On the systematic carbon integration of industrial parks for climate footprint reduction

The basic materials industries together with the utility sector account for significant carbon footprints and are challenged to meet emerging Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets. The emitting processes are often co-located in industrial parks, resulting in spatially concentrated, stationary carbon dioxide emissions. Given the multitude of sources from which carbon dioxide could be captured and of possible sinks in which carbon dioxide could be utilized or stored, there is a need to systematically screen the lowest cost footprint reduction options for a given industrial park. This paper presents the first approach to the systematic design of low cost carbon integration networks for industrial parks through integrated analysis of sources, utilization and storage options, as well as capture, separation, compression and transmission options. The paper outlines the optimisation-based approach and illustrates its application with an example.