Much has been said about CCUS – carbon capture, utilisation, and storage. The need to decarbonise is clear.
Renewable power generation and green hydrogen may do much of the heavy lifting when they scale up in the coming decades, but there are legacy assets that must also be decarbonised and there are several processes which will be used in the short and long-term future that release CO2 (carbon dioxide) from within the process chemistry. For example: CO2 is released from sand and rocks during glass, lime and cement-making.
The benefit of capturing CO2 emissions before they reach the atmosphere and cause global warming is widely accepted. But the possibility to store CO2 underground in depleted gas fields or saline aquifers in so-called CCS schemes relies heavily on having the right sub-surface geological conditions. In addition to geological constraints, public opinion and political will must also be aligned before underground CO2 storage can be considered as a sequestration method.
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