Publications
Multi-objective economic and environmental assessment for the preliminary design of CO2 transport pipelines
Article in Journal of Cleaner production
Author: University College London
DOI/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137330
CaLby2030: per catturare la CO2 dai processi industriali entro il 2030
Collaborative article published on RiENERGIA magazine. English version is available upon request ([email protected])
Authors: Martina Fantini, J. CARLOS ABANADES, Mª ELENA DIEGO
2nd Women in CCUS workshop - Stockholm, Sweden - 28th September, 2023
This dissemination workshop has been co-organized between CaLby2030 and C4U projects and aimed at promoting STEM subjects as a study and research path for young women through the direct experience of female scientists working in CCUS. The initiative has been divided into two main sessions:
1- Role models: Selected speakers will be sharing direct experiences with the aim of inspiring the audience and highlighting critical issues that can be improved for gender equality.
2- Technical discussion, aiming at detecting concrete tools and strategies for the future.
Authors: CaLby2030 and C4U projects
Public Perception and Business Models Joint Event - 14th November 2023, Brussels
Organised by the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) & Alternative Fuels Horizon 2020/ Horizon Europe CLUSTER projects
Supported by CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Public perception and business models are key to enabling innovative technologies, guiding the decisions of the policymakers at national and European Commission levels. In addition, more and more Horizon calls require these two aspects to be dealt with in relation to the technology that will be developed in the project.With more than 20 selected Horizon projects and more than 50 key stakeholders involved in the audience, this joint workshop represented a unique opportunity to strongly impact both on the activities still to be implemented by the ongoing projects and the design of new projects at higher TRL (close to commercial scale). Bringing together stakeholders from various technical projects, the event has provided an excellent networking opportunity for policymakers, building relationships with industry experts, project representatives, investors and policy makers, thus facilitating collaboration, knowledge sharing, and future partnerships.
Authors: CaLby2030, HERCCULES, Cleanker and eCOCO2 projects
Will carbon management take off in Europe? How to get both industry and society on board?
Insights from an analysis of the European Commission’s Industrial Carbon Management Strategy Call for Evidence submissions
The new policy brief written within CaLby2030 project with a joint effort between Radboud University and EU CORE, discusses how Europe's ambitious climate goals can be sustained through effective Industrial Carbon Management. Published after the recent European Commission Communication, the brief underlines that while financial support remains crucial, predictability and strategic alignment with both industry and society are imperative.
Key Points:
- Predictability Matters: Sustainable industrial strategies rely on transparent and consistent policy frameworks.
- Inclusive Dialogue: Engaging various stakeholders, from industry leaders to local communities, is key to reducing societal resistance and improving implementation.
- Technological Integration: Encouraging innovation in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) can turn challenges into opportunities, helping industries remain competitive while reducing emissions.
This brief is a pivotal resource for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and anyone invested in the future of sustainable European industry. Find out how coordinated efforts can ensure a cleaner, competitive Europe!
Authors: Senni Määttä, Martina Fantini, Moises Covarrubias, Vincent de Gooyert
A critical review of social scientific research on carbon capture and storage
Authors: Senni Määttä, Vincent de Gooyert
Resistance to market interventionism: an analysis of the European industrial carbon management strategy consultation
Establishing a framework for carbon management in the European Union and aligning this with climate policy relies on collaboration between diverse actors and coordination between diverse goals. The European Industrial Carbon Management Strategy, a policy that sets ambitions for carbon capture, carbon utilization, carbon storage and carbon removals, was published in February 2024. The strategy underwent a public consultation during the summer of 2023. The consultation offered valuable insights on how the key stakeholders view the governance challenges. This study analyses the consultation submissions and how the stakeholders perceive carbon management challenges and solutions. All submissions (n = 205) to the call for evidence were synthesized using qualitative system dynamics modelling. The analysis resulted in the identification of two dominant approaches to carbon management, a market-driven and a society-driven approach, debated by the stakeholders. These two approaches have an inherent tension between them. The market-driven approach favours minimal regulation and relies on competition and economic incentives as key drivers for carbon management. In contrast, the society-driven approach advocates for strict regulation and active government intervention to ensure technology aligns with broader climate mitigation goals. The European industrial carbon management faces strong advocacy for a market-driven approach. However, due to the interconnections between decarbonization goals, inherent contradictions, and the collaborative nature of the challenge, a solely market-driven approach may not result in the desired acceleration.
Authors: Senni Määttä, Moises Covarrubias & Vincent de Gooyert
An analysis of the European Industrial Carbon Management Strategy consultation: Who makes the normative decisions?
Establishing a framework for carbon management in Europe relies on collaboration between diverse actors. The European Industrial Carbon Management Strategy (the Strategy) is going through its last phase. As announced by the European Commission, the first quartile of 2024 will witness the deliberation of the Strategy. In the summer of 2023, a public consultation, and a call for evidence on the Strategy provided valuable stakeholder perspectives on the challenges and possible solutions for carbon management in Europe. This paper presents an analysis of these stakeholder perspectives and what input they give of the problems and solutions to carbon management. All submissions (n = 205) to the call for evidence were synthesised using qualitative system dynamics modelling. We found two dominant approaches to carbon management, a market-driven approach and a society-driven approach. Aligning carbon management within broader decarbonisation and fostering collaboration, requires a society-driven approach. A market-driven approach on the other hand provides high financial incentives. Our analysis suggests a conflict between a market-driven approach and collaboration, as a purely market-driven approach worsens the barriers to a collaborative approach, such as power and resource imbalance and a lack of facilitative leadership. Therefore, a careful balance between the two is required. This leads to several policy insights presented at the beginning of this paper.
Authors: Senni Määttä, Moises Covarrubias & Vincent de Gooyert
Pilot Testing of Calcium Looping at TRL7 with CO2 Capture Efficiencies toward 99%
Postcombustion CO2 capture by calcium looping using circulating fluidized bed technology, CFB-CaL, is evolving to tackle industrial sectors that are difficult to decarbonize. In addition to the known advantages of CFB-CaL (i.e., retrofittability and competitive energy efficiencies and cost), the fuel flexibility by using renewable biomass in the oxy-fired CFB calciner and the possibility to reach extremely high CO2 capture efficiencies in the carbonator are demonstrated in this paper. Results from the latest experimental campaigns in the TRL7 CFB-CaL pilot of the La Pereda are reported, treating over 2000 N m3/h of flue gases in the carbonator with a firing capacity of biomass pellets up to 2 MWth in the oxy-fired calciner. A new strategy to reach high CO2 capture efficiencies (above 99% in some cases) in the carbonator has been tested. This involves decoupling the carbonator in two temperature zones by cooling the solids-lean top region to below 550 °C and ensuring that a sufficient flow of active CaO reaches such a region.
Authors: Borja Arias, Yolanda Alvarez Criado, Alberto Méndez, Paula Marqués, I. Finca, and J. Carlos Abanades
A conceptual evaluation of the use of Ca(OH)2 for attaining carbon capture rates of 99% in the calcium looping process
Calcium looping (CaL), typically capable of reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 90%, is a technology well suited to capturing CO2 emissions from a wide array of industrial processes. An approach in which Ca(OH)2 is injected into the carbonator to increase the carbon capture efficiency of the CaL process to 99% was evaluated in this study using a one-and-a-half-dimensional reactor model. The effect of several key parameters was considered, including the injection flow rate, injection elevation, and the formation rate of CO2 in the freeboard of the carbonator due to the combustion of char particles elutriated from the calciner. The main finding was that capture rates of 99% appear attainable, given that enough Ca(OH)2 is injected and that the injection occurs at a suitable location, i.e., the sorbent is allowed sufficient residence time in the reactor.
Authors: Markus Secomandi, Markku Nikku, Borja Arias, Jouni Ritvanen
Tiered Multi-Objective Optimization of CO2 Transport for CCS
To accelerate the deployment of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), as a key technology for mitigating global warming, affordable and efficient CO2 transport solutions are urgently needed for implementation in industrial clusters. Finding these solutions requires balancing the transport technology costs against several other factors, including public acceptance, environmental impacts, safety, financial and operational risks, and construction time. In this study, a Tiered Multi-Objective Optimization (TMOO) method was developed to provide decision makers with a tool for systematically evaluating and ranking the CO2 transport solutions. In the model, the cost of CO2 transport was calculated from techno-economic analysis, while the environmental impacts on global warming, biodiversity, and human health are evaluated using life cycle assessment. A weighted sum method is applied to combine the financial costs and environmental impacts for the Pareto multi-objective optimization. The TMOO method was applied to determine optimal strategies for aggregation of CO2 from five large industrial emitters in the North Sea Port (NSP) region, as a case study. Realistic CO2 infrastructure design cases were considered, involving shipping and pipeline transport and conditioning for subsequent transportation to outside the cluster region at –30 °C and 20 bar. In all the cases at the emission sources, the CO2 was assumed to be at 5 bar and 40 °C. The results show that a low pressure (35 bar) CO2 collection pipeline is the optimal solution, with the lowest cost (€12.5/tCO2) and global warming impact (22.9 kgCO2-eq/tCO2), followed by ship ‘hub and spoke’ as a second preferable solution that comes at higher costs and environmental impacts. To help identify potential alternatives for CO2 transport in the region, ranking of sub-optimal solutions, involving higher pressure (110 bar) pipelines and ‘milk-round’ shipping of CO2, was performed. Across all the CO2 transport cases studied, electricity consumed for CO2 compression and liquefaction was found to make the largest contribution to costs (ca 44%) and environmental impacts (ca 96%).
Authors: Thomas Hennequin, Diarmid Roberts, Rosalie van Zelm, Solomon F. Brown, Richard T.J. Porter, Haroun Mahgerefteh and Sergey B. Martynov
Calcium Looping for Decarbonizing Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking with CCS: A Preliminary Analysis of the Role of Solid Storage
Decarbonising Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steelmaking (30% of global steel production) is crucial to achieving the emission reduction targets in the iron and steel sector, which is responsible for ~7% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Carbon capture in EAF steelmaking is necessary to manage the unavoidable process emissions. However, the flue gases produced in the EAF have highly variable properties, making integrating carbon capture technologies within EAF plants particularly challenging.
In this work, process simulations are used to assess and compare various CaL plant configurations for capturing CO2 from EAF flue gases. The CaL plant configuration with two intermediate solid storage vessels offers advantages, requiring smaller equipment sizes and lower resource consumption than the configuration with one intermediate solid storage vessel.
Authors: Néstor D. Montiel-Bohórquez, Edoardo de Lena, Maurizio Spinelli, Malin Blomqvist, Paul Cobden, Manuele Gatti, Matteo C. Romano
Modelling-based proof-of-concept for Ca(OH)2-enhanced CO2 capture in a calcium looping process
Scenarios in which global warming is limited to 1.5°C require some form of carbon dioxide removal technologies. Calcium looping (CaL) is an emerging CO2 capture process in which CaO is cycled between two CFB reactors: the carbonator, in which CO2 is adsorbed, forming CaCO3, and the calciner, in which the sorbent is regenerated. The carbonator is typically operated at a temperature close to 650ºC and with CO2 capture efficiencies of around 90%.This modelling study assesses a concept to improve the CO2 capture efficiency of the CaL process to 99%.The investigated carbonator design employs a larger heat exchanger to attain a temperature drop of 100°C over the height of the reactor. This results in a temperature of approximately 550°C in the top region of the carbonator, thus reducing the minimum CO2 concentration achievable according to the CO2-CaO equilibrium. In addition, calcium hydroxide is fed in the upper part of the reactor as an additional sorbent to capture part of the remaining CO2. An in-house model is used to simulate the interconnected reactors, represented one-dimensionally by control volumes along their heights. The model features comprehensive reaction modelling, with heterogeneous and homogeneous combustion and sorbent reactions expressed by kinetic equations. Semi-empirical closure models are used for fluidised bed hydrodynamics and heat transfer. First, asteady state balance measured in the “La Pereda” pilot is simulated and serves as a reference point. Then, a calcium hydroxide injection is added, and the resulting temperature and CO2 profiles are compared with those of the reference case. The resulting CO2 capture efficiency of the carbonator increases from 93% close to 99%.Based on the model results, the investigated carbonator configuration offers a significant potential to further reduce CO2 emissions in industrial processes. The parameters controlling the sorbent reaction rates will be calibrated with experimental data from pilot tests once available, and the validated model will be used in future large-scale studies.
Authors: Markus Secomandi, Borja Arias, Markku Nikku, Kari Myöhänen, Jouni Ritvanen