The potential for carbon dioxide capture and utilization within the State of Qatar.

Global warming is directly related to the increasing GHG emissions from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The contribution of CO₂ emissions towards this phenomenon has propelled the international community to initiate research programs that aim to mitigate the emissions through process efficiency improvements, in addition to capturing CO₂ from flue gases at the power plant stacks. Such options have become especially attractive for implementation when they are economically viable. In this regard, one of the most promising technological approach is Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). It aims to reduce CO₂ emissions from electricity production and other chemical process industries by capturing CO₂ and subsequently utilizing it in several applications, such as for Enhanced Oil Recovery within the oil and gas industry. The optimum utilization of CO₂ as feedstock potentially enhances the efficiency of chemical conversion processes resulting in useful products of economic value. The objective of this study is to assess the integration of CO₂ utilization within existing processes and technologies to create economic opportunities within the State of Qatar. The methodology includes the development of a geospatial database - comprising information on the CO₂ sources and sinks, and the transport network linking them using GIS - followed by the techno-economic assessment and single-objective linear programming of the proposed CO₂ utilization network which includes the fertilizer and chemical additives industries in Qatar. It was shown that by linking the market prices of value-added products, namely urea and methanol, the optimal solution of the distribution and utilization of CO₂ within the industrial network changes, whilst considering the revenue and profit functions as the network objectives in separate case studies.