How to utilize CO₂?

Synthetic fuels

Captured carbon dioxide, in combination with hydrogen produced from green sources, could be used as feedstock for various types of liquid fuels. 

Burning these fuels in airplanes, for instance, would provide substantial climate benefits over traditional kerosene. 

Using synthetic fuel could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from marine vessels.

The largest plant currently in operation is the George Olah facility in Iceland, which converts around 5,600 tons of CO₂ per year into methanol using hydrogen produced from renewable electricity (CRI, 2019).

Chemicals

Captured carbon dioxide could be used to substitute for fossil-derived inputs to a number of everyday materials, including plastic, fiber and synthetic rubber. 

Climate benefits would endure as long as the material does not degrade, ensuring that the carbon dioxide remains sequestered in the end product.

Building materials

Captured carbon dioxide could be used to substitute for various inputs at numerous stages of the production of different building materials, thereby sequestering it away indefinitely. 

One of the most promising applications could see it replace the water used in traditional concrete mixtures.

Biofuel

Some companies are using captured carbon dioxide to supercharge the growth of living organisms like algae, which could then themselves be burned for fuel. 

Climate benefits could be substantial, especially if the carbon dioxide released while burning the biofuel is, itself, captured.

• Several industries today use carbon dioxide as a raw input for a variety of products and processes. According to the IEA, top uses for the carbon dioxide include fertilizer and enhanced oil recovery, while applications in food and beverage, healthcare and materials also claim significant market share. Worldwide demand for carbon dioxide is predicted to grow by more than 7% per year to 2030.

• The expanding range of use cases for carbon dioxide could help make the economics of CCUS hubs feasible. Several nascent use-cases could lead to lower- or zero-emitting options to business-as-usual, particularly in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like aviation. 

• In the IEA Sustainable Development Scenario, in which global CO2 emissions from the energy sector fall to zero on a net basis by 2070, CCUS accounts for nearly 15% of the cumulative reduction in emissions compared with the Stated Policies Scenario. The contribution of CCUS grows over time as the technology improves, costs fall and cheaper abatement options in some sectors are exhausted. In 2070, 10.4 Gt of CO2 is captured from across the energy sector.

• The initial focus of CCUS is on retrofitting existing fossil fuel-based power and industrial plants as well as lower-cost CO2 capture opportunities such as hydrogen production. Over time, the focus shifts to bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC) for carbon removal and as a source of climate-neutral CO2 for use in various applications, particularly synthetic fuels.

• By 2070, the power sector accounts for around 40% of the captured CO2, almost half of it linked to bioenergy. Around one-quarter of the CO2 captured in 2070 is in heavy industry, where emissions are hard or – in the case of process emissions in cement – currently impossible to abate in other ways. Another 30% is in the production of hydrogen, ammonia and biofuels. A further 7% comes from DAC.

• Low-carbon hydrogen plays a key role in decarbonizing transport, industry, buildings and power generation in the Sustainable Development Scenario, with global hydrogen demand increasing seven-fold to 520 Mt by 2070. Hydrogen is used in a wide range of new applications as an alternative to current fuels and raw materials, including as a transport fuel for cars, trucks and ships, as an input for chemicals and steel making, to produce heat in buildings and industry, and for energy storage to balance the variability of renewables in the power sector. The direct use of hydrogen in transport, buildings, industry, and power generation accounts for two-thirds of hydrogen demand in 2070, while nearly a quarter is used to produce synthetic hydrocarbon fuels and 10% is converted into ammonia as a fuel for the shipping sector. Ammonia produced from natural gas with CCS covers more than a third of fuel needs in the shipping sector in 2070.

• By 2070, low-carbon hydrogen production from fossil fuels with CCUS accounts for 40% of global hydrogen production or around 210 Mt (600 Mtoe) – nearly 500 times more than the total hydrogen capacity with CCUS in operation today. Around 1.9 Gt of CO2 is captured and stored from hydrogen production in that year, representing around 18% of all CO2 being captured globally in 2070.