Economics of carbon dioxide capture and utilization—a supply and demand perspective

Abstract

Lately, the technical research on carbon dioxide capture and utilization (CCU) has achieved important breakthroughs. While single CO2-based innovations are entering the markets, the possible economic effects of a large-scale CO2 utilization still remain unclear to policy makers and the public. Hence, this paper reviews the literature on CCU and provides insights on the motivations and potential of making use of recovered CO2 emissions as a commodity in the industrial production of materials and fuels. By analyzing data on current global CO2 supply from industrial sources, best practice benchmark capture costs and the demand potential of CO2 utilization and storage scenarios with comparative statics, conclusions can be drawn on the role of different CO2 sources. For near-term scenarios the demand for the commodity CO2 can be covered from industrial processes, that emit CO2 at a high purity and low benchmark capture cost of approximately 33 €/t. In the long-term, with synthetic fuel production and large-scale CO2 utilization, CO2 is likely to be available from a variety of processes at benchmark costs of approx. 65 €/t. Even if fossil-fired power generation is phased out, the CO2 emissions of current industrial processes would suffice for ambitious CCU demand scenarios. At current economic conditions, the business case for CO2 utilization is technology specific and depends on whether efficiency gains or substitution of volatile priced raw materials can be achieved. Overall, it is argued that CCU should be advanced complementary to mitigation technologies and can unfold its potential in creating local circular economy solutions.

Integrated CO2 Capture and Utilization Using Non-Thermal Plasmolysis

“…This composition sits well within the range expected as an output from coal fired power stations, for example, found in the UK (Naims, 2016;von der Assen et al, 2016). This PSA system makes use of a cheap and robust solid sorbent, which is based on previously reported poly-ionic liquid sorbents by this group (Supasitmongkol and Styring, 2010;Dowson et al, 2016), which selectively adsorbs CO2 on pressurization of the gas stream.…”

Overcoming Barriers to Successfully Commercializing Carbon Dioxide Utilization

“…The sustainability effect of CO2 utilization is reflected by the fact that the use of CO2 as a raw material may not only be a dooropener for large emission abatement technologies but may also be a potent resource efficiency technology because it feeds CO2 back into the carbon-based economic system Styring et al, 2015;Naims, 2016). Furthermore, CO2-based products such as CO2-based fuel are about to reach larger markets (Aresta et al, 2013) and thereby gaining increasingly importance for sustainability transitions.…”

The Potential for Electrofuels Production in Sweden Utilizing Fossil and Biogenic CO2 Point Sources

“…Zhang and Chen (2014) used a bottomup approach to estimate CO2 emissions from fuel combustion and the main industrial processes at 7.7 Gt CO2 per year in 2008, with coal as the main source. The potential global supply of CO2 from point sources is estimated in Naims (2016). The total estimated global capturable CO2 supply from point sources amount to approximately 12.7 Gton of CO2 (Naims, 2016).…”

“…The potential global supply of CO2 from point sources is estimated in Naims (2016). The total estimated global capturable CO2 supply from point sources amount to approximately 12.7 Gton of CO2 (Naims, 2016). High purity point sources (e.g., fermentation of biomass and ammonia production) and other low cost sources (e.g., bioenergy, natural gas, and hydrogen production) represent in total approximately 0.3 Gton of CO2.…”