Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Introducing CCS Technologies in the Cement Industry
Diafas, Christos
Cement is an industrial product, which is closely correlated with the economic development of a country and at the same time liable for massive amounts of energy consumption and CO2 emissions emanating during its production. In view of a global and unprecedented climate change, a crucial, yet underdeveloped, component of the toolkit for emissions reduction, is the application of carbon capture technologies, which constitute the arrest of carbon dioxide at its source, in order to prevent its emission to the atmosphere. Taking the above issues into consideration, this report analyzes the life cycle of cement in a conventional cement plant, detecting the processes which are more energy-intensive and produce more greenhouse gas emissions and scrutinizes the application of two post-combustion capture technologies, namely monoethanolamine scrubbing and calcium looping, in order to evaluate their added environmental impact and ultimately assess their effectiveness as CO2 mitigation strategies.
