Life Cycle Assessment of Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage with Low-Carbon Energy Sources

Carbon capture in net-zero efforts

23 December 2021

Carbon capture could aid net-zero efforts if systems are powered by renewable energy and built close to storage sites.

Efforts to limit global warming will ultimately rely on directly removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. However, extracting, compressing, transporting and storing carbon dioxide uses a lot of energy, water and land.

Now, three researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and a collaborator have assessed the efficiencies of several air carbon capture systems across different climate zones based on their power supply — be it solar, waste heat, or grid electricity — and proximity to storage.

Carbon removal efficiency (tonnes of carbon removed versus released) ranged from 9% in Greece, where the electricity grid relies on fossil fuels, to 97% in Norway where waste heat and renewable energy provide most of the power and there is good access to geological storage.

Assessing potential carbon-capture configurations could help determine the most environmentally friendly option for each location.

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References

1. Environmental Science & Technology 55, 11397−11411 (2021). doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c03263