HeidelbergCement and LafargeHolcim will dedicate plants in Colleferro (Italy) and Retznei (Austria) respectively to test for the first time how the cement production process can be adapted to accommodate this cutting edge carbon capture technology. The project will require a significant investment volume and will rely on industry contributions, but significant funding from public sources will also be required.
ECRAâs long-term carbon capture research project was started in 2007 and has advanced to the stage where definite steps towards establishing an oxyfuel kiln can now be taken. Such kilns are intended to provide insight into the industrial-scale operation of a technology which provides a high CO2 concentration exhaust gas stream for further carbon capture. It is even planned to process a small part of the CO2 to test its further utilisation. âThe technical feasibility of oxyfuel technology can only be proven in real-scale application, but we have sufficient information from our research to believe that we will obtain a positive result after the trialsâ said Daniel Gauthier, Chairman of ECRA.
Over the past few months ECRA has examined the suitability of sites which could potentially be locations for oxyfuel kilns. From the five sites which were examined in depth, two were identified as the most suitable to host the project from a technical standpoint: the Colleferro plant of HeidelbergCement in Italy and the Retznei plant of LafargeHolcim in Austria.
