Techno-economic potential of plasma-based calcium looping for CO2 capture and utilization in power-to-liquid plants

Abstract

Sector coupling plays a crucial role in reducing CO2 emissions. The usage of renewable energies in Power-to-Liquid (PtL) processes is one option to link the energy, transport and chemical sectors. In addition to the sectors mentioned, other industries such as the cement industry need to be coupled for decarbonization. The BlueFire research project focuses on the investigation of an innovative process, plasma-based calcium looping. This process has the potential to serve as a fundamental component of a PtL plant by absorbing CO2 from the environment and converting it into the syngas component carbon monoxide. It is furthermore an option for electrification of the important process of calcination in the cement industry. In this study, a techno-economic analysis is carried out to evaluate the potential of the plasma-based calcium looping. Integrated in a PtL plant to produce marine diesel, scenarios for the years 2020 and 2050 as well as different process schemes are defined in order to investigate the effects of different optimizations. In 2050, the integration of the plasma-based calcium looping is estimated to increase the PtL efficiency from 25 % to 32 %. This leads to net production costs (NPC) of 2.5 EUR/L marine diesel. By illustrating the techno-economic potential, further development goals can be set to achieve NPC below 2.0 EUR/L. This can be achieved in the presented process setup with plasma efficiencies of 45 % at conversions of 65 %. The investigations allow statements regarding the system integration and the degree of optimization of the plasma-based calcium looping.