February 15, 2021 - The US Department of Energy has awarded a grant to RTI International, CEMEX (a leading supplier of cement, concrete and aggregates), Carbon Clean and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to jointly work on development of a CO2 capture system and commercially viable carbon utilization solution.

The project will be associated with CEMEX’s Victorville, California cement plant, and will exploring cost-competitive solutions to completely close the loop on current carbon emissions. Part of the challenge is the slow pace of development in carbon capture and storage/use. It has played a significant role in decarbonisation pathways but only a few plants exist around the world.

While initially carbon capture and storage was associated with the concept of clean coal, the idea that carbon capture would enable the world to continue to use fossil fuels. The energy penalty and the cost of the technology however, combined with the rapid price collapse in renewable energy technologies has undercut its development.

Where there is an interesting opportunity however is in heavy industry, in sectors which emissions are traditionally hard to abate. The challenge is that processes for making cement, steel, fertiliser etc require very high temperature or generate emissions through chemical processes – something the use of renewable energy might not be able to address.

CEMEX USA President Jaime Muguir said, “CEMEX is committed to being part of the solution to reduce carbon emissions globally and to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete to all of our customers by 2050.” The company is already introducing a low carbon and net-zero CO2 products where it has a presence,  and is considered a milestone towards carbon-neutral construction becoming a reality.

Access to low-cost construction materials is linked to regional economic development and vital for the infrastructure that helps provide clean water, sanitation and energy, as well as durable homes, schools, hospitals, roads, railways and much more. But there is no getting around the significant carbon footprint of cement.

CEMEX’s overall net zero goal is currently being achieved through a combination of new production processes with the remainder being addressed via offsetting. The role of offsetting in achieving net zero is now widely accepted, but concerns remain about the robustness and transparency of the offsets markets.

While carbon capture storage and use (CCSU) is nowhere near commercial today, it is expected to play a significant role in industries where renewable energy cannot help with large scale decarbonisation. This is predominantly in heavy industry like steel, ceramics and cement.

UK-headquartered Carbon Clean is working on different approaches to reaching net zero, including CCS, ICCU, biomethane amongst others and, according to the company, has so far removed over 800,000 tonnes of CO2 from its 38 facilities around the world. Aniruddha Sharma, CEO of Carbon Clean, said: “CEMEX shares our mission to enable the net zero transition by developing affordable modularized carbon capture solutions. This latest grant from the US Government endorses the importance of such work.”

The overall goal of the consortium is to increase efficiencies and value in CEMEX’s overall building material fabrication process, while significantly reducing its CO2 footprint through the leverage of technological upgrades.  The project is also expected to cover integration aspects of the modular technology with CEMEX’s processes, evaluating cost as well as any technical considerations in turning the captured CO2 into useful product. In recent months Carbon Clean has agreed deals with Veolia for use in its UK energy from waste plants, and is working on two CCUS and one compressed biogas project with Veolia in India.