Carbon Capture and Utilisation Technologies

• 25 Feb 2022

For Prelims: CCUS Technologies, Paris Agreement.

For Mains: CCUSTechnologies, Applications, Net Zero emissions by 2050, Environment Degradation, Conservation.

Why in News?

According to a study conducted by Radboud University, most Carbon Capture and Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies, which suck carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and convert it into fuel or other valuable products, might fail to help the world reach Net Zero emissions by 2050.

• The study noted that a majority of these systems are energy intensive and the resultant product can also release CO₂ into the atmosphere.
• ‘Net zero emissions’ refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere.

What are CCUS?

• Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) encompasses methods and technologies to remove CO₂ from the flue gas and from the atmosphere, followed by recycling the CO₂ for utilization and determining safe and permanent storage options.
• CO₂ captured using CCUS technologies is converted into fuel (methane and methanol), refrigerants and building materials.
  • The captured gas is used directly in fire extinguishers, pharma, food and beverage industries as well as the agricultural sector.
• CCUS technologies can play an important role in meeting net zero targets, including as one of few solutions to tackle emissions from heavy industry and to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
• CCUS is considered an important tool to help countries halve their emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050.
  • These goals are crucial to meet the Paris Agreement targets for restricting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (°C), and preferable to 1.5°C, over pre-industrial levels.

What are Applications of CCUS?

• Mitigating Climate Change: Despite the adoption of alternative energy sources and energy efficient systems to reduce the rate of CO₂ emissions, the cumulative amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere needs to be reduced to limit the detrimental impacts of climate change.
• Agriculture: Capturing CO₂ from biogenic sources such as plants and soil to boost crop growth in a greenhouse could work.
• Industrial Use: Combining CO₂ with steel slag - an industrial byproduct of the steel manufacturing process — to make construction materials compatible with the Paris Agreement goals.
• Enhanced Oil Recovery: CCU is already making inroads into India. For instance, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation signed a MoU with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) by injecting CO₂.

What are the Challenges associated with CCUS?

• Expensive: Carbon capture involves the development of sorbents that can effectively bind to the CO₂ present in flue gas or the atmosphere, which is expensive.
• Lesser Demand for Recycled CO₂: Converting CO₂ into useful chemicals of commercial importance, or utilizing CO₂ for oil extraction or remediation of alkaline industrial wastes, would add economic value to this greenhouse gas.
  • However, the demand for CO₂ is limited compared to the vast amount of CO₂ that needs to be removed from the atmosphere, to reduce the detrimental environmental impacts of climate change.

Way Forward

• Any viable system for storing carbon must be effective and cost competitive, stable as long-term storage, and environmentally benign.
• Countries should narrow down on the handful of technologies that show more promise and channel investment in them.
• Replacing a conventional fuel with a synthetic fuel like methanol produced via CCU is likely to be a successful mitigation strategy only if clean energy is used to capture CO₂ and convert it into synthetic fuel.

Source: DTE