For a CCUS pathway to be viable there needs to be a confluence of ‘some kind of economic motivation, together with some degree of climate mitigation potential’. These pathways have the top-end potential to utilise more than 10 billion tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) annually compared to global emissions of 40GtCO2 ‘for less than $100 per tonne’. The factors effecting the efficiency of such technologies include energy intensity, the broader decarbonisation context, scale and permanence.
Forestry
Timber from both new and existing forests is an economically valuable product that could store CO2 in buildings and potentially displace cement use.
CO2 chemicals
Reducing CO2 to its constituent components using catalysts and chemical reactions to build products such as methanol, urea or polymers.
CO2 fuels
Combining hydrogen with CO2 to produce hydrocarbon fuels, including methanol, synfuels and syngas, could address a huge market.
CO2-enhanced oil recovery
Injecting CO2 into oil wells can increase the production of oil.
Microalgae
Processing biomass to make products such as fuels and high-value chemicals.
Bioenergy with carbon capture storage (BECCS)
Capturing CO2 by growing trees, producing electricity through bioenergy and sequestering the resulting emissions.
Enhanced weathering
Crushing rocks, such as basalt, and spreading them on land can result in the accelerated formation of stable carbonate from atmospheric CO2.
Concrete building materials
CO2-cured cement stores some CO2 for the long term and could displace emissions-intensive conventional cement.
Soil carbon sequestration
Land management techniques for soil carbon sequestration can not only store CO2 in the soil but also enhance agricultural yields.
Biochar
Biomass that has been burnt at high temperature under low oxygen levels. Application to agricultural soils could increase crop yields by 10%.
