Decarbonising the cement sector: A bottom-up model for optimising carbon capture application in the UK

Abstract Industrial processes such as Portland cement manufacture produce a large proportion of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and significantly reducing their emissions could be difficult or expensive without carbon capture and storage. This paper explores the idea of synchronising shutdowns for carbon capture and storage installation with major shutdowns required to refurbish major process units at industrial sites. It develops a detailed bottom-up model for the first time and applies it to the United Kingdom's cement industry. This research demonstrates that several policy and technology risks are not identified by the top-down models and it highlights the importance of reducing shut-down times for capture plant construction. Failure to do so could increase installation costs by around 10 per cent. This type of approach, which is complementary to top-down modelling, and the lessons learned from it can be applied to other capital- and energy-intensive industries such as primary steel production. It provides important information about what actions should be prioritised to ensure that carbon capture and storage can be applied without extra unnecessary shutdowns which would increase the overall cost of carbon dioxide mitigation and could delay action, increasing cumulative emissions as well.

[1]  Keywan Riahi,et al.  Fossil resource and energy security dynamics in conventional and carbon-constrained worlds , 2014, Climatic Change.

[2]  Jia Li,et al.  Assessing the Value of Retrofitting Cement Plants for Carbon Capture: A Case Study of a Cement Plant in Guangdong, China , 2012 .

[3]  Enrica De Cian,et al.  Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in Italy , 2016 .

[4]  Juan Carlos Abanades,et al.  Clean and efficient use of petroleum coke for combustion and power generation , 2004 .

[5]  Vivek V. Ranade,et al.  Modeling of rotary cement kilns: Applications to reduction in energy consumption , 2006 .

[6]  Thomas Hills,et al.  Carbon Capture in the Cement Industry: Technologies, Progress, and Retrofitting. , 2016, Environmental science & technology.

[7]  E. J. Anthony,et al.  Carbon capture and storage update , 2014 .

[8]  Eemeli Tsupari,et al.  Costs and Potential of Carbon Capture and Storage at an Integrated Steel Mill , 2013 .

[9]  Eemeli Tsupari,et al.  Post-combustion capture of CO2 at an integrated steel mill – Part II: Economic feasibility , 2013 .

[10]  Gabrial Anandarajah,et al.  Decarbonising road transport with hydrogen and electricity: Long term global technology learning scenarios , 2013 .

[11]  José Antonio Moya,et al.  The potential for improvements in energy efficiency and CO2 emissions in the EU27 iron and steel industry under different payback periods , 2013 .

[12]  Jia Li,et al.  Technological, economic and financial prospects of carbon dioxide capture in the cement industry , 2013 .

[13]  Amal Elkilani,et al.  Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining , 2009 .

[14]  Keun-Hyeok Yang,et al.  Effect of supplementary cementitious materials on reduction of CO2 emissions from concrete , 2015 .

[15]  H. Hashim,et al.  Low carbon measures for cement plant a review , 2015 .

[16]  Ajay Gambhir,et al.  A review of the technologies, economics and policy instruments for decarbonising energy-intensive manufacturing industries , 2014 .

[17]  Chunbao Xu,et al.  A brief overview of low CO2 emission technologies for iron and steel making , 2010 .

[18]  Takeshi Kuramochi,et al.  Assessment of midterm CO2 emissions reduction potential in the iron and steel industry: a case of Japan , 2016 .

[19]  Andrea Ramírez,et al.  Comparative assessment of CO2 capture technologies for carbon-intensive industrial processes , 2012 .

[20]  Daniel Garraín,et al.  Life Cycle Assessment of applying CO2 post-combustion capture to the Spanish cement production , 2015 .

[21]  Filip Johnsson,et al.  Assessment of strategies for CO2 abatement in the European petroleum refining industry , 2012 .