Holcim Germany has commissioned a membrane-based CO2 capture demonstration plant at its Höver cement works in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The facility, inaugurated on 21 August 2026, scales up technology first piloted at Höver in 2022. Developed by the Helmholtz Centre Hereon and commercialised by Cool Planet Technologies, the system uses multilayer polymer membranes to separate CO2 from the plant's flue gas.
The current installation is expected to capture up to 10,000tpa of CO2. However, Holcim said that following the final expansion stage the technology is intended to capture around 90 per cent of the plant's approximately 500,000tpa of CO2 emissions, with the captured gas purified for potential industrial use.
The membrane system operates as an end-of-pipe process, allowing it to be retrofitted to existing cement plants without fundamental changes to the production process. The project is supported by Germany's Federal Funding Programme for Industry and Climate Protection.
