{"id":177601,"date":"2026-06-08T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=177601"},"modified":"2026-06-03T17:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:42:35","slug":"emerging-and-promising-applications-which-lead-to-reducing-co%e2%82%82-emissions-driven-in-part-by-the-locations-of-production-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/emerging-and-promising-applications-which-lead-to-reducing-co%e2%82%82-emissions-driven-in-part-by-the-locations-of-production-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerging and promising applications which lead to reducing CO\u2082 emissions \u2013 driven in part by the locations of production plants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Diagram
Diagram of sCO2 in power plant generation. \u00a9 Advanced Cryogenics<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite recent announcements whereby the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) no longer considers CO2<\/sub> a hazardous gas, the end result from this will be devastating to the environment, our economy, and our lives. There still remains a greater push to use to use CO2<\/sub> in more innovative industrial applications such as tomorrow\u2019s plastics \u2014 thus replacing hydrocarbons. The environmental harm from unmitigated climate change will not be missed, despite disappearing regulatory oversight on the part of the U.S. Here and abroad, many efforts are underway to help reduce carbon emissions and help our planet. The opportunities to harness CO2<\/sub> emissions remain.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Bio-based
Bio-based plastics are made from a wide range of renewable bio-based feedstocks. \u00a9 European Bioplastics<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The CO\u2082 industry expands organically, I\u2019d say about 3% annually, in some markets. The best way to grow more rapidly in the industry is via the development and implementation of new and unique applications in a wide variety of markets. CO\u2082 applications, of a traditional nature, are tried and true, such as the many uses in food processing, beverage carbonation, and a range of industrial uses (e.g., welding, water treatment, lasers, and medical applications). On the other hand, new and \u201cgreen\u201d CO\u2082 applications will help sustain the industry \u2014 most of which are of an industrial nature. Established food and beverage applications typically account for 70% of all tonnage consumed in the merchant sector. There are also the demands of a captive and sequestration nature, which in my view, are generally categorized outside of the merchant markets, such as large EOR (enhanced oil recovery) usage. There are many conceptual ideas for the application of CO\u2082 in industry, many of which have a green take, a form of sequestering CO\u2082 molecules in everyday products. There are other applications which are relatively new to the industry and are being applied and expanded in the markets, such as concrete dosing, which I will describe in further detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the interest of reversing climate change and cleaning up the environment, more applications are being developed all the time, many of which have been initially developed in academia and have not been scaled up or commercialized. Some of the technologies outlined in this article will have to rely on subsidies in order to make them economically viable, at least for the short term. Of the many technologies which claim to produce fuels, chemicals, and plastics, or recover flue gases cheaply, the longer-term, viable commercial results will speak for themselves. The newest ones will eventually be commercialized and make their place in the CO\u2082 and sequestration industries, while others will not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The applications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There have been a number of emerging technologies which rely on CO\u2082 in the production of various plastic and building materials, some of which could replace hydrocarbons in plastics, which is a truly green usage. To go further on this subject, the ultimate goal of successfully using CO\u2082 from flue gas to produce useful products \u2014 along with sequestration \u2014 would represent a double achievement . The problem has always been the very high cost of recovery, and then creating a viable CO\u2082 product that will meet required standards and specifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some (or all) of the concepts below could eventually yield true breakthroughs when scaled up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n