WATCH : IndustReal Podcast Interview: carbon capture utilization and storage

Gibbs, the Product Marketing Manager for North and South America, is the subject matter expert in the Atlas Copco Gas and Process’s second IndustReal podcast, which focuses on CCUS, carbon capture, utilization and storage. For Gibbs, CCUS is part of a broader change across the planet, whereby, people started to demand “greener” products, and “investors reacted by increasingly investing in companies that were helping the environment.” The result was also that companies had to start tracking what they were doing and “cleaning up their operations”.

This is where Scope1, 2 and 3 emissions come into the equation, to enable companies to verifiably prove their processes. Scope 1 relates to “tracking emissions that were directly created from their operations,” says Gibbs. He gives the example of the Atlas Copco Gas and Process factory that produces compressors, which has forklifts running on propane and heating systems on natural gas. It also includes all of the travel that workers do for the business via planes, trains, and automobiles. 

Located in New York State, Gibbs points out is an advantage for the company in regard to Scope 2, which covers emissions related to the energy it uses and purchases. With access to the state’s hydroelectric power, wind and solar, the company purchases renewable electricity for all of its operations, ensuring that the Scope 2 emissions are very low.

Scope 3, in short, is everything else outside of Scope 1 and 2. This ranges from “getting the minerals out of the ground”, says Gibbs, to transporting parts to our factory. Also covered by Scope 3 is everything related to the packaging and sending of the built machine to the customer.

The philosophy of Atlas Copco Gas and Process is to first reduce and to then capture, Gibbs notes. An example of reducing a customer’s water and natural gas usage is to provide a steam compressor rather than a less efficient boiler to produce steam. A more efficient machine can similarly reduce electricity costs by ensuring lower power usage, or if operations and processes change an existing machine can be modified to reduce its power consumption. 

Regarding CCUS, carbon can be captured during the production of hydrogen, for example, with a compressor bringing it to supercritical levels (1200 to 1500 PSI), cooling it to liquid form, and then using a pump to raise it to the required pressure. While the pumping, and storage, of CO2 into the ground is not new, the utilization of CO2 has expanded in recent years. It’s used in the production of synthetic fuels, food, feedstock and polymers, explains Gibbs. Moreover, CO2 can be used for creating fertilizer, and for synthetic fuels as a “direct replacement” for fossil fuels when combined with green hydrogen and polymer production. “This is helping us move into a true 360-degree economy,” he says. “We're no longer pulling oil out of the ground; instead, we're reusing CO2 captured in other areas to produce polymers and plastics.” 

Underpinned by decades’-long aftermarket services, CCUS is a natural complement to Atlas Copco Gas and Process’ commitment to the circular economy.