Life cycle assessment of the indirectly heated calcium carbonate looping carbon capture for lime production

Angela Rolfe; Martin Greco-Coppi; Caterina Brandoni; Jochen Ströhle; Sina Rezvani; Neil Hewitt; Ye Huang

doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2026.104745

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Life cycle assessment of the indirectly heated calcium carbonate looping carbon capture for lime production

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Life cycle assessment of the indirectly heated calcium carbonate looping carbon capture for lime production

Angela Rolfe, Martin Greco-Coppi, Caterina Brandoni, Jochen Ströhle, Sina Rezvani, Neil Hewitt and Ye Huang

International journal of greenhouse gas control, Vol.155, 104745

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2026.104745

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Abstract

Carbon capture

Indirectly heated calcium carbonate looping

Life cycle assessment

Lime production

Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis

Solid recovered fuel

Reducing process CO₂ emissions from lime production is essential for decarbonising one of the most carbon‑intensive industries. This study provides the first comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of indirectly heated calcium carbonate looping (IHCaL) applied to lime plants, evaluating five scenarios: a reference plant, two tail‑end IHCaL configurations, and two fully integrated IHCaL configurations, each fuelled by lignite or solid recovered fuel (SRF). Using ReCiPe 2016 midpoint and endpoint methods and a functional unit of 1 kg of lime, environmental impacts were quantified across 18 categories and assessed using Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis (10,000 iterations). All IHCaL scenarios substantially reduce global warming impact relative to the reference case, with reductions exceeding 80%. SRF‑fuelled systems achieve net‑negative mean global warming impact due to avoided landfill burdens, and tail-end configurations further benefited from electricity export. However, lignite‑fuelled IHCaL scenarios increase freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, freshwater eutrophication, and human carcinogenic toxicity, driven mainly by upstream lignite mining. SRF‑fuelled scenarios avoid these burdens but have higher mineral and fossil resource scarcity impacts related to natural gas use in SRF processing. IHCaL offers a strong route to decarbonisation of lime production, provided fuel supply chains are carefully managed. The findings show SRF as the environmentally preferred fuel and underscore the importance of upstream process optimisation and region‑specific electricity modelling.

Details

Title: Life cycle assessment of the indirectly heated calcium carbonate looping carbon capture for lime production
Authors/Creators: Angela Rolfe - Centre for Sustainability Technologies, Ulster University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Martin Greco-Coppi - Technische Universität Darmstadt
Caterina Brandoni - Centre for Sustainability Technologies, Ulster University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Jochen Ströhle - Technische Universität Darmstadt
Sina Rezvani - Centre for Water, Waste and Energy of Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia
Neil Hewitt - Centre for Sustainability Technologies, Ulster University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Ye Huang - Centre for Sustainability Technologies, Ulster University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Publication Details: International journal of greenhouse gas control, Vol.155, 104745
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd.
Identifiers: 991005909772307891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Water, Energy and Waste
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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