Elon Musk will give away $100 million for this, but what is Carbon Capture and why is it relevant?

The term Carbon Capture caught the attention of social media on January 22, after the world's richest man and Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk announced a prize of $100 million for the best Carbon Capture technology. Though India is still in nascent stages as far as Carbon Capture is concerned, some companies are already using this technology in their industrial units.

What is Carbon Capture?

It is the process through which carbon dioxide is captured from large emission sources, thereby recycling it for other purposes and reducing emissions. According to experts, Carbon Capture is not new technology, but it got attention recently owing to the renewed focus on climate change.

What is the use of this process in India?

In India, state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) tied up with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in 2019 to use carbon dioxide captured from Koyali refinery in Gujarat for enhanced oil recovery (EoR) in ONGC fields. Injecting carbon dioxide for EoR is a widely-used technology by oil and gas companies globally. EoR is used in those oil fields which are in their final stages of production and production is difficult through normal means. NALCO too at its Angul facility is doing carbon sequestration through micro-algae cultivation. In September 2020, Tata Steel and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) had signed a deal to collaborate in the area of Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS).

"Carbon Capture technology is used for a while in India too. However, the major issue with this is that it is not economically viable. The cost of Carbon Capture runs into $500-600 a tonne, making it less attractive for industrial players," said Priyavrat Bhati, Sector Head in Climate, Environment, and Sustainability at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).