Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Recovery System for Potential Application in the European Cement Industry

The paper focuses on the potential application of supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycle for waste heat-to-power systems in cement industries. The reference power cycle is based on the CO2OLHEAT (G.A. 101022831) European project, which includes the pioneering implementation of a 2 MW demonstration plant in a relevant environment. The paper provides an overview of the key technologies and processes in the cement production sector within Europe. It emphasizes the successful recovery of waste heat without compromising industrial operations. The analysis encompasses five relevant countries in the EU region, each of them characterized by distinct features such as cement production and export, power generation energy mix, and geographical considerations. The analysis is referred to the year 2019, representing the most up-to-date data obtained from specific database sources, which allowed a differentiation based on technological classes of cement production rather than specific cement plants. Therefore, a generalized approach has been adopted to consider various scenarios of waste heat recovery based on available thermal energy and temperature ranges, taking into account specific requirements, limitations, and possibilities in terms of thermodynamic, economic, geographical, and political constraints.