Overview
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) can help cut emissions from emissions-intensive processes such as alumina refining and iron production, but high capture costs remain a major barrier to deployment. This project will investigate how those costs can be reduced by better integrating CCUS with industrial plants, especially with low-grade waste heat and by turning captured CO₂ into useful products.
Focusing on HILT reference plants for alumina and direct reduced iron (DRI), the project will assess both commercial and emerging capture options, including amine scrubbing, calcium looping and membrane-based systems. It will also examine how captured CO₂ could be converted into useful products such as methanol, syngas or lime, and how high-temperature electrolysis could be integrated to produce hydrogen and support circular carbon flows within industrial operations.
The result will be a clearer picture of which CCUS configurations are most promising for heavy industry, where the main cost-reduction opportunities lie, and how these options compare with non-CCUS decarbonisation pathways, including methane pyrolysis. The project will thus provide industry partners with evidence-based guidance on how CCUS could fit into decarbonisation strategies.
Project Details
RP2.019 will identify and compare tailored CCUS configurations for alumina refining, aluminium smelting and ironmaking, using process modelling, technoeconomic analysis and life-cycle assessment.
For alumina, the project will focus on carbon emissions from steam boilers for the Bayer process (which refines alumina from bauxite) and from calciners (high-temperature units that heat alumina hydrate to produce alumina). It will also screen carbon capture and utilisation opportunities in aluminium smelter potlines (electrolysis cells used to produce aluminium) including electrolysis off-gases, anode baking furnaces and waste-heat streams.
For ironmaking, the project will assess CO₂ capture in direct reduced iron (DRI) plants from off-gases produced by reformers (which convert natural gas into a reducing gas rich in hydrogen and carbon monoxide), shaft furnaces (where iron ore is converted to DRI), and, where relevant, blast furnaces (where iron ore is reduced using coke, generating CO2-rich top gas). It will also examine options to recycle captured CO₂ with hydrogen to produce syngas – a fuel and chemical feedstock mainly made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide – helping to reduce natural gas consumption.
A key focus will be on lowering capture costs through thermal integration. Waste heat from boilers, calciners, reformers and shaft furnaces will be assessed as a way to reduce purchased energy demand for CO₂ capture and related processes.
The project will also evaluate how economies of scale affect costs, comparing smaller standalone facilities with larger hub-style capture and utilisation systems.
To provide broader context for partners, the study will include a high-level benchmark of methane pyrolysis as an alternative decarbonisation pathway, and a desktop comparison with blast furnace CO₂ capture using public data and existing CSIRO studies.
HILT CRC Milestones
- 2.1 Integrating variable renewable energy sources into existing industrial processes.
- 2.2 Technology to accommodate use of multiple energy sources.
- 2.3 Integrated capture and re-use of CO₂ in industrial processes.
- 2.4 Blending of alternative low-carbon fuels for current industrial processes.
- 2.5 Technologies to lower carbon emissions through synergistic production of industrial chemicals and fuels.
Research Areas
- Integrated CO₂ capture and re-use technologies and methods for industrial processes.
- Technoeconomic modelling of prospective CCUS options.
- Technologies to lower carbon emissions through synergistic production of industrial chemicals and fuels.
- Identification and assessment of circular economy opportunities within target heavy industry sectors.
Planned Outcomes
- Identification of promising lower-cost CCUS pathways for alumina refining, aluminium smelting and ironmaking (including DRI and, where relevant, blast furnace routes).
- Comparative technoeconomic and life-cycle assessments of capture, utilisation and heat-integration options.
- Insights into where waste heat recovery and CO₂ utilisation can materially reduce the cost of emissions reduction.
- Benchmarking of methane pyrolysis and blast furnace capture against tailored CCUS pathways.
- High quality, independent data to inform future pilot, demonstration and investment decisions by HILT partners.
Expected Benefits
- Lowering the cost of decarbonisation by identifying where CCUS may be most practically implemented by reducing capture energy demand and creating value from CO₂.
- Informing investment decisions by giving partners clearer evidence on costs, benefits and risks across a range of tailored CCUS configurations.
- Providing practical pathways for CCUS implementation by focusing on options that can be readily integrated with current plant configurations.
- Evaluating pathways to produce valuable products from captured CO₂ such as methanol, syngas and lime from.
- Providing knowledge that can also be transferred to other heavy industry sectors (e.g. cement and lime) facing similar CCUS challenges.