Comparison of MEA capture cost for low CO2 emissions sources in Australia

Abstract This paper estimates the cost of CO 2 capture for three Australian industrial emission sources: iron and steel production, oil refineries and cement manufacturing. It also compares the estimated capture costs with those of post-combustion capture from a pulverised black coal power plant. The cost of capture in 2008 using MEA solvent absorption technology ranges from less than A$60 per tonne CO 2 avoided for the iron and steel production to over A$70 per tonne CO 2 avoided for cement manufacture and over A$100 per tonne CO 2 avoided for oil refineries. The costs of capture for the iron and steel and cement industries are comparable to or less than that for post-combustion capture from a pulverised black coal power plant. This paper also investigates costs for converting low partial pressure CO 2 streams from iron and steel production to a more concentrated stream using pressurisation and the water-gas shift reaction. In those cases, the costs were found to be similar to or less than the cost estimates without conversion. The analyses in this paper also show that estimated costs are highly dependent on the characteristics of the industrial emission source, the assumptions related to the type and price of energy used by the capture facilities and the economic parameters of the project such as the discount rate and capital costs.