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

Abstract

Carbon capture and storage will play a crucial role in industrial decarbonisation. However, the current literature presents a large variability in the techno-economic feasibility of CO ₂ capture technologies. Consequently, reliable pathways for carbon capture deployment in energy-intensive industries are still missing. This work provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art CO ₂ capture technologies for decarbonisation of the iron and steel, cement, petroleum refining, and pulp and paper industries. Amine scrubbing was shown to be the least feasible option, resulting in the average avoided CO ₂ cost of between 62.7 {{\text{€·t}}_{{\text{CO}}_2}}^{-1} for the pulp and paper and 104.6 {{\text{€·t}}_{{\text{CO}}_2}}^{-1} for the iron and steel industry. Its average equivalent energy requirement varied between 2.7 (iron and steel) and 5.1 {{\text{MJ}}_{\text{th}}\cdot {\text{kg}}_{{\text{CO}}_2}}^{-1} (cement). Retrofits of emerging calcium looping were shown to improve the overall viability of CO ₂ capture for industrial decarbonisation. Calcium looping was shown to result in the average avoided CO ₂ cost of between 32.7 (iron and steel) and 42.9 {{\text{€·t}}_{{\text{CO}}_2}}^{-1} (cement). Its average equivalent energy requirement varied between 2.0 (iron and steel) and 3.7 {{\text{MJ}}_{\text{th}}\cdot {\text{kg}}_{{\text{CO}}_2}}^{-1} (pulp and paper). Such performance demonstrated the superiority of calcium looping for industrial decarbonisation. Further work should focus on standardising the techno-economic assessment of technologies for industrial decarbonisation.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

industrial CO ₂ emissions / CCS deployment / carbonate looping / net-zero industry / carbon capture benchmarks