A. Erickson
Sargent & Lundy,
United States
Keywords: decarbonization, carbon capture, anthropogenic, industrial, environmental
Summary:
Climate change and decarbonization efforts continues to be an important focus for countries, businesses, and people. The United States has set ambitions of net-zero greenhouse gases emissions by no later than 2050. As part of this effort, the implementation of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture systems at point sources will be essential to help reduce CO2 cost-effectively. These systems are complex, energy intensive, and the installation of these systems is unique for each facility. Facilities must understand the requirements of these systems and evaluate the current and future availability of resources that will be required by these systems and the subsequent impact on the existing facility. The power generation, transportation, and industrial sectors represent the three largest sources of anthropogenic CO2 in the US and the world. Industrial facilities are a specific focus for CO2 capture as many of these facilities produce CO2 as part of the process, and complete decarbonization cannot be achieved through fuel switching alone. This presentation will focus on the unique challenges and decisions that industrial facilities face when evaluating the feasibility of carbon capture. It will review various types of industrial point sources including chemical production, mineral production, natural gas processing, metal production, and bioenergy and how the CO2 is produced in each type of industrial facility. This presentation will explore the variability of CO2 emissions from each and the subsequent impact on implementing carbon capture systems. Consideration of utility availability and requirements, environmental regulations, and carbon capture technologies will be included as part of the evaluation with specific industrial point source examples used to outline the decisions facilities are faced with.