What industries can benefit most from CCU technology?

The industries that benefit most from carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology are those that generate large, concentrated volumes of COâ‚‚ as a direct byproduct of their core processes, primarily steel production, chemicals and petrochemicals, and synthetic fuel manufacturing. These sectors face both the greatest decarbonization pressure and the most immediate commercial opportunity from converting captured COâ‚‚ into usable feedstock. The sections below unpack which industries qualify, how CCU works in practice, and where commercial deployment is already happening.

Which heavy industries produce the most COâ‚‚ suitable for CCU?

The heavy industries that produce the most COâ‚‚ suitable for CCU technology are steel, chemicals, petrochemicals, and biogas. What makes their emissions particularly valuable for carbon capture and utilization is not just volume, it is concentration. These sectors emit COâ‚‚ in relatively pure, point-source streams that can be captured and fed directly into a conversion process without extensive pre-treatment.

Steel producers are among the most compelling candidates. Blast furnaces and direct reduction plants emit large quantities of COâ‚‚-rich process gases continuously and predictably. In steelmaking, captured COâ‚‚ can be converted back into carbon monoxide, which then re-enters the blast furnace as a reducing agent, directly replacing coke. This creates a genuine circular loop within the same facility.

Chemical and petrochemical plants are equally well-positioned. These facilities already handle CO and syngas as core process inputs, meaning the infrastructure to receive and use CCU-derived feedstock often already exists. Carbon monoxide is a critical building block for acetic acid, polycarbonates, and a wide range of industrial chemicals, all currently sourced from fossil-based processes.

Biogas operators represent a growing third category. When COâ‚‚ from biogas is combined with biomethane in a plasma reactor, the result is green syngas produced without any additional hydrogen input. This route is particularly attractive because both the COâ‚‚ and the methane are of biogenic origin, giving the output a verifiably low-carbon footprint.

How does CCU technology turn COâ‚‚ into usable feedstock?

CCU technology converts COâ‚‚ into usable feedstock by using energy, ideally from renewable electricity, to break the bond between carbon and oxygen in a COâ‚‚ molecule. The carbon is then recombined into carbon monoxide (CO) or syngas (CO + Hâ‚‚), both of which are established industrial building blocks that can re-enter existing value chains without requiring new infrastructure.

The specific mechanism depends on the technology used. In plasma-based COâ‚‚ conversion, such as the Plasma ARCâ„¢ platform developed by D-CRBN, a high-energy plasma field selectively activates COâ‚‚ molecules, splitting them at ambient pressure without the need for vacuum equipment or rare materials. The reactor operates on renewable electricity, making the conversion process itself free of fossil inputs.

COâ‚‚ to carbon monoxide

When a COâ‚‚-rich stream, even one diluted with up to 50% nitrogen, enters the plasma reactor, the process strips an oxygen atom from each COâ‚‚ molecule to produce carbon monoxide. This CO can be used directly as a reducing agent in steelmaking or as a chemical feedstock for producing acetic acid, polycarbonates, and other derivatives. D-CRBN’s pilot results demonstrated a 90.5% COâ‚‚ conversion rate in a single pass, with an energy requirement of 1,100 kWh per tonne of COâ‚‚.

COâ‚‚ and methane to syngas

When COâ‚‚ is combined with methane, particularly biomethane, inside the plasma reactor, the output is syngas: a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This route requires no external hydrogen input, because the hydrogen is already present in the methane molecule. The resulting electrified syngas can serve as feedstock for synthetic fuels, methanol, and a broad range of chemicals currently derived from fossil-based steam methane reforming.

What is the difference between CCU and CCS?

The core difference between CCU (carbon capture and utilization) and CCS (carbon capture and storage) is what happens to the COâ‚‚ after it is captured. CCS permanently stores captured COâ‚‚ underground in geological formations. CCU converts that COâ‚‚ into a usable product, a feedstock, fuel, or chemical, keeping the carbon in active circulation rather than locking it away.

From an industrial perspective, this distinction has significant commercial implications. CCS is a cost center: capturing and injecting COâ‚‚ underground generates no revenue and requires ongoing liability management for stored carbon. CCU, by contrast, transforms COâ‚‚ into a product that has market value, carbon monoxide and syngas can be sold or consumed internally, replacing fossil-derived inputs and generating a return on the decarbonization investment.

There is also a practical infrastructure argument. CCS requires access to suitable geological storage sites, pipelines, and injection infrastructure, assets that are not available to every industrial operator. CCU, particularly in modular, on-site configurations, can be deployed directly at the point of emission. D-CRBN’s approach is built entirely around this principle: electrified CO production happens at the plant, using the plant’s own COâ‚‚ off-gases, with no need for carbon transport or storage.

For industries operating under the EU Emissions Trading System, CCU also offers a more direct route to reducing taxable emissions at source, whereas CCS, even when it works as intended, still requires the COâ‚‚ to be emitted and then recaptured before storage.

Can CCU technology replace fossil feedstocks in chemical production?

CCU technology can replace fossil feedstocks in chemical production for a growing range of applications, particularly wherever carbon monoxide or syngas are the required input. These two molecules underpin a substantial portion of the global chemicals industry, and CCU-derived versions are chemically identical to their fossil-based equivalents, meaning they integrate into existing production processes without modification.

Carbon monoxide produced through COâ‚‚ recycling is already a drop-in replacement for conventionally sourced CO in the production of acetic acid, polycarbonates, isocyanates, and formic acid. Syngas produced from COâ‚‚ and methane can substitute for fossil-derived syngas in methanol synthesis and Fischer-Tropsch fuel production. The key enabler is not the chemistry, it is cost competitiveness.

This is where energy efficiency becomes the decisive factor. If the electricity cost of converting COâ‚‚ into CO or syngas is too high, the resulting feedstock cannot compete on price with fossil alternatives. Technologies that achieve this conversion at low energy intensity, D-CRBN’s Plasma ARCâ„¢ platform is at least five times more efficient than current plasma-based systems, make fossil feedstock replacement economically viable rather than just technically possible. The company’s CAPEX is also reported to be 50% lower than the reverse water-gas shift reaction, the conventional CO production method.

Full fossil feedstock replacement across all of chemical production remains a long-term goal. But for the specific molecules that CCU can produce today, CO and syngas, the substitution is real, commercially viable, and already being demonstrated at industrial scale.

How does CCU help industries reduce ETS carbon costs?

CCU helps industries reduce EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) costs by converting COâ‚‚ at the point of emission rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. When COâ‚‚ is captured and converted into a usable product on-site, it does not count as an emitted tonne, which means fewer ETS allowances need to be purchased. As carbon prices rise, this translates directly into lower compliance costs.

The financial logic is straightforward. Under the ETS, every tonne of COâ‚‚ emitted requires a corresponding allowance. An industrial plant that converts its COâ‚‚ off-gases into carbon monoxide feedstock through a CCU process effectively avoids those emissions at source. The resulting CO or syngas also carries a lower carbon footprint than fossil-derived equivalents, which further reduces the plant’s overall emissions profile.

There is a secondary benefit as well. As ETS allowance prices increase, a trend that is expected to continue as the EU tightens its carbon budget, the economic value of avoided emissions grows proportionally. Industries that invest in CCU infrastructure now are effectively locking in a hedge against rising carbon costs, while simultaneously reducing their dependence on fossil feedstock markets that are subject to geopolitical price swings.

For plant operators evaluating the business case for CCU, the ETS cost reduction is often the factor that tips the financial model from marginal to clearly positive, particularly when combined with the avoided cost of purchasing fossil-derived CO or syngas. To explore how this applies to a specific industrial site, D-CRBN offers direct consultation through its feedstock electrification advisory.

Which industries are closest to commercial CCU deployment?

The industries closest to commercial CCU deployment are steel and chemicals, where industrial pilot validation has already taken place and the technical and commercial case is most mature. Both sectors have the COâ‚‚ stream volumes, the existing infrastructure for CO and syngas consumption, and the regulatory pressure to move quickly on decarbonization.

Steel is arguably the most advanced. The first industrial trial of D-CRBN’s plasma-based COâ‚‚ recycling technology took place at a major European steel plant, where the system converted blast furnace off-gases into carbon monoxide using renewable electricity. The resulting CO was recycled directly back into the steelmaking process, demonstrating a closed carbon loop at industrial scale, not in a laboratory.

The chemicals sector is close behind. Chemical producers already use CO and syngas as process inputs, which means the off-take infrastructure for CCU-derived feedstock exists. The main remaining step is scaling modular CCU systems to match industrial throughput requirements. D-CRBN’s SPARC reactor design addresses this directly: the modular architecture allows deployment to scale from a single unit up to large industrial configurations, with minimal upfront capital commitment and no requirement to modify existing plant assets.

Synthetic fuel and e-fuel producers represent a third category approaching commercial readiness. The combination of CCU-derived syngas with Fischer-Tropsch or methanol synthesis pathways creates a route to carbon-neutral liquid fuels that does not depend on green hydrogen availability, a significant advantage given current hydrogen infrastructure constraints.

Across all three sectors, the common thread is that CCU is no longer a research-stage concept. It is an industrially validated technology moving into commercial deployment. For industrial operators ready to evaluate on-site carbon utilization, the practical next step is to assess site-specific integration requirements. D-CRBN’s team works directly with industrial partners on this through its expert consultation process, with modular systems designed for plug-and-play feedstock electrification across distributed and large-scale sites.

Electrified CO

Electrified SYNGAS

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