Techno-Economic and Environmental Evaluations of Decarbonized Fossil-Intensive Industrial Processes by Reactive Absorption & Adsorption CO2 Capture Systems

Abstract

Decarbonization of energy-intensive systems (e.g., heat and power generation, iron, and steel production, petrochemical processes, cement production, etc.) is an important task for the development of a low carbon economy. In this respect, carbon capture technologies will play an important role in the decarbonization of fossil-based industrial processes. The most significant techno-economic and environmental performance indicators of various fossil-based industrial applications decarbonized by two reactive gas-liquid (chemical scrubbing) and gas-solid CO2 capture systems are calculated, compared, and discussed in the present work. As decarbonization technologies, the gas-liquid chemical absorption and more innovative calcium looping systems were employed. The integrated assessment uses various elements, e.g., conceptual design of decarbonized plants, computer-aided tools for process design and integration, evaluation of main plant performance indexes based on industrial and simulation results, etc. The overall decarbonization rate for various assessed applications (e.g., power generation, steel, and cement production, chemicals) was set to 90% in line with the current state of the art in the field. Similar non-carbon capture plants are also assessed to quantify the various penalties imposed by decarbonization (e.g., increasing energy consumption, reducing efficiency, economic impact, etc.). The integrated evaluations exhibit that the integration of decarbonization technologies (especially chemical looping systems) into key energy-intensive industrial processes have significant advantages for cutting the carbon footprint (60–90% specific CO2 emission reduction), improving the energy conversion yields and reducing CO2 capture penalties.

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

“…The CO 2 mitigation by amine scrubbing (monoethanolamine) was also assessed by Garðarsdóttir et al [91]. They have estimated the CO 2 capture costs and energy consumption associated with the CO 2 capture from the power plant's flue gas.…”

Energy Savings Associated with the Use of Fly Ash and Nanoadditives in the Cement Composition

“…This would be based on reducing the energy consumption in the clinker burning process and binder production. Such actions would also significantly reduce the consumption of natural resources, e.g., [18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 20 consumption of natural resources, e.g. [18][19][20][21][22]. Absolutely, in the cement industry, the utilization of a sustainable binder that has a lower energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission than OPC is becoming increasingly important [23].…”

“…improvement of energy efficiency in the context of a significant reduction of thermal energy consumption in OPC production process, e.g., [18][19][20][21][22],…”

Clean production and utilisation of hydrogen in molten salts

“…[35][36][37] A concept to tackle the CO 2 emissions is based on the CO 2 capture. 38,39 However, its high associated costs, based on the current technologies (US$60-80 per ton of CO 2 ), are far more expensive to make this concept commercially viable at large scales. 40…”