CarbonTech for carbon capture gains momentum in California

In California, there is no doubt that it is necessary to extract CO2 from the air, if we want to stop climate change.

California's goal of being CO2-neutral by 2045 and transitioning to a CO2-negative economy will not be possible without a massive investment in so-called CCSU technologies and systems. CCSU is an abbreviation of "Carbon Capture Storage and Utilization" and covers a number of different methods and technologies for collecting, storing and utilizing CO2.

A new report from Stanford University concludes that capturing and storing CO2 has the potential to become one of the largest single contributors to California's green transition.

California will be able to reduce its CO2 emissions by as much as 15 percent in a relatively short time, if they proceed with a targeted CO2 capture at just 76 of the largest CO2 industrial plants and power plants.

The accumulated CO2 could, if necessary, be stored in the subsoil. Like Denmark, California has a huge underground storage capacity, large enough to accommodate the entire California electricity sector's CO2 emissions in 2017 for 1000 years.

New CCSU technologies are emerging from California

We are observing a steady stream of news related to CCSU-relevant research findings and new inventions from California's world-leading universities,

For example, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at UC Berkeley have developed a new technique for capturing CO2 from natural gas plants. The technique utilizes a highly porous organometallic material to collect 90 percent of the emitted CO2. The method is estimated to be six times as efficient as other known technology.

Another example is BioMADE, a brand new public/private partnership between the US 'Department of Defense' and 80 private companies that will invest DKK 1.7 billion over the next seven years in developing the US bioindustrial manufacturing sector.

BioMADE will be involved in developing technologies that are necessary for using genetically modified bacteria and yeast cells on an industrial scale in order to produce enzymes that can convert CO2 into green chemicals.

SUNCAT energy research center at Stanford University is located in Palo Alto and has the same focus. Here, researchers are also working on finding new ways of converting CO2 into green chemicals and fuels with a focus on what is called "electrochemical CO2 conversion". The goal is to develop technologies that use renewable energy to convert CO2 from industrial emissions to CO2-based products.

The market shows great potential and interest

It is not only researchers who show interest in CO2 capture. The interest in 'CarbonTech' was also evident among the 10,000 participants in this year's Verge20 conference - a leading Californian platform for startups, companies, investors and anyone else interested dealing with the green transition.

At Verge20, Circular Carbon Network (CCN) presented its recent survey of the CarbonTech ecosystem, which shows that the number of CarbonTech companies is on the rise. Although the sector is still starting out, it is not quite as immature as many might assume, as about half of the covered companies already have a turnover.

The market is expected to become big. As stated by Nicholas Eisenberger, managing director, Pure Energy partners and co-founder of CCN: "This market is going to be either very large or ginormous." Ginormous means very very big.

It is estimated by CCN, that more than USD 2 billion has been invested in CO2 capture, storage and utilization in the USA and Europe.

Carbon180, a Californian industry association working to develop the carbon solutions market, has conducted a study concerning the market opportunities for products that could be produced by converting CO2 waste products. According to the study, which can be read here, the global market consists of almost USD 6 trillion with the greatest opportunities in fuels, building materials and plastic products.

“Carbon to Value”

Production of fuels with low or no CO2 content will be able to reduce emissions from the transport sector, especially in aviation and shipping, which are difficult to electrify.

One of the important companies in this area is New Zealand's Lanzatech, which recycles CO2 to produce sustainable fuel, including the use of a microbe that can convert CO2 to, for example, ethanol.

Silicon Valley investor, Vinod Khosla, was Among Lanzatech's first major investors in 2007. The visionary Khosla described Lanzatech as a 'black swan' at the time - rare but of particularly high value.

In the market of building materials, Carbon Cure accounts for an interesting technological solution in cement production. Carbon Cure adds a dose of CO2 in the production process, which makes the cement stronger and simultaneously binds CO2 permanently in the product. The Canadian-based company has received funding from the Bill Gates-backed investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

There are thus several examples of how new technologies can help to convert CO2 into usable and sustainable materials.

Capture, storage and nature-based solutions

CO2 capture plants have been in commercial use for many years by large emitters such as power plants and industry. The idea of capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere, for example through a filtration mechanism that binds CO2, is neither new. But even though the benefits are many, there have been doubts regarding whether CO2 capture directly from the air can be made profitable.

However, the company Carbon Engineering, now believes it can scale their technology and capture CO2 for less than USD 100 per ton. With investments of USD 68 million from Bill Gates and Chevron Technology Ventures, among others, they are in the process of establishing the largest facility in the world, which will be able to capture 1 million tons of CO2 directly from the air.

New storage methods are also being developed. San Francisco-based Charm Industrial is patenting a method of converting biomass to bio-oil through pyrolysis, which can be pumped into underground storage facilities.

There is also increasing attention to nature-based solutions for binding CO2. There were examples of this among the recent awards from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Earth Fund (of $ 10 billion).

Among the recipients of this year's USD 791 million award are organizations such as The Natural Resources Defense Council, which receives funding to restore carbon-binding ecosystems. The Salk Institute receives funding for its ‘Harnessing Plants Initiative’, which seeks to bind CO2 in the roots of crops. WWF also receives grants to protect mangrove forests and to develop the market for seaweed, which, among other things, contributes to the absorption of CO2.

There is also experimentation going on in geo-engineering, also known as 'enhanced weathering'. The San Francisco-based 'Project Vesta' accelerates the natural process of binding CO2 in rocks by spreading the mineral olivine on coastlines and letting wave power do the rest of the work.

The climate goals of the Paris Agreement will be unattainable without so-called ‘negative emissions’, the ball is in the court of governments, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and companies.

California is - as usual - among the frontrunners when it comes to CO2 capture due to its significant innovation capacity. The Innovation Centre in Silicon Valley follows the development and can help Danish stakeholders with knowledge on the subject and create access to networks.