Mercer Times

A study led by Emily Carter of Princeton University has provided a roadmap for recycling carbon pollution into useful products, including fuels and construction materials. The report follows a 2023 study that highlighted the potential but also significant challenges of recycling carbon emissions. This new report expands on potential uses and suggests ways to address these challenges through research and policy.

Fossil fuel use and industrial processes emit carbon dioxide, which contributes to climate change. The committee, established in 2021 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, identified potential reuses for about 10% of carbon dioxide emissions. These include durable products like concrete or carbon fiber and short-lived products such as jet fuels or pharmaceuticals.

Emily Carter, Princeton’s Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, stated that achieving net-zero emissions requires reusing or storing carbon dioxide. “We are never going to decarbonize civilization completely because we need carbon,” said Carter. “The question is, how do we create a sustainable, circular carbon economy?”

The committee's initial report was timed to inform the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, both of which funded sustainable energy solutions. A key recommendation was to colocate new facilities for reusing carbon with sources where it is stripped from industrial processes to avoid expensive pipeline infrastructure.

Carter noted some projects funded so far have been well colocated, with opportunities for better colocation in future projects.

The new report analyzes markets for products made from waste carbon beyond construction materials and fuels. It identifies uses like carbon fiber materials that could replace rebar in construction or titanium in high-tech applications.

Economic assessments in the report include capital and operational costs. For pilot-phase projects, approaches to assess societal benefits were laid out: an environmental life-cycle analysis from raw material gathering to final impact; and a social life-cycle analysis projecting impacts on people over the project's life.

The report also explores recovering rare elements from coal waste. “Coal waste is an environmental hazard,” said Carter. “If we can recycle it and use it, we achieve dual benefits: cleaning up sites and minimizing future mining.”

In addition to Carter, the committee included 17 experts from universities, nonprofits, and industry. Elizabeth Zeitler led the committee staff as associate director of the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems at the National Academies.

“Congress and the Department of Energy came to us for advice on technologies and policy options for carbon products,” Zeitler said. “This report can help decision-makers see prospects for carbon utilization technologies.”

Overall, Carter emphasized that reusing carbon not only results in useful products but also helps offset costs associated with implementing carbon capture technologies. “If you make money on a useful product,” she said, “it’s a way of offsetting the cost of sequestration.”

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