CARBON CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, AND STORAGE (CCUS) IN CLEAN INDUSTRY

The policy brief advocates for a hierarchical approach to industrial decarbonization in the United States, prioritizing energy efficiency and electrification over carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). It argues that CCUS should be limited to niche uses because it fails to address upstream emissions, captures only about 90 percent of CO2, and prolongs fossil fuel infrastructure. The document identifies six high-priority CCUS use cases, dividing them into long-term solutions for process emissions and bioenergy, and short-term solutions for blue hydrogen production, high-temperature heat, high-purity CO2 streams, and new efficient facilities.

• Industrial decarbonization should follow a priority sequence: first, efficiency and product longevity to reduce demand; second, electrification or low-carbon fuels to replace fossil fuels; and third, CCUS for remaining emissions.
• Electrification is preferred over CCUS because CCUS has several systemic drawbacks, including the failure to address upstream fossil fuel extraction emissions, a capture rate of only approximately 90 percent, the potential to worsen ammonia emissions, and the requirement for capital-intensive infrastructure.
• CCUS is identified as a crucial long-term solution for two specific areas: process emissions in industries such as glass, chemicals, and cement, and the capture of CO2 from bioenergy combustion or gasification to produce low-carbon chemicals like olefins and methanol.
• There are four short-term or temporary CCUS applications: producing blue hydrogen from refinery byproducts, addressing the one-third of U.S. industrial process heat that is currently difficult to electrify, targeting high-purity CO2 streams (which are the least expensive to capture), and maintaining low emissions at new, efficient facilities until equipment reaches the end of its life.

APA

Deshpande, S. (2026). CARBON CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, AND STORAGE (CCUS) IN CLEAN INDUSTRY. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Carbon-Capture-Utilization-And-Storage-Uses-In-Clean-Industry-1.pdf

Chicago

Deshpande, Sonali. CARBON CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, AND STORAGE (CCUS) IN CLEAN INDUSTRY. Energy Innovation, 2026. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Carbon-Capture-Utilization-And-Storage-Uses-In-Clean-Industry-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Deshpande |first1=Sonali |title=CARBON CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, AND STORAGE (CCUS) IN CLEAN INDUSTRY |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=February 2026 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Carbon-Capture-Utilization-And-Storage-Uses-In-Clean-Industry-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{deshpande2026carbon, author = {Deshpande, Sonali}, title = {{CARBON CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, AND STORAGE (CCUS) IN CLEAN INDUSTRY}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Carbon-Capture-Utilization-And-Storage-Uses-In-Clean-Industry-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }