Carbon footprinting of carbon capture and -utilization technologies: discussion of the analysis of Carbon XPRIZE competition team finalists

Life cycle assessments(LCAs)of early-stage technologies can provide valuable insights about key drivers of emissions and aid in prioritizing research into further emissions-reduction opportunities.Despite this potential value,further development of LCA methods is required to handle the increased uncertainty,data gaps,and confidentially of early-stage data.This study presents a discussion of the life cycle carbon footprinting of technologies competing in the final round of the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition-a US$20 million competition for teams to demonstrate the conversion of CO_(2) into valuable products at the scale of a small industrial pilot using consistent deployment conditions,boundaries,and methodological assumptions.This competition allowed the exploration of how LCA can be used and further improved when assessing disparate and early-stage technologies.Carbon intensity estimates are presented for two conversion pathways:(i)CO_(2) mineralization and(ii)catalytic conversion(including thermochemical,electrochemical,photocatalytic and hybrid process)of CO_(2),aggregated across teams to highlight the range of emissions intensities demonstrated at the pilot for individual life cycle stages.A future scenario is also presented,demonstrating the incremental technology and deployment conditions that would enable a team to become carbon-avoiding relative to an incumbent process(i.e.reducing emissions relative to a reference pathway producing a comparable product).By considering the assessment process across a diverse set of teams,conversion pathways and products,the study presents generalized insights about opportunities and challenges facing carbon capture and-utilization technologies in their next phases of deployment from a life cycle perspective.

Editorial: NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE in context

Over the past 6 years,we have witnessed dramatic changes in the way in which carbon management is perceived.Not only is carbon management now discussed as part of the spectrum of climate solutions and decarbonization pathways,but CO_(2) conversion into materials-also known as‘carbontech’-and the related solution spaces of CO_(2) removal,geo-logic sequestration and natural carbon sinks are now viewed as part of a continuum of carbon-management approaches[1-3].The success of the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE over that time has helped to drive this change in perception in part by stimulating technology innovation and tangible technology demonstrations.

Integrating the ISO 14034 standard as a platform for carbon capture and utilization technology performance evaluation

Independent testing and verification of emerging technologies are vital parts of the technology-commercialization process.With the rapid development of carbon capture and utilization(CCU)technologies,where existing standards and certifications do not exist,independent verification approaches and guidelines can provide a means to obtain credible information for an emerging market.The ISO 14034:2016-Environmental Management:Environmental Technology Verification(ETV)standard can serve as a foundational platform to ensure the consistency,quality and credibility of data on CCU technology performance,enabling direct comparisons between technologies and reducing risk to decision-makers regarding potential investment,future deployment and ultimate impacts of CCU innovations.Applying the fundamental principles of ISO 14034 to the evaluation of nine finalist CCU technologies competing in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE ensured that data used to evaluate competitors was of high quality,consistent across technologies and met the information needs of the XPRIZE and competition judges responsible for selecting winners.The approaches outlined here,including verification parameters and verification tasks for both XPRIZE-specific technology evaluations and full CCU technology evaluation by an accredited entity in conformance with the ISO 14034 standard,provide insight into the potential benefits-methodological consistency,high-quality data,independent oversight,methodological flexibility and broad applicability-and limitations-technology readiness and applicability,verification and instrumentation costs and lack of specificity-of the approach in an application for the evaluation of emerging technologies.Further application of the ISO 14034 standard and principles,developed through a consensus approach that incorporates other developing guidelines,can drive consistency and credibility for technology-performance evaluations across the CCU sector,ultimately leading to reduced risk and improved market access for new innovations.

Best practices for measurement and impact on performance evaluation for novel carbon-utilization process technologies

The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE-a$20 million prize competition focused on the development and scaling of innovative carbon-capture and-utilization technologies-placed credible data at the forefront of its scoring and ranking approach for the selection of prize-winners.To guarantee the quality of the submitted data,independent third-party verifiers reviewed each candidate technology and data set.While the Carbon XPRIZE contenders demonstrated a variety of CO_(2)-utilization technologies at various levels of technical maturity and scale,it was found that early evaluation of the impact of measurements on process performance parameters via sensitivity analysis should influence the selection of instruments that have appropriate accuracy.In addition to appropriate accuracy,this assessment can lead to reduced costs associated with instrumentation rather than simply buying the‘best’instrument while simultaneously ensuring that uncertainties are kept as low as possible.With proper pre-planning,good engineering practice and good measurement practice,it is possible to optimize uncertainty against the costs and usability of instrumentation and data systems.