Demand for carbon capture, the trapping and storing of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by industrial processes, is expected to increase in the coming years as global climate agreements and individual countries’ climate goals come into effect. Broadly, there are three methods of carbon capture: post-combustion capture, in which CO2 is separated from exhaust; pre-combustion capture, which gasifies solid fuel and removes CO2, and oxy-fuel combustion, wherein fuel is burned in a mixture of pure oxygen and CO2 is captured from resulting exhaust gas. Once CO2 is captured, it is transported and stored, typically in geological formations deep underground, or is utilized in a number of emerging applications.
Process analytical instrumentation systems play a variety of monitoring and quality control roles during these steps. Gas analysis systems are needed to measure the concentration of CO2 and other gases throughout the process. Gas chromatography systems can be used to separate and analyze components of the gas stream before or after capture, and to detect impurities in the captured CO2. Spectroscopy techniques can also be applied to purity detection, including Raman spectroscopy, while infrared spectroscopy can be employed to measure the concentration of CO2 and other gases in the stream. Finally, NMR spectrometry can be used to study the qualities of rock structure into which CO2 is injected after capture, an important step in evaluating how CO2 will interact with its storage reservoir.
Carbon capture is not a new method for curbing CO2 emissions. Enhanced oil recovery operations trapped CO2 from oil and gas production and re-injected it into Texas oil fields in the 1970s, and the world’s first commercial CO2 storage plant opened in 1996 off the coast of Norway. But its widespread adoption has been hindered in part because of high upfront costs. The International Energy Agency says current global facilities capture about 45 billion tons of CO2 per year, but a 2022 analysis by McKinsey estimates that uptake must grow 120 times by 2050 to achieve global net-zero targets. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act increased per-ton subsidies for CO2 sequestration, which could further incentivize its adoption by US firms.
As such, the current global carbon capture and storage market is small but burgeoning. While specific instrumental demand is difficult to pin down and vendors are still assessing users’ needs for its application, carbon capture’s expected growth represents a great potential opportunity for process analytical instrumentation vendors. TDA estimates the carbon capture market for these instruments is about $50 million, with double-digit CAGR over the next five years. The overall worldwide demand for process analytical instruments is estimated at about $5.3 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach about $6.4 billion by 2027. Leading vendors making process analytical instruments include ABB, Siemens, Danaher, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.