CEMCAP

As the first project within the EU Framework Programs, CEMCAP focuses on the challenge of capturing CO₂ from cement plants. Other major projects in Europe on CO₂ capture from the cement industry are the ECRA CCS project and Norcem CCS project.

Why CEMCAP?

CO₂ emissions from the cement industry constitute 5% (or 1.9 Gt annually) of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions[1].  Given the ambitious energy and climate targets that the EU has proposed and agreed on (40% emissions reduction by 2030[2], 80-95% emissions reduction by 2050), CO₂ emissions from energy-intensive industries will need to be eliminated or significantly reduced.

CO₂ generation is an inherent part of the cement production process, due to the calcination of the most important raw material, limestone (CaCO3 converted to CaO and CO₂): about 60 % of the CO₂ emissions from cement production are due to this conversion, whereas 40% come from the burning of fuels (which are to a large extent fossil) to provide heat for the clinker production. There are currently no feasible methods to produce clinker and thus cement without releasing CO₂ from CaCO3. Furthermore, cement plants typically have a lifetime as long as 30-50 years. Thus, the only viable option to significantly reduce GHG emissions from the cement industry is CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS), where CO₂ capture must be retrofitted to existing cement plants.

[1] Cement Technology Roadmap 2009; Carbon emissions reductions up to 2050. December 2009, International Energy Agency; Paris.

[2] Suggested target in: A policy framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030. January 2014, The European Commission; Brussels.

CEMCAP objectives

The European cement industry has committed itself to contributing to climate protection measures and therefore to curbing its CO₂ emissions. CO₂ capture technologies, although an essential part of all CO₂ reduction scenarios, are not yet ready for large-scale deployment in the cement industry. Hence, the primary objective of CEMCAP is

• To prepare the ground for large-scale implementation of CO₂ capture in the European cement industry

To achieve this objective, CEMCAP will

• Leverage to TRL 6 for cement plants the oxyfuel capture technology and three fundamentally different post combustion capture technologies, all of them with a targeted capture rate of 90%.
• Identify the CO₂ capture technologies with the greatest potential to be retrofitted to existing cement plants in a cost and resource effective manner, maintaining product quality and environmental compatibility.
• Formulate a techno-economic decision-basis for CO₂ capture implementation in the cement industry, where the current uncertainty regarding CO₂ capture cost is reduced by at least 50%.

For successful large-scale deployment of CO₂ capture in the cement industry, technologies must be developed beyond the current state of the art. In order to bring the most promising retrofittable CO₂ capture technologies to a higher TRL level and closer to implementation, CEMCAP will

• Describe the routes for the development required to close technology gaps for CO₂ capture from cement and assist technology suppliers along the related innovation chains.
• Identify and follow up minimum five potential innovations springing from CEMCAP research.

Technologies suitable for CO₂ capture retrofit are focused on in CEMCAP, because cement plants typically have a lifetime of as long as 30-50 years, and very few new plants are being built. However, the results from CEMCAP will enable looking beyond the horizon for implementation of CO₂ capture in existing cement plants. New plants and novel CO₂ capture integrations based on CEMCAP results can be envisaged. Therefore, CEMCAP will

• Create pathways for the low to near-zero CO₂ emission cement production of the future.