CO₂ capture in the cement industry

Topic(s): Carbon capture use and storage (CCUS), CO₂ capture

The cement industry is one of the world’s largest industrial sources of CO₂ emissions, accounting for 1.8 Gt/y in 2005, i.e. more than 6% of global emissions from the use of fossil fuels. Over the years the cement industry has substantially reduced emissions of CO₂ per tonne of cement by improved energy efficiency, replacing fossil fuels with wastes which can sometimes be regarded as ‘carbon neutral’ and by increasing the use of additives in the cement product. The scope for further reductions by these means is becoming limited but there is an increasing need to reduce CO₂ emissions to avoid climate change. CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) presents one of the few opportunities to make further major reductions in emissions and the industry is currently considering the feasibility of applying this technique in order to plan for the future. In many ways the cement industry represents a good opportunity for CCS, because cement plants are relatively large point sources of CO₂, the CO₂ concentration in cement plant flue gas is relatively high (about 25mol%, dry basis) and over 60% of total CO₂ emissions from a modern cement plant are from mineral decomposition and this CO₂ cannot be avoided by use of alternative energy sources.

IEA GHG has undertaken a study to assess the technologies that could be used to capture CO₂ in cement plants and their performances and costs. The study was undertaken for IEA GHG by Mott MacDonald. The British Cement Association collaborated and helped to obtain input from the cement manufacture and plant supply industries.

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