Comparison of Technologies for CO2 Capture from Cement Production—Part 2: Cost Analysis

Stefania Gardarsdottir,Rahul Anantharaman,Edoardo De Lena,Simon Roussanaly,José-Francisco Pérez-Calvo,Mari Voldsund,Matteo Romano,Matteo Gazzani,Daniel Sutter,Giovanni Cinti,Marco Mazzotti,Chao Fu,David Berstad

doi:10.3390/en12030542

Stefania Gardarsdottir, Rahul Anantharaman + Show 11 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en12030542

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Abstract

This paper presents an assessment of the cost performance of CO2 capture technologies when retrofitted to a cement plant: MEA-based absorption, oxyfuel, chilled ammonia-based absorption (Chilled Ammonia Process), membrane-assisted CO2 liquefaction, and calcium looping. While the technical basis for this study is presented in Part 1 of this paper series, this work presents a comprehensive techno-economic analysis of these CO2 capture technologies based on a capital and operating costs evaluation for retrofit in a cement plant. The cost of the cement plant product, clinker, is shown to increase with 49 to 92% compared to the cost of clinker without capture. The cost of CO2 avoided is between 42 €/tCO2 (for the oxyfuel-based capture process) and 84 €/tCO2 (for the membrane-based assisted liquefaction capture process), while the reference MEA-based absorption capture technology has a cost of 80 €/tCO2. Notably, the cost figures depend strongly on factors such as steam source, electricity mix, electricity price, fuel price and plant-specific characteristics. Hence, this confirms the conclusion of the technical evaluation in Part 1 that for final selection of CO2 capture technology at a specific plant, a plant-specific techno-economic evaluation should be performed, also considering more practical considerations.

Highlights

Production of cement is estimated to account for about 7% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, contributing significantly to climate change [1]
The key performance indicators (KPIs) employed to evaluate the economic performance of the cement plant with CO2 capture are the cost of clinker and the cost of CO2 avoided
This paper presents a comparative cost assessment of CO2 capture processes applied to a cement plant: MEA-based absorption as reference technology, chilled ammonia process, membrane-assisted

Summary

Introduction

Production of cement is estimated to account for about 7% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, contributing significantly to climate change [1]. 2/3rd of the CO2 emissions are process related, originating from the conversion of limestone, CaCO3 to CaO and CO2 , while the remaining 1/3rd comes from the combustion of fuels in the rotary kiln of the cement plant. Initiative, a global consortium of 24 major cement producers, identified several main carbon mitigation options for the cement industry [1]. These include e.g., reduction of clinker to cement ratio, fuel. Implementation of CCS was found to have the largest CO2 emission reduction potential of the mitigation options due to its ability to drastically reduce both process and fuel related emissions from cement kilns.

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