Industry

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has a vital role to play in long term sustainability in both the energy and industry sectors.  As a process, CCS is used to capture carbon dioxide gas (CO2) at point source to keep CO2 from entering the atmosphere. It is then, transported, and securely stored underground, either via enhanced oil recovery or directly to a sequestration site.   
 

CCS and Industry

CCS is applicable beyond the energy sectors and can be applied to industrial sources of emissions, such as iron, steel, and concrete, which have limited abatement options. In recent years, analysts and governments have recognized that some of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries may have no alternatives to CCS for deep emissions reduction. This is because CO2 is generated not only from their use of fuel, but also, unavoidably, through their production processes as well.

For example, total emissions from the cement industry contribute as much as eight per cent of global CO2 emissions (Global CO2 emissions from cement production, CICERO Center for International Climate Research, 2018). Cement manufacturing industrial process emissions alone account for five per cent of the worlds CO2, two-thirds of the emissions are from processing due to the extreme heat required to produce it. Concrete is the second most consumed substance on the planet, next to water with roughly attributing three tonnes of concrete yearly by every person on earth (Emissions from the Cement Industry, Columbia University, 2012).  Flue gas from a cement plant can be very similar to the flue gas stream from a coal-fired power plant. As a result it is relatively easy to adapt the expertise acquired at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam 3 Carbon Capture Facility (BD3) to help de-risk the cement industry.
 

Greenhouse Gases & the Industrial Sector

Source: IPCC (2014) based on global emissions from 2010. Details
about the sources included in these estimates can be found in IPCC's
Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report.  

Overall, the industrial sector is responsible for nearly one quarter of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

At a combined emissions level of more than seven gigatonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) in 2011, seven large industrial sectors that include cement, iron and steel, chemicals, and refining, are responsible for one-fifth of the total of 31 GtCO2 emitted globally. Emissions from each of these sectors are expected to grow by around 35 per cent up to 2050, which can be attributed to the increasing demand for consumer products and infrastructure (IEA/UNIDO Technology Roadmap - Carbon Capture and Storage in Industrial Applications (20Sep2011).

Improved efficiency measures and non-fossil energy options could potentially reduce emissions from these sectors but only by about 30 per cent. 

As the world moves toward renewables and other low- carbon technologies, like wind and nuclear power, these technologies rely heavily on supply chain materials, like steel and carbon fibres, that are all emitters of CO2.  CCS is the only technology that can achieve deep reductions in CO2 emissions from high-emitting industries.  Without CCS or innovation in materials and fuels production, the total emissions from these sectors will increase if economic growth continues at the rates projected. Clearly, CCS can be a bridge between economic growth and the demand for industrial output.

Using a combination of renewables and CCS is an effective solution for both reducing emissions in the short-term, but also creating a sustainable, long-term, plan for energy and manufacturing.  It doesn’t have to be either or, it can be both…it needs to be both.

See updated IEA Industrial Applications of CCS report, here:  Transforming Industry through CCUS (released 20 May 2019)

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