The depletion of finite fossil fuel resources, such as coal, oil, and gas, has become a global concern with significant energy security and sustainability implications. Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) converts CO2 into valuable materials such as chemicals, polymers, and building materials and many other applications and offers a promising solution to reduce carbon emissions while creating valuable products and enhancing energy system flexibility. In contrast to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), CCU enables cost-effective carbon-dioxide removal and the production of carbon-based products. The Netherlands has set ambitious emission reduction targets in line with the Climate Agreement until 2050, focusing on five industrial clusters that can benefit from shared CO2 resources. These clusters collaborate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is critical in developing the CCU value chain. However, achieving cost-effective CCU implementation by 2050 requires substantial infrastructure and technological investment, including transportation considerations, aligning with broader CCS development efforts.
The problem is approaching the CCU development with a variety of utilisation cases and several beginning points in mind, that differ depending on the cluster and where multiple conditions for change exist. CCU implementation is complicated, and studies are scarce on how CCU implementation should be addressed, therefore it is unknown how the development of CCU in the Netherlands comes about. Therefore more study is on the CCU transition how this develops and under what conditions CCU could be implemented in the Netherlands. This resulted in the following research question:
”What are the carbon capture and utilisation niches in the Netherlands, and how to facilitate them?”
Strategic Niche Management (SNM) with supplementary insights from the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and Innovation systems (IS) are used in this qualitative study to analyse niche development. As a result, this thesis constructs an integrated analytical framework using the schematic MLP diagram in conjunction with IS as a foundation to analyse the inter dynamics between the landscape, the regime, and the niche. The SNM framework is employed at the niche level to give a detailed examination of niche development. The research methodology is qualitative and comprises a combination of literature review and 14 semi-structured interviews with diverse stakeholders in the Netherlands. The data collected is subsequently subjected to thematic analysis.
The historical development of CCU has seen progress from the initial ideas in the 1990s to the establishment of significant initiatives and platforms in the 2010s and beyond. The focus has been improving CO2 utilization, reducing emissions, and creating economic and social benefits. Initiatives on implementing full CCU value chains between industrial clusters failed due to a lack of interest in development by the clusters and decreasing financial resources. The sector continued to evolve, with new partnerships and initiatives in the Netherlands in 2023, indicating a commitment to carbon utilization for sustainable and environmental purposes. Nonetheless, the sector is gaining traction in the development of technology due to new initiatives...

The Port of Rotterdam is one of the largest CO2 emitters of the Netherlands. One method to reduce its emissions is by implementing carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies. In this research two different CCU routes for industrial-scale n-caproate production are compared. The first route utilizes microbial electrosynthesis (direct route). The second route uses syngas formation via electro-reduction combined with syngas fermentation (indirect route).

Based on the European Union's technology readiness level, the maturity of both routes is ranked as 3 to 4. This indicates that both routes are in the demonstration phase. In this phase scientists play an important role, as the focus is on researching the technology's overall feasibility. It is also the phase in which financial barriers are the most pressing. Early-stage investors can help overcome these barriers, by allocating (financial) resources. Nonetheless, an assessment method taking both scientists' as well as early-stage investors' perspectives into account is missing. This research contributes to filling this knowledge gap.

The methodology applied is bricolage, using a mixture of literature research, simulation data and interviews. Data of the direct route is retrieved from literature research. To obtain data of the indirect route, a simulation is made in Aspen Plus v12. An overview of important assessment parameters are acquired via the conducted interviews.

In total 15 participants are interviewed, of which; 8 scientists working on CCU technologies, 5 early-stage investors, 1 governmental policy executing party and 1 NGO. These interviews, combined with metrics found in literature research, led to an overview of parameters to be assessed for a performance analysis.

Overall, 10 metrics are selected and used for the performance assessment. These include technical, economic, environmental and strategic metrics. The technical assessment showed that the indirect route has a significantly higher energy consumption compared to the direct route (0.35 GJ/kg caproate compared to 0.1 GJ/kg caproate). However, the indirect route has a higher production selectivity towards n-caproate. The economic performance assessment resulted in a lower CAPEX and OPEX for the direct route. Still, for both routes, the minimum n-caproate selling price is below the current n-caproate market price. The net carbon footprint of the indirect route is 7.3 kg CO2 per kg caproate, indicating that a significant amount of CO2 is being emitted during its production.

While an analysis at this maturity stage of the production routes comes with uncertainties, it gives a first sound indication of its performance and bottlenecks. For the indirect route, the energy consumption is dominated by the two electrolyzers used and the downstream processing. This energy consumption is also the main contributor to the OPEX (47%) and the carbon footprint (79%). Another factor largely responsible for the carbon footprint are the emissions during fermentation (19%). The main cost item of the equipment cost is the water alkaline electrolyzer (42% of total cost).

To conclude, the indirect route shows the potential of industrial-scale n-caproate production with a high selectivity. Nonetheless, it is key to reduce its energy consumption and implement more efficient off-gas recycling to improve its techno-economic and environmental performance.