Cement CCUS Training Course
A six-week online training course covering the technology, issues, and challenges of capturing, using, or storing the carbon dioxide emitted in the production of cement clinker, the essential ingredient of Portland cement.
Course Overview
The world’s governments, investors, and society have deemed it imperative to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide generated by human activity in an attempt to limit the global rise in the world’s temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius or lower. Energy-intensive industries, including cement manufacturing, will need to make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of human activity. This challenge is particularly pronounced for cement, as carbon dioxide originates from two sources in the manufacturing process:
- The firing of cement kilns with predominantly carbon-based fuels
- The decomposition of the primary calcium carbonate raw material in those kilns. The carbon dioxide related to fuel can be mitigated by switching to lower-carbon fuels or even considering electrification. However, the only option to reduce process-related carbon dioxide emissions from the decomposition of calcium carbonate is through carbon capture and utilisation or storage from the exhaust gases emitted by cement kilns.
Once it is acknowledged that the carbon dioxide from cement kilns must be captured, at least two challenges become evident:
- The technologies for capturing such massive quantities of carbon dioxide are still immature, with most not yet demonstrated at the required scale.
- The most advanced technology, post-combustion capture using aqueous amine solutions, is itself very energy-intensive and prohibitively expensive.
This situation creates a pressing need to either improve the amine-based technology or develop new, lower-cost, and less energy-intensive carbon capture technologies for cement kilns. Numerous amine improvements or alternative technologies are currently being investigated. Some, such as chemisorbents, hot potassium carbonate, or physiosorbents like metal-organic frameworks or membranes, would also apply as post-combustion technologies following the emission of exhaust gases from the cement kiln process. Others, such as oxy-combustion to concentrate carbon dioxide within the cement kiln process, involve modifications to the process itself. Oxygen enrichment and subsequent cryogenic separation of carbon dioxide require both adjustments within the kiln process and post-combustion, end-of-pipe capture of the carbon dioxide.
The aim of this six-week online training course is to explore all the potential carbon capture technologies under investigation for capturing the carbon dioxide emissions from cement kilns, along with the associated utilisation or storage of the carbon dioxide.