The Economics of Accelerated Carbonation Routes Using Captured CO2

A major hurdle for implementing CCU technologies is often their economic viability as well as the social acceptance for using such technologies ^[1]. Therefore, assessments regarding the economic and social impacts of CCU technologies are needed.

Being among the biggest emitters of anthropogenic CO₂, the cement industry requires affordable pathways towards a sustainable future ^[2]. A concept developed in this field is the so called ‘accelerated carbonation’ process. Hereby, CO₂ is reacted with activated minerals to form carbonates, which could potentially be used for multiple purposes, such as fillers, cement additives or for land reclamation projects ^[3,4]. Some policy advice reports use the accelerated carbonation process as a positive example for the utilization of CO₂ as a feedstock, because unlike most other CCU concepts, the carbonation reaction is energetically favorable ^[5]. Although the concept is not new, accelerated carbonation routes lack detailed and comparable economic assessments in literature ^[3]. In this contribution, economic assessments of several carbonation routes will be presented, uncovering possible advantages of certain routes towards an economically viable implementation. Moreover, the evaluation of the circumstances under which these novel technologies become economically feasible as well as the analysis of key factors to promote economic feasibility will be investigated.

Understanding the economics of accelerated carbonation routes is essential for their further development as well as deployment and can help decision makers to derive sustainability strategies.

References

[1] A. Zimmermann, M. Kant, T. Strunge, E. Tzimas, W. Leitner, W. Arlt, P. Styring, K. Arning, M. Ziefle, R. Meys, 2017.

[2] A. Favier, C. De Wolf, K. Scrivener, G. Habert, ETH Zurich, 2018.

[3] A. Sanna, M. Uibu, G. Caramanna, R. Kuusik, M. M. Maroto-Valer, Chem Soc Rev 2014, 43, 8049-8080.

[4] A. Sanna, M. R. Hall, M. Maroto-Valer, Energy & Environmental Science 2012, 5, 7781.

[5] WWF Deutschland, 2018.