The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal

The capture and use of carbon dioxide to create valuable products might lower the net costs of reducing emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Here we review ten pathways for the utilization of carbon dioxide. Pathways that involve chemicals, fuels and microalgae might reduce emis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature (London) Vol. 575; no. 7781; pp. 87 - 97
Main Authors Hepburn, Cameron, Adlen, Ella, Beddington, John, Carter, Emily A., Fuss, Sabine, Mac Dowell, Niall, Minx, Jan C., Smith, Pete, Williams, Charlotte K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 07.11.2019
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
704/106/694/682
704/47/4113
704/844/2175
704/844/843
Agricultural production
Algae
Alternative energy sources
Aquatic microorganisms
Atmosphere
Carbon
Carbon cycle
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations
Carbon dioxide emissions
Carbon dioxide removal
Carbon sequestration
Chemicals
Climate change
Construction materials
Costs
Emissions
Emissions control
Enhanced oil recovery
Gases
Humanities and Social Sciences
Industrial plant emissions
multidisciplinary
Organic chemistry
Perspective
Raw materials
Reforestation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Utilization
Wood products
United States > US
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Summary:The capture and use of carbon dioxide to create valuable products might lower the net costs of reducing emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Here we review ten pathways for the utilization of carbon dioxide. Pathways that involve chemicals, fuels and microalgae might reduce emissions of carbon dioxide but have limited potential for its removal, whereas pathways that involve construction materials can both utilize and remove carbon dioxide. Land-based pathways can increase agricultural output and remove carbon dioxide. Our assessment suggests that each pathway could scale to over 0.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide utilization annually. However, barriers to implementation remain substantial and resource constraints prevent the simultaneous deployment of all pathways. Ten pathways for the utilization of carbon dioxide are reviewed, considering their potential scale, economics and barriers to implementation.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/s41586-019-1681-6