Carbon capture ‘first’ for SigmaRoc
SigmaRoc have launched their first carbon capture facility at Nordkalk’s Köping site in Sweden
SIGMAROC plc, the specialist quarried materials group, today announced that they have successfully installed their first carbon capture unit at Nordkalk’s site in Köping, Sweden. The fully scalable carbon capture system, utilizing Aqualung’s innovative membrane technology, is the first-ever implementation of its kind in the industry.
The carbon capture system has been developed by Aqualung Carbon Capture AS, a leading provider of membrane-based carbon capture and separation technology, based in Norway.
Over the course of the last year, SigmaRoc have reviewed an array of technologies including amine absorption, solid absorption, membrane and cryogenic. The Aqualung membrane technology was considered to be best suited to the Group’s operations based on the following factors:
Small footprint,
Low capital expenditure
Low operating expenditure
Low complexity and environmentally friendly
Highly efficient
Highly favourable energy balance
Fully scalable and modular.
The Aqualung module installed in Köping can capture up to 25% of the process emissions emitted from a standard kiln process at Nordkalk and was initially designed as a ‘capture and release’ system to demonstrate the durability and efficiency of the membranes.
The unit will also be connected to a pilot purification module to simulate settings required to produce higher purities of CO2 for different end-use applications that go beyond sequestration requirements.
The Group is working with various businesses and solution providers regarding the end use of CO2, including being involved with the NICE (Norvik Infrastructure CCS East Sweden) project to explore CO2 utilization options with various partners.
Nordkalk also secured part-funding from the Swedish Energy Agency for the implementation and scaling of the Köping carbon system with the intention to capitalize on the learning from the engineering, commissioning, and operation phase of the initial module.
An official launch took place yesterday [21 June] at Nordkalk’s Köping site to celebrate the significant step in the company’s evolution. National and regional government representatives as well as customers, local communities and other stakeholders were invited to look around the site.
Max Vermorken, chief executive officer of SigmaRoc, commented: ‘Alongside our fossil fuel replacement programme where we have proven the ability for 100% substitution, the carbon capture system represents a crucial milestone in our journey towards achieving Net Zero by capturing our remaining process emissions.’
Henrik Utvik, founder, president, and chief technical officer at Aqualung, said: ‘We are thrilled to unveil our first lime carbon capture plant with SigmaRoc. The project is a crucial stepping-stone towards our ambitious goal of large-scale carbon capture across a wide range of industries, including lime, cement, steel, and refineries.’
Mikael Furu, executive vice-president of Nordkalk’s Quicklime Platform, remarked: ‘Our local customers in Sweden appreciate high-quality quicklime which has been produced at Köping for decades. Soon we will be able to offer our customers more sustainable alternatives – with a goal to be the first climate-neutral option in the market – without compromising the quality of the product.’
Klara Helstad, head of sustainable industry at the Swedish Energy Agency, commented: ‘This project, funded via the Industrial Leap, is an important step towards the realization of a full-scale value chain for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) – or utilization (CCU) – at the Nordkalk Köping site. The results can then be of use in future implementations at other industrial sites.’
