Displaying items by tag: decarbonisation

Mexico: Cemex says that it has received validation from the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) for its 2050 Net Zero Roadmap. The roadmap sets out strategies, including carbon capture, for ‘aggressive CO₂ reductions’ across Cemex’s entire value chain, in order to achieve carbon neutral cement production by 2050. The group’s current carbon capture projects portfolio has the potential to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 3Mt/yr.

Cemex CEO Fernando González said “The construction industry is essential to the development and wellbeing of society, and its transition to carbon neutrality is achievable. The SBTi’s validation of our decarbonisation target attests to this, as well as the strength of our commitment.”

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has revised its Scope 1 CO₂ emissions reduction goal down to 475kg/t of cementitious product by 2030, from 520kg/t previously. The new target is 8.7% lower than the previous one, which it set in November 2020. Votorantim Cimentos previously reduced its emissions per tonne by 20% between 1990 and 2021. The group's targeted reduction from a 2018 base year now equates to 25%. The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) validated the ambitious target on 1 December 2022.

Votorantim Cimentos expects to achieve its aim through increased alternative fuel (AF) co-processing, substitution of supplementary cementitious materials, improved efficiency and use of renewable power and the development of new technologies, including carbon capture.

The group's global sustainability, institutional relations, product development and engineering director Álvaro Lorenz said “The fight against the negative effects of climate change is at the heart of our strategy and reflects our focus on competitiveness and on creating a positive legacy. The most competitive businesses will be those with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. After all, the environmental crisis is also an economic and social crisis. The validation of our new target by SBTi reinforces our commitment and continuous efforts toward the net-zero agenda.”

US: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering has launched a new carbon capture alliance with energy company ExxonMobil. Under the partnership, ExxonMobil will deploy Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering's liquid amine carbon capture model for its customers across multiple industries. Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO) will also support the deployment in more CO2-intensive industries, including cement.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering president and CEO Kenji Terasawa said “Carbon capture and storage technology and innovation are critical to our path to net zero. As an expert in advanced engineering, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is committed to leading the way in achieving decarbonisation goals through strategic collaboration and investments in new technologies. We look forward to partnering with ExxonMobil to continue advancing carbon capture technologies, to provide essential carbon neutrality solutions for various industries.”

Scandinavia: Norway-based Aqualung Carbon Capture has secured a contract to supply a membrane-based carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for a Nordkalk lime plant in Scandinavia. The supplier said that each Aqualung Carbon Capture unit has the capture capacity to remove 25% of an average Nordkalk lime kiln's CO₂ emissions. The project will commence in early 2023.

Nordkalk plans to roll out Aqualung Carbon Capture CCS systems across all of its kilns before 2030. Accordingly, parent company SigmaRoc has newly committed to tightened group CO₂ reduction targets under the guidance of the Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi).

SigmaRoc CEO Max Vermorken said “Our partnership with Aqualung is an exciting next step for the group and the fruit of many months of diligent work by Aqualung and our technical teams in the UK and at Nordkalk. It demonstrates that capturing all process emissions is possible, with existing technology and at industrial scale. Once we roll this out across the group, I believe we will be industry-leading when it comes to our carbon capture strategy, demonstrating again the agility of our business and our business model.”

Aqualung Carbon Capture president and chief technical officer Henrik Utvik said “Aqualung Carbon Capture is extremely pleased to partner with a pioneering company like SigmaRoc to apply our decarbonisation concept in lime production. Due to the size and energy advantages, we believe our technology is ideally suited for this application, and the collaboration with SigmaRoc will fast-track the deployment of full-scale carbon capture installations.”

UK: C-Capture won an IChemE Global Award in the Energy category for its solvent-based carbon capture system. C-Capture's model differs fundamentally from currently commercially available systems, offering a lower energy penalty than technologies including amine-based capture. It is robust in handling impurities in flue gases, including O₂, SO_x and NO_x, while offering competitive cost and safety performance.

CEO Tom White said “Being shortlisted was honour enough, but to win the global Energy award is fantastic recognition for the C-Capture team and our unique carbon capture technology. The IChemE Global Awards represent the pinnacle of excellence in chemical process engineering. This achievement is testament to our exceptional team and their commitment to accelerating the global adoption of carbon capture and storage to achieve net zero by preventing greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.”

US: Cemex USA and RTI International have secured US$3.7m in funding from the US Department of Energy for their Balcones cement plant amine technology carbon capture study. The plant in New Braunfels, Texas, will trial RTI International's non-aqueous solvent (NAS) system, licensed by energy and technology company SLB. Resources News has reported that the system will have a CO₂ capture capacity of 670,000t/yr. RTI International's principal project investigator Vijay Gupta said that NAS capture has a 30 - 40% lower energy penalty than preceding solvent-based technologies.

Cemex USA president Jaime Muguiro said "We remain committed to exploring technologies that can help us meet our targets as we build a more sustainable future. We are striving to cut emissions across all our operations, and this study with RTI International is one of the many steps Cemex is taking to achieve our objectives."

UK: Hanson has announced a 'carbon capture breakthrough' in its use of recycled concrete paste (RCP) in the wet scrubber of its Ribblesdale cement plant in Lancashire. In under 30 minutes, 15t of RCP was able to capture 1.5t of CO₂ from the plant's flue emissions. Carbonated RCP is suitable to replace limestone in cement production.

Hanson's sustainability director Marian Garfield said “The trial was carried out with our parent company Heidelberg Materials’ research and development team, and marks another important milestone in our carbon capture journey."

Mexico: Cemex has announced a raft of new carbon capture projects in Europe and North America. When commissioned, they will bring its total installed CO₂ capture capacity to over 3Mt/yr. The projects consist of three front-end engineering (FEED) studies to scale installations of Australia-based Leilac’s direct separation technology at Cemex cement plants in Germany, Poland and the US; a fourth FEED study for 95% capture installation at the Balcones, Texas, cement plant using RTI International's solvent capture technology and a development partnership for the cement industry's most comprehensive carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) studies at eight further cement plants in Europe, Mexico and the US.

Chief executive officer Fernando González said “CCUS brings together the essence of our strategic priorities: sustainability and innovation. Our Future in Action programme to achieve sustainable excellence and become a net-zero company is all about measurable, verified progress towards the most ambitious decarbonisation pathway in the industry. Although CCUS technologies are not ready to be scaled quite yet, it will take relentless work and innovation to ensure their viability in time to avoid the most damaging effects of climate change.”

Singapore: Parliament passed the Carbon Pricing (Amendment) Bill earlier in November 2022. Under the act, Singapore will raise the price of carbon credits to US$18.17/t from 2024, and to US$32.71/t from 2026. CNA News has reported that the government said that the new legislation will provide the basis for the realisation of carbon credit prices of over US$36.31/t by 2030, in line with the country's 2050 net zero CO2 emissions commitment.

Polluters which emit over 25,000t/yr of CO₂ currently pay US$3.65/t for carbon credits.

South Korea: UK-based TCRK has announced a deal with Asia Cement to use its carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technology at the cement producer’s plant in Jaechon. The project will see the first commercial deployment of TCRK’s CCUS technology from the first quarter of 2023. It will initially target 30,000t/yr of CO₂ equivalent and then ramp up to 120,000t/yr of CO₂ equivalent by mid-2024. The second target is intended to help Asia Cement reduce its emissions by 20% required to meet its 2025 decarbonisation plan.

TCRK’s approach will use two processes to utilise capture CO₂ from cement production. Its Arago Cement Process uses captured CO₂, cement kiln dust and by-pass particles to produce precipitated calcium carbonate, which TCRK uses to produce a product called Arago Cement. The captured CO₂ will also be used to grow microalgae in a process called bio-fixation. This method will offer 10% extra carbon storage capacity. The microalgae has a wide range of potential end-products including bioplastics and animal feed, and can also be used as a source of bio-cement production.