Displaying items by tag: CCS

Norway: Heidelberg Materials Sement Norge set in place a 220t absorber unit at its Brevik cement plant on late August 2023. The unit will form part of the upcoming 400,000t/yr carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation at the site. It expects to complete the installation of the absorber unit within two weeks of its placement. In September 2023, Heidelberg Materials Sement Norge will proceed to install the system’s 100m-high absorber stack.

Brevik CCS operational manager Tor Gautestad said “The absorber is in many ways the heart of the carbon capture process, because it is where the flue gases are separated.”

Spain: Switzerland-based Synhelion and Cemex España plan to build a new clinker plant near Madrid. The plant will use Synhelion’s synthetic fuel to produce clinker from clay and crushed sand at 1200°C. The fuel consists of a gas produced from green hydrogen and captured CO₂, using solar heat. La Tribune de Genève Online News has reported that Synhelion’s thermochemical reactor further helps to capture CO₂ emissions from clinker production. A study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne indicated that this can halve the cost of carbon capture at cement plants, to below Euro85/t.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials' consolidated sales rose by 5.3% year-on-year to Euro10.5bn in the first half of 2022. The producer noted a continuing 'downward trend' in its cement sales volumes in the second quarter of the year. The group recorded a net profit of Euro783m, up by 31% year-on-year from Euro597m.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “We have closed the first half of 2023 with a good result. Even in a weaker market environment, with significant declines in sales volumes in some cases, we performed quite well. We remain confident about the second half of the year, and are once again upgrading our outlook for 2023 significantly." He continued "In the first half of 2023, we achieved a further reduction in our specific net CO₂ emissions through numerous measures. With the large number of our carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects, we are aiming at the full decarbonisation of our products. Just recently, one of our pioneering carbon capture and storage projects in Germany was approved to receive funding from the EU Innovation Fund. The continuous reduction of our carbon footprint and strengthening the circular economy are our most powerful levers to offer our customers climate-friendly products on a large scale."

Chief financial officer René Aldach said that the company will demonstrate its financial strength with a third tranche of its on-going share buyback programme, commencing on 28 July 2023.

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) launched the Green Cement Technology Tracker on 20 July 2023. The Green Cement Technology Tracker presents users with a real-time overview of active initiatives to reduce CO₂ emissions in the global cement industry. At present, the tracker covers carbon capture projects, which account for 36% of planned emissions reductions under the GCCA’s 2050 Roadmap for Net Zero Carbon Concrete. The partners plan to subsequently expand the scope of coverage to other emissions reduction technologies.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “Unleashing technology such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage is key to achieving our net zero mission in our sector. Carbon capture pilots, projects and announcements are picking up pace across the world. This technology works, and our next goal is to scale up, working with stakeholders such as governments and the investment community to help transform the industry worldwide.”

The Green Cement Technology Tracker is freely accessible here on the LeadIT website.

Europe: Holcim has secured funding for three separate carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects at its cement plants in Europe. The recipient projects are the Go4Zero project at Holcim Belgium's Obourg cement plant in Belgium, the KOdeCO project at Holcim Croatia's Koromačno cement plant in Croatia and the eM-Rhône project at Lafarge Ciments' Le Teil cement plant in France. The Le Teil plant's system will be used to produce e-methanol, while the investment at the Koromačno plant will be part of a package of upgrades to turn the plant carbon neutral.

Alongside on-going projects in Germany and Poland, this will bring Holcim's total number of EU-funded CCUS projects to five. Holcim is committed to US$2.33bn-worth of investments of its own in over 50 carbon capture projects worldwide before 2030.

Holcim's Europe regional head Miljan Gutovic said “It’s exciting to be at the forefront of decarbonising the building sector in Europe. The support we are receiving from the EU Innovation Fund for five of our CCUS projects is a great testament to the strength of our engineering teams, the maturity of our technologies and our advanced partnerships across the value chain. Our robust pipeline of projects positions us as the partner of choice to scale up carbon capture technologies in Europe.”

Germany: The EU Innovation Fund has granted funding to the GeZero carbon capture project at Heidelberg Materials' Geseke cement plant in North Rhine-Westphalia. The project consists of a 700,000t/yr carbon capture system and an oxyfuel kiln upgrade. A captive solar power plant will provide energy for the new systems. CO₂ storage partner Wintershall Dea will receive purified liquefied CO₂ from the capture system via its Wilhelmshaven distribution hub for storage under the North Sea.

Heidelberg Materials Germany general manager Christian Knell said “This project sets an important milestone for the cement industry and for effective carbon management in Germany. We are now counting on the tailwind of Germany’s future Carbon Management Strategy and the regulatory framework to come.”

CEO Dominik von Achten added “With GeZero, we will once again show how Heidelberg Materials’ pioneering spirit is paving the way for the decarbonisation of our industry. We will be the first to realise a full CCS chain for the capture, transport and permanent storage of all CO₂ emissions from an inland location in Germany. I appreciate the support of the EU Innovation Fund, which expresses both an important recognition and the required backing from the political side.”

France: Heidelberg Materials, Lafarge France, Lhoist and utilities provider TotalEnergies launched the GO CO₂ carbon capture and storage project at the port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire on 10 July 2023. The Le Marin newspaper has reported that the Euro1.7bn project will treat and liquefy captured CO₂ for underwater storage. The initial participating plants will be Lafarge France’s Saint-Pierre-la-Cour cement plant and Lhoist’s Neau lime plant.

Preliminary studies will commence later in 2023, with an investment decision to be taken in 2027, for commissioning of the project in 2030. The consortium will initially process 2.6Mt/yr of captured CO₂, rising to 4Mt/yr in 2050.

US: In 2022, Fortera began building a 15,000t/yr-capacity plant to produce its low-carbon cementitious material, Fortera Reactive Calcium Carbonate (RCC), at CalPortland's Redding cement plant in California. The commercial-scale plant will produce a reactive form of calcium carbonate using CO₂ from the kiln of the 600,000t/yr cement plant. Fortera's process converts 1t of limestone into 1t of Fortera RCC by capturing and mineralising CO₂ from the cement plant's kiln. Fortera cement production emits 60% less CO₂ than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The 15,000t/yr plant will operate at 20 times the scale of previous pilot tests. The Redding Record newspaper has reported that 15 workers will be employed at the site.

Former Redding cement plant owner Lehigh Hanson formed an agreement with Fortera to collaborate on the low-carbon cement plant project in March 2021. The plant subsequently switched ownership to Martin Marietta Materials in October 2021, before CalPortland bought it in July 2022.

US: Ash Grove Cement has won funding for a US$15.2m front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a carbon capture installation at its 2Mt/yr Foreman cement plant in Arkansas. Parent company CRH said that the study will run for 24 months from its date of commencement. The project team also includes consultancy and research firms Advanced Resources International and Crescent Resource Information, as well as non-profit interstate policy organisation Southern States Energy Board. Equipment suppliers will include France-based industrial gases company Air Liquide and energy company Sargent & Lundy, while electricity provider Talos will participate as an energy sector stakeholder.

The Foreman cement plant carbon capture FEED study is one of eight projects selected by the US Department of Energy to receive part of a US$189m funding pot for carbon capture demonstrations across US industry.

Denmark: Aalborg Portland and US-based Fidelis New Energy have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on the onshore storage of captured CO₂ from the cement producer's Aalborg cement plant in North Jutland. The partners will convey captured CO₂ from the plant to Fidelis New Energy's upcoming Norne Carbon Storage Hub at East Port of Aalborg via a pipeline. The pipeline is scheduled for commissioning ahead of the launch of the Aalborg cement plant's upcoming carbon capture system in 2030. The system will capture 400,000t/yr of CO₂ from the plant's flue gases.

Fidelis New Energy's Norne Carbon Storage Hub is due to commence operations in 2026. It will have a handling capacity of 4Mt/yr of CO₂, with the possibility of subsequently expanding to 8Mt/yr.