Using the Urban Stock as A Carbon Sink: A Case Study from the German Federal State of North Rhine – Westphalia

Abstract

The decarbonization of the industrial sector will not be feasible without carbon capture and utilization (CCU) or storage (CCS) due to unavoidable process emissions. Due to the lack of geological storage in Germany, the low social acceptance and the legal challenges, CO2 utilization has become a favorable route to sequester the process emissions. This paper presents a case study from North Rheine – Westphalia (NRW) in order to highlight the importance of using the urban stock (e.g. construction and demolition waste & concrete products) as a carbon sink for process emissions by means of carbonation, quantify the amounts of emissions that can be permanently stored, and illustrate the significance of the locational aspects that will affect the prospective supply chain. The analyses show that the average distance between the selected carbon sources and sinks is 55.6 Km, nevertheless, some plants have a comparative advantage in terms of the average transportation costs, which range between 2 and 31.6 EUR/ton for the shortest and longest distance respectively (8.8 Km and 142.3 Km).