In an industrial CCS system, the enzyme can be used as a catalyst to quickly, cheaply and efficiently absorb carbon with minimal energy expenditure, the company claimed. This enzyme exists in all living organisms and efficiently manages carbon dioxide during respiration. CO2 Solutions takes an alternative approach by using a powerful carbon management catalyst - the natural enzyme carbonic anhydrase. coal-fired power stations which emit 2 pounds of carbon dioxide for every kWh of electricity created.Ĭonventional CCS technology relies on the use of energy-intensive chemical processes that erect significant economic barriers to widespread deployment, while also creating some negative environmental impacts thanks to toxic chemicals involved in the process. This process can remove 5 pounds of carbon dioxide per kWh of electricity, the company estimated, as opposed to U.S. The technology turns the traditional equation of "more energy equals more emissions" on its head - in this case, more energy produced equals more carbon reduced. This technology could help make new or legacy fossil fuel power plants more eco-friendly, the company claimed, and also be used to to reduce impacts from polluting cement smelters, refineries and other industrial operations. Here are seven companies to watch in this space: StartupsĬo-founded by Graciela Chichilnisky, an architect of the Kyoto Protocol's carbon market, and Peter Eisenberger, founder of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Global Thermostat has developed a proprietary technology that uses low-cost leftover process heat to grab carbon pollution from power plants - which then can be sold back to other companies as a power source. Yet startups and big companies alike are working to make CCS both viable and profitable. Most current CCS techniques are uneconomic because they consume too much energy to sequester the carbon, so they have yet to be deployed at scale. "Many argue that there is a lot more to ‘clean’ than carbon emissions, and CCS doesn't address the non-climate challenges for coal." "CCS technologies could make ‘low-carbon-emission’ coal a reality," Noah Deich, founder and executive director at the Center for Carbon Removal, told GreenBiz. Granted, there has been some reported mismanagement of government-backed CCS projects in Mississippi and elsewhere, but the technology itself remains promising. Additionally, the use of CCS with renewable biomass is one of the few abatement technologies that can be used in a "carbon-negative" mode - effectively taking carbon out of the atmosphere. That’s why carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology can play a key role.ĬCS works by trapping CO2 at its emission source, transporting it to a storage location - often deep underground - and then isolating it to keep it from the atmosphere. But much of the damage already has been done seasonally adjusted concentrations of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere have risen dramatically in the past half century and continue to creep upward.Ĭarbon dioxide has become a major business liability, decreasing a firm's value by $212,000 for every 1,000 metric tons produced, according to KPMG.Īnd while the world pivots to embrace renewable energy, carbon likely will continue to burn to meet the world’s energy demands for the foreseeable future. Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is critical for achieving the aims of the Paris Agreement produced at COP21 - keeping a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius this century, and driving efforts of a 1.5 C limit above pre-industrial levels.
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