CO2 remedies have both reduced emissions and generated trillions of dollars

CO2 in the air can be converted into concrete or fuel, helping to create a trillion-dollar CO industry.

Carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) is a pollutant that is heating up the atmosphere.

However, few people know that it is also a useful material, input for a variety of industrial processes from plastic to concrete. In basic construction, CO ₂ is a valuable commodity.

As such, maybe we should use it more. Because if industries using CO ₂ are encouraged to increase their use, we can significantly reduce the amount of CO ₂ released into the atmosphere. This is also the basic idea behind carbon capture and use (referred to as CCU), one of the hottest topics on clean energy today.

However, in this article, we are looking at CCU from the perspective of industrial processes. They involve removing CO ₂ from the air or from the emissions of industrial facilities and then concentrating and using it as industrial raw material. Because there are also some natural ways to collect more CO2, like reforestation or carbon sequestration in the soil.

Materials for making construction concrete

Concrete is a mixture of 3 components: a mixture of cement, water and aggregate (rough as rocks, gravel, synthetic materials . or as smooth as sand, grit, crushed stone .). Cement is a fine powder, when activated by water, that binds the aggregate into a hard mixture. And CO ₂ , "accidentally" could be involved in all three.

1. First , aggregates can be created by converting CO ₂ from a gaseous form into a solid mineral carbonate such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3), in a process known as CO ₂ mineralization.
2. Second , CO ₂ can be substituted for water in concrete during mixing, because it can lead to mineralization. And it turns out this can actually make concrete stronger, aside from saving a lot of water.
3. Third , the cement and lime production process involving chemical reactions is sure to release CO ₂ . However, a promising new technology is seeking to tailor the process so that it produces a stream of pure CO ₂ waste that can be easily captured and isolated or reused.

At least in theory, we can imagine pure CO ₂ emissions from the cement production process being captured and then pumped back into the process, when the cement is mixed with CO-based aggregates. ₂ . As such, this spiral will not only reduce emissions but also store semi-permanent carbon (in CO ₂ ). And if they are set up and put into practice in practice, at a price suitable to create large scale, they are likely to lead to carbon sequestration on the scale of billions of tons.

Liquid fuel

Simply put, extract CO ₂ from the air, pass it through chemical processes and create liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Hydrocarbons are organic compounds that consist only of hydrogen and carbon. Oil and gasoline are examples of liquid hydrocarbon fuels.

But if CO ₂ comes from underground mines, then electricity comes from fossil fuels and hydrogen comes from steam decomposition (how to create about 95% of hydrogen today), then this process produces a lot of CO _{2 is} more than treated. So the solution is to take CO ₂ from the air, electricity from renewable energy and hydrogen from solar electrolysis (pull hydrogen directly out of water), this process produces very little CO ₂ .

CO2 recycling plants extract CO ₂ from the air using a huge combination of propellers, and then combine CO ₂ with liquid hydrogen separated from water. Next, combining CO ₂ with hydrogen will produce neutral carbon liquid fuels like gasoline or diesel. This means that users do not have to modify their current engine to use this type of synthetic gasoline.

However, this solution is still in the testing process because the energy cost is still too high, can not be applied on a large scale of the entire industry. The key is creating cheap hydrogen. It is estimated that to achieve a zero CO2 economy, it will need to increase global hydrogen production from the current 60 megatons per year to about 425-650 megatons by the middle of the 21st century.

Chemicals and plastics

Using various catalysts, CO2 can form many chemical intermediates, acting as raw materials in other industrial processes such as methanol, syngas and formic acid.

CO ₂ can also be converted by catalysts into polymers, precursors of resins, adhesives and pharmaceuticals. So far, CO- ₂ polymers are expensive, but plastic is a potential market because pressure from liquid fossil fuels is increasing. And they last for decades to centuries, so this is an opportunity for CO ₂ .

At present, only a few chemical applications of CO ₂ are commercialized on a large scale, including the production of urea and polycarbonate polyols.

Algae

CO ₂ can be used to accelerate the growth of algae, accelerate its absorption process than any other biomass source. And algae have many effects. They can be used as ingredients for food, biofuels, plastics and even carbon fiber.

Future material

CO ₂ can be made into high-performance materials - carbon composites, carbon fibers, graphene - that can replace all materials, from metals to concrete.

For example, the team at C2CNT is using molten electrolysis, to turn CO ₂ directly into carbon nanotubes, which are stronger than steel and highly conductive. They have been used in high-end applications such as jets and some sports cars. And as they become cheaper, there is almost an endless market for this product line. The simplest is to use carbon nanotubes instead of copper in wiring, making them lighter and better conductive.

Next is the replacement of the most commonly used steel, metal in the world, responsible for about 7 to 9% of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. If carbon-based materials could be substituted for steel in practice, that would mean billions of tons of emissions are reduced, not to mention effective permanent carbon sequestration. Of course, the study of this material is still at an early stage and requires a lot of time and solutions to put it into practice.

The future and challenges of CCU

When comparing CCU technologies in terms of cost and potential, the researchers found that the chemical pathway (polyol, urea and methanol) was quite cost-competitive, despite their potential for CO2. is relatively small. The direction of aggregate and materials requires high cost but great value and long-term reduction of CO2. Of course, these figures may change over time, based on the influence of scientific research and solutions, the size of the renewable energy market, the price of hydrogen, as well as the development of the market. schools and supportive policies of major nations.

However, it is undeniable that fuel and aggregate has partly shown its great potential. Estimates show that the total annual turnover of the combined markets may reach from 800 billion to 1.1 trillion USD by 2030.

And no matter how difficult this road is, CCU technologies with the ability to grow into a $ 1 trillion business and help cut 10% of global emissions, are worth We seriously invest and develop.