Heidelberg Materials is modernising its Airvault cement plant in France’s New Aquitaine Region with the aim of capturing 1 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of carbon from 2030.
The under-construction AirvaultGOCO₂ project includes the replacement of two current semi-dry firing lines with a new dry line, including a pre-calciner with a capacity of 4,000 tonnes per day.
Dr Dominik von Achten, Chairman of the Managing Board of Heidelberg Materials, said it started an ambitious modernisation programme for its sites in France several years ago, with a planned investment of more than €400 million.
He said, “With the integration of AirvaultGOCO₂, we are now adding a cutting-edge project in the field of carbon capture to our previous efforts.”
In future, almost 90% of the plant’s energy demand will be covered by alternative fuels. The project will also reduce the electricity consumption per tonne of cement by 10% and the proportion of clinker in the cement will be lowered.
Together, these measures will reduce the carbon footprint of the cement produced at the Airvault site by almost 30% compared with current production.
Dr Nicola Kimm, Chief Sustainability Officer and Member of the Managing Board, said, “We are taking every possible step to reduce CO₂ emissions: Phasing out fossil fuels, reducing the clinker content of our cements, and improving energy efficiency. To mitigate the remaining residual emissions, we rely on CCUS – as part of an integrated scheme.”
Airvault GOCO₂ is part of the GOCO₂ initiative launched in July 2023, an investment programme to capture CO₂ at industrial sites and transport it to geological storage sites for permanent storage.
The emissions, including the CO₂ captured in Airvault, are to be transported by pipeline to the coastal town of Saint-Nazaire and then by ship to storage wells under the North Sea.
The biogenic part of the captured CO₂, that is the part corresponding to the emissions from the combustion of biomass, is to be used for the production of e-fuels, which are essential for sustainable transport by air and sea.
Subject to the granting of public subsidies and various regulatory approvals, the aim is to capture the first tonnes of CO₂ in six years’ time.
Together with the Australian environmental technology company Calix Limited, it has announced that the LEILAC-2 (Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement) research project will now be carried out at Heidelberg’s Ennigerloh cement plant.
The project was previously supposed to be realised at the company’s site in Hanover, but now that clinker production will end there in the second half of 2024, another location had to be found.
In recent results, Heidelberg announced its net CO₂ emissions dropped 17 kg/t (-3%) compared with the previous year. CO₂ reduction and circularity form the basis of its new evoBuild® and evoZero® brands.
source: gasworld.com