Displaying items by tag: CO2

UK: A team at Imperial College London has won a US$1.27m grant for its research into developing carbon negative cement from silica. The research won the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)’s Carbon Capture, Usage & Storage (CCUS) Innovation 2.0 competition. The Imperial team sources its silica from natural olivine. It says that the compound behaves in the same way as other supplementary cementitious materials. Meanwhile, magnesia from the decomposition of the olivine can serve as a carbon sink in the form of magnesium carbonate. It, in turn, could serve as a raw material for concrete block production.

The DESNZ’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, of which the CCUS Innovation 2.0 competition is a part, has a budget of US$1.29bn.

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Côte d'Ivoire has invested a total US$677,000 in sustainability-enhancing upgrades to its 2Mt/yr Abidjan grinding plant since 2020. Agence Ivoirienne de Presse has reported that the producer has now implemented 80% of recommendations made by sustainability auditor Centre Ivoirien Antipollution (CIAPOL). Recommendations included the installation of dust capture systems.

General manager Rachis Yousry said "In 2022, LafargeHolcim received zero complaints from local residents for environmental degradation.” He added the producer was on track to realise net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050.

Germany: Dyckerhoff has launched Dyckerhoff Weiss Blue Star, a pozzolanic white cement CEM IV/A (P) 42.5 R product. It was approved by the German cement association, the VDZ, in mid-June 2023 and is now being manufactured at the Amöneburg plant. The lower CO₂ credentials of the new product have been promoted as it releases around 15% less CO₂ compared to CEM I cements. It is also notable for being a blended white cement.

Greece: The IFESTOS carbon capture project at Titan Group's Kamari cement plant was among eight CO₂ emissions-reducing projects chosen for funding following the latest EU Innovation Fund call for projects. IFESTOS consists of a planned 1.9Mt/yr carbon capture installation at the Kamari plant. Titan Group says that it has concluded necessary memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with suppliers. The IFESTOS project will receive a share of a funding pot worth a total Euro3.6bn.

Chair Marcel Cobuz said "We are truly excited that the European Commission has chosen to support our large-scale, highly innovative project. IFESTOS is a cornerstone of our accelerated decarbonisation roadmap to net-zero. In line with EU climate policy, together with our technology partners, we are pioneering an innovative carbon capture project, the largest in Europe, with a highly positive impact. The group has strong capabilities and is committed to executing this project fast over the next few years, decarbonising production and offering green growth opportunities to our customers in Europe. We embrace the opportunity to widely share our knowledge and expertise and promote green cements as modern materials for infrastructure and housing.”

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.”

US: Brimstone has announced a new method of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with a negative carbon footprint. Brimstone's method uses carbon-free calcium silicate in the place of limestone. Its calcination also produces magnesium compounds, which naturally sequester further CO₂ from the atmosphere. The technology will now proceed to the testing phase at an upcoming pilot plant in Reno, Nevada, before proceeding to commercial-scale production. Brimstone will then begin to market its OPC, along with supplementary cementitious materials produced by its process.

Brimstone's chief technology officer Hugo Leandri said “By delivering the exact same cement, we clear away the main obstacles to adoption, offering an opportunity to dramatically speed up the path to net-zero construction. The same buildings, bridges and roads being built today can be built tomorrow, without carbon."

Bangladesh: The government inaugurated the Dasherkandi sewage works, the largest sewage treatment plant in South Asia, in Dhaka on 13 July 2023. United News of Bangladesh has reported that the plant will incinerate dried sewage sludge to produce 16,400t/yr of ash. The plant will supply this to the local cement industry for use as a raw material.

The Dasherkandi sewage works is one of five planned new sewage plants expected to process 100% of Dhaka's sewage by 2030.

France: Cem'In'Eu has launched FUSIOCIM, a CEM II/C pozzolan cement, that offers a 43% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). FUSIOCIM has specific CO₂ emissions of 506kg/t. It is suitable for various concrete applications and comes in 25kg bags.

Cem’In’Eu general manager Fabien Charbonnel said "We created Cem’In’Eu with the ambition of reducing the carbon footprint of the cement industry. And we are proving it today with a low-carbon offer that easily replaces traditional cements, without any change for construction professionals. We are convinced that this transition can only be done with pragmatism and taking into account the needs of users.”

Australia: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hallett Group and renewable energy consultancy Elecseed. Business Korea Daily News has reported that the signatories will collaborate on Hallett Group’s Green Cement Transformation project. The project aims to reduce CO₂ emissions by 300,000t/yr, and eventually by 1Mt/yr, by producing reduced-CO₂ cement from three industrial waste streams. It will also use green hydrogen. The US$83.6m project has US$13m-worth of funding from the government.

Additionally, the partners say that they will seek to foster a ‘globally competitive hydrogen export industry.’

Norway: Capsol Technologies has been awarded a feasibility study for the CapsolEoP (end-of-pipe) carbon capture product at an unnamed cement plant in Northern Europe. The study is for a plant aiming to capture more than 1Mt/yr of CO₂. The award is Capsol Technologies’ first paid engineering study on a cement plant. The company says it is seeing an increasing amount of request and sales engineering work in the cement sector and it expects more engineering studies to be awarded going forward.

Jan Kielland, the chief executive officer of Capsol Technologies, said “The fact that the CapsolEoP carbon capture technology is easy to integrate without disrupting the operations of the host plant is an attractive value proposition to these types of facilities. In addition, the emission from a cement plant has a high concentration of CO₂ making it especially beneficial for the CapsolEoP technology relative to competing technologies, bringing down the cost per unit CO₂ captured.”

Norway-based Capsol Technologies is promoting a solvent/scrubbing-based approach to carbon capture using hot potassium carbonate (HPC). It was awarded a technology licensing agreement for the Stockholm Exergi BEECS (Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage) project in July 2022. It has also received orders for its CapsolGo carbon capture demonstration unit in Sweden and Germany.