A cement plant had already started speaking with carbon capture technology vendors. Equipment quotations had arrived, management was discussing the investment, and the project looked ready to move.
Then the engineering questions started.
How much CO2 was actually available every hour? Would the existing steam system support the capture plant? What purity would the downstream user require? Where would the captured CO2 go if the utilisation unit stopped for maintenance? Would the existing Consent to Operate cover the modification? Was there enough electrical capacity for compression? Would additional water be available throughout the year?
Suddenly, what appeared to be an equipment purchase became a complete industrial project.
This is where many Carbon Capture & Utilisation projects become difficult.
Installing a CCU system is not simply about purchasing a carbon capture unit. The project connects the existing manufacturing process, flue gas, utilities, environmental approvals, capture technology, CO2 purification, compression, storage, transportation and final utilisation route.
A technically successful project therefore needs a clear roadmap from feasibility and engineering to procurement, construction and commissioning.
India is also gradually moving from carbon capture research towards industrial-scale demonstration. Projects are being explored across cement, steel, thermal power, refineries, chemicals and other hard-to-abate industries. One of the notable Indian examples is a 3,000 TPA flue-gas CO2-to-methanol demonstration project at NTPC Vindhyachal.
For companies planning similar projects, the important question is no longer only, “Can CO2 be captured?”
The more important question is:
Can the entire Carbon Capture & Utilisation project operate continuously, economically and compliantly for the next 10 to 20 years?
This roadmap explains how to approach that question.
Carbon Capture & Utilisation, commonly called CCU, involves capturing carbon dioxide generated by an industrial process and converting or using that CO2 instead of releasing the complete quantity directly into the atmosphere.
A typical project can be understood through three connected blocks:
CO2 Source – Carbon Capture & Purification – CO2 Utilisation
The CO2 source may come from industries such as:
Once captured, the CO2 may require purification, dehydration, compression or liquefaction before it can be transported or used.
The utilisation route can be very different from one project to another.
Captured CO2 may potentially be used for:
This is why the utilisation route should be decided at the beginning of project development, not after purchasing the capture equipment.
A well-planned CCU project can be divided into 8 major stages:
Each stage reduces a different type of project risk.
Skipping one stage may save a few months initially but can create expensive changes during construction or commissioning.
The first step should not be requesting machinery quotations.
It should be understanding the actual emission source.
Two plants producing the same amount of CO2 annually may require completely different capture systems because the concentration, temperature, pressure and contaminants in their flue gases may be different.
The project team should establish a reliable operating profile instead of depending only on one-time measurements.
For example, a plant operating 330 days per year and 24 hours per day has approximately 7,920 operating hours available annually. If production falls by 30% during certain months, the available CO2 stream may also vary significantly.
The source assessment should therefore study:
This information becomes the design basis for the capture system.
A mistake at this stage can affect almost everything later, including absorber size, chemical consumption, compressor capacity, energy requirement and project cost.
A company emitting 1,000 TPD of CO2 does not necessarily need to build a 1,000 TPD capture plant.
The right project capacity depends on economics and utilisation.
Suppose an industrial facility emits approximately 800 tonnes of CO2 every day but the identified utilisation plant can consume only 300 tonnes.
Installing an 800 TPD capture system without another confirmed outlet could create a serious imbalance.
The business case should therefore answer:
A 300 TPD capture plant running at 90% annual availability could theoretically capture close to 98,500 tonnes of CO2 per year.
But that number is useful only if the downstream system can absorb a similar volume.
The correct capacity is therefore not always the maximum possible capacity.
It is the capacity that balances capture, utilisation, utilities and economics.
Once the emission source and required capacity are understood, technology screening can begin.
Several technical approaches are available for carbon capture.
Depending on the industrial process, potential options may include:
For many industrial projects, the technology decision should consider far more than the percentage of CO2 captured.
A vendor claiming 90% capture efficiency may still offer an expensive solution if steam consumption, electricity requirement or chemical replacement costs are high.
Technology comparison should include:
The best technology is not automatically the technology with the highest capture percentage.
It is the technology that fits the host plant.
This stage is often underestimated.
Capturing carbon is only half of a CCU project. The second half is finding a technically reliable and commercially sustainable use for the captured CO2.
For example, if a plant captures 200 TPD, the project produces approximately 73,000 tonnes of CO2 every year at full 365-day operation.
That quantity needs somewhere to go.
A project developer should therefore study the utilisation market just as carefully as the capture plant.
The study should consider:
If CO2 is being converted into methanol, synthetic fuels or other chemicals, the economics may also depend heavily on hydrogen availability and power cost.
This makes CCU a complete value-chain project rather than a pollution-control equipment project.
Pre-FEED, or preliminary Front-End Engineering Design, is where the concept starts becoming an engineering project.
By this stage, management should have moved beyond presentation slides and vendor brochures.
A Pre-FEED package should normally define:
Pre-FEED also helps identify whether an existing plant actually has enough utility capacity.
For example, adding a carbon capture system may significantly increase steam, electricity and cooling-water consumption.
That can trigger investment beyond the capture unit itself.
The existing plant may require:
These costs need to be considered before management approves the project.
India currently does not have one simple approval called a “Carbon Capture Licence.”
A CCU project can involve multiple regulatory requirements depending on the host industry, plant location, chemicals, pressure systems and utilisation process.
The approval assessment should therefore begin during engineering, not after construction.
If the project changes production, fuel consumption, emissions, wastewater, installed machinery or pollution-control systems, the existing Pollution Control Board consent position should be reviewed.
Depending on the project and state, this could affect:
Projects covered under the applicable environmental-clearance framework should examine whether the proposed expansion or modification affects the existing EC conditions.
This is particularly important where CCU is being installed as part of a broader industrial expansion.
Captured CO2 may need to be compressed or liquefied.
Large pressure vessels, storage systems and transport arrangements therefore require safety assessment.
Where applicable, PESO requirements under relevant pressure-vessel regulations may need to be considered.
Other potential requirements may include:
The actual approval matrix must be developed project by project.
FEED takes the project from preliminary engineering to investment-level definition.
Management should ideally make the major investment decision after the core technical and regulatory uncertainties have been reduced.
The FEED package can include:
The goal is simple.
Before approving hundreds of crores of rupees in an industrial decarbonisation project, management should understand exactly what needs to be built, why it is needed and what performance is expected.
Procurement should begin only after major design assumptions have been frozen.
Typical equipment packages may include:
Vendor selection should not be based only on quotation value.
A ₹20 crore lower equipment quote can become expensive if the technology consumes significantly more energy throughout 15 years of operation.
Evaluation should therefore consider both CAPEX and lifecycle OPEX.
Brownfield CCU projects are usually more complicated than greenfield projects because the new equipment must operate alongside an existing manufacturing facility.
The project team needs to carefully plan tie-ins.
These may include:
Shutdown requirements should also be planned months in advance.
If a critical flue-gas connection requires the main factory to stop, even a delay of 2 or 3 days may have a major production impact.
Construction planning should therefore coordinate engineering, production, maintenance, safety and EPC teams.
Mechanical completion does not mean the plant is ready for commercial operation.
Pre-commissioning confirms that individual equipment and systems are ready to receive process material.
Activities may include:
Every major system should be tested individually before attempting complete integrated operation.Stage 11: Commissioning and Performance Guarantee Test
Commissioning begins when the CCU system starts operating with the real process stream.
Initial operation is usually carried out gradually.
The plant may first operate at partial capacity before moving toward full design load.
Performance testing should measure more than how many tonnes of CO2 enter the capture system.
The project should verify:
The complete balance should ideally be traceable:
CO2 entering capture system – CO2 captured – CO2 conditioned – CO2 supplied – CO2 utilised
This measurement structure also becomes important for ESG reporting, internal carbon accounting and future carbon-market opportunities.
Consider a large industrial facility planning a 500 TPD carbon capture project.
At first, management may assume that 500 TPD means purchasing a capture unit capable of processing that quantity.
However, the feasibility study may show a different picture.
The plant operates around 330 days every year.
At 500 TPD, theoretical annual CO2 capture is approximately:
500 x 330 = 165,000 tonnes per year
But the identified utilisation facility may initially consume only 300 TPD.
That creates an annual difference of approximately:
200 x 330 = 66,000 tonnes of CO2
The project team now has several choices.
It can:
The engineering study may also find that the existing utility system cannot supply the additional steam and cooling requirement.
Instead of one carbon capture equipment package, the investment now includes utility upgrades, electrical infrastructure, cooling systems, storage and downstream utilisation.
This example demonstrates why feasibility and Pre-FEED should happen before procurement.
The project capacity needs to be designed around the complete value chain.
There is no fixed timeline, but an industrial-scale project can easily require 18 to 36 months depending on complexity.
A simplified schedule could look like:
Several activities normally overlap.
A project with imported proprietary equipment may take longer because some long-lead components can require 8 to 12 months from purchase order to delivery.
Early procurement planning is therefore important, but early procurement should not mean premature procurement.
There is no standard cost per TPD that can be applied across every CCU project.
Cost depends heavily on:
For scale, Indian CCUS planning discussions have considered projects in the range of approximately 2,000 TPD of capture and 2,000 TPD of utilisation with investment estimates around ₹1,100 crore in specific proposed configurations.
That number should not be used as a direct benchmark for every project.
A 100 TPD project cannot simply be calculated by dividing the cost of a 2,000 TPD project by 20.
Economies of scale, technology, utilities and downstream conversion significantly change project economics.
The correct approach is to prepare a project-specific CAPEX and OPEX model.
A CCU project should primarily be justified by its engineering and commercial fundamentals.
Carbon-credit revenue should be treated carefully.
Carbon capture, utilisation, storage and carbon-removal activities are increasingly being considered within emerging carbon-market frameworks, including India’s developing Carbon Credit Trading Scheme ecosystem.
However, installation of carbon capture equipment does not automatically mean that a company will receive carbon credits.
The project may need to demonstrate:
Therefore, carbon-credit income should not be treated as guaranteed project revenue during DPR preparation unless the applicable methodology and registration pathway have been confirmed.
Before management releases the major equipment purchase order, the project team should be able to answer the following questions:
If these questions remain unanswered, the project is probably not ready for procurement.
Carbon Capture & Utilisation can become an important decarbonisation pathway for industries where eliminating process emissions completely is technically difficult.
But a CCU project should not begin with machinery procurement.
It should begin with understanding the CO2 source, selecting the correct capture capacity, confirming the utilisation route, evaluating utilities, completing engineering, identifying approvals and building a realistic commercial model.
The sequence should be:
Source Assessment – Feasibility – Technology Selection – Utilisation Study – Pre-FEED – Approvals – FEED – Procurement – Construction – Commissioning – Commercial Operation
When these steps are followed in the correct order, the project team gains better control over investment, timelines, regulatory risk and operational performance.
For industrial companies planning a Carbon Capture & Utilisation project in India, Green Permits can support the project from initial feasibility and DPR preparation to approval mapping, plant planning and implementation coordination.
📞 Phone: +91 78350 06182
🌐 Website: https://www.greenpermits.in
📧 Email: wecare@greenpermits.in
Talk to Green Permits for CCU feasibility, DPR, approval mapping and project setup support.
