A US perspective on closing the carbon cycle to defossilize difficult-to-electrify segments of our economy

Wendy J Shaw; Michelle K Kidder; Simon R Bare; Massimiliano Delferro; James R Morris; Francesca M Toma; Sanjaya D Senanayake; Tom Autrey; Elizabeth J Biddinger; Shannon Boettcher; Mark E Bowden; Phillip F Britt; Robert C Brown; R Morris Bullock; Jingguang G Chen; Claus Daniel; Peter K Dorhout; Rebecca A Efroymson; Kelly J Gaffney; Laura Gagliardi; Aaron S Harper; David J Heldebrant; Oana R Luca; Maxim Lyubovsky; Jonathan L Male; Daniel J Miller; Tanya Prozorov; Robert Rallo; Rachita Rana; Robert M Rioux; Aaron D Sadow; Joshua A Schaidle; Lisa A Schulte; William A Tarpeh; Dionisios G Vlachos; Bryan D Vogt; Robert S Weber; Jenny Y Yang; Elke Arenholz; Brett A Helms; Wenyu Huang; James L Jordahl; Canan Karakaya; Kourosh Cyrus Kian; Jotheeswari Kothandaraman; Johannes Lercher; Ping Liu; Deepika Malhotra; Karl T Mueller; Casey P O'Brien; Robert M Palomino; Long Qi; José A Rodriguez; Roger Rousseau; Jake C Russell; Michele L Sarazen; David S Sholl; Emily A Smith; Michaela Burke Stevens; Yogesh Surendranath; Christopher J Tassone; Ba Tran; William Tumas; Krista S Walton

doi:10.1038/s41570-024-00587-1

A US perspective on closing the carbon cycle to defossilize difficult-to-electrify segments of our economy

Nat Rev Chem. 2024 May;8(5):376-400. doi: 10.1038/s41570-024-00587-1. Epub 2024 May 1.

Authors

Wendy J Shaw¹, Michelle K Kidder², Simon R Bare³, Massimiliano Delferro⁴, James R Morris⁵, Francesca M Toma^{6

7}, Sanjaya D Senanayake⁸, Tom Autrey⁹, Elizabeth J Biddinger¹⁰, Shannon Boettcher^{11

12}, Mark E Bowden⁹, Phillip F Britt¹³, Robert C Brown¹⁴, R Morris Bullock⁹, Jingguang G Chen^{15

16}, Claus Daniel¹⁷, Peter K Dorhout¹⁸, Rebecca A Efroymson¹³, Kelly J Gaffney¹⁹, Laura Gagliardi²⁰, Aaron S Harper⁹, David J Heldebrant^{9

21}, Oana R Luca²², Maxim Lyubovsky²³, Jonathan L Male^{9

24}, Daniel J Miller¹¹, Tanya Prozorov²⁵, Robert Rallo⁹, Rachita Rana²⁶, Robert M Rioux²⁷, Aaron D Sadow^{25

28}, Joshua A Schaidle²⁹, Lisa A Schulte³⁰, William A Tarpeh³¹, Dionisios G Vlachos³², Bryan D Vogt²⁷, Robert S Weber⁹, Jenny Y Yang³³, Elke Arenholz⁹, Brett A Helms¹¹, Wenyu Huang^{25

28}, James L Jordahl³⁰, Canan Karakaya¹³, Kourosh Cyrus Kian^{34

35}, Jotheeswari Kothandaraman⁹, Johannes Lercher^{9

36}, Ping Liu¹⁵, Deepika Malhotra⁹, Karl T Mueller⁹, Casey P O'Brien³⁷, Robert M Palomino³⁸, Long Qi²⁵, José A Rodriguez¹⁵, Roger Rousseau¹³, Jake C Russell³⁹, Michele L Sarazen⁴⁰, David S Sholl¹³, Emily A Smith^{25

28}, Michaela Burke Stevens¹⁹, Yogesh Surendranath⁴¹, Christopher J Tassone¹⁹, Ba Tran⁹, William Tumas²⁹, Krista S Walton⁴²

Affiliations

¹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. Wendy.shaw@pnnl.gov.
² Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA. kidderm@ornl.gov.
³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA. srbare@slac.stanford.edu.
⁴ Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA. delferro@anl.gov.
⁵ Ames National Laboratory, Ames, IA, USA. morrisj@ameslab.gov.
⁶ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA. fmtoma@lbl.gov.
⁷ Institute of Functional Materials for Sustainability, Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon, Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany. fmtoma@lbl.gov.
⁸ Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA. ssenanay@bnl.gov.
⁹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Chemical Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹³ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
¹⁵ Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁷ Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA.
¹⁸ Vice President for Research, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
¹⁹ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
²⁰ Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
²¹ Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
²² Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
²³ Booz Allen Hamilton, Washington DC, USA.
²⁴ Biological Systems Engineering Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
²⁵ Ames National Laboratory, Ames, IA, USA.
²⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
²⁷ Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
²⁸ Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
²⁹ National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA.
³⁰ Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
³¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
³² Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
³³ Department of Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
³⁴ Independent consultant, Washington DC, USA.
³⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA.
³⁶ Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
³⁷ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
³⁸ BASF Corporation, Iselin, NJ, USA.
³⁹ Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, Department of Energy, Washington DC, USA.
⁴⁰ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
⁴¹ Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴² School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

PMID: 38693313
DOI: 10.1038/s41570-024-00587-1

Abstract

Electrification to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions is essential to mitigate climate change. However, a substantial portion of our manufacturing and transportation infrastructure will be difficult to electrify and/or will continue to use carbon as a key component, including areas in aviation, heavy-duty and marine transportation, and the chemical industry. In this Roadmap, we explore how multidisciplinary approaches will enable us to close the carbon cycle and create a circular economy by defossilizing these difficult-to-electrify areas and those that will continue to need carbon. We discuss two approaches for this: developing carbon alternatives and improving our ability to reuse carbon, enabled by separations. Furthermore, we posit that co-design and use-driven fundamental science are essential to reach aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.

© 2024. Argonne National Laboratory, Battelle Memorial Institute, UT- Battelle, LLC, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, AMES National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Booz Allen Hamilton, BASF Corporation and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. This work contains contributions, authored by US Government employees in the course of their official duties, which are not subject to copyright protection in the US. Foreign copyright protection for these contributions may still apply.

Publication types

Review