Can we solve our atmospheric carbon problem AND get something useful from it at the same time? Sounds better than just shoving it underground like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects are planning, doesn’t it?

Carbon - in the form of carbon dioxide - is something that we have way too much of in the atmosphere at the moment. And carbon is also in a whole bunch of useful products ranging from diamonds to plastics to fuels. People are starting to figure out how we can make all kinds of products from captured carbon... but should we?

In this video I talk with Dr Jessica Allen about all the things you can make out of captured carbon, and assess each one in terms of their potential to be cheap, valuable, scalable and permanent.

Bookmarks:
0:00 Intro
0:23 What is Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU)?
1:26 What makes for the perfect CO2 uses?
2:19 Introduction to Dr Jessica Allen
2:54 "Trendy" uses of CO2: Beer, Carbonation, Diamonds, Graphene, etc
5:22 Fuels: Synthetic Fuels, Syngas, etc
7:46 Methanol and Plastics
9:43 Mineral Carbonation, Carbonated Materials, Building Materials, etc
11:21 Biochar - Slow Pyrolysis Process, Possibility of Being Carbon Negative?
14:20 CCU's Current Progress and Jess' Thoughts
15:24 Summary and Rosie's Thoughts on CCU
16:27 Outro

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Sources:
Cement production paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.10.049
Mineral carbonation: https://www.mineralcarbonation.com/mineral-carbonation
CCS costs and energy penalties: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.11.026
Plastics: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201308341
Methanol synthesis: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2018.02.007