Latest news with #carboncapture
Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Science
- Irish Times
Carbon capture technology takes off at Dublin Airport
Groundbreaking technology that captures the global-warming gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is being put through its paces at Dublin Airport. The team behind the technology is hoping to demonstrate its wider potential for capturing carbon in aviation and when e-fuels are generated. Developed by Prof Wolfgang Schmitt and Dr Sebastien Vaesen from Trinity's School of Chemistry and the Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (Amber), it focuses on delivering energy-efficient solutions to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide to help reduce industrial emissions of the greenhouse gas. This involves what is known as direct air capture, which is literally sucking carbon dioxide out of the air. Scientists believe such is the level of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere due to human activities, especially, burning of fossil fuels, capturing carbon will need to be widely deployed. READ MORE The problem up to now is that the technology is expensive and has yet to prove efficient in removing large volumes of carbon dioxide – such as what would be emitted in heavy industry or at major airports. Despite this, leading climate scientists believe capturing carbon will be a critical tool in achieving net-zero emissions, with potential to drive real, measurable change in combatting climate change. This deployment moves the technology out of the lab, marking the first industrial-scale field test of the technology in Ireland. The demonstrator has been operating for three months at the airport, collecting critical data on efficiency, operational stability and energy consumption. This will provide crucial validation of technology performance and shape future development and commercial applications, said Prof Schmitt. The Airin Motion project has been funded by the European Innovation Council and supported by Enterprise Ireland. 'Atmospheric carbon capture innovations are crucial because they directly address one of the most pressing challenges we face today – reducing carbon emissions from industries that can't easily eliminate them at the source,' he added. 'By advancing and integrating this technology across industries, we are not only reducing emissions but also creating economic opportunities through supplying high-purity CO₂ that align with global sustainability goals.' This technology has the potential to be a cornerstone in global efforts to combat climate change, he said. Captured carbon can in theory be repurposed, with possible options including its use in carbonated drinks. 'Our technology is designed for industrial deployment, efficiently capturing carbon dioxide from the air while utilising low-grade waste heat from industries,' said the technical lead on the project, Dr Vaesen saod. 'Deployment at Dublin Airport is a key validation for scaling up and allows us to gather critical performance data in a live operational setting and fine-tune it for long-term sustainable operation,' he said. Their 'test rig' installed at the airport has novel design features, he added, which make it very efficient at removing the carbon dioxide. It was developed in response to the European Commission's ReFuelEU aviation legislation, which requires sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) comprise 2 per cent of fuel at EU airports by 2025, increasing to 70 per cent by 2050. Furthermore, it also requires e-fuels – which are produced from renewable electricity and sustainable carbon dioxide – constitute 50 per cent of SAF. Andrea Carroll, director of sustainability at Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), the operators of airport, said the project offered 'an opportunity to explore carbon capture as a potential means of decarbonising our operations and industry'. Researcher Dr Elham Katoueizadeh said their technology was developed over more than a decade and was ready to be implemented across industries.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Big Oil's $1.2 Trillion Bet? WoodMac Predicts CCUS Market Surge
Global research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie has predicted that the global Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) market will surge 28-fold by 2050 to 2,061 million tonnes per annum, surpassing trillions of dollars in value. According to WoodMac, countries across the globe led by U.S., Canada and Europe have committed $80 billion for CCUS so far, with just 50 CCUS projects with a capacity to store 51 million tonnes of CO2 per year currently operational. WoodMac has also predicted that the gap between capture capacity and storage capacity will narrow from nearly 50% in 2030 to 20% in 2050. However, the analysts are less optimistic about near-term growth prospects for CCUS, and have revised their 10-year forecast down by 22% due to policy uncertainty in the U.S. coupled with slow policy evolution in Asia. Further, WoodMac has predicted that most countries that have set carbon capture targets will only be able to achieve 50-70% of their goals by 2050. Even more alarming: WoodMac says point-source capture will only be capable of abating 4% of total emissions by 2050, short of the 6% required to restrict global warming to 2.5C by 2050. Nevertheless, the explosive growth will offer fresh opportunities for oil and gas companies. Previously, we reported that Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' will handicap the nascent hydrogen sector bill but still provides tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration under Section 45Q. 'We expect our investment into the Donaldsonville CCS project will increase our free cash flow in the range of $100 million per year due to the United States' 45Q tax credit for permanently sequestering CO2,' CF Industries (NYSE:CF) said in its latest annual report. Big Oil has invested billions of dollars in CCUS projects, including Exxon Mobil's (NYSE:XOM) latest project targeting power-hungry U.S. data centers. Exxon recently unveiled a groundbreaking plan wherein the company will provide low-carbon power to the U.S. data centers powering the AI boom. Exxon's proposal outlines a first-of-its-kind facility that will use natural gas to produce electricity while capturing more than 90% of the CO2 emissions. The captured emissions will then be stored deep underground. ExxonMobil's current CCS technology supports industries involved in steel, hydrogen and ammonia production, with the company having secured agreements to store up to 6.7 million tons of CO2 annually for these sectors. Last year, Exxon acquired CCUS specialist Denbury Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.9B, or $89.45/share. Denbury recycles CO2 through its Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operations and uses it to produce environmentally-friendly, carbon-negative Blue Oil. The company owns the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S. at 1,300 miles, including nearly 925 miles of CO2 pipelines in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, as well as 10 onshore sequestration sites. According to Exxon CEO Darren Woods, the company's Low Carbon business has the potential to outperform its legacy oil and gas business within a decade and generate hundreds of billions in revenues. Meanwhile, last month, Shell (NYSE:SHEL), Equinor (NYSE:EQNR), and TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) expanded their Northern Lights CCS project with $714 million in total investments. The decision comes after a deal with Swedish energy company, Stockholm Exergi, which has pledged to send up to 900,000 tonnes of CO? each year over a 15-year span. Northern Lights is now capable of storing at least 5 million tonnes of CO? per year, more than triple the original target of 1.5 million tonnes. Canada's CCUS outlook is, however, less rosy. According to the experts, Canada's proposed $16.5B CCUS project by the Pathways Alliance hangs in the balance after the resignation of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The giant project would capture harmful carbon dioxide emissions from the Canadian oilsands, the country's heaviest-emitting sector. 'I can't imagine a huge project like that could really move forward in a time like right now,' Michael Bernstein, executive director of the non-profit group Clean Prosperity, told Bloomberg. 'When you're looking at a project that has at least a 15-year time horizon, you want as much certainty as possible. And there's just more uncertainty than I can remember in my whole time doing this work right now,' he added. A lack of pipelines and heavy emissions has been weighing heavily on the Canadian heavy crude sector for years, with several companies exiting the country after coming under pressure to invest in 'cleaner' projects. According to research firm Rystad Energy, oil sands production in Alberta generates ~160 pounds of carbon per barrel of crude pumped, the highest of any oilfield in the world. By Alex Kimani for More Top Reads From this article on
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
Leading B.C. clean tech firm calls for more funding for carbon capture
Inside Svante's massive Burnaby manufacturing plant, large robotic arms are moving piles of specially engineered filters. Svante describes their technology as a generational leap in carbon capture – the process of capturing CO2 emissions and burying them deep underground. 'We're producing the components that allow the capture of CO2 out of smokestacks and out of the air,' says Brett Henkel, the company's senior vice president of business development. He co-founded Svante after quitting his previous job to research a way to solve a major challenge in carbon capture – separating CO2 from nitrogen. 'It's been a worldwide challenge to crack the nut on how to separate those two molecules in the least expensive way possible,' says Henkel. Svante is confident it's cracked the nut. Eighteen years after Henkel began experimenting in his garage, the pioneering clean tech firm employs more than three hundred people and has attracted plenty of public and private sector investment. 'Just look at the ownership of our company. We have brand names like Samsung, 3M, Suncor, Cenovus, Chevron, Temasak, a global investment fund out of Singapore,' he says. The B.C. and federal governments are keen on carbon capture to help them reach their emissions targets. Combined, B.C. and the Canada Growth Fund have committed more than $140 million in funding for Svante. Svante is targeting hard-to-tackle emissions from heavy industry like steel, concrete, pulp and paper. One of Svante's pilot projects is at the Lafarge Cement Plant in Richmond. It's been capturing one tonne of CO2 from the plant every day. Henkel says the pilot has been successful and it's allowing them to design commercial plants on a large scale. Svante is hoping to build its first carbon capture project with Mercer's Peace River pulp mill in Alberta. They're in the engineering phase now, and it's estimated the project would cost more than half a billion dollars. The enormous cost of carbon capture has long been a criticism from environmentalists. Carbon capture has been around for decades, but the results have been underwhelming. Plus, critics say carbon capture shouldn't be a substitute for transitioning away from fossil fuels. 'We've been spending billions of dollars around the world since the 1990s without too much effect…it simply hasn't worked,' says Chris Bataille, of Columbia University's Centre on Global Energy Policy. Bataille adds that CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage) hasn't worked because we've been chasing the wrong technological methods, and carbon pricing and other greenhouse gas regulations haven't been strong enough. Despite the challenges faced in the sector, Bataille and companies like Svante are calling for more public and private investment to scale up Canadian carbon capture technology and make it commercially viable around the world. 'I believe we eventually need a policy framework that results in decarbonization of industry which could include a higher carbon price,' says Henkel. He adds getting projects going now would create much-needed high-paying Canadian jobs. Henkel compares this shift to decarbonize industries to another historical turning point. 'We figured out how not have to garbage on our front yard, we figured out how to have a sewage system. I think this is another thing we can figure out,' he says.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
World leaders call on oil companies to help solve urgent global crisis: 'We can make substantial progress'
The European Commission asked Big Oil to help clean up the carbon mess they helped create by literally putting it back underground. As reported by Reuters, 44 oil and gas companies will be directly contributing to the EU's carbon storage goals. The Commission asked these companies to help meet a collective target of storing at least 55 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. The companies were selected based on their share of oil and natural gas production in the EU between 2020 and 2023. They are now expected to scale up their participation in carbon capture and storage. CCS is a technology that traps carbon dioxide, which is the main gas driving the changing climate, before it can enter the atmosphere. It works by capturing pollution from sources like factories or power plants, compressing it, and then storing it deep underground in rock formations where it can't escape. Think of it like putting a lid on pollution before it leaves the smokestack, helping reduce the amount of heat-trapping gases in our air. While the sector has long been linked to large amounts of pollution, this new directive positions dirty fuel producers as key contributors to solutions rather than just polluters. "By combining their industrial know-how with faster permitting processes and robust financial support - including from the ETS-resourced Innovation Fund - we can make substantial progress in advancing industrial decarbonisation and modernisation in Europe," said Kurt Vandenberghe, head of the Commission's directorate general for climate action, per Reuters. This shift makes financial sense, too. By leveraging industrial expertise and combining it with access to fast-tracked permits and EU funding, such as from the Innovation Fund tied to the Emissions Trading System, traditional energy giants can transform themselves into long-term assets in a green economy. As the clean energy sector continues its upward trajectory, it's clear that investing in a decarbonized future is no longer just a moral decision; it's a market one, too. Do you think gas stoves should be banned nationwide? No way Let each state decide I'm not sure Definitely Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Oil Tycoon and the Philosopher Threatening Big Oil's Carbon Capture Plans
Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum OXY -1.30%decrease; red down pointing triangle and other oil giants are expected to receive billions of dollars of incentives to collect and bury carbon emissions. Texas oil billionaire Ben 'Bud' Brigham and pro-fossil-fuels activist Alex Epstein want to turn off the tap. Brigham, a serial entrepreneur and libertarian from Austin, is urging President Trump and the Republicans who are considering slashing a host of energy incentives to go further and nix tax credits for carbon capture. He says there is no climate disaster on the horizon, and that funneling public money into a nascent technology is a gift to oil behemoths.
