Comment & Debate
IPCC has provided estimates of air emissions from various CCS plant designs (see table below). While CO2 is drastically reduced (though never completely captured), emissions of air pollutants increase significantly, generally due to the energy penalty of capture. Hence, the use of CCS entails a reduction in air quality.
Mark Disendorf, PhD, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales, stated the following in his 2006 article “Can Geosequestration Save the Coal Industry?” published in Transforming Power: “Geosequestration offers the possibility of capturing and storing 80-90% of CO2 emitted from new coal-fired power stations in the long term. However, it would not reduce significantly any of the other environmental, health or social impacts of coal-fired electricity… namely air and water pollution, high water use, land degradation, occupation health and safety hazards.”