Economic, Environmental and Energy analysis of carbon capture systems coupled in coal power plants for the reduction of CO2 emissions in Brazil

This study assesses the contribution of the implementation of the Calcium Looping (CaL) process to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal power plants in Brazil, as a strategy to meet the established environmental goals for 2030. A multi-objective linear programming model based on Input-Output analysis (IO-MOLP) is developed to evaluate the interrelations of economic, energy and environmental systems. Three objective functions are considered: maximization of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), minimization of Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG), and minimization of energy consumption for exclusively energy purposes (CFE). Two scenarios are analyzed: (i) a baseline scenario (BL) which does not incorporate CaL in coal power plants, (ii) a scenario (S1) which incorporates CaL systems. In general, the implementation of CaL in coal power plants improves the overall environmental impact; however, in our results, this reduction was not found significant. On the other hand, a contraction in the economic system and an expansion in the consumption of energy resources may be triggered by this strategy. These results reaffirm the importance of assessing the effects of the environmental and energy decisions and policies on the country's economic system, by means of multi-objective models able to unveil the trade-offs at stake between multiple, conflicting and incommensurate evaluation axes of the merits of those policies.

Automated summary

This study assesses the contribution of implementing Calcium Looping (CaL) process in capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal power plants in Brazil towards achieving the established environmental goals for 2030. The results show that while the implementation of CaL improves overall environmental impact, the reduction in CO2 emissions is not significant. However, this strategy may lead to contraction in the economic system and an increase in energy resource consumption. Thus, it highlights the importance of evaluating the effects of environmental and energy decisions and policies on the country's economy using multi-objective models to uncover the trade-offs involved.