Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilisation

New and environmentally friendly technologies are currently being developed, including solar panels, wind turbines, batteries for electric vehicles, power-to-X and carbon capture, utilisation and storage. All of these are essential technologies for our present and future, but to reach the goals countries have pledged under the Paris Agreement, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is the only technology radical enough to have an impact as rapid as required17. We are still dependent on the energy from fossil fuels, and the process industry needs time to develop new production methods18. Therefore, carbon capture and storage is important to limit man-made climate change. Several pilot-projects are being done in this field, and there is common consensus that this is a necessary technology for our immediate future. Across the studies being done, there is a great need for large spaces and heavy machinery, therefore either existing factory or industrial structures are utilised, or small scale prototypes of the infrastructure are being built independently for efficiency testing. To this day the technology only exists as an experiment and testing facilities at selected industrial plants.

Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is first and foremost the process of plants and trees pulling carbon dioxide out of the air, binding it up in sugar and releasing oxygen. This is one of the most essential technologies we have. Modern technology has developed more efficient methods based on catching and storing CO2 from the atmosphere, or directly from a polluting industrial plant. After the CO2 is caught it is either transported to storage facilities utilising empty oil-tanks - left dry as a result of an aggressive oilindustry - and pumped two to three kilometers underground into bedrock. Until now the technology is only tested and used in close relation to existing industries, but research shows there is potential for the industry to even Utilise (U) the material caught, exploring the possibilities of creating new materials such as bricks or energy from the waste.

“...resource flows, formerly treated as waste, can become raw materials for other industries”

Hiromi Hosoya and Markus Schaefer, 202119

17 Sky News UK. 2020. “Climate Change: Seven Technology Solutions That Could Help Solve Crisis,” September 11, 2020. https://news.sky.com/story/climate-change-seven-technologysolutions-that-couldhelp- solve-crisis-12056397. 18 Caineng Zou, Qun Zhao, Guosheng Zhang, Bo Xiong. 2015. “Energy Revolution: From a Fossil Energy Era to a New Energy Era.” Science Direct, KeAi Chinese Roots Global Impact. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2352854016300109. 19 Hiromi Hosoya and Markus Schaefer, ed. 2021. The Industrious City - Urban Industry in the Digital Age. Lars Müller Publishers. p 46

To show an analogy between other early technologies which have developed exponentially, may look at solar cells and the photovoltaic effect. Solar cells were discovered as early as the 1800s,further researched, and finally in 1954 presented as a solar panel of cells that relied exclusively on light power, running a 21-inch Ferris wheel as a proof of concept. Later solar panels have evolved to be an integrated part of our lives, creating jobs, a major source for renewable energy, and is becoming both affordable and accessible. Researchers at MIT have now demonstrated the thinnest, lightest solar cells ever produced, which are 400 times more energy efficient than today's standardised panels20. Similarly, it is predicted the carbon capture technology will double its efficiency in only a few more years of development.

Carbon Capture process diagram21

20 Chandler, David L. 2016. “Solar Cells as Light as a Soap Bubble.” MIT News Office. https:// news.mit.edu/2016/ultrathin-flexible-solar-cells-0226. 21 “About CCUS.” 2021. IEA - Technology Report. https://www.iea.org/reports/about-ccus.

Photographs: Climeworks opens the world's largest carbon-capture facility in Iceland22 .

22 Judge, Peter. 2021. “Climeworks Opens the World’s Largest Carbon-Capture Facility in Iceland.” Data Center Dynamics. https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/climeworksopens-the-worlds-largest-carbon-capture-facility-in-iceland/.