SINTEF Energy Research to coordinate Horizon 2020 project on CO2 capture for a low-emission cement industry

According to the Cement Sustainability Initiative, 5% of global man-made CO₂ emissions are caused by cement production. CO₂ generation is an inherent part of the cement production process, due to the calcination of the most important raw material, limestone (CaCO₃ is converted to CaO and CO₂): about 60 % of the CO₂ emissions from cement production are due to this conversion, whereas 40% come from the burning of fuels (which are to a large extent fossil) to provide heat.

This means that CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) is the principal solution to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions from cement production.

The European cement industry has committed itself to contribute to climate protection measures and therefore to curb its CO₂ emissions. European research activities are therefore already ongoing on how to implement CCS in the cement industry in the ECRA CCS project and the Norcem CCS project.

This means that CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) is the principal solution to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions from cement production.

These projects will now gain additional momentum through our new project CEMCAP. The project is funded byHorizon2020, coordinated by SINTEF Energy research, and ECRA and Norcem are strategically important partners.

The competition for Horizon2020 projects in the CCS area was very though when CEMCAP was granted – out of a large number of applicants, only two CCS projects succeeded. At SINTEF Energy Research we are now looking forward to coordinating the 15-member strong consortium consisting of cement producers, technology suppliers and R&D providers and we are confident that our joint consortium efforts will generate excellent research results.

The ultimate goal of CEMCAP is to, in a consistent manner, shed light on what CO₂ capture technologies are suitable for different kinds of European cement plants under different operating scenarios. Focus will be on retrofit, i.e. the incorporation of CO₂ capture into existing cement plants. It may very well be that different capture technologies are found to be suitable for different cement plants.

CEMCAP will support the ECRA CCS project by conducing pilot-scale testing for three components necessary for a cement plant retrofitted with oxyfuel CO2 capture. These tests are preparatory for the planning of a future oxyfuel cement pilot plant in Europe. Furthermore, three post-combustion capture technologies will be tested on pilot scale, thus complementing the post-combustion capture investigations performed in the Norcem CCS project. The post-combustion capture technologies to be tested in CEMCAP are Chilled Ammonia Process (CAP) technology, membrane-assisted CO₂ liquefaction and calcium looping.

The testing will be complemented by process modelling and simulations, for consistent evaluations of CO₂ capture energy consumption and cost. A dedicated analysis will focus on the suitability of different CO₂ capture technologies for retrofit to existing cement plants.

The CEMCAP consortium partners are: SINTEF Energy Research, European Cement Research Academy (ECRA),  Alstom Power Sweden, Alstom Carbon Capture, TNO, CTG SPA (Group Technnical Centre of Italcementi), Norcem, IKN, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, ETH Zurich, Univeristy of Stuttgart, Politecnico di Milano, CSIC, The German Cement Works Association (VDZ) and HeidelbergCement.