Page 83 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

Ayşe Sever Akdağ - Gülen Güllü

The Importance of CCUS in Industry

In scenarios limiting global warming to 1.5°C, it is estimated that industrial
CO emissions, which are 8 Gt of CO per year today, should be approximately
2
2
65-90% (interquartile range) lower in 2050 than in 2010. As part of COP 26,
within the “net zero“ industries mission jointly led by Austria and Australia, it
is expected to contribute to the “net zero“ emission target by preventing 60
Gt of CO2 emission by 2050. This goal will be realized in iron & steel, cement
and chemical sectors, also called heavy industries, which are responsible for
around 70% of the industry-based CO emissions. It doesn’t seem possible
2
to achieve this amount of emission mitigation through energy and process
efficiency or renewable energy options. This could only be achieved through
electrification, hydrogen, renewable bio-based raw materials, product
submission, and a combination of new and existing technologies, including
carbon capture, utilization and storage. (IPCC, 2018).
In heavy industry facilities, due to the need for reaching extremely high
temperatures, creating alternatives (such as electrification) to fossil fuels is not
only costly, but also impractical. Additionally, part of the CO emissions in this
2
sector result from inevitable practices of raw material processing. Moreover,
the facilities in the heavy industry usually have a life-span of 30 to 40 years.
Closing these facilities much earlier to transition to alternative technologies
will be extremely costly. For this reason, to reach global “net zero“ emission,
it is essential to integrate CCUS technologies that need little revision to the
existing facilities in these sectors. (IEA, 2020b).
The cement industry, which accounts for 8% of global CO emissions, is a
2
case in point. Every year, over 4 billion tons of cement is produced worldwide,
and 800 kg of CO is released per each ton of cement produced. It is possible
2
to say that this corresponds to one-fifth of the average annual emission per
person on the planet. Cement production briefly combines limestone with
other minerals through certain chemical reactions to form a new mineral
resembling a rock. The rock is then ground into a fine powder which we call
cement. For these chemical reactions, there is a need for extremely high
temperatures – up to 1400°C. This is achieved through roaring fire produced
by burning coal, oil or natural gas in a controlled manner at the bottom of the
cement kilns. About %35 of the emissions in the cement sector result from
fossil fuels burned in these cement rotary kilns to expose the raw material
directly to fire. Around 65% of GHG emissions, on the other hand, result
from the nature of limestone used as raw material and made up of calcium
carbonate. Calcium Carbonate (CaCO ) is separated into Calcium Oxide (CaO)
3
and Carbon Dioxide (CO ) in cement kilns with heat of 1.100°C. CaO goes
2
through certain chemical reactions and eventually turns into cement, and CO
2

68 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate,