Carbon Capture and Utilisation Technologies

• 26 Feb 2026

Source: TH

Why in News?

Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) is an emerging climate mitigation technology that captures industrial CO₂ emissions and can help power India's journey toward a circular economy and net-zero by 2070.

What is Carbon Capture, and Utilisation?

• About CCU: CCU refers to technologies that capture CO₂ emissions from industrial sources or directly from the air and convert them into useful products like fuels, chemicals, and building materials. 
  • Unlike Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which permanently stores CO₂ underground, CCU puts the captured carbon to economic use.
• Relevance for India: As the world's 3rd-largest CO₂ emitter (after China, the United States), with emissions driven by power, cement, steel, and chemicals, India needs CCU to decarbonize "hard-to-abate" industrial processes that are difficult to transition with renewable energy alone.
• Current Status and Initiatives in India:
  • Government Initiatives: An allocation of Rs 20,000 crore has been announced in the Union Budget 2026-27 to support the development and deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies across key industries, including the chemicals sector, over the next 5 years.
    • The Department of Science and Technology has created a specific R&D roadmap for CCU.
    • The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has presented a draft 2030 roadmap for CCUS.
  • Private Sector Projects: Ambuja Cements (with IIT Bombay) is working on an Indo-Swedish pilot to convert captured CO₂ into fuels and materials.
    • JK Cement is collaborating on a CCU testbed to capture CO₂ for applications such as lightweight concrete blocks and olefins. 
    • Organic Recycling Systems Limited (ORSL) is leading India’s first pilot-scale Bio-CCU platform, valorising CO₂ from biogas streams into bio-alcohols and speciality chemicals.
• Global Best Practices: The EU Bioeconomy Strategy and Circular Economy Action Plan explicitly support CCU for converting CO₂ into feedstocks, linking it to circularity and sustainability targets.
  • A project in Belgium is trialing technology to convert captured CO₂ into carbon monoxide for steel and chemical production.
  • The US uses a combination of tax credits and funding to scale CCUs.
  • The UAE’s Al Reyadah project and planned CO₂-to-chemicals hubs leverage CCU with green hydrogen.
• Key Challenges for India: 
  • Cost Competitiveness: CCU is energy-intensive and expensive; without policy incentives, products cannot compete with cheaper fossil-based alternatives.
  • Infrastructure Readiness: Requires co-located industrial clusters and reliable CO₂ transport, which are unevenly developed.
  • Policy and Standards Gap: The absence of clear standards, certification, and market signals creates investor uncertainty.

What are the Various Carbon Capture Utilisation Technologies?

Capture Phase

• Post-combustion capture: Separation from flue gases after fuel combustion, typically using chemical solvents (e.g., amine-based absorption).
• Pre-combustion capture: Conversion of fuel into a syngas mixture, followed by CO₂ separation before combustion.
• Oxy-fuel combustion: Burning fuel in nearly pure oxygen to produce a CO₂-rich exhaust stream for easier capture.
• Direct air capture (DAC): Extraction of CO₂ directly from ambient air using sorbents or solvents, though more energy-intensive due to lower atmospheric concentrations.

Utilisation Phase

• Direct Use (Non-Conversion): This pathway leverages CO₂ for its physical properties without altering its molecular structure. Key applications include:
  • Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR): Injecting captured CO₂ into depleting oil fields to extract more oil. It is the most mature application but is controversial as it enables further fossil fuel extraction.
  • Food and Beverage Industry: Used for carbonating drinks and in modified atmosphere packaging to extend shelf life.
  • Greenhouses and Algae Cultivation: CO₂ acts as a fertiliser to boost plant growth and cultivate algae.
  • Refrigerants and Dry Ice: Used in industrial cooling systems and for transport cooling.
• Conversion into Chemicals and Fuels: This involves chemically transforming CO₂ into complex molecules, requiring significant energy and catalysts.
  • Synthetic Fuels (E-fuels): Combining captured CO₂ with green hydrogen creates "drop-in ready" fuels like methanol, gasoline, or jet fuel. However, they are energy-intensive to produce and release CO₂ back into the atmosphere when burned.
  • Chemicals: CO₂ can be used to produce polymers, plastics, and urea (a key fertilizer ingredient).
• Mineralisation (CO₂ to Minerals): This mimics natural processes by reacting CO₂ with minerals or industrial alkaline wastes to form stable, solid carbonates, permanently locking the CO₂ away.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU)?

CCU captures CO₂ from industrial sources or air and converts it into useful products like fuels, chemicals, and building materials, supporting a circular carbon economy.

2. How is CCU different from CCS?

CCS stores CO₂ underground permanently, whereas CCU reuses captured CO₂ for economic applications.

3. Why is CCU important for India?

India, the 3rd-largest CO₂ emitter, needs CCU to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like cement and steel that cannot rely solely on renewable energy.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs) 

Prelims 

Q1. Consider the following agricultural practices: (2012) 

1. Contour bunding 
2. Relay cropping 
3. Zero tillage 

In the context of global climate change, which of the above helps/help in carbon sequestration/storage in the soil? 

(a) 1 and 2 only 

(b) 3 only 

(c) 1, 2 and 3  

(d) None of them 

Ans: (b)

Q2. In the context of mitigating the impending global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, which of the following can be the potential sites for carbon sequestration? (2017) 

1. Abandoned and uneconomic coal seams 
2. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs 
3. Subterranean deep saline formations 

Select the correct answer using the code given below: 

(a) 1 and 2 only 

(b) 3 only  

(c) 1 and 3 only  

(d) 1, 2 and 3 

Ans: (d)