Carbon Capture and Storage Ladder for Industrial Decarbonization in the United States

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential for US industrial decarbonization and must be strategically deployed. This work presents a transparent ranking framework for CCS deployment across mineral, metal, chemical, and pulp-and-paper sectors. Mineral-based industries should be prioritized for CCS: substantial process emissions from a single source allow CCS to be a viable long-term solution for decarbonization. CCS is a temporary solution for iron and steel. Select blast furnaces have sufficiently large and concentrated emissions that CCS may be a valuable temporary decarbonization technique. Iron reduction should use low-carbon hydrogen as the reducing gas, produced from CCS temporarily, then using green hydrogen. Blue hydrogen production leveraging existing reforming technology at refineries provides a bridge to a future that uses clean hydrogen as a fuel and chemical feedstock. Production of chemical precursors derived from sustainable feedstocks like renewable natural gas may benefit from CCS achieving near-zero or net-negative emissions. CCS on biogenic emissions from the pulp-and-paper industry is high priority and can deliver both decarbonization and atmospheric carbon removal. These rankings depend on technology, policy, geography, and time horizons, and the results should be interpreted as context-specific. The framework is designed to be adapted to other regions and future conditions.