(173b) Strategies for Decarbonizing the Chemical Process Industry

The growing demand for technologies to capture, utilize, and sequester CO_2, bolstered by government and public realization of meeting global energy demands and climate goals, is an opportunity for the chemical and process industries. Existing facilities around the world have the potential to capture more than 40 MtCO­₂ every year with the advent of capture technologies in the 1970s for use in enhanced oil recovery. There has been a building momentum in the field arising from investment incentives and the civic value of meeting climate targets. The technologies that have been implemented the most involve chemical absorption or physical separation, which have worked successfully for decades now. At SwRI, we have integrated teams working on all facets of CCUS and related infrastructure developed for real-world CO₂ producers. Our expertise ranges over chemisorption, membrane and oxy-fuel separations, chemical and calcium looping, direct air capture, infrastructure and logistics, and supercritical CO­₂ power cycles. SwRI has a notable share in the development of technologies for the approaching net-zero carbon economy by 2050 and a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035.

We also work in direct decarbonization of natural gas streams to hydrogen and value-added carbon-containing product fractions. Most of the ongoing work involving low-carbon fuels, sustainable aviation fuels, and hydrogen from feedstocks like biomass, waste plastics. and municipal waste comprise directly and indirectly SwRI CCUS advancements. We also have expertise in syngas production and upgradation, CO₂ conversion to fuels and chemicals, fermentation, and electrolysis. We strive to advance CCUS technologies through fundamental research, process development, and industrial application. Through numerous and diverse projects completed over decades SwRI promotes an achievable and sustainable energy and material economy. This presentation will cover the different approaches to decarbonization in the industry.