3 Reasons Heavy Industry Should Be Investing in Carbon Capture Technology

As countries around the world seek to reduce their carbon emissions, they turn to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies to aid their efforts. CCUS is essential to the removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the industrial processes of power generation, chemical production, mining, oil refining, steel and manufacturing. As these industries look to be greener and cleaner, there are three key reasons why they should invest in CCUS:

1. CCUS Helps Decarbonization

The heavy industries are notoriously energy-intensive – and as a result, exceedingly difficult to decarbonize. CCUS technologies remove CO₂ from natural gas streams, fossil fuel burning exhaust, flue gas, and even directly from the atmosphere. Once the CO₂ is captured, it can be stored in underground reservoirs or utilized in alternative product development.

1. Regulatory Incentives

With the climate crisis pushing governments and companies to set aggressive sustainability targets, we’re seeing new regulatory incentives aimed at lowering carbon emissions. The U.S., for example, seeing a bipartisan push in Congress to better facilitate implementation of CCUS at scale and the creation of the 45Q tax credits to incentivize investment in CCUS. Canada has established an annually increasing carbon tax which will hit CAD$50 next year, while China has announced official plans to more than double carbon capacity by 2050.

1. Industry Pressure

If the environmental benefits and regulatory incentives aren’t enough, industry leaders might be swayed by the CCUS success of their counterparts. Several CCUS projects are underway – Black & Veatch is working on two large-scale projects in Canada that will implement CCUS. The company will be responsible for front-end engineering (FEED) two projects: The first, for an oil & gas company, will integrate a CCUS facility into an existing SAGD operating facility. The second, for a power generation utility, involves adding large-scale CCUS solutions to an existing combined-cycle plant. As more companies invest in CCUS, their competitors will be pushed to follow suit.

As companies across the globe look to decarbonize, Black & Veatch can provide guidance around implementing carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies. Pairing more than 30 years as a market leader in CCUS with a technology-agnostic approach, Black & Veatch assists clients with the engineering, procurement and construction of CCUS applications.