This week, Holcim has announced the groundbreaking for its OLYMPUS carbon capture project in Milaki cement plant in Greece. It's one of 17 flagship carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects the multinational says it has identified, seven of which have been selected for grants from the European Union Innovation Fund with the aim of going live before the end of the decade. Holcim has stated a target of producing 8Mta of fully decarbonised cement by the end of the decade.
OLYMPUS aims to contribute around a quarter of that total when it becomes operational in 2029. But it's just over a year since Holcim broke ground on another carbon capture project, GO4ZERO in Obourg, Belgium. Supported with a EUR500m investment, GO4ZERO will be capable of capturing 1.1Mta of CO2/yr by 2029, while producing close to 2.3Mta of carbon-neutral cementitious materials.
The GO4ZERO project is now in its initial phase of construction, which will include the replacement of the current wet-process kiln, and Holcim hopes to see a 30 per cent reduction of CO2 emissions per tonne of clinker by 2027. The cement producer has appointed a joint venture of BESIX and DENYS as the main contractor for the civil works, with more than 70 different structures due to be delivered and built in less than 15 months. These include:
• a 60m-high silo building, constructed by using sliding formwork and integrating an inverted concrete cone
• a 25m-high concrete shell structure supporting a 145m-high preheater tower steel structure
• a covered corrective storage area with a length of more than 200m
• a train unloading station (to receive limestone from deposits in Antoing-Tournai)
• electrical substations.
The project will also see Gebr Pfeiffer supply a MVR 5000 R-4 vertical roller mill for raw material grinding for the new kiln line at Obourg. In addition, more than 150GWh of decarbonised electricity will be produced thanks to large-scale floating solar panels on former chalk quarries and waste heat recovery systems.
Carbon capture and transport
The second stage will see the Obourg plant use air-oxyfuel switchable kiln technology to split CO2 from the main exhaust gases. Holcim is using Air Liquide’s Cryocap™ oxy technology to purify CO2 generated from cement production by 99.5 per cent. The aim is then to transport the captured CO2 via Fluxy’s network to the Antwerp@C CO2 Export Hub, where it will be liquified and transported to the North Sea for permanent storage.
“We are delighted to be working with Fluxys on CO2 transport, so we can accelerate our implementation of the CCUS solutions set out in the GO4Zero programme. By joining the pioneers, we want to set new standards for future clinker manufacturing plants," said Holcim Belgium CEO, Bart Daneels.
Mr Hoekstra added: “The Innovation Fund drives the deployment of innovative, low-carbon technologies in Europe. With EUR230m allocated from the EU Emission Trading System for the GO4ZERO project, we look forward to seeing this example of cutting-edge partnership across the value chain to create a new ecosystem for carbon capture and storage. This is exactly in line with the European Green Deal’s objective to fully mobilise industry to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.”
Landmark decarbonisation project
The project is state-of-the-art and a landmark project for Holcim. The new kiln will have the capacity to produce 6000tpd of clinker. More than 95 per cent of its energy will be sourced from alternative fuels, whilst over 30 per cent of its raw mix will come from partly decarbonised alternative raw materials – predominantly waste generated by other industries. GO4ZERO forms part of the Mons Industrial cluster that will see cross-border participation in managing captured CO2.
Miljan Gutovic, chief executive officer of the Holcim Group, said: "GO4ZERO is one of our six large-scale, EU-supported carbon capture, utilisation and storage projects. These aim to capture a total of over 5Mt of CO2 per annum, enabling us to offer more than 8Mt of fully decarbonised cement each year across Europe by 2030."
CCUS at Holcim in Europe
In addition to OLYMPUS and GO4ZERO, Holcim's has the following major European carbon capture projects: GO4ECOPLANET Kujawy, Poland (1.2Mt CO2 per annum), Carbon2Business Lägerdorf, Germany (1.2Mt), ECAPT-Rhône Le Teil (France), Carbocleartech Matres-Tolosane, France (0.7Mt ) and KODECO Koromancno, Croatia (0.4Mt ).