![]() ![]() This definition has its historical reasons, but it is not the only kind of CO2 utilisation. CO2 is either transformed using chemical reactions into materials, chemicals and fuels, or it is used directly in processes such as enhanced oil recovery. What is CO2 utilisation?Ĭonventionally, “ CO2 utilisation” is an industrial process that makes an economically valuable product using CO2 at concentrations above atmospheric levels. Our study is the most comprehensive to date on the relative scale and costs of different ways to use CO2. ![]() In a new Nature perspective, we set out to pin down what CO2 utilisation is, how it might relate to CO2 removals and emission reductions, and whether such technologies are profitable or scalable.Īs a team, we represent economists, engineers, chemists, soil scientists and climate modellers – the whole spectrum of views on utilisation. Claims of “ CO2 avoided”, “ CO2 removed” or “ reduced CO2 emissions” are easily confusable, and corporations and governments are starting to invest in various candidate technologies without having the big picture to hand. But opinions on CO2 utilisation veer between scepticism and enthusiasm. The idea has resurfaced on the wave of circular economic thinking, triggered by climate concerns and with a view towards incentivising carbon capture. These uncertainties need to be resolved fast as there will be no successful Transition without successful CCUS.Ĭan we turn CO2, the waste gas largely responsible for global warming, into a valuable feedstock? The question first emerged in the oil crisis of the 1970s, when alternatives to scarce oil were being sought. But, in a similar vein, there are large uncertainties too over scalability, the permanence of the capture, and the cleanness of the future energy mix being used to power certain methods. The authors point out their costs are likely to be overestimates: predicting technological breakthroughs over future decades is far from easy. ![]() It matters because the closer each is to becoming a profitable business the sooner it will happen. Four are not (yet?!): CO2 fuels, microalgae, bioenergy with CCS ( BECCS), enhanced weathering. They say there are six that can be cost competitive and profitable soon, even now: CO2 chemicals, concrete building materials, CO2- EOR, forestry, soil carbon sequestration, biochar. CO2-EOR, synfuels) to the biological (e.g. In their list the authors, Ella Adlen and Cameron Hepburn at the University of Oxford, cover the industrial (e.g. To do so, this article looks at 10 methods and estimates how much CO2 each will take out of the atmosphere by 2050, and the cost per tonne. We need to understand carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS) better. ![]()
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