Displaying items by tag: carbon capture

US: California-based Heliogen has developed concentrated solar-thermal plants (CSPs) with the ability to focus sunlight to generate temperatures over 1000°C by micro-adjusting mirrors using computer technology. It has now engaged Parsons Corporation to build arrays of its CSPs for installation in cement pre-calciners. Requiring 900°C heat, these represent the largest part of the industry’s CO₂ output. The technology will firstly reduce this by replacing fossil fuels with a clean heat source, which moreover entirely bypasses the electrical grid. Heliogen CEO Bill Gross says that the installations will make carbon capture and storage (CCS) of the remaining CO₂ emissions from the conversion of limestone to lime easier by removing other pollutants. Heliogen is now targeting 1500°C from its CSPs, which would enable them to supersede cement fuels in kilns.

Canada: HeidelbergCement’s Canadian subsidiary Lehigh Cement is trialling the cement industry’s first full carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation at its 1.4Mt/yr integrated Edmonton plant in Alberta in partnership with Canada’s International CCS Knowledge Centre. The installation will have a CO2 capture rate of between 90% and 95% and receive an investment of US$1.4m from the state government body Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). “We are part of HeidelbergCement’s vision of CO2-neutral concrete by 2050 and are committed to leading global change for CCS in our industry,” said Jeorg Nixdorf, Lehigh Hanson Canada regional president.

US: The construction company Cross River has partnered with Canada-based proprietary technology manufacturer Svante to deliver industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. BusinessWire has reported that Svante has already supplied its CCS pipelines to the 1Mt/yr CO₂ment concrete plant in British Colombia, a joint operation between Swiss LafargeHolcim and French Total which uses captured CO₂ to aerate its concrete.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s 1.3Mt/yr Vernasca plant in Piacenza will receive a Cleanker Project pilot system for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The installation is EU-funded as part of Horizon 2020, a seven-year research and innovation framework programme, and its success will be closely monitored for possible implementation at other cement plants in the EU and beyond.

Dalmia Cement threw down the gauntlet this week with the announcement of a large-scale carbon capture unit (CCU) at one of its plants in Tamil Nadu, India. An agreement has been signed with UK-based Carbon Clean Solutions Limited (CCSL) to use its technology in building a 0.5Mt/yr CCU. The partnership will explore how CO₂ from the plant can be used, including direct sales to other industries and using the CO₂ as a precursor in manufacturing chemicals. No exact completion date or budget has been disclosed.

The move is a serious declaration of intent from the Indian cement producer towards its aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Dalmia has been pushing its sustainability ‘journey’ for several years now hitting targets such as reaching 6Mt of alternative raw materials usage in its 2018 financial year and reaching a clinker factor of 63% at the same time. In an article in the November 2018 issue of Global Cement Magazine it said it had achieved CO₂ emissions of 526kg/t from its cement production compared to 578kg/t from other Indian members of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI). In its eastern operations it had gone further to reach 400kg/t.

Using CCU is the next step to this progression but Dalmia’s approach is not without its caveats. Firstly, despite the size of the proposed project it is still being described as a ‘large-scale demonstration.’ Secondly, the destination of all that captured CO₂, as mentioned above, is still being considered. CCSL uses a post-combustion capture method that captures flue gas CO₂ and then combines the use of a proprietary solvent with a heat integration step. Where the capture CO₂ goes is vital because if it can’t be sold or utilised in some other way then it needs to be stored, putting up the price. Technology provider CCSL reckons that its CDRMax process has a CO₂ capture price tag of US$40/t but it is unclear whether this includes utilisation sales of CO₂ or not.

The process is along similar lines to the Skyonic SkyMine (see Global Cement Magazine, May 2015) CCU that was completed in 2015 at the Capitol Cement plant in San Antonio, Texas in the US. However, that post-combustion capture project was aiming for 75,000t/yr of CO₂. Dalmia and CCSL’s attempt is six times greater.

Meanwhile, Cembureau, the European cement association, joined a group of industrial organisations in lobbying the European Union (EU) on the Horizon Europe programme. It wants the budget to be raised to at least Euro120m with at least 60% to be dedicated to the ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ pillar. This is relevant in a discussion on industrial CO₂ emissions reduction because the scheme has been supporting various European cement industry projects, including HeidelbergCement’s work with the Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium and Calix at its Lixhe plant in Belgium and its pilots in Norway. As these projects and others reach industrial scale testing they need this money.

These recent developments provide hope for the future of the cement industry. Producers and their associations are engaging with the climate change agenda and taking action. Legislators and governments need to work with the cement sector to speed up this process and ensure that the industry is able to cut its CO₂ emissions while continuing to manufacture the materials necessary to build things. Projects like this latest from Dalmia Cement are overdue, but are very encouraging.

India: Dalmia Cement has revealed its commitment to dropping its net CO₂ emissions to below 0t/yr by 2040 as part of its new ‘Future Today’ branding. The company’s plan consists of a transition to renewable power by 2030 and the adoption of plant matter and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for 100% of its fuel needs. Dalmia’s 4.0Mt/yr integrated Ariyalur cement plant in Tamil Nadu will receive a 0.5Mt/yr carbon capture and storage facility in 2022 at the latest. The UK-based Carbon Clean Solutions will provide technology and operational services for the installation, the largest in the cement industry. Mahendra Singh, managing director and CEO of Dalmia Cement, has expressed the hope that its product should become ‘the World’s greenest cement.’

Norway: HeidelbergCement has joined a list of leaders from various industries in endorsing Norway’s state-owned energy group Equinor’s carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) plans. Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement, was among representatives of seven companies who signed memoranda of understanding with Equinor.

HeidelbergCement’s Norwegian subsidiary Norcem has been involved in CCS research at its 1.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Brevik since 2011. In early 2018, the government shortlisted the plant for its multiple-industry ‘Northern Lights’ CCS project. Beginning in 2023, Equinor will remove 0.4Mt/yr of CO2, half of the plant’s total CO2 output, from Brevik for storage in empty oil and gas fields beneath the North Sea.

In a statement, HeidelbergCement expressed its intention towork together with Equinor to optimise CO2 transportation and develop Europe-wide disposal solutions

Belgium: Australia’s Calix says the Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium has successfully demonstrated CO₂ separation with more than 95% purity at its pilot unit at HeidelbergCement’s cement plant in Lixhe. Technology provider Calix said that preliminary test runs have been completed on the pilot. The technology concept has been shown to work on both lime and cement meal, with calcination near to target levels and high purity CO₂ successfully separated at the top of the reactor although not yet at full design capacity.

It added that it was still working on fixing commissioning issues. Testing will run until the end of 2020 to assess the risk of potential longer-term issues such as tube health and process robustness. In parallel, planning has commenced on the next scale-up of the technology, including conceptual design and engaging funding consortia.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has launched the first phase of its CO₂MENT project. The objective is to build a full-cycle solution to capture and reuse CO₂ from a cement plant. The project is a partnership between Lafarge Canada, Inventys and Total.

“LafargeHolcim is committed to reducing CO₂ emissions and we are excited to join forces with Inventys and Total through Project CO₂MENT. We hope to discover ways to capture emissions from our production processes and reuse them in our products, advancing a circular economy even further than today. The recent launch of the new lower carbon fuel (LCF) system at our Richmond plant aims to make the facility the most carbon efficient cement plant in Canada,” said René Thibault, Region Head North America for LafargeHolcim.

Over the next four years, Project CO₂MENT will demonstrate and evaluate Inventys’ CO₂ Capture System and a selection of LafargeHolcim’s carbon utilization technologies at its Richmond cement plant in British Columbia. The project has three phases and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2020. Subject to the pilot’s success, the vision is to scale up the project and explore how the facility can be replicated across other LafargeHolcim plants.

During the first phase the partners will work on purifying the cement flue gas in preparation for CO₂ capture. The second phase will focus on the separation of CO₂ from flue gas using a customised for cement version of Inventys’ carbon capture technology at pilot scale. As part of the final phase, the captured CO₂ will be prepared for reuse and support the economical assessment and demonstration of CO₂ conversion technologies onsite, such as CO₂ injected concrete and fly ash.

US: The Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL), GreenOre Clean Tech, Columbia University and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to test carbon utilisation and recycling technology. GreenOre Clean Tech, using technology under license from Columbia University, will use testing space at the Integrated Test Center (ITC) near the Dry Fork Station coal-fired power station in Gillette, Wyoming. Calcium carbonate produced through CO₂ mineralisation could then potentially be used for aggregates, concrete production or in paper production. The test will be funded by JCOAL with additional support from project partners.

The State of Wyoming and JCOAL have been working together since 2016, when they signed an initial MOU committing to cooperation in coal research and development of technologies and coal trade. JCOAL operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and is supported by more than 120 member coal-related businesses, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Nippon Steel and Toshiba. Kawasaki is scheduled to test its solid sorbent capture technology at the ITC beginning in 2021.