CO2 Valorisation: Enablers for Carbon Capture

Burgeoning pressure to limit greenhouse gas emissions is transforming the way businesses operate. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is among the prominent greenhouse gases contributing to escalate global warming. The holistic process of capturing and recycling CO2 irrespective of its emission sources, comprising automobiles, wildfire, livestock, industries, fossil fuel combustion for residential and commercial purposes, etc., is known as carbon capture & utilisation (CCU). However, CO2 valorisation involves extraction and utilisation of CO2 and carbon monoxide gases, specifically emitted as industrial waste. 

As per the data published by the 2041 Foundation, around 2.3 trillion tonnes of CO2 have been released into the atmosphere since the commencement of the industrial era. Almost half of this enormous volume has already been stored in geological, biological, and hydrological sources via carbon sequestration, with the remainder suspended in the atmosphere. This has resulted in a rapid and persistent increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 from 275 parts per million (ppm) in 1750 to 415 ppm in 2020. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the industrial sector emitted 24 percent of the total volume of greenhouse gases emitted by all established sectors in the US from 2019 to 2020.  

In December 2015, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius officially unveiled the Paris Agreement-a legally binding international accord on climate change signed by 196 Parties with the common objective of limiting the impact of global warming. Moreover, several nations are drafting and imposing stringent environmental guidelines for industries to promote the capture and recycling of gas in an efficient mode as an attempt to control the rising CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. 

By employing valorisation approaches, CO2 can be extensively used in manufacturing valuable combustible compounds, such as alcohols, methane, synthetic fuels, etc. If executed efficiently, these approaches can revolutionise the energy sector, opening avenues toward an unexplored segment of the gigantic renewable energy market. 

Besides the energy sector, CO2 has widespread applications in other industries. 

• In the agriculture sector, crop yield can be increased significantly by maintaining the levels of CO2 in the vegetative area, which can be accomplished by directly releasing captured CO2 into the surroundings. Moreover, carbon is a key ingredient in urea fertiliser. Thus, captured CO2 can be utilised as a carbon source in fertiliser production. 
• Captured CO2 can be effectively consumed or utilised in the building & construction sector. CO2 gas can be converted into mineralised form by binding it with magnesium or calcium to form bricks, or it can be incorporated into cement. 
• Captured CO2 can be recycled in the plastics industry by substituting fossil fuels and come ahead as a key carbon source for producing wide-ranging plastic polymers such as polypropylene carbonates, polyurethane, and polycarbonates. 
• Captured CO2 plays a vital role in the beverage industry, as it can be used as an apt source in manufacturing fizzy or carbonated drinks, which is an excellent way of recycling compressed gas. 

Most of the challenges associated with valorisation are based on the source of CO2. Some of the impediments include wide-ranging carbon capture and transportation cost, technological complexities, energy intensity input, and the duration of CO2 immobilisation. IEA has published the estimated CO2 capture cost from various sources. Capturing carbon through natural gas processing would cost 15 to 25 USD per tonne. However, capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere is the most complicated and expensive approach, with an extraction expense of 134 to 342 USD per tonne. 

To cut annual emissions of greenhouse gases, industries are engrossed in developing and swiftly adopting cost-effective approaches to capture & treat released CO2. The basic yet highly effective principle behind any such approach is the integration of emitted CO2 in the production processes. For instance, Covestro, a German-based high-tech polymer materials manufacturer and supplier, has adopted an innovative approach of utilising captured CO2 to manufacture sustainable foams, Cardyon®. In addition, compared to the conventional method of manufacturing isocyanate: a crucial component in flexible foam, just 40 percent of the energy is consumed through Covestro’s gas phase technology. 

Ingenious e-Brain Solutions (IEBS) anticipates that reaching net zero by 2050 would require rapid deployment of available low-carbon technologies as well as the widespread use of technologies that are not on the market yet; CO2 capture volume is expected to increase marginally over the next ten years from the current level of 40 MtCO2 per year. We believe international collaboration & substantial investment in innovation will drive down the cost and accelerate the deployment of CCU at large-scale. The overall market for CO2 utilisation is relatively small and will remain a niche market; Most of the captured CO2 will be sequestered rather than utilised due to the emergence of early buyers' options for carbon offsetting. 

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