Carbon capture for decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries: a comparative review of techno-economic feasibility of solid looping cycles

Abstract

Carbon capture and storage will play a crucial role in industrial decarbonisation. However, the current literature presents a large variability in the techno-economic feasibility of CO2 capture technologies. Consequently, reliable pathways for carbon capture deployment in energy-intensive industries are still missing. This work provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art CO2 capture technologies for decarbonisation of the iron and steel, cement, petroleum refining, and pulp and paper industries. Amine scrubbing was shown to be the least feasible option, resulting in the average avoided CO2 cost of between $$62.7\;\mathrm{C}\!\!\!\!{\scriptstyle{{}^=}\,} \cdot {\rm{t}}_{{\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_2}}^{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; - 1}$$ for the pulp and paper and $$104.6\;\mathrm{C}\!\!\!\!{\scriptstyle{{}^=}\,} \cdot {\rm{t}}_{{\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_2}}^{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; - 1}$$ for the iron and steel industry. Its average equivalent energy requirement varied between 2.7 (iron and steel) and $$5.1\;\;{\rm{M}}{{\rm{J}}_{{\rm{th}}}} \cdot {\rm{kg}}_{{\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_2}}^{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; - 1}$$ (cement). Retrofits of emerging calcium looping were shown to improve the overall viability of CO2 capture for industrial decarbonisation. Calcium looping was shown to result in the average avoided CO2 cost of between 32.7 (iron and steel) and $$42.9\;\mathrm{C}\!\!\!\!{\scriptstyle{{}^=}\,} \cdot {\rm{t}}_{{\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_2}}^{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; - 1}$$ (cement). Its average equivalent energy requirement varied between 2.0 (iron and steel) and $$3.7\;\;{\rm{M}}{{\rm{J}}_{{\rm{th}}}} \cdot {\rm{kg}}_{{\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_2}}^{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; - 1}$$ (pulp and paper). Such performance demonstrated the superiority of calcium looping for industrial decarbonisation. Further work should focus on standardising the techno-economic assessment of technologies for industrial decarbonisation.

Review of technologies for capturing carbon dioxide from industrial emissions as part of reducing the carbon footprint of plants and useful applications in water-gas stimulation techniques for enhanced oil recovery

“…Three main conventional conventional technological methods of CO 2 capture are identified as strategies for major industries: "pre-combustion" capture, "post-combustion" capture and capture by combustion in pure oxygen [13].…”

The Bio Steel Cycle: 7 Steps to Net-Zero CO₂ Emissions Steel Production

“…Greater material and energy efficiency, and deployment of low-carbon process routes are all critical. The steel production process has been thoroughly investigated in every aspect from mining to recycling and it can be said that there is currently a global effort underway for developing more environmentally-friendly and resource-saving technologies in steel production, such as TGRBF (top gas recycling blast furnace operation, coal mine methane recovery [25,26,35,60,[64][65][66]69,70,72,96] and HISARNA [20,69,70,78,89,90,95,97], which eliminates the need for the sintering process entirely. HISARNA, implemented individually, has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from steel production by at least 30%.…”

“…Steel scrap is considered a resource, and similar to recycling waste and by-products, is an integral part of the circular production process. Off-gases (CO2 and other GHG) are being captured and reutilised, and alongside implementation of steelmaking process improvements, furnace heat capture and utilisation, CAT, CCS, and CCUS technologies and processes, and multi-disciplinary external components, are closing the circle[14,15,25,26,35,59,60].Suitable literature was thoroughly investigated with regards to applied and innovative steelmaking procedures, CAT, CCS and CCUS processes, and improved management systems such as I4.0[61,62].…”

“…Most likely scenarios have been considered, and the principles of the Bio Steel Cycle model are applicable to most heavy industries: such as cement, chemical, glass, paper, and transport. It includes using renewable energy technologies, avoiding CO2 emissions by incorporating process improvement technologies, recycling waste and by-products and capturing post-combustion emissions where possible[14,15,25,26,35,59,60], as displayed in Figure3:…”

Integration of carbon capture in a pulp mill—effect of strategic development towards better biomass resource utilization

“…More recently, Santos et al (2021) proposed a new process concept based on calcium looping, which would replace a large part of the conventional chemical recovery cycle while also allowing for efficient capture of CO 2 . Solid looping is an emerging concept, which seems to have promising techno-economic potential for carbon capture in several industrial sectors, including pulp and paper (Santos and Hanak, 2022). In a recent paper by Mendoza-Martinez et al (2022), hydrothermal carbonation (HTC) of biosludge generated from wastewater treatment was investigated in a mill that was also assumed to have integrated post-combustion carbon capture on the recovery boiler and lime kiln.…”