Evaluation of strategies for the subsequent use of CO₂

Abstract

If substantial amounts of CO₂, which according to actual scenarios may in the future be captured from industrial processes and power generation, shall be utilized effectively, scalable energy efficient technologies will be required. Thus, a survey was performed to assess a large variety of applications utilizing CO₂ chemically (e.g., production of synthesis-gas, methanol synthesis), biologically (e.g., CO₂ as fertilizer in green houses, production of algae), or physically (enhancement of fossil fuel recovery, use as refrigerant). For each of the processes, material and energy balances were set up. Starting with pure CO₂ at standard conditions, expenditure for transport and further process specific treatment were included. Based on these calculations, the avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions by applying the discussed technologies was evaluated. Based on the currently available technologies, applications for enhanced fossil fuel recovery turn out to be most attractive regarding the potential of utilizing large quantities of CO₂ (total capacity > 1000 Gt CO₂) and producing significant amounts of marketable products on one hand and having good energy and material balances on the other hand $\left( {{{t_{CO_2 - emitted} } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{t_{CO_2 - emitted} } {t_{CO_2 - utilized} < 0.2 - 0.4}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {t_{CO_2 - utilized} < 0.2 - 0.4}}} \right)$. Nevertheless, large scale chemical fixation of CO₂ providing valuable products like fuels is worth considering, if carbon-free energy sources are used to provide the process energy and H₂ being essential as a reactant in a lot of chemical processes (e.g., production of DME: ${{t_{CO_2 - emitted} } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{t_{CO_2 - emitted} } {t_{CO_2 - utilized} > 0.34}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {t_{CO_2 - utilized} > 0.34}}$). Biological processes such as CO₂ fixation using micro-algae look attractive as long as energy and CO₂ balance are considered. However, the development of effective photo-bioreactors for growing algae with low requirements for footprint area is a challenge.