Oxyfuel technology for carbon capture at HeidelbergCement plant Colleferro

Cement industry starts industrial-scale test phase

As a member of the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA), HeidelbergCement is also engaged in a joint project to further develop the oxyfuel technology. In this procedure, exhaust gases are recirculated to the burner while pure oxygen is added to keep combustion effective.

As a result, the share of CO₂ in the exhaust gas rises to 70% or higher which significantly increases the potential for carbon capture. Since its start in 2007, the project has achieved considerable progress.

Now, two European cement plants will be converted to oxyfuel technology in order to test it in industrial-scale operations. The Colleferro plant of HeidelbergCement in Italy as well as the Retznei plant of LafargeHolcim in Austria were chosen as demonstration plants. The costs of the test phase will amount to around €80 million. The cement industry will contribute €25 million. ECRA is currently applying for funding from European or national research schemes.

„The technical feasibility of oxyfuel technology can only be proven in real-scale application, but we have sufficient information from our research to believe that we will obtain a positive result after the trials” said Daniel Gauthier, Chairman of ECRA.

Oxyfuel can also be used in combination with the CALIX technology which is currently being tested at the HeidelbergCement plant in Lixhe. Should this prove successful, it will enable 100 percent of all CO₂ produced from a cement plant to be captured in a cost-efficient way.