When these documents were published, I commented that they would both be enablers of an ‘Amazon for construction’.
There are two main methods of carbon capture: carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and carbon capture and storage (CCS).The difference between them is that CCS takes the CO. 2. ,.
and stores it to be sold on to whoever needs it later, whereas CCU reuses the collected CO. 2. almost immediately.There are benefits to both systems, but CCU has less potential for wasted carbon dioxide.Both methods have been used at commercial scale with ‘undisputable technical and operational success for decades’ in the North Sea, North America, Australia and elsewhere.
Naturally, this isn’t a closed loop; feedstock will always need to be provided.But given that, as of 2019, carbon feedstock equated to 58% of the usage of carbon-based materials like crude oil and other fossil fuels in the industry, it would be a positive step to use carbon capture to reduce the amount required, and therefore begin to lower the carbon footprint of the industrial plastic produced using these methods..
Chemicals such as formaldehyde and potassium carbonate that are used in the production of plastics such as PEEK, POM, PTFE, and PVDF can be produced with captured carbon dioxide instead of fresh carbon feedstock.
By reducing the need for carbon feedstock by reusing captured CO. 2. , we will make progress toward a carbon neutral synthesis of industrial plastics..But we’ve seen approaches over the last few months that have stripped away barriers and taken a direct and pragmatic approach to procurement, when speed of delivery is the priority.
This is progress and again, it shows it can be done.. Another thing we can’t do is decide for clients what value is most important to them.But by making it easy to understand the possibilities, and show solutions that can be quick to implement and agile enough to change quickly when necessary, I think we can help people come to the right decisions..
When we see how change can be implemented quickly when the circumstances demand it, and when we work in an agile way, it’s only natural that people will start to ask where else we can go, and what else we can use agility to achieve.. We have the opportunity to take bold, exciting steps.To make real improvements to the quality of our built environment.