Carbon Dioxide Utilization and Recovery

Report Highlights

• Carbon dioxide demand as an industrial gas will increase at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 2.4% from $3.2 billion in 2003 to $3.6 billion in 2008.
• Energy-related CO₂ emissions will increase at an AAGR of 2.4%, unchanged from the 2000-2003 period, due to increased use of natural gas for power generation and the adoption of carbon trading mechanisms.
• Global CO₂ concentration will increase at an AAGR corresponding to 1.6% to 859 gigatons.
• CO₂ trading rose from 8 million tons/year in 2000 to 29 million tons in 2003 and will continue to climb at an AAGR of 38.7% through 2008.

INTRODUCTION

Carbon dioxide emissions from energy use depend on carbon dioxide content of the fuel and the fraction of the fuel consumed in combustion. The product of carbon dioxide content at full combustion and the combustion fraction yields an adjusted carbon dioxide emission factor for each fuel. CO₂ also is used in industry and its market is heavily reliant on the oil and gas production, food and beverages and chemical processing industries.

This BCC study examines carbon dioxide recovery and use including carbon management strategies. The report offers a critical view of the markets for commercial carbon dioxide including demand scenarios. It assesses the role of carbon dioxide as an industrial gas that as such, is a key participant in almost all major markets that account for more than 50% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). It quantifies the demand for carbon dioxide by category, product type, application, purity and technology, and assesses relationships between major consumers and producers.

Focus also is placed on the key challenges to current developments and long-term carbon management strategies in developing the international carbon trading system and its impact on the global economy, the various technologies of CO₂ recovery and sequestration including the critical stages of processing and how they relate to consumption and demand patterns.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The report contains:

• An overview of the CO2 industry in relation to the overall global economy
• A review of major products and applications
• Discussion of government environmental/ energy regulation
• Analysis of the merchant CO2 market by product type, use and technology with forecasts through 2008
• Assessment of the global carbon cycle and global management and emission reduction
• A patent evaluation and manufacturing technology overview
• Trade data by major company and region and forecasts for the 2003 - 2008 time frame
• Analysis of the structure of industry and competitive aspects and company profiles of more than 100 major players.

METHODOLOGY

In this report, both historic and current data have been used for demand analysis. Therefore, the results of the calculations presented here are based on three components: historic analysis of global carbon dioxide demand for the period 2000 to 2003, estimates for 2003, and forecasted demand for the 2003 to 2008 periods. Data is expressed in current U.S. dollars.

INFORMATION SOURCES

Information sources include trade data (national and international), company publicity literature, conference reports. World trade technical journals and interviews with company representatives have also been utilized.

AUTHOR CREDENTIALS

Edward Gobina is Research Professor in Chemical & Processing Engineering and has over 15 years research and teaching experience in petrochemical reaction engineering, catalysis and membrane technology. He has published extensively with over 80 publications in international scientific journals. He is the author of three patents on membrane-related technologies and over 10 previous reports relating to the chemical energy and oil and gas industries. He is currently the principal investigator of three externally funded research projects involving postdoctoral researchers designing new compact reactor systems for enhancing fluid processing in offshore/deepwater platforms. Dr. Gobina is member of the European Membrane Society, the North American Membrane Society and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is currently the director of the Centre for Process Integration and Membrane Technology within the school of engineering at the Robert Gordon University in the U.K.