A novel Carbon Capture and Utilisation concept applied to the ceramic industry

This paper investigates a new concept for the CO2 emission mitigation in the ceramic industry based on carbon reduction and methane formation. The concept is analysed as a retrofit to the natural gas fuelled ceramic kiln that represents the main responsible of this industry in terms of energy consumption and exhaust emissions. The carbon dioxide conversion to methane is obtained by reduction with hydrogen on a Ni catalyst and thus methane is used to fuel the standard burners that equip the kiln. The paper addresses different sources for the hydrogen used as a feedstock for the proposed concept as well as alternative catalysts are explored and compared in terms of reduction efficiency and costs. A lumped and distributed parameter simulation of the entire ceramic kiln is combined to the CFD simulation of the reactor to estimate the efficiency of the CO2 reduction and the corresponding methane production for a reference ceramic kiln. The results of the numerical simulations are then employed to discuss the potential benefits of the proposed concept in terms of carbon dioxide emission reduction for the ceramic production. An economic assessment of the system analysed is also carried out concept to determine the investment necessary to implement the technology in an existing ceramic kiln. The potential replicability for other industrial sector is also addressed.