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Carbon captureCO2 reduction in cement production
Global demand for cement continues to grow. Urbanization and population growth are driving demand higher. Components, entire structures and much of our infrastructure rely on this building material. Yet it is often overlooked that cement production generates around 2.5 to 3 billion metric tons of CO2 every year. This means that the cement industry accounts for approximately 7 to 8 percent of global human-caused CO2 emissions.
Amine scrubbing is already widely used to recover CO₂ from process gases and flue gases. We are now advancing the technology and optimizing it for the cement industry. Other applications, such as waste incineration plants, are also possible, enabling CO₂ to be captured directly at the source.
At the Holcim cement plant in Beckum, thyssenkrupp Uhde, Holcim, and TU Berlin are developing an amine scrubbing process for carbon capture to help reduce emissions from existing cement plants.
Strong partnerships on the path to climate neutrality
Strong partnerships are essential for the rapid transformation of the cement industry. Cooperation between research institutions and industry is particularly important. “Developing innovative separation technologies for gas treatment, making existing separation processes increasingly efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable, and putting them into practice is both an urgent and crucial task - and a direct contribution to climate action. This can only be achieved through close cooperation between industry and research institutions such as universities,” emphasizes Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens-Uwe Repke, Head of the Chair of Process Dynamics and Operations at TU Berlin.
Carbon capture will become essential for cement plants in the near future. We are therefore looking for the best carbon capture technology and testing a range of processes. Capturing CO₂ through amine scrubbing is a promising solution. I am pleased that we can test the use of this innovative process in the cement industry together with our partners.
The innovative process is now set to be tested at the cement plant in Beckum
The performance and efficiency of the equipment will be tested using real flue gas at the Beckum cement plant, laying the foundations for commercial deployment. The project is also examining various potential uses for the captured CO₂, including the production of methanol and sustainable fuels. With this process, the partners aim to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly at existing cement production facilities. These plants could be retrofitted with equipment that captures CO₂ from process exhaust gases without requiring further modifications to the production process. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action under funding reference 03EE5103A.
Research project to reduce CO2 emissions
As climate change progresses, cement manufacturers are facing growing pressure to make the production of this building material more sustainable. A wide range of approaches is therefore already being pursued to reduce CO2 emissions. The reason is that even if production were powered entirely by renewable energy, the calcination of limestone would still generate significant process-related CO2 emissions. A research project by thyssenkrupp Uhde, Holcim and Technische Universität Berlin aims to reduce emissions from existing cement plants.
CO2 capture using a new amine scrubbing process
The project aims to capture CO2 using the latest amine scrubbing technologies. Its objective is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from existing cement plants while making the captured CO2 available for further applications. Among other things, the project is developing new mass transfer equipment designed to improve efficiency and provide greater resistance to contaminants.