Assessing the economics of CO2 capture in China's iron/steel sector:A case study

Global crude steel production reached 1.6 billion tonnes in 2015, registering an increase of 41% from 2005 levels, half of which is produced by China alone. Amongst other low-carbon technologies, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is identified as a key technology that will help achieve the much-needed emission reductions in the iron/steel sector. This paper delineates a techno-economic analysis of a hypothetical first-of-its-kind CO2 capture and storage project with a 0.5-million tonne of CO2 per annum capture capacity, using amine capture technology, in a generic Chinese steel plant. The technical configuration of the project was modelled using the Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN) accompanied by a financial model analysis. The cost of CO2 avoidance for the modelled project with transport and storage was estimated at CNY448/tCO2 (USD65.2/tCO2). The cost of CO2 avoidance is sensitive to a number of assumptions, including the discount rate and the cost of CO2 transportation and storage. There is also potential for cost reductions in transport and storage if the project were to share infrastructure with large stationary emission sources.