CCS in Dutch industry globally highly recommended
Carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology for reducing climate change inducing CO2 emissions, is mostly associated with coal-fired plants. However, CO2 can also be captured in industrial applications, for example in the chemical industry, the steel industry and refineries. In fact, in these industrial applications, CO2 capture is often cheaper, easier and more essential. This has been confirmed by a global study in which the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) has played a large role. This study has yielded conclusions that the Netherlands should take seriously.
In their technology roadmap for CCS in the industry, to which ECN contributed as principal consultant, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) give convincing arguments for putting CCS in the industry high on the policy and research agenda. First, lower cost and more easily accessible options for CCS are mainly found in industry, not in the power sector. Industry therefore seems like the best place to start for rolling out CCS. Secondly, industry, in contrast with coal-fired plants, often lacks alternatives for realising CO2 emission reductions of 80% or more. Thirdly, CCS in biomass applications has an additional benefit: it could lead to the net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, an option that may prove very useful, should climate change really get out of hand.
Modest role CCS in industry
In the Netherlands, most of the policy and research efforts relate to CCS in coal-fired plants, despite the higher share of CO2 emissions from the industry in our country. The Dutch government and the European Commission allocate the largest share of subsidy to CCS in coal-fired plants. Most of the research is dedicated to CCS in the electricity sector, particularly to electricity from coal. In the Dutch CATO2 research programme, for example, CCS in the industry plays only a modest role.
Being a country with much industry and much CO2 storage capacity, the Netherlands should take a number of messages from the CCS industry technology roadmap very seriously. For the next decade, UNIDO and IEA recommend realising demonstrations in essential industrial sectors in industrial countries such as the Netherlands, but also in developing countries. Funding must be found for both objectives and it is obvious that the Netherlands should deliver a significant contribution. This is in the Dutch economic interest to realise its emission reduction targets for 2050 cost-effectively. Although industry needs to get involved early on, UNIDO and the IEA recommend more publicly funded research to make more information publicly available.
Fortunately, there are already a number of activities in the field of CCS in the industry in the Netherlands. In IJmuiden, for example, Tata Steel is taking various initiatives. The port of Rotterdam offers a unique testing ground for industrial CCS and is taking initiatives. Still, much more could be done to exploit the favourable innovation position of the Netherlands to the fullest.
A final recommendation involves the availability of independent data on costs, potentials and estimates of possible cost reductions for CCS in industrial applications. Independent cost studies on CCS in industry are in short supply, whereas dozens of studies are available on CCS in coal-fired plants. In the process that led to the road map, the absence of such data was a barrier to drawing detailed conclusions about CCS in the industry. Despite this lack of data, it is clear that the importance of CCS in the industry should not be underestimated. The limited attention this option currently receives in the Netherlands is disproportional to its potential.
The UNIDO/IEA Technology Roadmap on CCS in industrial applications is available for download on http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Services/Energy_and_Climate_Change/Energy_Efficiency/CCS/CCS_Industry_Roadmap_WEB.pdf. More information: Heleen de Coninck.
