What is the Utilization of CO2?

CO2 utilization refers to the processes that convert carbon dioxide into economically valuable products or the use of CO2 in various industrial applications. This approach is recognised for its potential to mitigate climate change by reducing the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.

As summarised in another blog, “How do we Remove the 13%+ of Global Emissions Which Cannot be Tackled Using Traditional Methods“,  to achieve global net zero for ‘difficult’ CO2 emissions in the long term, up to 10 billion tonnes a year needs to be captured from the atmosphere and utilized.

Current Utilization of CO2

We use approximately 230 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide annually. The largest consumer is the fertiliser industry where 130Mt of CO2 is used followed by the oil and gas industry at 80Mt for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). The remainder of 20Mt is used in the food and beverage industry, metal fabrication, cooling, fire suppression and for stimulating plant growth in greenhouses. CO2 from the air can be substituted for about 100Mt annually of this usage.

We need action at government policy level to encourage the use of recycled carbon in these applications.

Future Uses of CO2

The most promising areas of usage are:

Building materials

CO2 can be used in the production of building materials, such as cement, and has the potential to enhance the product quality and to sequester CO2 for millennia. With a favourable regulatory environment and investment by industry and research partners, this usage could reach up to 1.4 billion tonnes (Gt) per annum by 2050.

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

Due to the fact that most oil wells don’t have a convenient source of CO2, there is a significant potential to expand its usage with carbon from DAC thereby achieving net zero carbon emissions with this technology. While fossil fuels continue to be needed, CO2 can be used for EOR at the same time sequestering large amounts of CO2 for centuries. This usage could reach up to 1.8 Gt/year.

CO2 as a fuel

Combining hydrogen with CO2 can produce hydrocarbon fuels and replace fossil fuels for high energy applications e.g. shipping, heavy duty vehicles and aviation. For these fuels to be economically viable we need a cheap source of hydrogen. Ideally, regulators would mandate the use of off-peak or surplus electricity for the production of hydrogen. This would allow us eliminate fossil sourced fuels and utilize up to 4.2 Gt CO2/year.

CO2 as a new material

Carbon nanotubes and graphene are some of the latest man-made materials which are currently used in specialised applications. The availability of large volumes of CO2 allows for the possibility of using carbon fibres for industrial wiring and the widespread replacement of steel and concrete by carbon composites.

Sequestration of CO2

There are many areas with mineral rich soils in the world that have the potential to hold much more carbon than at present. This is an area that grass-rich/forest-rich countries like Ireland need to explore with the soil scientists locally to investigate and realise the potential for this area of CO2 sequestration. Worldwide, up to 1.9 Gt/year could be sequestered with additional benefits of enhanced agricultural yields. (See: What is Carbon Sequestration?)

Conclusion

We can do something about climate change and help lead the world in the area of carbon capture and usage. We need active policies for carbon capture and reuse/sequestration which encourages investment by industry and academia to achieve the targets set out above. The window to impact climate change is closing and we need action now.

 

Interested in carbon capture technology?

Contact the NEG8 Carbon Team

 

 

 

Sources used in this blog include:
www.iea.org
www.energypost.eu/10-carbon-capture-methods-compared-costs-scalability-permanence-cleanness
www.neonscience.org/observatory/observatory-blog/what-role-do-deep-soil-minerals-play-carbon-storage