Optimization of CCUS supply chains in the UK: A strategic role for emissions reduction

Abstract

The UK is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide in Europe. It aims to take urgent actions to achieve the 2030 target for CO2 emissions reduction imposed by EU environmental policies. Three different carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) supply chains are developed giving economic indicators for CO2 utilization routes not implying carbon dioxide hydrogenation (i.e. with high TRL). The study presents an innovative proposal to reduce CO2 impact in the UK, a country rich in coal, which requires reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from flue gases as the easiest and best performing solution. Bunter Sandstone, Scottish offshore and Ormskirk Sandstone are the storage sites considered, while several attractive potential utilization options are considered. Through minimization of total costs, the CCUS supply chain with Bunter Sandstone as storage site results in the most economically profitable solution due to the highest value of net present value (€0.554 trillion) and lowest value of pay back period (2.85 years). Only carbon tax is considered. The total cost is €1.04 billion€/year. Across the supply chain, 6.4 Mton/year of carbon dioxide emissions are avoided, to be either stored or used for calcium carbonate production. Future work should consider uncertainty, dynamics of market demand and social aspects.

Optimization of CCUS Supply Chains for Some European Countries under the Uncertainty

“…The mathematical model is developed according to the main assumptions described by Leonzio and Zondervan [19] for the framework of Italy, Leonzio et al [17] for the framework of Germany and Leonzio et al [18] for the framework of the UK, considering, however, the uncertainty and then a random nature for the production cost of carbon-dioxide-based products.…”

“…An index is introduced to define each element of carbon framework [17,18], as reported in the nomenclature, and an index "s" is considered to define a scenario of the stochastic problem, with the respective probability.…”

“…It is the first tentative work to consider more carbon-dioxide-based products in a carbon supply chain. A similar work is considered for the UK, where three different CCUS supply chains with different storage sites (Bunter Sandstone, Scottish offshore and Ormskirk Sandstone) are compared in terms of net present value and payback period [18]. These systems are able to produce methanol, methane, polyurethane and calcium carbonate, as well as to improve concrete curing and tomatoes growing in greenhouses, with minimization of total costs.…”

“…The aim of this research work is to overcome the present limitation in the development of stochastic models for CCUS supply chains producing a variety of carbon-based products: a two-stage stochastic model is used to re-design the CCUS supply chains that we developed elsewhere for Germany, Italy and the UK, as shown in Figure 1, where carbon dioxide is captured at the respective flue gas source, transported via pipeline and stored or utilized in different routes according to the principles of circular economy [16][17][18].…”

“…The above countries are chosen due to the highest carbon dioxide emission value in Europe (carbon dioxide emissions were of 419.820, 719.883 and 320.411 Mton, respectively, in the UK, Germany and Italy in 2014) [18].…”