Carbon Capture & Storage is the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere. This is compressed into liquid state and pumped underground at depths to be stored in depleted oil & gas fields, coalbeds or deep saline aquifers, based on the geology. The carbon can also be recycled to produce commercially marketable products such as plastics, concrete and biofuels. It can be used in various industries such as power sector, transportation, for making hydrogen and as well as extensively in heavy industries. 

With the aim of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, given the ever increasing energy requirements of the world, switching to as many renewable and sustainable sources of energy is necessary, and CCS to work at scale is a valuable emission mitigation tool. Carbon monoxide is a commodity traded in large volumes across the globe. Technologies & novel formulations such as putting carbon dioxide into concrete & cement manufacturing, electro chemical pathways, electro catalysis and so forth have gained significant market parity today. According to estimates, there is going to be an order of 3-6 billion tonnes a year in the carbon dioxide recycling market.

The first large-scale CCS project began in Norway in 1996 and now there are about 51 such facilities with more than 25 in operation and is a huge step towards decarbonizing industries across the globe. But the capital cost of setting up a CCS is enormous, making it less profitable. The high costs, infrastructure issues, lack of strong regulatory and policy support lead to lack of availability of funds making it commercially unviable for many players. 

Costs have dropped profoundly in the last few years. Technologies have improved in terms of the speed and volume of production and have led to dramatic reductions in the capital cost, in some cases upto 80 to 85 percent drop in the capital cost over the years. There are a number of technologies coming up such as electric string adsorption, usage of electricity voltage to pull CO2 out of solutions or air, cryogenic technology freezing CO2 directly out of flue gas, et al. These technology solutions are mostly electrical and do not need heat, a transition towards small footprint technologies. So as renewable energy gets cheaper over the years, the primary costs of these industries, the source of energy, gets cheaper, hence costs reduce. By-product of most of these technologies is freshwater. In essence, they release fresh water from their operations! 

The Circular Carbon Economy adopted in last year’s G20 Summit, government incentives such as green premium payment policies, tax credits for low carbon policies are some initiatives by different nations. There is a need for stronger policies and carbon regulations as well as creation of a market pull for carbon products, to incentivize research, development and manufacturing in this domain.

There is also an emergence of zero carbon green hydrogen and blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is created using fossil fuels wherein the carbon capture technology prevents the release of carbon dioxide. Green hydrogen is produced using electrolysis powered by renewable energy, and is the cleanest variety producing zero carbon emissions. Although green hydrogen is way cleaner, the infrastructure requirements and exorbitant costs make it less attractive compared to blue hydrogen, which is easily scalable especially in oil and gas industries. Blue hydrogen is definitely not a necessity if we have ready access to production of green hydrogen, but as on date the world’s largest green hydrogen project produces 2.5 tons per day, the largest blue hydrogen plant produces 500 times that size. Production of blue hydrogen in most markets is 2 to 6 times cheaper than that of green hydrogen. We don’t have systems and infrastructure for large scale green hydrogen production as of now but it is there for blue hydrogen. The world requires huge amounts of hydrogen energy, and has to rely on either zero carbon hydrogen or near zero carbon hydrogen. So it is important to build an ecosystem for an aquaculture for the future with both blue and green hydrogen, the ratio of which then would depend on the level of investments, existing industry infrastructure and so on.

The third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after the US and China, India also is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate risks, and has a critical role in reducing emissions and deploying technologies to mitigate the effects of climate change. The country needs to focus on critical decisions such as: Where do we invest? What type of regulatory and support policies should be adopted by the Government? What technology & infrastructure should be used and at what scale? The answers to these questions shall determine the future of India’s path towards a sustainable economy.