International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 10 (2012) 310–328 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control j our na l ho me p age: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijggc Effect of CO 2 capture on the emissions of air pollutants from industrial processes Takeshi Kuramochi a,∗ , Andrea Ramírez b , Wim Turkenburg b , André Faaij b a Climate Change Group, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), 2108-11 Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Miura-gun, Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan b Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Department of Innovation, Environmental and Energy Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 6, 3584CD Utrecht, The Netherlands a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 7 March 2011 Received in revised form 26 May 2012 Accepted 29 May 2012 Available online 20 July 2012 Keywords: CO2 capture Iron and steel Cement Petroleum refineries Air pollutants Industry a b s t r a c t This study assesses whether the deployment of CO 2 capture technologies in the European industrial sector would result in significant changes in the emissions of air pollutants (NO x , SO 2 , PM, and NH 3 ) in the short term. The industrial sectors investigated were: cement, petroleum refineries, and iron and steel. The analysis included onsite emissions and changes associated with grid electricity consumption due to CO 2 capture. Post-combustion capture using monoethanolamine (MEA) was considered for the cement sector and petroleum refineries, and Top Gas Recycling Blast Furnace (TGRBF) with vacuum-pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) for the iron and steel sector. The results show that when all three industrial sectors in the EU-27 are fully equipped with CO 2 capture, industrial SO 2 emissions in the EU-27 may decrease by 40–70% whereas NH 3 emissions may increase by 120–520% (equivalent to 2–8% of total European emissions). The large increase in NH 3 emissions is due to the degradation of MEA. Cement and petroleum refineries account for nearly all these changes. The results also show limited impact (within ±10% of EU-27 industrial emissions) on NO x and PM emissions. Emission changes due to electricity import/export are found to be equally important as onsite emission changes. For the iron and steel sector, the changes in National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NECD) emissions are found to be limited for the selected CO 2 capture technique under conservative assumptions. However, the changes in the NECD emissions could vary largely depending on how the steel mill will adapt and operate their coke oven batteries that supply the coke to the blast furnace (BF). © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Industry and petroleum refineries are among the largest contributors to anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, accounting for nearly 40% 1 of these emissions globally (IEA, 2010). Together with energy efficiency improvement and deploying nuclear energy and renewables, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is gaining attention as a promising option to achieve significant reduction of CO 2 emissions in the atmosphere. The potential of CCS in the industrial and petroleum refining sectors is considered to be significant. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that, in a scenario to halve global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2050 compared to 2007 level, nearly half of all CCS deployed (up to more than 10 Gt/yr) would be in industrial processes (cement, iron and steel, ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 46 826 9613; fax: +81 46 855 3809. E-mail addresses: kuramochi@iges.or.jp, takeshi.kuramochi@gmail.com (T. Kuramochi). 1 Includes coke ovens and blast furnaces and also CO2 emissions from power generation and process emissions (IEA, 2007). and chemicals) and the fuel transformation sector (petroleum refineries and liquefied natural gas production) (IEA, 2008). However, CO 2 is not the only substance emitted from the industrial sector. Since the industrial revolution, power plants and industries have been a major source of environmental pollution such as acidification, eutrophication, and toxification of waters. Large efforts have been conducted by governments and industries to mitigate these effects. The deployment of (new) technologies at large scale, such as CCS, should therefore take into account the possibility of side-effects on other industrial plant emissions. Therefore, it is important to assess the possible impact of CO 2 capture technologies on the emissions of air pollutants such as NO x , SO 2 , ammonia, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), and particulate matter (PM), which contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, and damage ecosystems by acid- ification and eutrophication. In the European Union (EU), current emission limits for the first four pollutants are set under the EU National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NECD) for 2010 (European Commission, 2001), and all four pollutants are covered by the Gothenburg Protocol of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to abate acidification, eutrophication, and ground-level ozone (UNECE, 1999). 1750-5836/$ – see front matter © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2012.05.022