The costs of CO2 carbonation in the cement industry

Rising climate change requires rapid changes in high emitting industries such as the cement industry. A concept developed in recent years which attracts researchers, entrepreneurs and policy makers alike is the so-called Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). A major hurdle for implementing CCU technologies is often their economic viability. A process of particular interest for cement producers in the field of CCU are the so-called CO2 carbonation processes, where CO2 reacts with minerals to form stable carbonates. We assessed the main direct carbonation routes showing that Supplementary Cementitious Materials produced via CO2 carbonation (SCMCCU) could be produced at scale with Levelised Cost of Product of 120€/tSCM which lies in the range of current selling prices of cement. Hence, using SCMCCU could potentially become an economically viable way of reducing emission in this sector.