Decarbonizing heavy industries is one of the biggest challenges in achieving global net-zero targets. Sectors such as chemicals, oil & gas, steel, and cement are known as “hard-to-abate” industries because their processes produce significant carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions that are difficult to eliminate with renewable energy alone.
This is where CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) comes into play. By capturing CO₂ emissions at the source, reusing them in industrial processes, or storing them underground, CCUS provides a viable pathway to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
What is CCUS?
Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) is a set of technologies that:
- Capture CO₂ emissions from industrial processes or directly from the air.
- Utilize CO₂ as a raw material to produce products like synthetic fuels, plastics, or building materials.
- Store CO₂ permanently in geological formations, such as deep saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs.
Why Heavy Industries Need CCUS
Heavy industries contribute to a large share of global emissions:
- Steel: ~7% of global CO₂ emissions
- Cement: ~8%
- Chemical production: Significant emissions due to energy use and chemical reactions
- Oil & Gas: Emissions from production, refining, and processing
Electrification and renewable energy help, but they cannot fully eliminate emissions from these sectors because:
- Many processes emit CO₂ as a byproduct of chemical reactions (e.g., calcination in cement).
- Some industrial processes require very high temperatures that are hard to achieve with renewable energy alone.
Role of CCUS in Key Sectors
1. Chemical Industry
- Where CO₂ comes from: Production of ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, and petrochemicals.
- How CCUS helps:
- Capturing CO₂ from hydrogen production (steam methane reforming).
- Using captured CO₂ as feedstock for urea, plastics, synthetic fuels, and chemicals.
- Impact: Reduces both direct process emissions and opens pathways for circular carbon use.
2. Oil & Gas Sector
- Where CO₂ comes from: Refining, gas processing, and combustion of fossil fuels.
- How CCUS helps:
- Capturing CO₂ at refineries and gas processing plants.
- Injecting CO₂ into reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) while permanently storing it.
- Impact: Mitigates emissions from fossil fuels while enabling a transition to lower-carbon operations.
3. Steel Industry
- Where CO₂ comes from: Use of coking coal in blast furnaces to reduce iron ore to iron.
- How CCUS helps:
- Capturing CO₂ from blast furnace gas and steelmaking processes.
- Combining CCUS with hydrogen-based steelmaking to further cut emissions.
- Impact: Potential to cut steel plant emissions by up to 90%.
4. Cement Industry
- Where CO₂ comes from:
- Calcination (limestone → lime) accounts for ~60% of emissions.
- Fuel combustion for kilns.
- How CCUS helps:
- Capturing CO₂ directly from kiln exhaust.
- Storing it underground or using it to produce carbon-cured concrete.
- Impact: Offers one of the few solutions to tackle process-related emissions, which cannot be avoided otherwise.
Benefits of CCUS
- Significant emission reduction in hard-to-abate sectors.
- Supports low-carbon product innovation, such as synthetic fuels and carbon-based materials.
- Infrastructure for a hydrogen economy: Captured CO₂ can be paired with green hydrogen to produce e-fuels.
- Job creation: Deployment of CCUS projects leads to skilled jobs in engineering, construction, and operations.
Challenges Ahead
- High costs: Capture and storage technologies are capital-intensive.
- Infrastructure needs: Pipelines and storage sites require careful planning.
- Regulatory frameworks: Policies and incentives are still evolving.
- Public perception: Concerns about CO₂ leakage and long-term safety.
The Road Ahead
Global net-zero roadmaps from the IEA and IPCC highlight that CCUS is essential to meet climate targets. Several pilot projects and large-scale facilities are already operational worldwide, including in Norway (Sleipner), Canada (Boundary Dam), and the U.S. (Petra Nova).
As governments and industries invest in innovation, CCUS will become a critical enabler of decarbonization—especially for the heavy industries that power modern civilization.
Final Thoughts
CCUS is not a silver bullet, but it is a key part of the decarbonization puzzle. For chemical, oil & gas, steel, and cement industries, it offers one of the few viable pathways to deeply reduce emissions while maintaining industrial productivity.
