A US perspective on closing the carbon cycle to defossilize difficult-to-electrify segments of our economy.
Wendy J ShawMichelle K KidderSimon R BareMassimiliano DelferroJames R MorrisFrancesca M TomaSanjaya D SenanayakeTom S AutreyElizabeth J BiddingerShannon W BoettcherMark E BowdenPhillip F BrittRobert C BrownR Morris BullockJingguang G ChenClaus DanielPeter K DorhoutRebecca A EfroymsonKelly J GaffneyLaura GagliardiAaron S HarperDavid J HeldebrantOana R LucaMaxim LyubovskyJonathan L MaleDaniel J MillerTanya ProzorovRobert RalloRachita RanaRobert M RiouxAaron D SadowJoshua A SchaidleLisa A SchulteWilliam A TarpehDionisios G VlachosBryan D VogtRobert S WeberJenny Y YangElke ArenholzBrett A HelmsWenyu HuangJames L JordahlCanan KarakayaKourosh Cyrus KianJotheeswari KothandaramanJohannes LercherPing LiuDeepika MalhotraKarl T MuellerCasey P O'BrienRobert M PalominoLong QiJosé A RodríguezRoger RousseauJake C RussellMichele L SarazenDavid S ShollEmily A SmithMichaela Burke StevensYogesh SurendranathChristopher J TassoneBa TranWilliam TumasKrista S WaltonPublished in: Nature reviews. Chemistry (2024)
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.