Heidelberg Materials Italia’s DREAM Project advances toward EU Innovation Fund support

Heidelberg Materials Italia has reached a major milestone in its decarbonisation journey, with its DREAM (Decarbonization of the Rezzato and Mazzano) project selected as a candidate for the European Union’s Innovation Fund — one of the EU’s key programs supporting innovative low-carbon technologies.

DREAM marks Italy’s first industrial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the cement sector. The initiative aims to capture CO₂ emissions from the company’s Rezzato–Mazzano cement plant in Brescia, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

The project will deploy two capture technologies for the plant’s two clinker production lines. The gray clinker line will use oxy-combustion integrated with a cryogenic process, while the white clinker line will employ a solvent-based post-combustion system. A waste heat recovery unit will supply all the thermal energy required for solvent regeneration, improving both energy efficiency and capture performance.

Captured CO₂ will be transported via pipeline for permanent geological storage in depleted gas fields off the coast of Ravenna, in partnership with ENI and SNAM through the Ravenna CCS project.

“DREAM aims to capture 1Mt of CO₂ annually, enabling the large-scale production of carbon-captured gray and white cement for the Italian market,” said Agostino Rizzo, technical director of Heidelberg Materials Italia Cementi. “It will serve as a model for decarbonising the cement sector and promoting low-carbon construction materials.”

CEO Stefano Gallini added, “We are very pleased with this important first step, which opens a dialogue with European and national authorities to assess the project’s technical and financial feasibility. In addition to EU funding, supportive national policies will be essential to bring DREAM to life.”