Displaying items by tag: Grant

It’s been a good week for carbon capture projects in Europe with the announcement of who the European Union (EU) has selected for a grant from its Innovation Fund. 17 large-scale projects have been pre-selected for the Euro1.8bn being doled out in the second round of awards. On the cement and lime sector side there are four projects. These include projects at Holcim’s Lägerdorf cement plant in Germany, HeidelbergCement’s Devnya Cement plant in Bulgaria, Holcim’s Kujawy plant in Poland and Lhoist’s Chaux et Dolomites du Boulonnais lime plant in France. Large-scale in this instance means projects with capital costs over Euro7.5m. To give readers some sense of the scale of the projects that the EU has agreed to pay for, if the funding was shared out equally between the current bunch, it would be a little over Euro100m per project. This is serious money.

Devnya Cement’s ANRAV carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project in Bulgaria has received little public attention so far so we’ll look a little more closely at this one first. No obvious information is available on what capture technology might be in consideration at the plant. HeidelbergCement’s leading experience in carbon capture technology at cement plants gives it a variety of methods it could use from a solvent scrubbing route to something less common. What the company has said is that, subject to regulatory approval and permitting, the project could start to capture 0.8Mt/yr of CO₂ from 2028.

What has also been revealed is that the project is linking up via pipelines to a depleted part of the Galata gas field site in the Black Sea. Oil and gas company Petroceltic Bulgaria is a partner and the aim of the project is to start a CCUS cluster in Eastern Europe. with the potential for other capture sites in Romania and Egypt to join in. This is noteworthy because much of the focus for the burgeoning cement sector CCUS in Europe so far has been on usage on local industrial clusters or storage in the North Sea.

The other new one is the Go4ECOPlanet project at Holcim’s Kujawy plant in Poland. Lafarge Cement is working with Air Liquide on the project. The latter will be providing its Cryocap FG adsorption and cryogenics technology for direct capture of flue gas at the plant. The transportation of the CO₂ is also interesting here as it will be by train not pipeline. Liquid CO₂ will be despatched to a terminal in Gdańsk, then transferred to ships before being pumped down into a storage field under the North Sea.

Turning to the other two grant recipients, the Carbon2Business project plans to capture over 1Mt/yr of CO₂ using a second generation oxyfuel process at Holcim Deutschland’s Lägerdorf cement plant. This project is part of a larger regional hydrogen usage cluster so the captured CO₂ will be used to manufacture methanol in combination with the hydrogen. Finally, Lhoist’s project at a lime plant in France is another team-up with Air Liquide, again using the latter’s Cryocap technology. The capture CO₂ will be transported by shared pipeline to a hub near Dunkirk and then stored beneath the North Sea as part of the D'Artagnan initiative. Around 0.61Mt/yr of CO₂ is expected to be sequestered.

The key point to consider from all of the above is that all of these projects are clear about what is happening to the CO₂ after capture. The days of ‘carbon capture and something’ have thankfully been left behind. CO₂ transportation infrastructure is either being used or built and these cement plants will be feeding into it. This will inevitably lead to questions about whether all these new CO₂ networks can support themselves with or without EU funding but that is an argument for another day.

Finally, in other news, four residents from the Indonesian island of Pulau Pari started legal proceedings against Holcim last week for alleged damages caused by climate change. Industrial CO₂ emissions are unquestionably a cause of this along with other sources but what a court might think about this remains to be seen. Yet, it is intriguing that the plantiffs have decided to go after the 47th largest corporate emitter rather than, say, one of the top 10. Regardless of how far the islanders get this is likely not to be last such similar attempt. If the case does make it to court though it seems likely that Holcim will mention its work on CCUS such as the two projects above. Only another 200-odd cement plants in Europe to go.

Germany: Holcim Deutschland announced a planned upgrade to its Lägerdorf cement plant’s kiln on 14 July 2022. The producer will install a second generation oxyfuel kiln, which uses an air separation unit to supply oxygen directly, emitting CO₂-rich flue gas. A new carbon capture system will supply captured CO₂ to a synthetic hydrocarbons plant, which will produce methanol for other industrial applications. The upgrade will result in the capture of 1.2Mt/yr
of CO₂ emissions and make Lägerdorf one of the world’s first carbon neutral cement plants, according to Holcim Deutschland.

The project, called Carbon2Business, was among four cement plant projects and 13 other EU-wide projects to win a share of a US$1.81bn EU Innovation Fund funding pot. CEO Thorsten Hahn acknowledged that the awarding of funds was ‘good news for Holcim and all partners working with us to decarbonise cement.’ He said “Climate change means cement change.”

Bulgaria/Poland: The EU Innovation Fund has awarded funding to Devnya Cement’s ANRAV carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project in Bulgaria and Lafarge Polska’s Go4ECOPlanet CCUS project in Poland.

ANRAV is a full-chain CCUS project connecting Devnya Cement’s Devnya cement plant in Varna Province over 30km to the Black Sea for storage. Go4ECOPlanet applies a similar model to the capture and storage of CO₂ from Lafarge Polska’s Kujawy cement plant offshore in the North Sea. The Kujawy cement plant is situated 200km inland in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. The plan is part of Lafarge Polska’s strategy to realise carbon neutrality at the Kujawy cement plant by 2027.

Regarding the ANRAV project, Mihail Polendakov, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania managing director at Devnya Cement’s parent company HeidelbergCement said “Our vision in the ANRAV consortium is to realise an economically viable CCUS cluster for Bulgaria and the neighbouring regions.” He continued “Subject to regulatory and permissions aspects, it could start operation as early as 2028, with a capture capacity of 800,000t/yr of CO₂.

Australia: Hallett Group plans to establish a slag cement grinding plant in Port Augusta, South Australia. Magnet News has reported the cost of the project as US$83.9m, towards which the producer has received US$13.4m in government funding. The plant will produce cement using South Australian ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) from Nyrstar’s Port Pirie and Liberty Primary Steel’s Whyalla steel refineries and fly ash from the site of the former Port Augusta power plant. Its operations will be 100% renewably powered. An accompanying new distribution facility at Port Adelaide will ship the cement to markets. The project will create 50 new jobs.

When the Port Augusta grinding plant becomes operational in 2023, its products will reduce regional CO₂ emissions by 300,000t/yr, subsequently rising to 1Mt/yr, according to the company’s expansion plans.

Hallett Group chief executive officer Kane Salisbury said "We're talking about 1% of the entire country's 2030 [CO₂ reduction] commitment, delivered through this project." Salisbury added "We're looking at turning South Australia into a global leader in manufacturing green cement."

UK: Aggregate Industries and Coomtech have partnered to develop low-energy kinetic drying technology for pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from power plant. The partnership will see Aggregate Industries use Coomtech’s kinetic dryers in its PFA processing, as part of its effort towards increasing the volume of waste materials incorporated in its products to 3Mt/yr from 1.5Mt/yr by 2025. The project has attracted funding from the UK government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Chief commercial officer Chris Every said “We’re delighted to have the support of Aggregate Industries in this grant project. Coomtech is especially pleased to have the business’ ongoing technical and commercial input to the project operation and analysis of performance. In addition, the opportunity to work together with a brand that is leading the way in creating new materials that will prove fundamental to the future of the construction sector and meet net zero objectives.” Every continued “The added benefit of our new drying technology is its flexibility - providing the potential to dry a wide range of materials being considered to aid the greening of the cement industry, including limestone, ground blast furnace slag (GBFS), natural pozzolans and other crushed and milled minerals that can offer an activated character to combine in cement and concrete mixes.”

France: The European Commission (EC) has awarded funding under its Innovation Fund 2021 for CRH subsidiary Eqiom’s upgrade to its Lumbres, Hauts-de-France, cement plant. The work includes the replacement of a kiln and the installation of a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) system at the plant, in collaboration with Air Liquide. The producer says that the project is one of seven selected under the EC’s K6 programme of innovation funding in line with the EU Green Deal.

Japan: The CP Concrete Consortium has received US$80m in funding under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO)’s Green Innovation Funding Programme. The funding will support the consortium’s development of its Carbon Pool Concrete reduced-CO₂ concrete production technology until 2032. Hazama Ando Corporation leads the consortium along with 14 other members of the Japanese Ready-Mixed and Returned Concrete Solution Association.

Carbon Pool Concrete technology can be used in the construction of pavements, buildings and other civil engineering structures. Through comprehensive carbon life cycle evaluation, the consortium is attempting to robustly link the use of its technology with carbon market instruments and environmental and social governance infrastructure funding. Its aim is to redefine concrete as a carbon neutral material.

Spain: Cement Science Group (CemSciG) and the University of Málaga (UMA) have received a US$50,000 donation from US-based CSA Research for their research into reduced-CO₂ cement production. The funding will continue the partners’ work at UMA’s department of inorganic chemistry, crystallography and minerology into alternative methods of cement production. Titles of their on-going projects include ‘Optimisation and Processing of LC3 Eco-Cements with Spanish Clays,’ ‘Microstructure Analyses of Limestone Calcined Clay Cements by Advanced Synchrotron Techniques’ and ‘Reduction of Cement Industry CO₂ Emissions without Loss of Mechanical Properties.’

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement is among 13 participant companies whose proposed carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) demonstration hub has received approval to proceed with funding from the Japan Ministry of the Environment. Nikkei Business Trends News has reported that Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions, Uyeno Transtech, JGC, Chiyoda, Taisei Corporation, the University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, Japan NUS, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and QJ Science also collaborated in the development of the CCUS system. The trial will begin in early 2022 and conclude in the 2025 financial year.

UK: Innovative Ash Solutions has received a Euro588m Scottish government grant to establish a 20,000t/yr ash processing plant in South Lanarkshire. The Herald newpaper has reported that the plant will process boiler ash, cyclone ash and incineration fly ash for use in local cement production. When commissioned in 2022, the plant will eliminate 6104t/yr of CO₂ emissions, according to the operator. The government granted the funding under its Zero Waste Scotland circular economic investment scheme.

The company said “Using this new patented process, which diverts waste materials from landfill and avoids the use of virgin sand, creates a product which is cheaper and will reduce the environmental impact of cement production compared to the use of imported pulverised fuel ash.”

Innovative Ash Solutions is a joint venture of waste management company Levenseat and consultancy Organic Innovative Solutions.