ANN ARBOR – The Global CO2 Initiative at the University of Michigan has released the Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Guidelines for CO2 Utilization. Presented at the 16th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization in Rio de Janeiro, these guidelines were produced in partnership with the University of Sheffield, RWTH Aachen, IASS Potsdam, the Technical University of Berlin, and Climate-KIC. This toolkit will establish a common international model to test and deploy carbon-negative technologies.
The toolkit is available for download at www.GlobalCO2Initiative.org/research.
The Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) will show how the technology could be competitively delivered and commercially scaled to market and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is necessary to prove that a technology could contribute to the mitigation of environmental impacts. Together, they are a valuable toolkit for promoting carbon capture and utilization and removal technology development and further support this industry’s growth.
“We believe that the TEA/LCA toolkit is of great value as it enables a necessary, bold step in solving climate change,” said Volker Sick, Global CO2 Initiative lead at the University of Michigan. “We have the opportunity to further analyze technologies that could have the most impact and ability to succeed in meeting our climate objectives as well as spurring new global markets.”
“Common standards for both TEA and LCA will help the CO2 utilization community to focus on topics that are meaningful and will have a real impact. We fully support this approach,” said Dr. Christoph Gürtler, Head of New Processes and Product Department at Covestro.
As was the case with the early stages of the electric vehicle battery industry, this TEA/LCA approach is critical for technologists, businesses, and researchers to determine which direction and R&D is most needed to scale future carbon utilization technologies and to make investment decisions. The Global CO2 Initiative at the University of Michigan will continue to leverage its experience in forging cross-sector initiatives with international partnerships that range from industry end-users to mission-orientated individuals and foundations.
The TEA/LCA toolkit was created with the support of several partner organizations. The full list can be found on the Global CO2 Initiative website.