The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will convene an ad hoc committee to assess infrastructure and research and development needs for carbon utilization, focused on a future where carbon wastes are fundamental participants in a circular carbon economy. In particular, the study will focus on regional and national market opportunities, infrastructure needs, and the research and development needs for technologies that can transform carbon dioxide and coal waste streams into products that will contribute to a future with zero net carbon emissions to the atmosphere. The committee will analyze challenges in expanding infrastructure, mitigating environmental impacts, accessing capital, overcoming technical hurdles, and addressing geographic, community and equity issues for carbon utilization.
The committee will provide a first report which:
1) assesses the state of infrastructure for carbon dioxide transportation, use, and storage as of the date of the study; including pipelines, freight transportation, electric transmission, and commercial manufacturing facilities.
2) identifies priority opportunities for development, improvement and expansion of infrastructure to enable future carbon utilization opportunities and market penetration. Such priority opportunities will consider how needs for carbon utilization infrastructure will interact with and capitalize on infrastructure developed for carbon capture and sequestration.
The committee will develop a second report that will evaluate the following:
1) Markets
a. Identify potential markets, industries, or sectors that may benefit from greater access to commercial carbon dioxide to develop products which may contribute to a net zero carbon future; identify the markets that are addressable with existing utilization technology, and which still require research, development and demonstration;
b. Determine the feasibility of, and opportunities for, the commercialization of coal-waste-derived carbon products in commercial, industrial, defense, and agricultural settings; for medical, construction and energy applications; and for the production of critical minerals;
c. Identify appropriate Federal agencies with capabilities to support small business entities; and determine what assistance those Federal agencies could provide to small business entities to further the development and commercial deployment of carbon dioxide-based products;
2) Infrastructure
a. Building off the study's first report, assess infrastructure updates needed to enable safe and reliable carbon dioxide transportation, use, and storage for carbon utilization purposes. Assessment of infrastructure will consider how carbon utilization fits into larger carbon capture and sequestration infrastructure needs and opportunities;
b. Describe the economic, climate, and environmental impacts of any well-integrated national carbon dioxide pipeline system as applied for carbon utilization purposes, including suggestions for policies that could: (i) improve the economic impact of the system; and (ii) mitigate climate and environmental impacts of the system;
3) Research, Development and Demonstration
a. Identify and assess the progress of emerging technologies and approaches for carbon utilization that may play an important role in a circular carbon economy, as relevant to markets determined in section 1a.
b. Assess research efforts underway to address barriers to commercialization of carbon utilization technology, including basic, applied, engineering, and computational research efforts; and identify gaps in the research efforts;
c. Update the 2019 National Academies comprehensive research agenda on needs and opportunities for carbon utilization technology RD&D, focusing on needs and opportunities important to commercializing products that may contribute to a net zero carbon future.
The first and second reports will provide guidance to infrastructure funders, planners, and developers; and to research sponsors, as well as research communities in academia and industry, regarding key challenges needed to advance the infrastructure, market, science, and engineering required to enable carbon utilization relevant for a circular carbon economy.