Trends in the global cement industry and opportunities for long-term sustainable CCU potential for Power-to-X

Abstract

In order to achieve targets set by the Paris Agreement and limit global average temperature increase to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, an assessment and a low carbon transformation is needed for all types of human activities. Cement production is associated with high levels of CO2 emissions, with an average of 866 kg of CO2 emitted per ton of cement produced. This positions the cement industry as one of the main sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions accounting for about 5% of the total, right after the chemical industry and more relevant than the iron and steel industry. About 50% of the emissions are caused by burnt fuel, related transport and other inputs, which can be currently substituted by other measures. However, the CO2 emissions which originate from input limestone cannot be avoided. These process CO2 emissions present a potential for carbon capture and utilisation. This research proposes a global potential analysis of CCU as a possible solution for the CO2 emissions of cement production. Cement CCU may establish a substantial route to use CO2 for synthetic hydrocarbons production and thus contribute towards mitigating the nonsubstitutable CO2 content of the limestone-based raw material. The production of renewable electricity based synthetic hydrocarbon fuels by CO2 captured from cement plants, counts for a potential to produce between 3639 TWhth and 7355 TWhth of liquid hydrocarbons, or 6298 TWhth and 12723 TWhth of synthetic natural gas, or a mix of both at the expected global cement peak production in 2040.

Mitigating Portland Cement CO2 Emissions Using Alkali-Activated Materials: System Dynamics Model

“…They predicted stabilization in cement consumption by the year 2050, as industries will defer away from manufacturing CO 2 emission intensive products ( Figure 4 b). Farfan et al [ 26 ] examined an alternate view of projected cement consumption, with closing gaps in the world’s GDP growth and infrastructure development needs. An increase in the development of African, Asian, and Latin American countries will result in a peak of global cement production around year 2030, followed by a decrease until year 2050 ( Figure 4 c).…”

Solar photovoltaic capacity demand for a sustainable transport sector to fulfil the Paris Agreement by 2050

“…The electricity demand to produce hydrogen and FT‐fuels (diesel, petrol, and kerosene) is derived by applying respective value chains and taking CO 2 direct air capture (DAC) into account to achieve the required level of sustainability. The CO 2 could also originate from a carbon point source, which is either sustainable because of bio‐CO 2 (pulp and paper mills) or unavoidable because of lack of better options (limestone fraction of cement mills or municipal solid waste incinerators). CO 2 DAC is also taken into account in this research because of the limited amount of sustainable and unavoidable carbon point sources .…”

The Value of Fast Transitioning to a Fully Sustainable Energy System: The Case of Turkmenistan

“…However, it is important to have sustainably sourced carbon and hydrogen in order to have zero net-emissions of CO2. CO2 direct air capture [38] or point source CO2 capture technologies, such as for cement mills [54], will be able to provide sustainable or otherwise unavoidable carbon, whereas water electrolysis will allow to create hydrogen by the well-known water electrolysis process. In addition, these energy-intensive PtX technologies convert large amounts of electricity from solar PV and wind turbines into hydrocarbons, while providing a very high flexibility to the entire energy system [19], [52], which also effectively limits curtailment of electricity.…”