Cement major plans world’s first carbon-neutral production plant

HEIDELBERGCEMENT plans to retrofit its plant in Sweden to capture 1.8m t/y of CO₂, and become what it says will be the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant.

The company says a feasibility study is underway to select the carbon capture technology for its Slite plant on the island of Gotland. It aims to capture the plant’s full emissions by 2030 and these will be stored offshore. It will also increase the share of biofuels used to fuel operations at the plant.

Cement production is estimated to be responsible for around 8% of emissions worldwide; and the Slite plant produces 75% of the cement used for concrete production in Sweden.

HeidelbergCement says its plans build on the work of the carbon capture demonstration project being developed through its subsidiary Norcem in Brevik, Norway. This facility is designed to use amine solvents to capture 400,000 t/y – or 50% of the plant’s emissions – from 2024. Residual heat from the cement plant will help meet the high energy needs of the capture process, which involves heating the amine in a desorber to release the captured CO₂.

“Based on the positive collaboration with the Norwegian government and other partners at our site in Brevik, we have now chosen to significantly ramp up our ambitions for a carbon capture installation in Sweden that is four times larger,” said Giv Brantenberg, General Manager of HeidelbergCement Northern Europe.

In 2019, HeidelbergCement set targets to reduce its emissions in line with the Paris Climate targets.