Carbon Capture Technology through an Environmental Justice Lens

Carbon dioxide ( <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:msub> <a:mi>CO</a:mi> <a:mn>2</a:mn> </a:msub> </a:math> ) levels in our atmosphere continue to reach new historic highs every day. In 2022, industry made up 30% of United States greenhouse gas emissions, including electricity end-use indirect emissions. Simultaneously, personal consumption expenditures increased by 9.2% in 2022 and continue to rise, indicating that there is an increasing need for decarbonization in production processes, with a tandem effort to combat overconsumption. One class of technologies that has garnered interest from researchers, policymakers, and communities is carbon capture. “Point source carbon capture” specifically refers to capturing <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:msub> <c:mi>CO</c:mi> <c:mn>2</c:mn> </c:msub> </c:math> at its point of emission before it is released to the environment. However, as further scrutiny is put on carbon capture technology, it is clear that further research is needed and more options are necessary to ensure that our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not done without care. Carbon capture and sequestration or utilization have been touted as possible solutions for our growing demands, but present a range of health, safety, and environmental challenges, including siting concerns and possible leakages of pipelines or storage facilities. A relatively newer technology, reactive carbon capture (RCC), provides a potential pathway that minimizes some of those concerns. RCC converts <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:msub> <e:mi>CO</e:mi> <e:mn>2</e:mn> </e:msub> </e:math> to valuable fuels and chemicals immediately after it is captured, eliminating the need for energy-intensive desorption from capture agents, as well as <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <g:msub> <g:mi>CO</g:mi> <g:mn>2</g:mn> </g:msub> </g:math> storage and transport through pipelines. Thus, the entire process is contained at existing industrial plant sites, minimizing the span of environment and frontline communities that may be impacted by potential leaks and pollution. However, there are also a number of remaining challenges in RCC technology that must be addressed, alongside the need to decrease consumption, in order to be in accordance with environmental justice principles and make way for safe and effective technology adoption.