Flexible Carbon Capture and Utilization technologies in future energy systems and the utilization pathways of captured CO2

Highlights: • Integration of renewable energy systems and carbon capture technologies is needed. • Flexible carbon capture and utilization technologies are needed to meet energy demands. • Carbon capture technologies stabilize volatile energy systems by utilizing excess energy. • Captured carbon dioxide can be used directly, or as raw material for chemical products. -- Abstract: Future 100% renewable energy systems will have to integrate different sectors, including provision of power, heating, cooling and transport. Such energy systems will be needed to mitigate the negative impacts of economic development based on the use of fossil fuels, but will rely on variable renewable energy resources. As two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to fossil fuel combustion, decarbonization of energy systems is imperative for combating the climate change. Integrating future energy systems with CO₂ capture and utilization technologies can contribute to deep decarbonization. As these technologies can be operated flexibly, they can be used to balance the grid to allow for high levels of variable renewable energy in the power mix. The captured CO₂ can be either utilized as a feedstock for various value-added applications in the chemical industry and related sectors such as the food and beverage industries. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art literature on CO₂ capture and utilization technologies, with an emphasis on their potential integration into a low-carbon, high-renewables penetration grid. The potential market size for CO₂ as raw material is also elaborated and discussed. The review paper provides an insight to the development and the technological needs of different energy system sectors, as well the limitations, challenges and research gaps to the integration of the variable renewable energy sources and flexible carbon capture and utilization technologies.