Background to the Study

The IEAGHG High-Temperature Solid Looping Cycles meeting series is designed to bring together world-leading experts in Solid Looping Cycles technology to share knowledge and accelerate development & deployment.

The 9th High-Temperature Solid Looping Cycles Network (HTSLCN) Meeting took place from 14th to 15th March 2023 at Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza, Italy, hosted by the CLEANKER consortium. 82 attendees enjoyed a two-day programme with a total of 28 presentations, the official closure of the CLEANKER project with a visit to the pilot plant, a relaxing dinner and a guided tour in the museum of Palazzo Farnese about the millennial history of the city of Piacenza and its territory, from the pre-Roman age to the XX century.

Concluding from the panel discussions and technical sessions, it was noted that calcium looping technology is currently validated, also thanks to the promising results brought by the CLEANKER project, at TRL 7 for applications in the cement industry and in post-combustion applications and needs to move to TRL 8 with the erection of a bigger scale pilot plant. However, being this investment capital intensive, it is mandatory to find an industrial partner that is willing to invest in these advancements, and this represents the major challenge that the community is currently facing in the scale-up of the technology. Negative emissions through solid looping with biomass and flexible operation has been identified as another hot topic of this meeting. It is important that the HTSLCN community has started work on these topics. Next to biomass, sorption-enhanced reforming technologies appear as a promising near-term option to party replace conventional H2 production. Thus, opportunities for solid looping currently seem to be in the industrial sectors, rather than in the primarily targeted power sector.