Integration of Industrial CO2 Capture with Industrial District Heating Networks: A Refinery Case Study

Industrial carbon capture and storage is recognized as an important technology to reach net zero emissions and mitigate global warming in accordance with the Paris agreement. Absorption-based carbon capture requires considerable amounts of low-grade heat, and a high degree of integration with the plant’s energy system is thus of high importance in order to achieve low operating costs for the capture plant. In this context, it is important to redefine what is commonly referred to as process “excess heat”. This work evaluates the impact of heat integration of a carbon capture plant with an existing refinery and two excess heat-powered district heating networks. The results show that a capture rate of ~60% of direct emissions at the refinery will consume all of the plant’s available residual heat. However, the results also indicate that a significant amount of heat can be recovered from the capture plant and exported for district heating supply purposes. Subsequent to capture plant integration, the potential district heating supply is 87 MW, compared to 100 MW in the reference case.