There’s too much carbon dioxide in the air, and it’s warming our planet.
What if we could capture and sequester it?
That’s the premise of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), an emerging
class of technologies that are primed to play an important role in the
health of our planet in the decades ahead. According to the CCS Association,
capture technologies allow the separation of carbon dioxide from gases
produced in electricity generation and industrial processes by one of
three methods: pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture, and
oxyfuel com-bustion. The carbon is transported by pipeline and stored
in rock formations far below ground.
In 2017, the world’s first CO2 capture plant went live in Switzerland.
Startups in the US and Canada have developed carbon capture plants
of their own. At scale, the technology could help reverse one of the most
alarming environmental trends of our time.