In the C4U project, the implementation of two carbon capture technologies in the steel industry is assessed. This deliverable first dives into the environmental impact of industrial scale CASOH and DISPLACE deployment. The environmental impacts of CASOH and DISPLACE are assessed by a prospective life cycle assessment, using a prospective database that considers, amongst others, the change in the energy supply from 2030 to 2055. This is followed by implementing the life cycle assessment (LCA) method in the optimization of CO2 transport (pipeline versus barge transport) within the North Sea Port cluster. By combining the economic costs and environmental impacts of different transportation options in a tiered multi-objective optimization, optimal strategies for transport within the North Sea Port are identified.
The results of LCA on industrial scale CASOH and DISPLACE deployment show the environmental benefits these technologies can bring. The produced output hydrogen-nitrogen steam by CASOH can be used to satisfy the internal heat and electricity demand to run the CASOH technology and it was found to be the most environmentally beneficial option. By doing so, natural gas-based heat and grid electricity production are not needed and thus the environmental footprint is lowered. For DISPLACE, similar decarbonisation potentials are obtained for decarbonising flue gas from reheat oven, flue gas from hot stoves and flue gas from a sinter plant. Towards 2055, electricity will be supplied by more renewables, increasing the decarbonisation potential of both technologies. On the other hand, by using the hydrogen-nitrogen stream, the use of grid electricity is avoided and hence the credits become smaller towards 2055. In the future, electricity from the grid becomes more environmentally favourable option for CASOH. It is assumed that in the future heat is always replaced or supplied by natural gas-based heat. The environmental hotspots have been identified. For CASOH these include (a) the replacement of BFG by natural gas-based heat, and (b) the emissions related to the combustion of the hydrogen stream. For DISPLACE the environmental hotspots are the electricity and heat use.
The tiered multi-objective optimization (TMOO) of intra-cluster CO2 transport in the North Sea Port showed that pipeline operating at 35 bar is the most optimal strategy for CO2 transport. The power consumed in CO2 conditioning was found to be the largest contributor to the costs and carbon footprint. Delaying pipeline deployment by longer than two years can result in a shift in the merit order of optimal strategies and barge transport is the preferred option until pipeline deployment is available.
