The Use of Captured CO2
Reusing captured CO2 makes carbon capture not only environmentally friendly, but also economically beneficial. There are almost unlimited uses for the CO2 that we capture from power plants and industrial facilities, but here are some of the most innovative that are actually being implemented today:
- The craft brewing industry uses the CO2 produced during the fermentation process, captures it, and reuses it when canning or bottling
- Captured CO2 can be used to grow micro-algae for processing to biofuel, fertilizer, and fish food, among others
- Car manufacturers are using captured CO2 to make a new foam for use in car seats and interiors
- CO2 can be captured and converted to carbon-monoxide and used as a reagent for fuels like ethanol or diesel
- Coffee roasters use CO2 to decaffeinate their coffees
- Greenhouses can use CO2 to enhance plant growth
- Captured CO2 can be converted to baking soda
- Frozen carbon dioxide is used as dry ice
With an abundance of anthropogenic CO2 being produced across industries, finding a home for the carbon dioxide after capture has become a focal point in the CO2 capture industry. In many cases, the costs of capture can be offset in part by effectively utilizing the captured CO2 in a number of applications, as seen above.
The ION team believes the most profitable and largest market for captured CO2 is in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). During this well-established and demonstrably safe process, which has been in use since the early 1970s, CO2 is injected into oil depositories where it loosens the oil from geological formations and allows it to move towards extraction wells. Any CO2 that emerges with the produced oil is separated in above-ground facilities and recycled back into the EOR process or injected back into the reservoir for long-term sequestration.