Preconditions for achieving carbon neutrality in cement production through CCUS

Cement production needs to reduce its contribution to climate change urgently. This industry is, however, difficult to electrify and decarbonize and is yet expected to increase its output to accommodate the need of an increasing population. CCS and, more recently, CCU have been presented as promising solutions to align with the Paris Agreement objectives. Given the lack of application of these technologies at scale in cement production, it remains dubious under which conditions they can deliver the expected reductions. In this study, we answer this question by developing a prospective Life Cycle Assesment model for an existing cement plant in Denmark. Results show that the extensive use of biomass in the fuel mix combined with decarbonized electricity are necessary conditions for CCS and CCUS. CCUS could allow the cement plant to mitigate up to 106% of its operational emissions and deliver up to 90′000 tons of synthetic kerosene annually to Denmark in 2050. Considering direct and indirect CO2-eq. emissions, such savings would bring the cement to near climate-neutrality. A variation test was run to illustrate how the results change when assuming different values for relevant parameters.