Significant cc"U"s in Decarbonisation

Decarbonization literally means?to reduce the levels of Carbon Emissions resulting from any activity or process.

As we feel the warming, use of Air Conditioning in our homes/ offices is an easy option to get isolated by effects of warming. However:

1. The rate of warming since 1981 is more than twice as fast: 0.32° F (0.18° C) per decade.
2. 2022 was the sixth-warmest year on record based on NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) temperature data.

CO2 is a very intelligent molecule; it is invisible and odourless. If CO2 molecule had some colour, we could have seen the daily-increasing CO2 cloud in the atmosphere. Accordingly, actions would have taken on priority basis.

Economic Viability is fundamental to accelerate Energy Transition till the time consequences of excessive CO2 concentration does not become mainstream. The way Acid Rains have created havoc in 1960’s and how quickly De-Sulphurisation units became a part of process.

Let's have a look at Decarbonization options:

1. Process optimisation and utilising Energy efficient process/ equipment has been playing a part to gradually reduce emissions. Considering the CAPEX requirement for replacement with new energy efficient equipment and related OPEX needs to be understood to decide.
2. Renewables are getting economical day by day and are making for majority of new energy generation capacity. However Renewable energy sources are still intermittent, utilities still rely on fossil fuels for the consistent baseline energy. So, renewables can address some part of global CO2 emissions as of now.
3. Circularity by Gas Conditioning and better utilization of in-plant process gases. Process Gas containing CO and H2O can be treated with Water Gas shift reaction to increase CO2 and H2 %age. CO2 can be captured and resultant rich gas can be used for various usage inside plant
4. Fuel Substitution, Industrial electrification: Industrial sectors like Steel, cement, and chemical production as well as Oil, Coal, Gas extraction and Refining — produce 30 percent of global CO2 emissions and 33 percent of methane emissions. Using low-carbon fuels, feedstocks, and energy sources will help in reducing emissions to a limit. Likewise:

i.??Scrap based Steel production by EAF route can bring down CO2 emissions from approx. 2.4 Ton/ TCS to around 0.6 Ton/ TCS.

???ii.??Hydrogen based Steel production by DRI route and transportation.

???iii.??Rooftop solar panels can substitute electricity requirements for buildings, offices and to an extent for plant requirements.

However, where Carbon is an integral part of process like Steel and Cement production, a lot of work needs to be done to replace Carbon. Till we have the replacement for Carbon in the sectors, let us focus on emissions. If we remove CO2 from the fossil-based process, it will be a clean process. Problem is CO2, not the fossils.

5)???Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).

CO2 can be captured as concentrated high-pressure fluid by any capturing method based on the suitability of the emissions/ flue gas composition.

Read about Carbon Capture Technologies: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/carbon-capture-technologies-gaurav-verma/

What to do after capturing CO2? Utilisation of captured CO2 is the important block in the chain which will decide the viability. This?CO2 can be used onsite for internal requirements or can be transported/ utilised for:

1. Production of Methanol/ Chemicals or Biofuels – Commercial scale plants for production of Methanol from CO2 are under construction and are expected to be commissioned soon in parts of world.
2. Building materials aggregates - Aggregates production is a way to mineralize CO2 into synthetic limestone aggregates (expediting natural limestone rock formation process in lab). Construction waste/ debris (Rock particle) is coated in synthetic limestone (CO2 mineralization) forming a carbon sequestering coating and resultant aggregate rock can be used in construction. Considering Real Estate requirements in India's growth, Aggregates can be a worthy option to be looked for CO2 sequestration.
3. Concrete Curing: For precast concrete structures, almost 20 - 25% CO2 can be utilised within the concrete and also reduces the curing time.
4. Injection into depleted Oil Wells for Enhanced Oil Recovery - Injection System Engineering needs to be carried out including CO2 transportation pipelines for large scape transport of CO2 as per the requirements.
5. Injection into an underground reservoir for permanent storage: Geological studies on mapping of basins available for storage needs to be carried out. Geological Storage of CO2 is the lowest CAPEX/ OPEX based option for permanent storage of CO2. Read about Geological Storage - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/geological-storage-co2-gaurav-verma/

Energy Transition take a long time, so the most viable proposition for now is integrating Carbon Capture facilities to the existing industrial set-ups like Steel, Cement, Power plants, refineries, and others.

We should not see Carbon Capture as an individual facility requiring CAPEX but need to consider utilisation of captured CO2 along with to let captured CO2 create an alternate revenue stream. As demand for integrating Carbon Capture facilities is increasing, economics will also improve along the course. From technology perspectives, innovation addressing Speed and Scale of deployment like modularisation of carbon capture units for small industrial facilities will help a lot in implementing Carbon Capture facilities.?

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