Achieving carbon-neutral iron and steelmaking in Europe through the deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2019

The 30 integrated steel plants operating in the European Union (EU) are among the largest single-point CO 2 emitters in the region. The deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (bio-CCS) could significantly reduce their emission intensities. In detail, the results demonstrate that CO 2 emission reduction targets of up to 20% can be met entirely by biomass deployment. A slow CCS technology introduction on top of biomass deployment is expected, as the requirement for emission reduction increases further. Bio-CCS could then be a key technology, particularly in terms of meeting targets above 50%, with CO 2 avoidance costs ranging between €60 and €100 t CO2−1 at full-scale deployment. The future of bio-CCS and its utilisation on a larger scale would therefore only be viable if such CO 2 avoidance cost were to become economically appealing. Small and medium plants in particular, would economically benefit from sharing CO 2 pipeline networks. CO 2 transport, however, makes a relatively small contribution to the total CO 2 avoidance cost. In the future, the role of bio-CCS in the European iron and steelmaking industry will also be influenced by non-economic conditions, such as regulations, public acceptance, realistic CO 2 storage capacity, and the progress of other mitigation technologies.