们不相信这会伤害我们，就不会有任何问题。 只要环境监管机构观察一切，只要每个人都做好自己的工作。“

She and Steve Downer, another member of the Red Willow County Board, said they hadn’t yet heard of the study. Downer, of Cambridge, said he had heard that the ethanol plant near Trenton, Neb., was exploring carbon capture.

她和红柳县委员会的另一名成员Steve Downer说，他们还没有听说过这项研究。 剑桥的Downer说，他听说内布拉斯加州特伦顿附近的乙醇工厂正在探索碳捕获。

Midwestern ethanol plants have been seeking ways to sell more of the biofuel in California, where environmental regulations require manufacturers to prove that their product is produced in carbon-sensitive ways.

中西部的乙醇工厂一直在寻求在加利福尼亚销售更多生物燃料的方法，在那里环境法规要求制造商证明他们的产品是以碳敏感的方式生产的。

Also of note, the description of the new carbon storage study mentions the possibility of one day using pipelines to connect Nebraska coal-fired power plants and ethanol plants as far east as the large Cargill plant in Blair.

同样值得注意的是，新碳储存研究的描述提到有一天可能会使用管道将内布拉斯加州的燃煤发电厂和乙醇厂连接到布莱尔的大型嘉吉工厂。

Under the idea being studied, such pipelines might one day reach east of the Missouri River, connecting power and ethanol plants in Iowa and Illinois to regional commercial carbon storage hubs in Nebraska and Kansas.

根据正在研究的想法，这些管道有一天可能会到达密苏里河以东，将爱荷华州和伊利诺伊州的电力和乙醇工厂连接到内布拉斯加州和堪萨斯州的区域商业碳储存中心。

That portion of the study, however, aims to identify the geographic boundaries of land capable of storing carbon at a commercial scale, said Andrew Duguid, lead researcher for the group handling the study, Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio.

然而，研究的这一部分旨在确定能够以商业规模储存碳的土地的地理边界，负责该研究的小组的首席研究员，俄亥俄州哥伦布市Battelle纪念研究所的Andrew Duguid说。

NPPD’s part of the study would require the utility to drill a well at Gentleman Station in 2019 to help researchers find the northern boundary of a corridor where researchers think carbon can be stored.

NPPD的研究部分将要求公用事业公司在2019年在绅士站钻井，以帮助研究人员找到研究人员认为可以储存碳的走廊的北部边界。

NPPD, based in Columbus, Nebraska, produces power for 46 communities and 25 smaller rural utilities across Nebraska, along with delivering retail electricity for 80 other communities. About 45 percent of its power in 2017 came from coal, per its annual report.

NPPD总部位于内布拉斯加州哥伦布市，为内布拉斯加州的46个社区和25个较小的农村公用事业公司提供电力，同时为其他80个社区提供零售电力。 根据其年度报告，2017年约45％的电力来自煤炭。

“We’ve been looking at carbon capture all along,” NPPD spokesman Mark Becker said. “This is another step forward in that process of de-carbonizing our facilities, looking for ways we can do that.”

“我们一直在关注碳捕获，”NPPD发言人Mark Becker说。 “这是我们对设施进行去碳化处理的又一步，寻找我们可以做到的方法。”