Carbon capture and reuse in an industrial district: A technical and economic feasibility study

In recent years, increasing attention from both industries and research has been focused on carbon capture and, subsequently, storage technologies. These technologies will contribute to companies’ strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossils fuels. However, less effort has been spent on evaluating another interesting option after carbon capture: carbon utilisation or reuse. A feasibility study regarding an Italian industrial district is discussed: the district is characterised by the nearby locations of a CO2 producer (i.e. an natural gas combined cycle power plant) and a CO2 user (i.e. a sugar factory). The annual average CO2 emission by the power plant is about 1.7 million tonnes. Under current conditions the sugar factory ‘produces’ CO2 to use it in the sugar refining process; thus, the idea is to evaluate the feasibility of capturing CO2 emitted from the power plant and reusing it in the sugar factory process from both a technological and an economic point of view. The results indicated a cost saving of about 42% in the operational costs of the sugar factory due to the introduction of the carbon reuse technology.