Displaying items by tag: carbon capture
Cemex Ventures invests in Carbon Clean
04 August 2021Mexico/UK: Cemex Ventures has become an investor in Carbon Clean. It joins existing investors Equinor Ventures, ICOS Capital and WAVE Equity Partners. The companies have invested US$8m in Carbon Clean extending its US$22m series B investment round, previously announced in July 2020, to US$30m in total. Cemex’s investment is part of its strategy to achieve its new climate action goals, including being net carbon neutral in concrete by 2050, under its Future in Action programme.
Carbon Clean has developed a modular CO2 capture and separation technology that it calls CycloneCC. As well as reducing the size of installation and construction time, it is aiming to reduce operating expenditures to around US$30/t of CO2 at an industrial scale. In 2020, the subsidiary of Cemex signed an agreement with Carbon Clean, which allowed the companies to outline a roadmap for jointly developing and implementing carbon capture technologies across cement operations.
China Building Materials Academy partners with International CCS Knowledge Centre for carbon capture storage study
09 July 2021China: China National Building Materials (CNBM) subsidiary China Building Materials Academy (CBMA) has signed a knowledge sharing agreement with the Canada-based International CCS Knowledge Centre to collaborate on carbon capture technology. Their first initiative will pilot a CBMA model and front end engineering design (FEED) to a test platform with a capture capacity of around 155kg CO2/day on an active cement plant kiln. If successful, the study may see CNBM roll out CCS across its entire cement operations.
Svante to establish new Centre for Excellence for Carbon Capture, Use and Storage in Vancouver
09 July 2021Canada: The government has granted a subsidy worth US$20m to Svante for the establishment of a Centre for Excellence for Carbon Capture, Use and Storage in Vancouver, British Columbia. The centre will consist of a filter production plant, headquarters and testing centre. The company said that it will help in the global deployment carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions ‘at Gigatons scale.’
“Vancouver is the Silicon-Valley of carbon capture technology development,” said Claude Letourneau, the president and chief executive officer of Savante. “Lowering the capital cost of the capture of the CO2 emitted in industrial production is critical to the world’s net-zero carbon goals.” He added “The carbon pulled from earth as fossil fuel needs to go back into the earth in safe CO2 storage.”
Taiheiyo Cement to start CO2 capture project at Kumagaya plant using Carbon Clean technology
21 April 2021Japan: Taiheiyo Cement plans to start a CO2 capture demonstration project at its Kumagaya plant in Kumagaya City, Saitama. It will use technology for CO2 chemical absorption supplied by UK-based Carbon Clean, which has been awarded by Japan-based Marubeni Protechs in Japan. The project will have a capacity of 10t/day and demonstration tests will begin in September 2021. Taiheiyo Cement says that it believes that CO2 recovery technology from cement kiln flue gas will require compact equipment that could be installed in cement plants and that suitable amine solvents for cement kiln flue gas are essential conditions. Its ultimate goal is to establish a technology that can be used to help it reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The cement producer has been developing this technology as a sole grant recipient of the ‘Development of Carbon Circulation Technology for the Cement Industry,’ a project funded by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) which was awarded in June 2020. It also launched its internal Carbon Neutral Technology Development Project Team in April 2020, which has led on the project.
Marubeni Protechs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation, which invested in Carbon Clean, have been involved in a variety of domestic and international projects involving equipment supply and construction. The project at the Kumagaya plant is expected to be the first CO2 capture plant that Marubeni Protechs and Carbon Clean have introduced in Japan. Marubeni Protechs and Carbon Clean intend to jointly introduce CO2 capture plants in the future.
UK: Germany-based HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson has received the green light for its planned carbon capture and storage (CCS) study at its Padeswood cement plant in Flintshire after its partner, the HyNet North West consortium received Euro84m in funding. The study will support a design basis and cost estimate for a carbon capture unit at the cement plant and a connection to the planned HyNet North West CO2 transport and storage system. Euro46m of the funding came from consortium partners while Euro38m came from a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge grant.
Hanson chief executive officer Simon Willis said, “Today’s funding announcement is fantastic news for everyone involved in HyNet North West. Cutting CO2 emissions is a key priority for us, and we are excited to be one of the first UK cement producers working on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as part of this collaborative project.” He added, “We’ve taken big steps towards reducing carbon emissions and have set ourselves an ambitious target of achieving a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, based on 1990 levels, and net zero carbon concrete by 2050. CCS at cement plants is a key part of our roadmap to net zero.”
Canada: Svante has raised US$75m in an investment round. The financing was led by Temasek and includes strategic investors Chart Industries, Carbon Direct and Export Development Canada (EDC). Existing investors OGCI Climate Investments, BDC Cleantech Practice, Chevron Technology Ventures, The Roda Group and Chrysalix Venture Capital also participated in the round.
The investment gives the company will allow the company to advance a number of initiatives over the next three years, including work to support several commercial scale carbon capture facilities to address hard-to-abate emissions from industrial operations such as cement manufacturing, blue hydrogen production and natural gas boilers. Svante has now attracted more than US$150m in funding since it was founded in 2007 to develop and commercialise its solid sorbent technology.
“Lowering the capital cost of the capture of the CO2 emitted in industrial production is critical to the world’s net-zero carbon goals required to stabilize the climate. Leaders from industry, financial sectors and government agree on the enormity of the challenge and the critical need to deploy carbon capture and carbon removal solutions at Gigatons scale. The carbon pulled from earth as fossil fuel needs to go back into the earth in safe CO2 storage,” said Claude Letourneau, President CEO of Svante.
Canada: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada, Svante and France-based Total have completed Phase 2 of the CO2MENT carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Lafarge Canada’s Richmond cement plant. The completed phase consisted of construction and installation of the CO2MENT technology to capture and filter the flue gas. Lafarge Canada said that Phase 3, scheduled for construction over the next three years, will include the installation of a liquefaction unit, the development of an expansion project to further reduce emissions and a business case review for further expansion across the Lafarge network
Western Canada president and chief executive officer Brad Kohl said “This has been a turbulent year for business and people due to the Covid-19 pandemic with many large scale projects being put on hold, but the perseverance that the people working at the Richmond cement plant continue to show is evident in the success of Project CO2MENT.” He added “To continue leading change in the building materials industry means we are always looking to partner with like-minded thought leaders such as Svante and Total. This partnership is showcasing our drive towards a net-zero future, and we are seeing this vision become a reality right now with the completion of this phase.”
Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement has formulated a set of medium-term goals and long-term policies in order to enable it to achieve carbon neutrality, in line with the Japanese government’s target, by 2050. These consist of a 30% reduction in energy-derived carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions intensity between 2005 and 2030 and efforts toward carbon neutrality in energy and process-derived emissions by 2050. These efforts include: “reduction to the limit of fossil energy, development and introduction of process-derived CO2 emission reduction technology, carbon-free electric power, technology development and supply expansion related to low-carbon cement and concrete products, development and supply of innovative bonding materials and development and introduction of innovative technology related to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).”
Cemex USA partners with Membrane Technology & Research for government-funded Balcones cement plant carbon capture study
10 November 2020US: The Department of Energy has granted Cemex funding to “research and develop innovative carbon capture technology” at its Balcones, Texas cement plant. The company says that this will partly fund an 18-month feasibility study of partner company Membrane Technology & Research’s membrane carbon capture product at the plant. It says that, if successful, the study will be “an important advancement towards Cemex’s ambition to deliver net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) concrete globally by 2050.”
USA president Jaime Muguiro said, “At Cemex, sustainability is embedded in our operations and we are consistently looking for opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint. We strive to develop and gradually adapt new technology which will help us achieve our ambition to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete to all of our customers. With this grant, we will be able to leverage our expertise to define the feasibility of implementing the membrane carbon capture technology in a cost-effective manner.”
Membrane Technology & Research has supplied membrane-based separation systems to the petrochemical, natural gas, and refining industries since 1992. Vice President of Technology Tim Merkel said, “Cement plant emissions are a good target for the CO2 capture membrane technology that we’ve been developing with Department of Energy support.” He added, “We look forward to working with Cemex on this exciting project to confirm that our technology can capture cement plant emissions at a minimal cost.”
LafargeHolcim España and Carbon Clean sign carbon capture agreement
04 November 2020Spain: LafargeHolcim España has signed an agreement with Carbon Clean, ECCO2 and gas systems specialist Sistemas de Calor for the installation of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit at its Carboneras integrated cement plant in Almeria. The company say that the installation will start in 2022 to capture 10% of CO2 emissions with the eventual potential to capture 0.7Mt/yr of CO2 and achieve 100% decarbonisation at the plant. The producer will supply the captured CO2 to Sistemas de Calor for use in agricultural greenhouses, reducing the soil and water intensity of crop production.
Chief executive officer (CEO) Isidoro Miranda said, “Within the framework of our Ecological Transition Strategy, we are tackling climate change through innovative initiatives that allow us to develop low-carbon products and solutions. In our journey towards carbon neutrality, these types of collaborations are key. We hope that, working with our partners Carbon Clean, ECCO2 and Sistemas de Calor, we can develop this innovative circular model with the potential to revolutionise the cement sector and agriculture.”
On 20 November 2019 LafargeHolcim España committed a budget of around Euro20m to upgrades to reduce its cement plants’ CO2 emissions by 90,000t/yr.