Pilot project of four cement manufacturers plans to use captured CO₂ as a raw material for the production of synthetic fuels
The pilot project “catch4climate”, for which four cement manufacturers have joined forces, is actively tackling the capturing of CO₂ and its subsequent industrial use. At the site of the Mergelstetten cement plant in southern Germany, the consortium intends to build and operate its own demonstration plant on a semi-industrial scale, where the so-called oxyfuel process will be applied for CO₂ capture. In the future, the captured CO₂ will be used to produce so-called “reFuels”, which are climate-neutral synthetic fuels such as kerosene for air traffic, with the help of renewable electrical energy.
The cement industry is intensively searching for solutions to return in particular the CO₂ emissions, that are unavoidably arising during the burning of limestone, into the production cycle or to use them for new products. To achieve this, the CO₂ has to be captured during the cement production process. In order to demonstrate such CO₂ capture methods in practice, the four European cement manufacturers Buzzi Unicem SpA - Dyckerhoff GmbH, HeidelbergCement AG, SCHWENK Zement KG, and Vicat S.A. founded the joint venture CI4C – Cement Innovation for Climate – already at the end of 2019. Aim of the "catch4climate" project is to create the basis for a large-scale application of CO₂ capture technologies in cement plants enabling the later use of CO₂ as a raw material in other processes (CCU, CCS).
The Oxyfuel process (from Oxy = oxygen and fuel) is a clinker burning process in which pure oxygen is introduced into the cement kiln instead of air. Thanks to the pure oxygen, no nitrogen gets into the burning process which leads to the creation of highly concentrated CO₂. The aim is to capture almost 100 percent of the CO₂ emissions from a cement plant in a cost-efficient manner. By using this technology, the European cement industry could achieve a significant reduction in process-related CO₂ emissions and thus make an important contribution to climate protection. The realisation of the project is still subject to the public research funding to be applied for.
The CI4C consortium has already entered the planning phase and is cooperating closely with the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the “catch4climate” pilot project in Mergelstetten. Together with the Prime Minister and the Transport Minister of the federal state, a corresponding “Letter of Intent” was signed in Stuttgart on 18 November 2020.
Learn more at www.catch4climate.com
About HeidelbergCement
HeidelbergCement is one of the world’s largest integrated manufacturers of building materials and solutions, with leading market positions in aggregates, cement, and ready-mixed concrete. Around 54,000 employees at more than 3,000 locations in over 50 countries deliver long-term financial performance through operational excellence and openness for change. At the center of actions lies the responsibility for the environment. As forerunner on the path to carbon-neutrality, HeidelbergCement crafts material solutions for the future.
