How does CCU technology help hard-to-abate industries meet net-zero targets?

CCU technology helps hard-to-abate industries meet net-zero targets by converting their CO₂ emissions directly into usable industrial feedstocks, carbon monoxide and syngas, instead of releasing or storing that carbon. This closes the carbon loop at the point of emission, allowing heavy industries to reduce their fossil feedstock dependency while maintaining production output. The sections below address the most important questions industrial decision-makers are asking about carbon capture and utilization today.

Which industries are considered hard-to-abate and why?

Hard-to-abate industries are sectors where eliminating CO₂ emissions is structurally difficult because carbon is not just a byproduct of energy use but a core input in the production process itself. The primary hard-to-abate sectors are steel, cement, chemicals, petrochemicals, and aviation. In these industries, decarbonization cannot be achieved simply by switching to renewable electricity, the carbon is embedded in the chemistry.

In steelmaking, for example, carbon in the form of coke is used as a chemical reducing agent to strip oxygen from iron ore. In petrochemicals and specialty chemicals, fossil-derived carbon feedstocks are the molecular building blocks for plastics, solvents, and synthetic materials. Replacing these inputs requires either a fundamentally different process or an alternative carbon source that is not fossil-derived.

The aviation and maritime sectors face similar structural constraints. Liquid hydrocarbon fuels are required for energy density reasons that current battery technology cannot match, meaning these sectors depend on carbon-containing fuels for the foreseeable future. The challenge is not eliminating carbon from these value chains but sourcing that carbon from non-fossil origins.

This is precisely why carbon capture and utilization has become a central strategy for industrial decarbonization. Rather than treating CO₂ as a waste stream, CCU technology recycles it back into the production cycle, making it a viable pathway for sectors that cannot simply electrify their way to net zero.

What is CCU technology and how does it differ from CCS?

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology captures CO₂ emissions from industrial processes and converts them into valuable products, primarily carbon monoxide, syngas, e-fuels, chemicals, or polymers. Unlike carbon capture and storage (CCS), which compresses and permanently sequesters CO₂ underground, CCU puts that carbon back to work as a feedstock, generating economic value from what was previously a liability.

The distinction matters significantly for hard-to-abate industries. CCS removes carbon from the atmosphere but creates no return on investment, it is a cost center. CCU, by contrast, produces a sellable output: carbon monoxide and syngas that replace fossil-derived equivalents in existing industrial value chains. This changes the business case entirely, particularly in an environment where carbon pricing through mechanisms like the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is raising the cost of doing nothing.

There is also an infrastructure difference. CCS requires geological storage sites, CO₂ transport pipelines, and long-term monitoring commitments, none of which are straightforward to build or permit. CCU can be deployed on-site at the point of emission, integrating directly into existing industrial assets without requiring new storage infrastructure. For plant operators evaluating both options, the on-site, plug-and-play nature of modern CCU systems reduces implementation risk considerably.

A further advantage of CCU over CCS is permanence of impact. Stored CO₂ carries long-term liability risk, geological leakage, regulatory uncertainty, and public opposition. CO₂ converted into a stable chemical product like carbon monoxide and subsequently used in manufacturing is effectively locked into the value chain for the product’s lifetime, with no storage risk.

How does CCU technology convert CO₂ into usable industrial feedstocks?

CCU technology converts CO₂ into usable feedstocks by breaking the bond between carbon and oxygen using energy, typically electricity from renewable sources. The output is carbon monoxide (CO) or syngas (a mixture of CO and hydrogen), which serve as direct substitutes for fossil-derived feedstocks in chemical synthesis, fuel production, and metallurgical processes.

The conversion mechanism varies by technology. Plasma-based conversion, which represents the current frontier of industrial CCU, uses high-energy plasma fields to dissociate CO₂ molecules at extremely high temperatures. This approach is particularly efficient because the plasma selectively activates the CO₂ molecule without requiring pressure vessels or rare-earth materials, and it can operate at ambient pressure, reducing both capital cost and operational complexity.

D-CRBN’s Plasma ARC™ platform demonstrates what is achievable at industrial scale. The system achieved a 90.5% CO₂ conversion rate in a single pass, with an energy requirement of approximately 1,100 kWh per tonne of CO₂, roughly five times more efficient than competing conversion routes such as the reverse water-gas shift reaction. The reactor operates with diluted CO₂ streams containing up to 50% nitrogen, meaning it can be paired with a wide range of industrial capture setups without requiring highly purified input gas.

Beyond CO production, the same plasma technology supports a second conversion route: combining CO₂ with methane (including biomethane) to produce syngas without requiring external hydrogen input. This is significant because hydrogen production remains one of the most energy-intensive and costly steps in conventional syngas manufacturing. By eliminating that step, electrified syngas production becomes both cleaner and more cost-competitive.

The modular SPARC reactor design scales from small distributed installations to large-scale industrial throughput, and the system can be switched on and off rapidly to align with periods of surplus renewable electricity, turning intermittent green energy into stored chemical value rather than letting it go to waste.

What net-zero regulations are pushing hard-to-abate industries toward CCU?

Several converging regulatory frameworks are accelerating CCU adoption across hard-to-abate industries in Europe and globally. The most immediate driver is the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which places a direct financial cost on each tonne of CO₂ emitted. As the ETS carbon price rises and free allowances are phased out under the Fit for 55 package, the economic incentive to capture and utilize CO₂ rather than emit it grows proportionally.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) extends this pressure beyond European borders. From 2026, importers of carbon-intensive goods, including steel, chemicals, and cement, face a carbon levy equivalent to the EU ETS price. This creates a competitive advantage for European producers who can demonstrate lower embedded carbon in their products, directly rewarding investments in CCU and CO₂ recycling.

The EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive and the European Green Deal’s sector-specific decarbonization roadmaps set binding emissions reduction milestones for heavy industry. The RefuelEU Aviation regulation mandates increasing shares of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in jet fuel supply, a target that CCU-derived e-fuels are well positioned to serve. Similarly, the FuelEU Maritime regulation creates demand for low-carbon fuels in shipping, where electrified carbon monoxide and syngas are key production inputs.

Beyond compliance, the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act and energy security agenda are pushing industrial operators to reduce dependence on imported fossil feedstocks. In a geopolitical environment where natural gas and oil supply chains have proven vulnerable, on-site CO₂ recycling offers supply chain resilience that purely regulatory arguments cannot fully capture. Industrial procurement and sustainability directors are increasingly evaluating CCU as both a compliance tool and a strategic hedge against fossil feedstock volatility.

Can CCU technology realistically replace fossil feedstocks at industrial scale?

CCU technology can realistically replace fossil feedstocks at industrial scale, but the transition is incremental rather than immediate. The technology has already been validated at industrial pilot scale, the question is no longer whether it works, but how quickly it can be deployed across the volumes that major industrial operations require.

The economic case is increasingly credible. For CCU to compete with fossil-derived carbon monoxide and syngas, the cost of production must approach price parity. This depends primarily on energy efficiency and the cost of renewable electricity. At 1,100 kWh per tonne of CO₂ converted, the benchmark achieved by D-CRBN’s plasma technology, and with renewable electricity costs continuing to fall, the economics of electrified CO and syngas production are converging with fossil-based equivalents in many European markets. Crucially, when ETS carbon costs are factored in, fossil-derived feedstocks carry an additional penalty that further narrows the gap.

Scale is also a solvable problem. Modular reactor architectures allow industrial operators to start with smaller installations and expand incrementally as output requirements grow. D-CRBN’s systems, for instance, support deployment both below and above 100 kilotonnes per annum of CO production, with the same core technology applied at both scales. This phased approach reduces upfront capital risk and allows operators to validate performance before committing to full-scale deployment.

The more realistic constraint is not technological but logistical: integrating CCU systems into existing plant infrastructure, securing long-term renewable electricity supply agreements, and aligning CO₂ capture volumes with conversion capacity. These are engineering and procurement challenges, not fundamental barriers to the technology’s viability. Industrial operators who electrify their feedstock production today are positioning themselves ahead of the regulatory and market pressures that will make fossil feedstocks increasingly expensive to justify.

What are the main barriers to CCU adoption in heavy industry?

The main barriers to CCU adoption in heavy industry are capital commitment, technology integration complexity, energy supply alignment, and the absence of mature market infrastructure for CCU-derived products. None of these barriers are insurmountable, but each requires deliberate planning to address.

Capital and integration risk

Heavy industrial operators are accustomed to long asset lifetimes and conservative investment cycles. Committing capital to a CCU system requires confidence that the technology will perform reliably over decades, not just in pilot conditions. This is why industrial validation matters so much, demonstrated performance at a real production facility, under actual operating conditions, carries far more weight than laboratory results. The first industrial trial of plasma-based CO₂ conversion at a major European steel plant showed safe operation at a major-hazard site and record-low electricity consumption, which directly addresses the performance credibility gap that has historically slowed CCU adoption.

Integration complexity is a related concern. Plant engineers need assurance that a CCU system will not disrupt existing production processes. Modular, containerized systems that connect to existing gas infrastructure without requiring plant reconstruction significantly reduce this barrier, the plug-and-play model means CCU becomes an add-on capability rather than a forced redesign of core assets.

Energy supply and market infrastructure

CCU technology powered by renewable electricity requires a reliable and cost-competitive green energy supply. For many industrial sites, this means negotiating long-term power purchase agreements or investing in on-site renewable generation. The flexibility of plasma reactors, which can be switched on and off rapidly to align with periods of surplus renewable electricity, helps operators optimize around energy pricing, but the underlying energy infrastructure still needs to be in place.

On the demand side, markets for CCU-derived carbon monoxide and syngas are still maturing. Buyers need assurance of consistent supply quality and volume, and certification frameworks for low-carbon feedstocks are still being standardized across Europe. As regulatory frameworks solidify and more industrial operators commit to CCU-derived inputs, these market infrastructure gaps will close, but they represent a real friction point for early movers.

For industrial operators ready to move beyond these barriers, working with a technology partner that has already navigated the full path from pilot to industrial deployment is the most effective way to accelerate the timeline. Engaging with D-CRBN’s experts allows plant operators to benchmark their specific CO₂ streams, energy context, and production requirements against proven system configurations, turning a complex transition into a structured, de-risked deployment plan.

Electrified CO

Electrified SYNGAS

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