A technical and environmental comparison of novel silica PEI adsorbent-based and conventional MEA-based CO2 capture technologies in the selected cement plant

The cement industry accounts for almost 7 % of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions globally. Therefore, it is imperative to identify innovative solutions to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions from the cement industry.
This study aims to evaluate and compare the technical and environmental aspects of integrating two post combustion carbon capture processes (CCS) into a cement plant: the conventional monoethanolamine (MEA)-based CCS process and the novel silica-alkoxylated polyethyleneimine (SPEI)-based CCS process. Three scenarios were considered: (i) a reference cement plant without CCS, (ii) the conventional MEA-based CCS system integrated into a cement plant and (iii) the novel SPEI-based CCS system integrated into a cement plant. The technical evaluation results showed that the regeneration energy requirements for the conventional MEA and novel SPEI based CCS processes were 3.53 GJ/tonne CO2 and 2.36 GJ/tonne CO2, respectively, to achieve a capture rate of 90 %. However, the performance of MEA-based carbon capture processes can be improved by using advanced amine formulations that offer lower regeneration heat requirements at 3.3 GJ/tonne CO2, although this is still higher than the SPEI-based carbon capture processes.
The novel SPEI-based CCS process showed superior environmental performance compared to the conventional MEA-based CCS process. The endpoint single score was conducted which showed that the SPEI-based CCS process had a lower impact on human health, ecosystems, and resources (7 %, 9 %, and 26 % lower, respectively) compared to the MEA-based CCS process.