Could we have cracked one of the world’s toughest climate problems?

Carbon capture systems on a commercial scale for cement factories are now being deployed, which hopes that one of the most delicate industrial sectors could finally be on the path of net-zero emissions.

The first world carbon capture factory on a Cement Works has been operational in Norway since June, with the first “zero-carbon cement” products which should be delivered to the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe next month, according to the owner of the factory, Heidelberg Materials in Germany.

Meanwhile, the construction of a carbon capture installation at the Padeswood cement plant in the north of Wales will start in a few weeks, following a grant agreement announced this week between the British government and Heidelberg materials. A handful of similar installations are provided in Sweden, Germany and Poland.

Developments could mark a great progress in the decision of the cement industry to reduce emissions, long considered as one of the most difficult aspects of decarbonization. “It’s a good step forward,” said Paul Fennell to the Imperial College in London, speaking of projects in Norway and the United Kingdom.

Cement is responsible for around 8% of world carbon emissions, according to the Chatham House reflection group. A large part of this carbon dioxide is produced directly by the clinker manufacturing chemical process, which is the main ingredient in Portland cement, the most commonly used type of building material. “If you are going to have ordinary portland cement, you have this problem that you produce large amounts of CO2 just from intrinsic chemistry,” explains Fennell.

The capture of carbon dioxide produced from the process is largely considered to be the only evolutionary means to decarbonize this aspect of cement production. But it costs expensive, costing 50-200 € to capture, transport and permanently store a ton of carbon in cement production in Europe, according to the analysis of Dutch Bank ING.

The development of the Heidelberg Brevik factory in Norway has been subsidized by its government. The carbon capture infrastructure captures 50% of total emissions from the cement plant. It works using a solvent derived from ammonia, called amine, to extract the CO2 from the exhaust gases from the cement plant. The captured CO2 is then released from the solvent, liquefied and pumped under the Norwegian seabed.

The Padeswood factory will use the same amine-based technology, but will remove approximately 95% of the factory emissions once the carbon and storage infrastructure is operational in 2029, said Simon Willis, British CEO of Heidelberg Materials,. This is equivalent to around 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The Padeswood factory will capture more carbon than that Brevik because the latter could not obtain the additional energy supply required to execute it at 95%.

Construction work should start in a few weeks, the British government having agreed to subsidize the operating costs of technology, although the details of the financing agreement have not been made public. “The fundamental principle is that the government will give us money to help us build and exploit a carbon capture factory,” explains Willis.

The financial support of governments is essential to build the first fleet of carbon capture and storage cement, explains Leon Black at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. “There is no way that carbon capture and storage be commercially viable without state support,” he said.

But there is hope that costs could fall in the future, because new technologies help make it more energy efficient. For example, in Germany, Heidelberg is part of a group of companies that test Oxyfuel technology. This implies the recirculation of exhaust gases in the burner, increasing the share of CO2 in exhaust gases released to around 70%, making the carbon capture processes more effective.