Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage

Abstract

Why is CCU an important technology option for Europe? Europe is a world leader when it comes to innovative and key enabling technologies. The chemical and biotechnological industries, and also the processing industry, are strong and major drivers of economic growth. CCU technologies will play a major role in the future when it comes to adapting to the changing raw material market – in the energy sector as well as in the chemical sector. CCU can deliver solutions to major challenges: To support the transition of the energy system towards fluctuating renewable energies, CCU technologies can provide the means for large-scale energy storage with minimal land use requirements. It can also support the transition of the transport sector by providing technologies for clean fuel production from non-fossil sources with an extremely low carbon footprint. A major contribution is, however, the provision of an alternative raw material base for the chemical industry. By developing CO2-based production routes for base chemicals, the dependency on fossil carbon sources of the chemical industry and all subsequent production routes will decrease. Furthermore, as an additional benefit, all these factors also help to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions significantly.