Global Carbon Capture Equipment Market Outlook, 2031

The global carbon capture equipment industry covers the equipment and systems used to separate carbon dioxide from industrial flue gases, process streams, power plant exhaust and the atmosphere, and to compress, dehydrate and prepare it for transport, storage or use. Equipment includes absorption columns and solvent regeneration systems for amine-based capture, adsorption systems using solid sorbents, membrane separation units, cryogenic separation systems, oxy-fuel combustion equipment, direct air capture contactors and modules, compressors, heat exchangers, dehydration units, pumps, blowers, and associated instrumentation and controls. Carbon capture is applied to natural gas processing, hydrogen and ammonia production, cement, steel, refineries, chemicals, power generation, waste-to-energy, bioenergy and pulp and paper plants. Technology licensors and equipment suppliers include Shell's Cansolv, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' KM CDR process, Aker Carbon Capture, now part of SLB Capturi, Fluor, Honeywell UOP, Baker Hughes, Linde, Air Liquide, Air Products, Carbon Clean, Svante, Siemens Energy, Toshiba, Hitachi Zosen, Technip Energies, ION Clean Energy, Climeworks, Occidental's 1PointFive using Carbon Engineering technology, Heirloom, CarbonCapture Inc. and Chinese firms such as Sinopec and China Energy. The global capture capacity in operation remains small relative to emissions, at around 50 million tonnes a year, but announced projects would multiply this if built.

Carbon capture has seen both progress and setbacks since 2023. Several landmark projects began operating Norway's Northern Lights, the first open-access cross-border carbon dioxide transport and storage service, began injecting carbon dioxide in August 2025, and Heidelberg Materials' Brevik cement plant in Norway, the world's first full-scale carbon capture at a cement plant, opened in June 2025. In the UK, the government committed about £21.7 billion in October 2024 to carbon capture clusters, and the Net Zero Teesside Power and East Coast Cluster projects reached financial close in December 2024. In the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act increased the 45Q tax credit to USD 85 per tonne for stored carbon dioxide and USD 180 for direct air capture, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of July 2025 retained 45Q while giving utilisation parity with storage, even as it cut other clean energy credits. However, the US Department of Energy cancelled billions of dollars of clean energy awards in 2025, including carbon capture demonstration and direct air capture grants, and the future of the Louisiana and Texas DAC hubs became uncertain, while Climeworks cut staff in 2025. Class VI well permits for carbon storage have been approved in several US states, and Louisiana, Texas, North Dakota and Wyoming have storage projects. China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are developing carbon capture hubs, and SLB acquired full control of Aker Carbon Capture's business as SLB Capturi. Equipment demand depends heavily on policy support, carbon prices and the cost of capture.

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers
• Policy Incentives and Carbon PricingTax credits such as the US 45Q credit, carbon prices under the EU Emissions Trading System, which have exceeded €70 per tonne, UK contracts for difference and cluster funding, Canada's investment tax credit for carbon capture, Norway's Longship programme, and funding in Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands make carbon capture economically viable for more industries. National net zero targets and industrial decarbonisation strategies include carbon capture as essential for hard-to-abate sectors.
• Decarbonisation of Hard-to-Abate Industries and Low-Carbon HydrogenCement, steel, chemicals, refining and waste-to-energy plants produce process emissions that cannot easily be eliminated through electrification or renewable energy, making carbon capture one of the few options for deep decarbonisation. Low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia production from natural gas with carbon capture, known as blue hydrogen, requires large capture units. Gas-fired power with capture can provide flexible low-carbon electricity, and data centre power demand has renewed interest.

Market Challenges
• High Costs and Energy PenaltyCarbon capture equipment is capital-intensive, and capture consumes significant energy, particularly for solvent regeneration, raising operating costs and reducing plant efficiency. Capture from dilute sources such as power plant flue gas and the atmosphere is especially costly, with direct air capture costing several hundred dollars per tonne. Many projects remain uneconomic without strong subsidies or carbon prices.
• Policy Uncertainty, Infrastructure and Public AcceptanceChanges in government support, such as US grant cancellations in 2025, create uncertainty for investors and equipment suppliers. Carbon capture requires transport pipelines, shipping and storage sites, which take years to develop and permit, and a lack of infrastructure limits projects. Some communities and environmental groups oppose carbon capture and pipelines, and the track record of some projects that underperformed has raised scepticism.



Market Trends
• Carbon Capture Hubs and Shared InfrastructureIndustrial clusters are developing shared carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure, allowing multiple emitters to connect, such as Northern Lights in Norway, the UK's East Coast Cluster and HyNet, Porthos and Aramis in the Netherlands, the US Gulf Coast hubs and hubs in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Shared infrastructure reduces costs for individual emitters and increases demand for capture equipment across multiple industries.
• Next-Generation Capture Technologies and ModularisationSuppliers are developing advanced solvents with lower energy use, solid sorbents such as Svante's filters, membranes, cryogenic systems, electrochemical capture and modular, standardised capture units that reduce costs and construction time, such as SLB Capturi's Just Catch and Carbon Clean's CycloneCC. Direct air capture technologies are improving, and carbon dioxide utilisation for fuels, chemicals and building materials creates new demand.

Segment Analysis

Post-combustion capture equipment accounts for the largest share of new carbon capture capacity under development, while pre-combustion capture in gas processing and hydrogen production accounts for most existing capacity. Post-combustion capture systems separate carbon dioxide from flue gas after fuel combustion, typically using amine-based solvents in absorption and stripping columns, and they are used for power plants, cement kilns, waste-to-energy plants, steel mills and refineries; most new industrial capture projects use post-combustion technology from suppliers such as Shell Cansolv, MHI, SLB Capturi and Carbon Clean. Pre-combustion capture separates carbon dioxide from syngas or process streams before combustion, and it is used in natural gas processing, hydrogen and ammonia production and gasification, where carbon dioxide is at higher concentration and cheaper to capture; this accounts for most operating capture capacity worldwide. Oxy-fuel combustion burns fuel in oxygen instead of air to produce concentrated carbon dioxide, and it is being tested in cement and power. Direct air capture systems remove carbon dioxide from ambient air using liquid solvents or solid sorbents, with plants operated by Climeworks in Iceland and planned megaton-scale facilities in the United States. Bioenergy with carbon capture, applied at biomass power plants, ethanol plants and pulp mills, provides carbon removal. Compression, dehydration and conditioning equipment is required for all capture routes.

Chemical solvent-based absorption is the dominant carbon capture technology, while solid sorbents, membranes and cryogenic separation are growing alternatives. Chemical solvent-based absorption, using amines such as monoethanolamine and proprietary blends, or other chemicals such as ammonia and potassium carbonate, is the most mature and widely used technology for capturing carbon dioxide from flue gases and process streams, and it accounts for the majority of equipment spending. Physical solvents, such as Selexol and Rectisol, are used for high-pressure pre-combustion streams in gasification and hydrogen production. Solid sorbents, including metal-organic frameworks, zeolites and amine-functionalised materials, are used in adsorption systems and in direct air capture, with companies such as Svante, Climeworks and others developing them. Membrane separation uses selective membranes to separate carbon dioxide, and it is used in natural gas processing and being developed for flue gas. Cryogenic separation cools gases to separate carbon dioxide as a liquid, used in some industrial applications. Calcium looping and chemical looping combustion are emerging approaches. Electrochemical and other novel methods are in early development. Compressors, pumps, heat exchangers and blowers are common across all technologies.

Oil and gas processing and hydrogen production account for the largest share of operating carbon capture, while cement, power generation, waste-to-energy and steel are the fastest-growing application sectors. Oil and gas processing, including natural gas processing plants that remove carbon dioxide to meet pipeline specifications, accounts for the largest share of existing capture capacity, and some captured carbon dioxide is used for enhanced oil recovery. Hydrogen, ammonia and fertiliser production with carbon capture is growing as blue hydrogen and ammonia projects advance in the United States, the Middle East and Europe. Cement is a major growth sector because process emissions from limestone cannot be eliminated otherwise, with Brevik in Norway operating and projects by Heidelberg Materials, Holcim, CEMEX and others in development. Power generation, including gas-fired plants with capture such as Net Zero Teesside Power, and coal plants in China and elsewhere, represents a large potential market. Waste-to-energy plants in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK are installing capture. Steel and iron production uses capture on blast furnaces and direct reduced iron plants. Refineries and petrochemicals capture carbon dioxide from hydrogen units and process heaters. Bioenergy and ethanol plants capture biogenic carbon dioxide for removals and storage. Direct air capture forms a separate segment.

Carbon capture equipment is primarily purchased for storage and utilisation projects, with geological storage the main end use and utilisation a growing segment. Geological storage, in which captured carbon dioxide is transported and injected into deep saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs, is the main destination for captured carbon dioxide in new projects, supported by storage developments such as Northern Lights, UK and Dutch North Sea stores, US Class VI wells and projects in Australia and the Middle East. Enhanced oil recovery, in which carbon dioxide is injected into oil fields to increase production, has historically used much of the captured carbon dioxide in the United States and some other countries, and it is eligible for 45Q credits. Utilisation in chemicals and fuels, including methanol, synthetic fuels, e-SAF, urea and polymers, is growing as power-to-X projects advance. Utilisation in building materials, such as carbon-cured concrete and aggregates, stores carbon dioxide in products. Food and beverage use and greenhouse fertilisation form traditional niche markets. Carbon removal credits from direct air capture and bioenergy with storage are sold to companies such as Microsoft, Frontier buyers and airlines, creating demand for capture equipment. Equipment buyers include industrial emitters, project developers and engineering contractors.

Regional Analysis

North America leads the carbon capture equipment market because of the 45Q tax credit, large storage resources and many projects in development, while Europe is growing rapidly with major industrial clusters and the Middle East and Asia-Pacific are expanding capacity. North America, led by the United States, has the largest share of operating and planned carbon capture capacity. The 45Q tax credit, retained and adjusted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025, supports capture at gas processing, ethanol, hydrogen, ammonia and power plants, and projects are concentrated in Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota and Wyoming, with state primacy for Class VI storage permits in several states. The Department of Energy's cancellation of many clean energy grants in 2025, including carbon capture demonstrations and uncertainty over the direct air capture hubs, has slowed some projects, but industrial and ethanol capture continues. Canada supports capture through investment tax credits and has operating projects such as Quest and the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line, with the Pathways oil sands project in development. Europe is growing rapidly, driven by EU ETS carbon prices, the Net-Zero Industry Act's target of 50 million tonnes of storage capacity by 2030, Norway's Longship programme, including Northern Lights, which began injecting in August 2025, and the Brevik cement capture plant opened in June 2025, the UK's East Coast Cluster and HyNet with Net Zero Teesside reaching financial close in December 2024, the Netherlands' Porthos and Aramis, and Denmark's storage licences. The Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, is developing large capture and storage hubs linked to gas, hydrogen and ammonia production. Asia-Pacific is expanding, with China operating and building capture projects, Japan's advanced CCS programme and plans to import carbon dioxide storage, Australia's Moomba project and Southeast Asian hubs in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Considered in this report
• Historic Year: 2020
• Base Year: 2025
• Estimated Year: 2026
• Forecast Year: 2031

Aspects covered in this report
• Global Carbon Capture Equipment Market with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• Ongoing trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Capture Type
• Post-Combustion Capture
• Pre-Combustion Capture
• Oxy-Fuel Combustion
• Direct Air Capture
• Bioenergy with Carbon Capture

By Technology
• Chemical Solvent Absorption
• Physical Solvents
• Solid Sorbents
• Membranes
• Cryogenic Separation
• Emerging Technologies

By Application
• Oil and Gas Processing
• Hydrogen and Ammonia Production
• Cement
• Power Generation
• Waste-to-Energy
• Steel and Iron
• Refining and Chemicals

By End Use of Carbon Dioxide
• Geological Storage
• Enhanced Oil Recovery
• Chemicals and Fuels
• Building Materials
• Carbon Removal Credits