Scaling green hydrogen and CCUS via cement-methanol co-production in China

Abstract

High costs of green hydrogen and of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) have hindered policy ambition and slowed real-world deployment, despite their importance for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, including cement and methanol. Given the economic challenges of adopting CCUS in cement and green hydrogen in methanol production separately, we propose a renewable-powered co-production system that couples electrolytic hydrogen and CCUS through molecule exchange. We optimize system configurations using an hourly-resolved, process-based model incorporating operational flexibility, and explore integrated strategies for plant-level deployment and CO₂ source-sink matching across China. We find that co-production could reduce CO₂ abatement costs to $41–53 per tonne by 2035, significantly lower than approximately $75 for standalone cement CCUS and over $120 for standalone renewable-based methanol. Co-production is preferentially deployed at cement plants in renewable-rich regions, potentially reshaping national CO₂ infrastructure planning. This hydrogen–CCUS coupling paradigm could accelerate industrial decarbonization and scaling for other applications.