CO2 or carbon capture, an opportunity or a risk for the future?
The global future looks worrisome. Inflation, real estate crises, a multitude of developed countries and the loss of purchasing power of the middle class are some of the dangers that besiege peace. In the middle of this series of crises, CO2 capture, or carbon capture is presented as an opportunity to alleviate the climate crisis. This will be a real opportunity or a risk for the future. Let’s find out below.
The growing popularity of the ultra-left and ultra-right alternating in power in some countries, oscillates and spreads political and economic disturbances. In this context, extremism disguised as alternatives is strengthened.
But many people forget that, in any political system, no matter how unstable, we depend on a stable climate for society to move forward.
In the book “The Three-Body Problem“, its writer Liu Cixin emphasized that the speed of advance of a civilization is related to climatic obstacles. He also tells us about the risks of not taking care of the planet and that these climate obstacles increase.
With this premise, the multi-award-winning science fiction novel tells the story of the struggle between civilizations for control of the earth. This is what we see when we see the exacerbation of conflicts at the global level. Are these conflicts the product of resource scarcity, climate change, or the need for domination? Let’s find out
Table of Contents.
Climate change as a crisis and CO2 or Carbon as an opportunity or risk?
During growing concern about climate change, “The Three-Body Problem” makes us think about it. This work reflects some of the risks that we could face in the coming years. Struggles for the control of resources, catastrophic climatic phenomena hindering the progress of humanity.
Amid this context, technology is a fundamental factor in improving the quality of life and overcoming climate obstacles. One of the technologies that sounds promising is that of CO2 or carbon capture. This technology aims to control the amount of CO2 that is expelled into the environment. This seeks to reduce its impact on the climate.
But how does CO2 capture technology work and will it really be an opportunity? We will find out below.
How does CO2 capture technology, or carbon capture, work, and what is its economic opportunity?
CO2 capture technology, also known as carbon capture, is a technology that seeks to capture CO2 at the time of its industrial production, either by combustion processes or processes of other industries. The idea of this technique is to obtain carbon to transport it and store it or use it. There are different techniques for its capture, as well as for its destination as we will see below.
CO2 capture or carbon capture techniques.
As we mentioned in the previous section, this technology captures carbon before it is released into the environment. This point would be either the points where combustion occurs or in the factories that emit it due to their industrial processes.
This is not a technology that is intended to be used initially in residential sectors or in private vehicles. In addition, its impact is quite small since the emissions generated industrially are the largest in volume.
Thanks to this, we could concentrate CO2 capture at the points of greatest generation and achieve a significant impact. But what are the CO2 capture techniques that are currently being proposed?
Comparison and uses of carbon capture techniques
- Oxy-combustion capture: in this technique, combustion is carried out in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, instead of regular air. This produces cleaner combustion and produces exhaust gases with a high concentration of CO2. This facilitates the capture of CO2 as well as improving the efficiency of combustion processes. This technique is very common in power plants and industrial plants, as it benefits efficiency.
- Pre-combustion capture: Using this technique, we separate carbon dioxide from the natural gas to which it is associated before combustion occurs. Using this method, we break down natural gas into hydrogen and CO2. On the one hand, hydrogen is used as a fuel, which produces clean emissions of water vapour. Moreover, we capture CO2 and store it safely. It is a technique widely used in the petrochemical industry and in the chemical industry.
- Capture in post-combustion: it is used after combustion to remove carbon dioxide from exhaust gases. The exhaust gases are cooled and compressed to separate the CO2 from the rest of the gases. It is used in many power plants and some industrial plants. This is an alternative to oxy-combustion capture, although it is considered less efficient and a lower value alternative.
The use of these technologies promises to reduce carbon emissions. But we also need to figure out how to use carbon efficiently and responsibly to prevent this from ending up in the atmosphere sooner or later.
Storage and use in the CO2 capture process
The storage of CO2 and its use is one of the most controversial points of this technology. Although thousands of ways to use CO2 have been promised, many of these alternatives are not currently viable.
The reality is that the greatest use of CO2 today is focused on re-injecting CO2 into oil wells to continue boosting the use of fossil fuels. That is why many environmental protection NGOs reject the use of a technology that will boost the profits of the oil industries.
Beyond the prejudices about whether it’s a way to increase profits rather than help the environment, there are legitimate concerns that ask … What happens to the CO2 stored in the Earth’s crust? What happens if all this CO2 escapes at once? In the next section we will reflect on the risks of CO2 capture
Risks of CO2 capture or carbon capture.
We must understand that this is a technology that has been used for years, and so far, it has proven to be safe. However, perhaps its impact in the future has not been evaluated as much.
Let’s imagine that the earth is an inflatable balloon. If we start filling it with CO2 and it is deflated, nothing will happen, but little by little the earth will fill with CO2 under pressure. A small puncture could cause this CO2 to start leaking out in significant quantities. There may also be a massive leak that causes a spike in ambient CO2.
If we have not been able to reduce emissions so far, imagine a context where emissions grow uncontrollably thanks to this technology, and that from one moment to the next we are tempting half of the CO2 stored in the atmosphere.
We could witness a catastrophe overnight. It is necessary to assess the earth’s capacity to absorb CO2 through this technology and to develop real alternative uses for CO2 and not simply to advertise it.
A promising technology that has a long way to go. Safe uses of CO2 capture must continue to be developed to be a real opportunity and to deliver the benefits it promises.
Is CO2 or carbon capture an opportunity for the future or propaganda to cover up a problem?
We consider CO2 capture not to be a real opportunity for the future today. This technology will need to be further developed to truly represent a safe alternative.
The productive uses of CO2 must go beyond re-injecting CO2 to achieve greater oil production. Uses that guarantee that carbon will not escape massively into the atmosphere causing an environmental catastrophe. Let us remember that the oil industry is used to promising safety and causing environmental catastrophes such as the Exon-Valdez and the oil industry spills.
Additionally, it must be linked with mechanisms such as the use of carbon credits. These mechanisms will help to encourage the reduction of emissions, for the benefit of other cleaner technologies. Oil companies cannot dictate the climate agenda, because we would be on the verge of a conflict between civilizations, one where fossil fuel ironically stops the world from advancing.
With all this that we have shown you. What do you think of CO2 or carbon capture technology? Write to us on our social networks.
