Techno-economic Analysis of Direct Air Carbon Capture with CO2 Utilisation

Abstract

Carbon capture technologies are crucial for mitigating climate change and play an important role in the net zero roadmap. Recently the greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technology has come under scrutiny as a negative emission solution which will remove CO2 from the atmosphere, either capturing it directly from the air or indirectly via biomass. This study proposed and designed a novel direct air carbon capture process integrated with a solid oxide electrolysis unit for the chemical utilisation of the captured CO2. A detailed techno-economic analysis is performed to determine if the addition of CO2 utilisation is able to offset the high cost of carbon capture. An initial net present value (NPV) and levelised cost of -$4.6B and $382 tCO2−1 were calculated, indicating the unfavourable techo-economics. However, a scenario analysis suggested that in the near future (i.e., in 4-5 years) the NPV could be positive and the levelised cost could be neutral with the advances of technology maturity and the net zero economy. A carbon emissions assessment calculated that during plant operation over 24.2B kg of carbon dioxide would be removed, and hence the real term carbon removal would be approximately 97% of the theoretical maximum.