As carbon capture accelerates globally, opportunities beyond permanent geological storage exist to valorize CO2 and improve the economics of CCUS. IDTechEx forecasts global carbon dioxide utilization market revenue will increase from US$14 billion in 2025 to US$69 billion in 2036.
Carbon capture is accelerating. With more CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) capacity under construction than ever before, hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 will be stored globally each year by 2030. But with so much focus on permanent geological storage, the "U" of CCUS may be getting overlooked. Given the ability of carbon dioxide utilization (CO2U) to valorize CO2 and generate profit from carbon capture, IDTechEx's "Carbon Dioxide Utilization 2026-2036: Technologies, Market Forecasts, and Players" report identifies a significant economic opportunity. IDTechEx forecasts global carbon dioxide utilization market revenue will increase from US$14 billion in 2025 to US$69 billion in 2036 for applications including enhanced oil recovery, fuels, chemicals and concrete.
Breakdown of how revenue from the sale of CO2 utilization products will change over the next ten years. IDTechEx considers CO2 utilization for enhanced oil recovery, concrete, SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), methanol, methane, polymers, and chemicals, exploring the technology innovations and profitability within each area.Source: IDTechEx
Carbon dioxide utilization is not a new concept. Existing mature markets include urea production, beverage carbonation, and enhanced oil recovery. Even though modern CCUS has mostly focused on developing permanent geological storage, emerging CO2U applications are also expected to see significant growth. These carbon dioxide utilization processes treat CO2 as a valuable raw material, instead of just a harmful waste product. This provides a circular economy business case for CCUS across the globe which can be profitable even for regions where climate change policy action is lacking.
CO2 utilization for greener chemicals
From mature urea production to polycarbonates (including aromatic polycarbonate, polycarbonate polyols, and polypropylene carbonate), the chemicals sector has already proven the business model for CO2U. Going beyond environmental benefits, this has mostly been enabled by performance improvements unlocked when using CO2 as a starting material. However, further policy support to decarbonize the chemicals sector will also indirectly support these CO2U applications.
As outlined in IDTechEx's "Carbon Dioxide Utilization 2026-2036: Technologies, Market Forecasts, and Players" report, key innovation areas for CO2-derived chemicals include new target molecules (such as surfactants or polyethylene), novel catalyst development, and alternative synthetic routes. For example, electrochemical and biological routes for carbon dioxide utilization are being scaled up across the chemicals sector for both polymers and drop-in chemicals (with key targets including methanol, ethanol, syngas, and acetic acid).
Many of the success stories so far for CO2-derived chemicals either partially utilize CO2 or use waste sources of hydrogen. However, for a lower carbon footprint, larger amounts of captured CO2 and green hydrogen will be needed in the future. The biggest drive will come from sectors where policy is creating demand for low carbon molecules, with e-fuels for the aviation and maritime sectors being a leading example.
CO2 utilization and e-fuels
An e-fuel is a synthetic fuel made using green hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. By combing this hydrogen with CO2 utilization, hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene and methanol can be made with a low carbon footprint. The rise of these CO2-derived fuels will be closely tied to regulation and the continued development of green hydrogen. In China, the green hydrogen juggernaut, significant scale-up of e-methanol is already occurring. In the EU, e-fuel specific mandates for both the maritime and aviation sectors are also driving growth. Therefore, improvements in catalyst development, reactor design, and process integration to lower costs of e-fuel production are being developed now to enable the continued growth of e-fuels.
Emerging CO2U applications
Beyond fuels and chemicals, companies are also commercializing ex-situ mineralization processes to produce CO2-derived concrete. Other emerging carbon dioxide utilization applications discussed in IDTechEx's "Carbon Dioxide Utilization 2026-2036: Technologies, Market Forecasts, and Players" report range from carbon nanotubes to food and algae, to enhanced gas recovery, and to CO2 batteries for energy storage.
For more information on this report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/CO2U, or for the full portfolio of decarbonization related research available from IDTechEx, see www.IDTechEx.com/Research/Decarbonization.
