CCU for Sustainable Industries – Does it Pay off?

Abstract

The shift to a carbon-neutral society poses significant challenges for industrial material production. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is complex and costly. CCUS is one of the few critical technologies enabling this transition. Techno-economic and environmental assessment (TEEA) offers reliable insights into CO2 abatement costs across applications. To ensure consistency, a semi-automated TEEA tool was used, linking validated process simulations with equipment cost and LCA databases to calculate net production costs and environmental impacts. For the decarbonization of the glass industry, with more than 300 kg CO2 emissions per tonne of produced glass and accounting for about 20 MtCO2-eq./year in Europe a CCUS application was assessed. The glass furnace requires continuous operation, which imposes the necessity of a constant energy supply. Highly concentrated CO2 waste gas can be purified and used with hydrogen from water electrolysis to produce fuel for the glass furnace, completing a carbon cycle for carbon-neutral glass production. Key findings are: - The Implementation of Power-to-X concepts for a sustainable industrial glass production is one example for large-scale industry decarbonization. It utilizes process steps solely based on established industrial technologies. - Glass production can almost achieve carbon neutrality, depending on the electricity source. Synthetic natural gas can replace fossil natural gas without changes in the furnace operation. Utilization of the Hard-to-abate CO2 emissions from the glassmaking batch can be used for the production of surplus synthetic fuel. - Eco-friendly container glass (beer bottle) would cost almost twice of the fossil fuel based price - The cost of CO2 abatement is estimated in the range of 600-800 € (2022) per metric ton. The results show a baseline for decision-making regarding options to defossilize glass production. Details for cost contribution and CO2 abatement for CCU applications at industrial scale were derived from techno-economic and environmental assessment (TEEA). The developed approach is applicable for any industry sector and any specific plant across Europe towards defossilization.