Lehigh Cement signs MoU for Edmonton CCUS project

Lehigh Cement, a division of Lehigh Hanson Materials Ltd (Lehigh) and Enbridge Inc (HeidelbergCement Group) have announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a carbon solution for Lehigh's cement manufacturing facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Lehigh is developing North America's first full-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) solution for the cement industry at its Edmonton plant, with the goal of capturing approximately 780,000tpa of CO₂. Captured emissions would be transported via pipeline and permanently sequestered by Enbridge. Subject to the award of carbon sequestration rights and regulatory approvals, the project could be in service as early as 2025. 

Combined, the emissions from Capital Power Corp and Lehigh's planned carbon capture projects represent an opportunity to avoid nearly 4Mt of atmospheric CO₂ emissions. Once built, the Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub will be among the largest integrated CCUS projects in the world.

"At Lehigh Hanson, we believe that carbon capture and storage technology will play a key role in transforming the cement industry and building a more sustainable future," said Joerg Nixdorf, president of Lehigh Hanson's Canada Region. "We are excited about taking the next steps in our ambitious journey to achieving carbon neutrality across the cement and concrete value chain.

"Having a carbon hub solution in place by 2025 is essential for the successful implementation of the CCUS project at our Edmonton cement plant," Mr Nixdorf added.

Michael McSweeney, CAC President and CEO, said, "These types of partnerships on critical technologies like CCUS are how we will win the fight against climate change and demonstrate to Canadians and the world how our hard to abate industry will reach its net-zero ambition. We are so pleased to see this CCUS project moving forward."