A Techno-economic Analysis and Systematic Review of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Applied to the Iron and Steel, Cement, Oil Refining and Pulp and Paper Industries

A systematic review into the literature surrounding industrial carbon capture has been performed, with a particular focus on costs per tonne of CO2 avoided. The authors have reviewed 250 research articles in order to extract data regarding industrial CCS, focusing on four main carbon-emitting industries; the iron and steel industry, the refining industry, the pulp and paper industry and the cement industry. Only 25 costs were returned as part of the search, and across the four industries they suggested that the cost of carbon capture on industries after conversion to 2013 US Dollars is $20-140 per tonne of CO2 avoided. The highest costs were found using amine scrubbing, the most mature technology, with other less mature technologies reporting lower costs, for example, calcium looping applied to the cement industry was reported to have costs of in the range of $20-75 per tonne avoided, with the only lower costs reported being in the pulp and paper industry reported between $16 and $35. However, the paucity of costing data increases the uncertainty surrounding industrial CCS, meaning that more economic data are required before any conclusive decisions can be made.