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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCarbon capture<\/a>, utility, and storage (CCUS) is used most commonly to trap carbon dioxide produced by thermal power plants and large factories. The captured carbon is then either stored or used to make other products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The size and cost of conventional systems have largely limited their use to large oil companies, steelmakers and others willing and able to pay for them, especially in industries where reducing emissions remains challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitsubishi hopes the smaller units will open the door to more widespread use of CCUS, although experts say more government support<\/a> and clearer regulations are needed to make them economically feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The smallest unit in the company\u2019s lineup, and the first scheduled for release, takes up just 10 sq. meters of land. The first commercial unit was installed ahead of next year\u2019s scheduled launch at a biomass power plant in Hiroshima prefecture in June in just two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unit, painted white and emblazoned with an illustration of a blue Earth, processes the emissions produced from the burning of wood chips at the plant. It extracts 300 kilograms of CO2 a day, or about 0.3% of the plant\u2019s total emissions. The CO2 is then sent to two greenhouses on the premises to boost the growth of tomatoes and strawberries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taihei Dengyo, the plant\u2019s builder and operator, said smaller amounts of captured carbon are easier to handle and can be used up in agriculture or forestry applications, whereas larger amounts require the installation of costly storage facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taihei Dengyo President Jo Nojiri admitted that it is unlikely the investment in the unit, whose cost was not revealed, will produce an immediate profit. \u201cBut I think most technologies with means of maintaining carbon neutrality fall short of achieving cost-effectiveness,\u201d he said at a media event in August. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping our actions toward carbon neutrality<\/a> will lead to receiving our next order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitsubishi Heavy says interest in carbon capture is growing beyond conventional customers, particularly in fields where reducing emissions<\/a> is difficult due to technological or cost barriers. Others are concerned about their image as pressure to go green increases, the company added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company has supplied bigger carbon capture systems to 13 projects around the world, the largest of which sucks up about 4,700 tonnes per day. Mitsubishi says its products account for 70% of the total volume of carbon captured worldwide. Such systems, however, are made to order, costly, and require three to four years for installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitsubishi Heavy\u2019s five types of compact units, by contrast, will be ready-made, mass-produced and easily transported and installed, the company said. This will \u201csignificantly shorten\u201d the delivery period and \u201cachieve cost-competitiveness\u201d with other compact units, said Kenji Terasawa, the company\u2019s president and CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Places where the units could be installed include ships, garbage incineration plants, and gas-fueled power plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The use of carbon capture technology is growing despite questions over its suitability as a long-term means of combating climate change<\/a>. A total of 195 commercial CCUS facilities were operating or in development worldwide in 2021, doubling from the year before and quadrupling since 2017, according to the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But while annual CO2 capture capacity surpassed 40 million tonnes in 2021, that figure must increase fortyfold by 2030 to align with the pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050 put together by the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest report by the United Nations\u2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says deploying carbon capture technology to tackle emissions that are hard to abate is \u201cunavoidable\u201d if net-zero CO2 emissions are to be achieved, but added that use of the technology should be decreased over the long term to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 C above preindustrial levels, the target set by the U.N.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, more than 50 new carbon capture projects have been announced in the second quarter alone, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie. North America and Europe account for about three-quarters of the capacity for operational and planned projects, driven by strong policy support, and they are expected to maintain that share in 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n