Fig. 5: Carbon mitigation cost and benefit of saline lake industries by a resource-based regional industrial economy development optimization model (RRIEDOM).

Three types of emission reduction methods were considered to achieve carbon reduction, namely, carbon reduction through carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), clean energy, and steam boiler retrofitting. The cost of carbon reduction and the amount of carbon reduction under different scenarios are simulated, in which CCUS under the S0 and S1 scenarios involves a greater contribution to carbon reduction, but due to the higher direct carbon emissions of these two paths, the corresponding cost of carbon reduction is also the highest, whereas the optimal path (S4) avoids the largest amount of carbon emissions. a CCUS, clean energy, and steam boiler retrofitting under the different scenarios, b ratio of the CCUS cost to the CCUS benefit under the different scenarios at the different CCUS prices, and c cumulative carbon reduction through the industrial transition. Source data are provided as a source data file.