HeidelbergCement take the next step towards CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in Brevik
YESTERDAY, HeidelbergCement’s Norwegian subsidiary Norcem and the engineering company Aker Solutions signed an agreement for the supply of a CO2 capture, liquification and intermediate storage facility at the Norcem Brevik cement plant in Norway.
Using Aker Solutions’ Advanced Carbon Capture (ACC) technology, Norcem are planning to realize the world’s first industrial-scale carbon-capture plant at a cement production facility.
‘We are pleased to see our CCS project in Brevik move into the next phase,’ said Dr Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. ‘This agreement is an important step to considerably reduce otherwise unavoidable process-related greenhouse gas emissions.’
Ernest Jelito, member of the managing board of HeidelbergCement responsible for Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia and R&D, added: ‘With this project, we want to demonstrate that CCS is a feasible, safe and economic technology.’
The agreement between Norcem and Aker Solutions is subject to the Norwegian Government selecting the Brevik project for state funding, and the resolution of the parliament to realize the Northern Lights project.
If the project is carried out, Brevik (pictured) could become the cement industry’s first large-scale carbon-capture plant in the world, with 400,000 tonnes of CO2 captured annually and transported for permanent storage.
HeidelbergCement have committed to reducing their specific net CO2 emissions per tonne of cement by 30%, compared with 1990 levels, by 2030. This target has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and is in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, making HeidelbergCement the first cement company worldwide to have approved science-based CO2 reduction targets.
By 2019, HeidelbergCement had already achieved a reduction of 22% and the company has announced that by 2030, 80% of its research and development budget will be spent on the development of sustainable products. HeidelbergCement will realize their vision of carbon-neutral concrete by 2050 at the latest.
