Displaying items by tag: decarbonisation

China: 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.

Canada: 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.”

UK: The UK government has announced Euro58.2m-worth of funding to support infrastructure spending, targeting innovation and technology projects. This will include a scoping study into developing a CO₂ storage testbed that will look at carbon capture and storage on an industrial scale. Other projects include a new radio telescope network, laboratories and Euro18.8m-worth of new digital research infrastructure. The government says that the new infrastructure aims to provide ‘strategic direction’ in the use of science and technology to overcome societal challenges and increase global prosperity. It said that the upgrade will secure the UK’s position as a ‘science superpower’ globally.

Denmark/UK: FLSmidth has signed a global commercial partnership with UK-based carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) Carbon8 Systems to accelerate the cement industry’s carbon neutrality path. The supplier said that CCU is an essential part of its MissionZero pledge to enable zero-emission cement production by 2030. The new partnership will use its global network to extend Carbon8 Systems’ reach in the cement industry. The partnership started in June 2021 and the companies intend to release more details on the commercialisation of the arrangement at a join webinar in October 2021.

Carsten Riisberg Lund, Cement President for FLSmidth said, “The cement industry is pursuing every possible solution to reduce its environmental footprint. CCU is one such technology, with a massive potential, that has reached commercial maturity in recent years.” He added “FLSmidth will work closely with Carbon8 Systems to accelerate the implementation of its technology and we will draw upon our in-depth know-how, our products and our global presence. This agreement is a significant leap forward in our joint efforts to deliver on the sustainability ambitions for the global cement industry.”

Sweden: Germany-based HeidelbergCement subsidiary Cementa plans to upgrade its Slite unit in Gotland to become the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant. This will be achieved through modification of the plant’s fuel system to ‘significantly raise’ biobased fuel substitution, as well as 100% carbon capture and storage (CCS) via a 1.8Mt/yr CCS installation. Full-scale capturing of the plant’s CO₂ emissions is scheduled by 2030.

Chair Dominik von Achten said, “HeidelbergCement will be the leader in the global cement industry on its transformation path towards climate neutrality. The key for decarbonising our industry is to find, apply and scale technical solutions for carbon capture and utilisation or storage (CCU/S). After having gained valuable experience with CCU/S technologies in Norway and other countries, we are now excited to make the next step with a completely carbon-neutral cement plant in Sweden.”

Mexico: Cemex has partnered with UK-based oil company BP to accelerate the progress of its ambition for net-zero CO₂ concrete by 2050. The partners have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop cement production and transport decarbonisation solutions. Such solutions include the transition to reduced-emissions power and vehicles, energy efficiency-improvements, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon offsetting. In addition, the companies will collaborate on urbanisation solutions to decarbonise cities.

Sustainability, commercial, and operations development executive vice president Juan Romero said “Concrete plays an integral role in society, and there are no substitutes for its key attribute – strength and resilience. We believe it will continue to have a critical role in a low carbon economy, and the challenge for the industry is to find solutions to the manufacturing process emissions.” He added “This initiative with BP is another example of the work we are doing with partners across industries, academia, and startups to tap into the latest innovation and disruptive technology to achieve our ambition of delivering net-zero CO₂ concrete globally to all of our customers.”

North America: UK-based Carbon Clean has signed a memorandum of understanding with US-based onsite hydrogen provider BayoTech. Under the agreement, the carbon capture and storage (CCS) specialist will install a CCS system at a BayoTech hydrogen plant in North America, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.

The two companies have agreed on a roadmap for the technology integration of a carbon capture process on their hydrogen generating units. The demonstration facility will include a BayoTech H2-1000 generating unit and Carbon Clean’s carbon capture technology. This partnership is intended to enable process optimisation to decrease the cost for small scale hydrogen and CO₂ production.

Carbon Clean was announced in April 2021 as the technology provider for a CO₂ capture demonstration project by Taiheiyo Cement in Japan. It is also working on projects with Cemex USA and LafargeHolcim España.

Switzerland: The Swiss cement association Cemsuisse has published Roadmap 2050, a plan for the achievement of net carbon neutrality by 2050. As part of the plan, the association says that Swiss cement producers will launch carbon capture and storage (CCS) installations at their plants from 2030. Individual companies’ plans also involve the reduction of products’ clinker factors and alteration of cement kiln fuel mixes.

Cemsuisse lobbied the government to approve producers’ mining permits in order to prevent an increase in imports from 686,000t in 2020. The figure corresponds to 15% of the nation’s 4.70Mt consumption.

Norway: Norcem, part of Germany-based HeidelbergCement, has awarded a contract to Denmark-based FLSmidth to provide modifications to allow for downstream CO₂ removal at its integrated Brevik cement plant. The supplier will begin work in the unit’s winter 2022 shutdown. Its upcoming carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation is scheduled for commissioning in September 2024.

Norcem project manager Tor Gautestad said, “We are very excited to have FLSmidth on board and to finally begin the construction of the full-size installation.” He added, “FLSmidth’s extensive process knowledge, and air pollution control in particular, will be critical to the success of the project.”

Japan: 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.