{"id":70029,"date":"2020-01-08T07:35:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T06:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=70029"},"modified":"2021-09-09T21:23:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:23:24","slug":"a-concrete-step-towards-achieving-net-zero-carbon-emissions-in-cement-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/a-concrete-step-towards-achieving-net-zero-carbon-emissions-in-cement-production\/","title":{"rendered":"A concrete step towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions in cement production"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a9 ElRoi, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the most widely used construction material, concrete is indispensable in the development of infrastructure, industry and housing. It\u2019s a mixture of aggregates (sand, gravel, crushed stone), water and cement, and whose production accounts for 95% of concrete\u2019s CO2<\/sub> footprint. \u201cCurrently, the EU uses more than two tonnes of concrete per person per year, of which 325 kg is cement,\u201d according to the 2019 report \u2018Industrial Transformation 2050 \u2013 Pathways to Net-Zero Emissions from EU Heavy Industry\u2019 by Material Economics<\/a>‘. \u201cFor every kilogram of cement that is produced, 0.7 kg of CO2<\/sub> is released into the air.\u201d It adds: \u201cIn the case of cement, the calcination of limestone to produce calcium oxide releases large amounts of carbon contained in the rock.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Addressing this challenge, the EU-funded LEILAC project<\/a> has developed a novel technology aimed at significantly reducing the emissions of Europe\u2019s cement and lime industries. Its design will allow all of the process CO2<\/sub> emissions to be captured without significant energy or capital penalty. With a pilot plant in Lixhe, Belgium, LEILAC uses a system that \u201cenables pure CO2<\/sub> to be captured, in the case of limestone (CaCO3<\/sub>), as it is released during calcination to lime (CaO), as the furnace exhaust gases are kept separate,\u201d as stated on the project website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis elegant solution requires no additional chemicals or processes for a pure CO2<\/sub> stream.\u201d The project website states: \u201cWhen making lime or cement CO2<\/sub> is released as an intrinsic part of the production process, and cannot be avoided (for example by using renewable energy). As such, carbon capture is the only realistic means by which these industrial emissions can be further reduced to support EU to meet the 80% reduction target in 2050.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a news item published<\/a> on the \u2018ENDS Report\u2019, Daniel Rennie from LEILAC project coordinator Calix explains the technology: \u201cIt\u2019s just a new type of kiln design which means that the CO2<\/sub> just gets intrinsically separated. It\u2019s cold when it comes out and it\u2019s very pure.\u201d The news item adds: \u201cThat makes it a potentially valuable raw material for existing niche markets, such as carbonated drinks, greenhouses and mineralisation in the cement industry.\u201d The operations, which started in May 2019, will run until the end of 2020 when the LEILAC (Low Emissions Intensity Lime and Cement) project is completed.<\/p>\n

New project<\/h3>\n

The \u2018ENDS Report\u2019 news item also notes that thanks to the success of LEILAC, \u201ca second project is now in the pipeline \u2026 LEILAC 2. This new reactor, which will be around a fifth of the size of a commercial cement plant, will have more of a focus on the ultimate destination for the extracted CO2<\/sub>, integrating the reactor into the existing cement making process and possibly electrifying the heat required for clinker production.\u201d According to the news item, LEILAC 2 will keep about \u201chalf of the partners from its predecessor, with Calix and HeidelbergCement still at its core.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jan Theulen, from project partner HeidelbergCement, says: \u201cWe want to be ready with the technology once the [carbon] price is there to make it commercially viable.\u201d He also says \u201cit\u2019s a bit of fighting your way through. But if we don\u2019t do it now, and we wait until the carbon price is \u20ac100 per tonne, then we\u2019d need another 10 years to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the most widely used construction material, concrete is indispensable in the development of infrastructure, industry and housing. It\u2019s a mixture of aggregates (sand, gravel, crushed stone), water and cement, and whose production accounts for 95% of concrete\u2019s CO2 footprint. \u201cCurrently, the EU uses more than two tonnes of concrete per person per year, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[10744,15692,10743],"supplier":[16242,3769,16522],"class_list":["post-70029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-cement","tag-useco2","supplier-calix-limited","supplier-lehigh-hanson-heidelbergcementgroup","supplier-material-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70029"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=70029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}