Holcim UAE and carbon storage company 44.01 have brought a carbon capture and underground mineralisation pilot into full operation at Holcim’s Fujairah cement plant in the UAE.
The facility has operated continuously since 15 July and is designed to capture 4-4.5t of CO2 per day directly from the plant’s flue gas. The captured CO2 is transported to 44.01’s storage site in Fujairah, where it is injected into naturally-occurring ultramafic rock formations and mineralised into solid carbonate rock.
The companies describe the project as the UAE cement industry’s first continuous carbon capture and underground mineralisation pilot operating under live industrial conditions.
Ali Said, CEO of Holcim UAE & Oman, said achieving continuous capture and mineralisation at Fujairah represented “an important step forward” in demonstrating industrial decarbonisation.
The pilot will operate for a further six months to generate data on the scalability and commercial potential of the technology.
44.01 founder and CEO Talal Hasan said the project demonstrated that permanent carbon storage “can be deployed today to decarbonise an industrial site.”
The project is also supported by the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation, Fujairah Environment Authority, NT Energies and Gulf Cryo.
