(427c) Energy Conversion and Utilization in Carbon-Constrained World: Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS)

While more than 2 billion people have been working themselves out of poverty, world energy demand has been growing rapidly. Fossil fuel resources are not running out, but their use produces carbon dioxide (CO₂), which, as the most important greenhouse gas, drives climate change. At COP21, held in 2015, Mission Innovation (MI) – a global initiative of 23 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) – was launched to reinvigorate and accelerate global clean energy innovation with the objective to make clean energy widely affordable. Eight innovation challenges, including Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) have been selected. There have been significant efforts to develop CO₂ capture materials and some (e.g., amine-based aqueous solvents) have been demonstrated in large scales. Further, a number of CO₂ injection projects have shown promising results. Unfortunately, the energy penalties associated with various steps of CCUS processes are still considered to be high. This talk will discuss the perspectives, challenges and opportunities of novel CCUS technologies and the recent scientific advancements have been made in this field.