Overview of CCC process, economics & market opportunity

Michael Priestnall
2011 (non-confidential)

Profitable CCS via electrochemical mineral carbonation

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Presentation overview

Mineral carbonation overview Cambridge Carbon Captures unique technology

Economics & applications

Commercialisation & carbon impact

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Mineral carbonation overview

Mineral carbonation refers to the conversion of silicates to solid carbonates, mimicking the natural process by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere
CO2(g) + CaSiO3 weathering CO32-(aq) + Ca2+(aq) + SiO2 mineralisation CaCO3(s) Primary process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere
>99% worlds carbon reservoir is locked in limestone & dolomite

Thermodynamically favourable, but kinetically slow CCC has electrochemical & aqueous-phase process chemistry to do this process quickly & cheaply

~1012 tonnes CO2 in atmosphere

~109 t/yr CO2 cycle

~1018 tonnes CO2 in carbonate rocks

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Geological CCS vs Mineral Carbonation

Mineral carbonation avoids the compression, transport and long term storage of gaseous/liquefied CO2
Geological CCS Mineral carbonation

30% cost and energy penalty More expensive than nuclear or on-shore wind Estimated 40-90/tonne* CO2 versus recent ETS price of ~15/tonne Public acceptance issues Relatively well developed technology
* Source: McKinsey

Stable, safe solid products Output materials are usable in a variety of applications Wastes can be used as inputs Primary challenges are the energy intensive carbon capture & mineral processing steps (CCCs chemistry addresses this)
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Process overview

Power generation & capture steps integrated; carbon free power generation is combined with the conversion of low value inputs to useful materials
FOSSIL FUEL

Carbon-containing fuel (or flue gas CO2)

POWER GENERATION & CARBON CAPTURE

CARBON-FREE ELECTRICITY

(+ water + CO2 free air) MINERAL MINE CARBONATES

e.g. serpentines, olivines

Regenerated capture fluid (alkali metal hydroxide)

Carbonated capture fluid (K2CO3)

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Mg, Ca, Fe silicates or oxides

e.g. steel slags, mining waste, red mud

DIGESTION & CARBONATION

METALS & SILICA

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Process overview

Illustrative process for a 500MW plant, coal and olivine

500 MWe power plant
FOSSIL FUEL CARBON-FREE ELECTRICITY

POWER GENERATION & CARBON CAPTURE Coal*

0.9 million tonnes/yr

C + O2 + 2KOH K2CO3 + H2O [+energy]

~500MW electricity

(+ water + CO2 free air)

KOH
MINERAL MINE

K2CO3

5-20% of energy output >6.3 million tonnes/yr carbonates

CARBONATES

DIGESTION & CARBONATION

Serpentine Mg3Si2O5(OH)4
~ 4 million tonnes/yr

0.5Mg2SiO4 + H2O Mg(OH)2 + 0.5SiO2 Mg(OH)2 + K2CO3 MgCO3 + 2KOH

~4.5 million tonnes/yr SiO2 ~12,000 tonnes/yr Ni METALS & SILICA

Overall: C(s) + O2(g) + 0.5Mg2SiO4(s) = MgCO3(s) + 0.5SiO2(s)

* Coal is variable in composition and is not pure carbon. However, for the sake of illustration the equations are written in terms of pure carbon.

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Process overview (flue gas CO2)

Illustrative process for a flue gas CO2 and olivine

POWER PLANT
PURIFIED FLUE GAS

CARBON
Flue gas CO2

CAPTURE

CO2 + 2KOH K2CO3 + H2O

[and/or: CO2 + KOH KHCO3(2)]
(2) Carbonate (CO32-) and bicarbonate (HCO3-) are in equilibrium in solution depending on pH. The equations can be written in terms of either.

Power overhead

KOH

K2CO3

CARBONATES

MINERAL INPUT

DIGESTION & CARBONATION(4)

Olivine Mg2SiO4(1)

Digestion: 0.5Mg2SiO4 + H2O Mg(OH)2 + 0.5SiO2(3) Carbonation: Mg(OH)2 + K2CO3 MgCO3 + 2KOH
(3) (4) Somewhat simplified for clarity. Actually proceeds via a two steps. Shown as a single vessel for simplicity. May in fact be performed in two separate vessels.

SILICA

(1)

Olivine is a common mineral and is used to illustrate the process. A large variety of Mg, Ca, & Fe oxides, hydroxides and silicates could be used also. These could be mined minerals or wastes such as fly ashes or slags from metal production.

Overall: CO2(g) + 0.5Mg2SiO4(s) = MgCO3(s) + 0.5SiO2(s)

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Features & benefits

Energy and capital requirements for mineralisation are reduced; carbon free power generation is combined with the production of useful materials CCC Process
Combines a number of features which reduce energy & capital requirements and improve process economics: Advanced digestion routes are used to convert silicates to reactive oxides/salts in a low energy process Carbon-containing fuels are efficiently, cleanly & cheaply converted to electricity via direct electro-chemical oxidation Power generation and capture steps are integrated more efficient, fewer losses Options to use CCC chemistry for direct flue-gas CO2 sequestration Process (by-)products are high-purity chemicals, metals and/or aggregates

Features
100% carbon capture feasible Allows additional 15% power capture (CO2 to carbonate reaction) offsets energy required to digest/activate mineral feedstock Economic CCS option higher process efficiency and revenues from mineral products cover costs of CCS Scalable from high value niches to large scale CCS Feedstock flexibility - in principle, any calcium or magnesium containing feedstock can be used
Wastes appropriate for use in smaller scale applications Available volumes of relevant minerals (ultramafics and serpentines) match those needed for CCS

Volumes of carbonate produced match aggregates market No requirement for pipeline, storage infrastructure, & sites No safety concerns Challenges: Transport logistics & supply chain development Optimising digestion & precipitation chemistry and process

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Input and output materials

Conversion of low value minerals or negative value wastes to valuable materials outputs provides a significant & immediate commercial driver
Alkaline waste products such as ashes, bauxite red muds, and steel making slags can be used as inputs to the CCC process
Remediation mechanism for hazardous wastes Landfilling of air pollution collection dusts and slags can cost >100/tonne

Carbonate outputs can be consolidated to building materials & aggregates

Route to turning CO2 into high-value solid building materials at a global scale Average price of carbonate powders is ~10/tonne, and is a >300 billion market

Other high value phases can be extracted providing additional value drivers
High value metals can be extracted, e.g. serpentine is typically 0.3% Ni Cementations phases can be isolated and replace high value cements Amorphous silica is extracted as a by-product, used as a rubber filler

Provides direct economic incentive to apply CCS today

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Applications

The CCC process is scalable and is applicable to a diverse range of markets from waste treatment to utility scale CCS
Waste remediation and treatment Iron, steel and aluminium industry
Remediation of hazardous wastes; on-site clean electricity; CO2 permits

Extraction and production of materials Mining companies

Utilisation of marginal feedstocks/wastes; on-site clean electricity

Large scale CCS Utilities and major power generators

Lower cost CCS option, technology differentiator, green energy that meets local renewable obligations

Minerals & mining industry

Remediation of mining wastes; on-site clean electricity

Cement and building materials companies Lower cost, lower CO2 manufacturing process, revenues from by-product clean-electricity generation

Oil, gas & coal companies

Environmental & political credit, CCS solution for customers, differentiation & value-add

Industrial waste processing industry

Profitable stabilisation process, avoidance of landfill taxes
The aluminium industry produces ~100 MT of red mud each year and the steel industry about ~150MT of alkaline slag

Global carbonate materials market worth >300 billion/year & volumes match CCS, of which high value cements are ~3bn tonnes

IEA estimates CCS market ~$5 trillion 2010-2050

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Financial modelling

Financial modelling has shown that the CCC process can be profitable without subsidy under a range of scenarios
The CCC process combines the following potential revenue streams: 1) Clean, low cost electrical power 2) Production of bulk materials (e.g. aggregates, cements, concretes) 3) Extraction of high value materials (e.g. metals) 4) Remediation of input wastes 5) Carbon credits (where available) Multiple revenues streams off-set the energy penalty for digestion and carbonation and additional capital cost Financial modelling* has shown that the CCC process can be profitable at a range of scales for carbon prices ~20/tonne In the most promising scenarios the process is profitable without subsidy even at zero carbon price Key factors affecting the profitability include the efficiency of the power plant, the capex and opex for the digestion process, and the delta between input & output material value
* Modelling performed by CCC in collaboration with the Judge Business School
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Silicate minerals Alkaline wastes
POWER GENERATION & CAPTURE

Hydrocarbons

Remediation credit

DIGESTION & CARBONATION

Carbonate construction materials Silica and metal by-products

CO2 free electricity Carbon credits

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Application scenario

The CCC process can be profitable without subsidy today

Example: Small power plant

100 MW scale plant, operating at 80% capacity Produces 700,000 MWh/year of carbon free power ~1m tonnes/year of mineral input required at cost of ~5/tonne Produces ~800,000 tonnes of carbonated aggregate material with a value of ~7/tonne Annual profit of ~20m

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Application scenario

Example: How CCCs process can be profitable at 7bn tonne/yr CO2 global-scale

REVENUES (lowest):
330 billion/yr (global market for aggregate materials) 90 billion/yr (abatement value at ~13/tonne CO2)

COSTS (highest):
350 billion/yr (7bn t/a @ 50/tonne CO2)

420bn revenues
MARKET:

(materials products + CO2 abatement)

> 350bn costs (for CO2 mineralisation)

~8,000TWh/yr coal-fired electricity emits ~7bn t/yr CO2 3300 bn (period 2010-2050) global spend on CCS technology (IEA estimate) global annual power growth ~2.5% + ~2% replacement

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Carbonate materials markets*

*very approximate data

Mineral fillers

(source: Calera)

Million tonnes/yr (USA)

$/tonne (USA)

US annual Market $billion

Global estimate $billion

100 100 200 3000

100 30 40 7

10 3 8 21

100 30 80 210

Soil stabilisation

Light wt aggregate

Sand & aggregate

cementitious materials

24
20 20 50 120 4

60
20 25 30 80 1000

1.4
0.4 0.5 1.5 10 4

14
4 5 15 100 40

bricks

drywall

Concrete blocks

cement

Masonry cement

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Commercialisation roadmap

Initial target markets are likely to be in applications such as waste treatment, building experience for the transition to large scale markets
Scale t/year (mineral input)

Outline commercialisation roadmap

1,000,000+
Large scale CCS (100s MWe)

100,000

Further commercialisation at this scale

Full commercialisation in initial apps (~10-100 MWe) Larger scale semicommercial field trials (~1,000 kWe) Small scale field trial (~10-100kWe)

10,000

Further commercialisation at this scale

1,000

100

10

Pilot-scale (~1-5 kWe)

year

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Development status

The CCC process has been proven at laboratory scale and development partners are being engaged for scale up and commercialisation
All steps of the process have been demonstrated, core IP secured:
Operation of a direct oxidation alkaline fuel cell to generate electrical power with simultaneous, integral capture of product CO2 Regeneration of electrolyte & operation using regenerated electrolyte Identification of practicable low-energy, low-cost digestion and mineral carbonation processes

CCCs team consists of includes experienced technology development professionals and eminent academics
Development partners include Universities of Cambridge, Nottingham and Sheffield and other expert research & technology organisations

Near term focus:

Counts Nott A3 mix 12-10-10

Engaging with industrial partners in initial target markets JDAs to develop pilot scale processes and initial field trials Developing relations with key supply chain partners such as resource companies & process engineering companies Deepening relationships with expert RTOs to further develop digestion & carbonation technology Demonstration of the complete process at pilot-scale (10 tonnes/yr) in 2011/12 followed by a small-scale (100-1000 tonne/yr) field trial in 2012/13

15000

10000

5000

0 10 20 30 40 Position [2Theta] (Copper (Cu)) 50 60

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Carbon reduction potential

100% carbon capture has been demonstrated; massive potential for carbon emission reductions
CCC has demonstrated compete carbon capture using a methanol DOAFC and hydroxide electrolyte (output CO2 level lower than air!) The favourable economics of the CCC process potentially enables CCS to be applied to the entire global fossil power generation industry
Carbon saving potential is clearly vast potentially could address entire ~7 billion tonne CO2/year industrial power sector
K2CO3 + CaO @ 100mA atmosphere fuel cell air outlet
1

CO2 level [relative units] 6.1 (~390ppm CO2) 4.1 (~260ppm CO2)

For illustration, applied to UK power generation sector:

Installation in 20% of UK power generation capacity and assuming a 20% penalty (much larger than anticipated) carbon savings of 48Mt/year1

Even small scale early stage industrial applications have huge potential carbon impact:
Processing of 20% of bauxite red mud produced each year would save ~20Mt CO2/year2 Processing of 20% of steel making slags produced per year would save ~10 MT CO2/year3 Displacement of 1% of carbonate production would result in savings of 150MT/year4
2

UK installed capacity of coal and gas fired generation is ~28 GW and ~32 GW, emitting ~300 MT of CO2 per year. Assuming a 20% penalty for transport and losses in the system then the annual saving for a 20% uptake would be: 300 * (1-0.2) * 0.2 = 48 MT CO2/year in the UK. ~100 MT of alkaline oxide "Red Mud" is produced each year which can absorb about 1 tonne of CO2/tonne. Therefore if 20% of this Red Mud were processed each year the saving would be 100x1x0.2 = 20Mt About 150 MT/year of steel slags are produced per year. These slags contain 30-50 wt% CaO/MgO and can absorb ~0.33 tonne of CO2/tonne. If 20% were processed, the saving would therefore 150*1/3*0.2 = 10MT ~0.5tonnes of CO2 are absorbed per tonne of output carbonate product. Global aggregate & cement market is ~30bn tonnes/yr. Assuming displacement of 1% of production would result in savings of 150MT/year

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Summary

Cambridge Carbon Capture is developing unique chemical processes that safely, profitably and permanently store CO2 in useful solid materials
A profitable approach to carbon capture to service the $1tr industrial & $5tr power generation CCS market, now to 2050 Uses CO2 to convert problem wastes or low-value silicate minerals to valuable solid carbonates while efficiently generating low cost zero-carbon electricity Unique IP, proven & demonstrated at laboratory scale

Avoids cost, infrastructure & acceptability issues of compression, transport and storage of gaseous/liquefied CO2
Scalable and applicable to a diverse range of markets from waste treatment to high-value metals & minerals production to industrial & utility scale CCS

A real-world solution that CCCs customers are funding now for their immediate strategic business applications
Breakthrough enabling technology to address the current impasse in commercial CCS deployment

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Partners & Customers

Funding partners: Technology Strategy Board East of England Development Agency Renewables East Cambridge Enterprise Commercial customers

Technology development collaborators: University of Cambridge Dept. Materials Science Centre of Innovation in CCS (U. Nottingham) University of Sheffield Dept. Materials Science

[email protected]
www.cacaca.co.uk
Cambridge Carbon Capture, Hauser Forum, Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge, CB3 0GT, UK
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