Decarbonisation Pathways for the Australian Cement and Concrete Sector _ 31
8 Economic benefits and costs All conventional measures to reduce CO2 from clinker or cement manufacturing require a certain capital investment. They can result in additional operational costs or savings – depending on the specific situation in each case. Carbon capture, however, as a breakthrough technology will require significant investment and will entail higher operational costs. The use of green hydrogen as a fuel is likely to lead to a significant increase in operational costs while upfront investment costs might be moderate. External factors, which can also be site-specific, include the availability and affordability of supplementary materials as well as alternative fuels. In this context, transport costs can have a significant impact on the overall economic feasibility of each of the measures. Detailed investment and operational costs for the various decarbonisation measures depend on the specific situation at plant level and can only be accurately determined through specific feasibility studies. Nevertheless, generic figures can be given for decarbonisation measures in clinker and cement production [6]. Reduction of the clinker factor: ■ Further reduction of the clinker content in cement through the increased use of limestone, GGBFS or calcined clays will require capital investment on a plant level of A$10-20 million for further storage capacity as well as technical equipment for handling, dosing and drying where required. Operational costs are expected to vary depending on the material, for example they are potentially lower in the case of limestone but higher for calcined clays. ■ Further reduction of the clinker content in cement by use of fly ash requires capital investment on a plant level of A$10-20 million for further storage capacity as well as technical equipment for handling and dosing. Operational costs will increase by around A$70 /t of fly ash. This is based on future fly ash that will be taken from existing stockpiles and which will need to be dried and further processed. Investment for processing the various grades of fly ash by separating them with respect to their carbon content and lowering their chloride content, cannot be quantified at this stage – see suggestions for innovation areas in Chapter 9 of this report.
Use of alternative fuels and green hydrogen: ■ The use of alternative fuels may lead to lower operational costs as compared to operating with coal and gas only. Nevertheless, alternative fuels have to be pretreated, stored and handled respectively. Investment and operational costs for this are difficult to estimate and are again dependent on plant specific conditions. ■ Use of green hydrogen as a fuel will most likely entail higher operational costs. Assuming a stretch goal of A$2 /kg [75] and a substitution rate of 10 per cent, replacing a mix of coal and gas will result in an increase in operational costs of about A$5 /t of cement. Carbon capture: The Australian Government has set stretch goals to encourage the accelerated adoption of technology across key sectors [76]. In some cases, the stretch goals represent the price point at which technologies are commercially substitutable for existing highemissions enduses. For carbon capture and storage A$20 per ton of CO2 has been seen as a preliminary value. The stretch target should cover the full cost of compression, transport and storage from point emissions sources [76]. For this study information from several international sources has been evaluated to assess the stretch goal of A$20 per tonne of CO2 against the known cost range for CO2 capture, transport, storage and use in the cement sector. Table 3 shows cost ranges for the various carbon capture technologies as well as for transport, storage and utilisation, where it can be seen that the cost ranges are still quite significant. This is also mirrored in the different Technology Readiness Levels (TRL, a list describing the TRL is given in Annex B). Some technologies still need to be further developed toward full scale applications, however, with TRL 6 and higher it is expected that a sufficient maturity level exists to start its application in cement plants. Exact cost figures can only be determined through plant-specific feasibility studies into CO2 processing, transport, storage and/ or utilisation of CO2. The abatement costs listed in Table 3 underline the fact that actual cost figures are likely to be much higher than the proposed stretch goal of A$20 /t CO2. Since existing clinker producers are already significantly trade exposed, it can be assumed that a stretch goal of A$20 /t CO2 will impact on the competitiveness of the industry. Further, targeted federal and state government policies and programs will be required in order to maintain the international competitiveness of the industry.
