Assessing Feasibility of Nuclear Energy Aided Cement Production for Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction

Xinran Li, Dr. Martin Nieto-Perez, Ondi Brown

Penn State, State College, PA, USA

This study explores the feasibility of inserting a microreactor as a heat source during cement production and its extent of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Cement is a fundamental substance used in many construction projects. Emissions associated with cement production represent nearly 5% of U.S industrial sector greenhouse gas emissions and 1% of U.S total greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 is released through chemical reactions and the fuel used to heat reactions in cement production. According to data from the US Department of Energy in 2023, 65 million metric tons of CO2 were produced from using natural gas as fuel by 91 cement plants reporting data in the US. Nuclear reactors produce excess heat, which can heat cement plants in place of natural gas. Micro nuclear reactors function with the same fundamental technology as traditional nuclear reactors, but are smaller and less expensive than conventional reactors. Research institutions are investigating the extent to which microreactors can replace fossil fuels. The uses of nuclear energy, specifically microreactors, have not yet been explored in terms of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in industrial practices. To carry out this investigation, we used a Python Jupyter program to balance the masses and energies of the cement plant. We discovered that as much as 45% of CO2 produced by fuel combustion can be reduced if a microreactor is inserted into the calciner and the initial temperature of the solids is set at 350 degrees Celsius. If every cement plant in the United States switched to this model, a reduction of approximately 29.25 million metric tons of CO2 would be possible.