Geneva, Switzerland — A new report looking at the technologies and methods for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the cement industry says it's possible to cut emissions 18 percent by 2050, but only with the help of carbon capture and storage.
"Cement Technology Roadmap 2009," published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Energy Agency, lists what the cement industry, which accounts for around 5 percent of human-related CO2 emissions, needs to do to cuts its emissions, and explains what public and financial support will be needed to make that happen.
After an overview of cement production and a list of low-carbon or carbon-negative cements, many of which we recently covered, the report gives a detailed look at what efforts need to be pushed forward to lower cement's impact: efficiency technologies for new and retrofit kilns, using alternative fuels (natural gas, biofuels, solid waste, discarded tires) instead of coal to heat kilns, substituting materials within cement and utilizing carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The roadmap also notes the limits of each effort; research and development needs and goals; the potential impacts on energy, CO2, cement production and investment needs; and what groups (industry, suppliers, government, universities, research institutes) will need to play what roles to make each effort possible.
While the efforts listed are already being used by some in the cement industry, the roadmap explains they all need to be applied more broadly and aggressively, providing a detailed list of public and financial support needed to advance them.
Some of the limits for CCS are the current high cost of capturing carbon, the need for a political framework to limit carbon leakage and the need to make the public more knowledgeable about CCS.
The roadmap is the first report of its kind on the cement industry and was developed over a year of work by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Cement Sustainability Initiative and the International Energy Agency after ministers at the G8 Summit in June 2008 requested a series of roadmaps that advance innovative energy technologies.
CO² CAPTURE: tecnology available
Once the cement industry are proposing reduction, I'd appreciate that you take a look into a new technology (patented) that two Brazilian scientists came through.
The article is below. Hope that the cement industry enjoy it. Has the prospect to be the life-buoy for them.
Angelo
"BRAZILIAN TECHNOLOGY IN CAPTURING CO² PLEDGES REVOLUTION
Technologies for the capture of CO² are promises for the reduction of the greenhouse gases. The partnership between AMATECH (AMA Technological Solutions Ltd.) and UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) propose an economically feasible and recyclable alternative for the reduction of CO² emissions.
Belo Horizonte-Brazil, October of 2009 - AMATECH (AMA Technological Solutions Ltd.), company that stimulates, fosters and develops scientific projects, in partnership with Federal University of Minas Gerais ( aka UFMG) stay ahead with a proposal for the capture of CO².
Both institutions are developing a technical-scientific cooperation project acting directly in the reduction of CO² emissions through its capture and later transformation industry raw materials.
World pioneer the research will place Brazil ahead in the reduction of the greenhouse gases.
The outcome of the project is an economically feasible product, efficient and recyclable. Among its possible forms, ceramic spheres of an absorbing material will act as a filter, therefore permitting the capture of the CO² coming out from thermal power plants, cement plants, steel mills, etc, before going to the atmosphere.
The process of recycling of the ceramic material consists in transferring and/or transforming the absorbed CO² into raw materials to be used by the market with the consequent regeneration of the ceramic.
The ceramic material, already patented, is on its final development step at the labs of the Chemistry Department of UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais). The ceramic material can be reused for ten times before being discarded.
The research coordinators, Doctor Researcher Prof. Geraldo Lima and Doctor Researcher Prof. Jadson Belchior, both from the Chemistry Department stress that some strategies have been proposed to solve the current CO² capture problem: cave storage, submarine deposits, depleted oil wells or chemical transformation into heaps of products without immediate applications. The cost of implementation of the aforementioned solutions is very high. And with doubtful efficiency that may result into unforeseen environmental impacts. It is possible that some of the current solutions may cause a lot more accelerated and catastrophic environmental impact then the global worming itself. Just to mention one impact: decreasing of sea water PH caused by minimum increases of CO² concentration as a result of underground leakage coming from the gas stored in depleted oil wells. This fact alone may cause quickly the extinction of animal and vegetable species. Even with the gas duly stored, we’ll be transferring to future generations the possibility that the gas be in contact with deep water tables returning then to the surface.
It is crystal clear that the solutions are none of the current technologies offered so far, but most probably the assembly of all of them envisaging a common goal: the decreasing of the anthropogenic CO² emissions. It is with this vision that this new technology is being proposed.
The highlight of this invention is a process where CO² is captured and being transformed, by means of chemical process, into raw materials."
CCS for cement industry
The carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is still under development. The costs reported in the literature are only estimates. There are several question marks on its long term success. The installation and operation of such a system will increase the cost of cement further. Overall the suggestion appears quite unsustainable. Dr J D Bapat: http://jdbapat.blogspot.com