The promise of carbon capture
As cement companies consider ways to lower their CO2 emissions, carbon capture is expected to provide a key component of their efforts. While first-generation carbon capture technologies have been around for application in other sectors, the cement industry continues to look for an economical way to capture carbon that is also suitable for use in cement plants worldwide. By Charles Kline & John Kline, Kline Consulting LLC, USA.
Figure 1: overview of broad categories of CO2 capture technology
Presently, the only commercially-available capture technologies have been developed for the energy industry and have been in use for some time. These first-generation technologies are expected to continue to be at the forefront of carbon capture technologies moving forward, with second- and third-generation technologies becoming commercially available by 2030 and 2050, respectively. While further funding, research and development will be necessary before these newer technologies can reach commercial availability, there are several promising technologies under development by a variety of companies.
Industrial-scale carbon capture technology can be broadly divided into three groups (see Figure 1):
• pre-combustion technologies
• oxycombustion
• post-combustion technologies.
