Capsol Technologies (Capsol) will incorporate its carbon capture technology at a cement plant based in Latvia with an aim to capture 750,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
Announced today (11th Jan), Norway-based Capsol was awarded a feasibility study for the CapsolEoP (end-of-pipe) technology at SCHWENK’s Building Material Group’s Broceni cement plant.
SCHWENK Latvija is part of the CCS Baltic Consortium which was included in the provisional 6th list of Projects of Common Interest by the European Commission in November 2023.
The project aims to transport captured carbon dioxide (CO2) from Lithuania and Latvia to permanent storage sites, potentially in the North Sea.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the cement industry will account for more than 300 million tonnes of captured CO2 in 2030, this equals 30% of the total carbon capture market.
“In just six months, Capsol has gone from just a few projects within cement to ten cement projects in sales engineering and engineering studies campaigns with a volume of over ten million tonnes of CO2,” said the company in a statement.
This growth was boosted in December 2023 when the company announced a licence agreement with a European energy company for several facilities.
The company is currently working on a range of global studies, totaling a potential carbon capture total of 5.8 million tonnes.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has attracted further attention over the past year partially due to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the US’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Carbon capture was also included as one of the key elements to help reach the goals for the Paris agreement at the recently concluded COP28 event.
According to UK-based think tank Chathan House, cement production is responsible for around 8% of global CO2 emissions – making it one of the highest intensity carbon emitting industries in the world.
The main challenge for the industry is reducing CO2 emissions at the same time as meeting global demand.
In line with the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario, annual CO2 intensity declines of 4% through to 2030 are required for the sector to get on track with targets.
To achieve this, the IEA highlights the importance of reducing the clinker-to-cement ratio through the uptake of clinker substitutes, continuous energy efficiency improvements, adoption of low-carbon fuels, material efficiency improvements and deployment of CCS.
source: gasworld.com