Air Liquide and cement manufacturing business Cementir Holding Group have unveiled plans to develop what is thought to be one of the first full onshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chains in Europe.
Project ACCSION will be located at Cementir’s Aalborg Portland plant in Denmark and, with Air Liquide’s CCS technology, will avoid 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum.
Air Liquide’s Cryocap™ technology will capture, purify, and liquefy around 95% of the CO2 the cement kilns emit. The captured CO2 will then be integrated into a new pipeline infrastructure to onshore CO2 storage facilities.
The partnership hopes to have the plant operational by 2029.
Emilie Mouren-Renouard, a member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee who notably oversees operations in Europe, said that the effort is in line with the company’s ADVANCE strategic plan.
“Building a low-carbon society is a challenge that demands collaboration. Through this partnership, we join forces with Aalborg Portland to develop tangible decarbonisation solutions, contributing to the EU’s climate targets of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.”
The project has also been selected by the European Commission to receive €220m in project support under the EU Innovation Fund. The fund is one of the largest programmes for promoting low-carbon technologies.
Read more: Europe awards €4.8bn grants for Net Zero projects
The fund will contribute to European decarbonisation objectives, reducing emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, strengthening European industrial manufacturing capacity and reinforcing Europe’s technology leadership and supply chain resilience.
Francesco Caltagirone, Chairman and CEO of Cementir Holding, described the project as a crucial milestone in the company’s journey to being Net Zero by 2050.
“We welcome the support of the EU Innovation Fund and look forward to working closely with Air Liquide. We are proud not only to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Danish climate targets but also to create a lasting positive impact on the local community.”
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around 45 commercial facilities are in operation, applying carbon capture, utilisation and storage to industrial processes, fuel transformation, and power generation.
The IEA further notes that CCUS deployments are lower than expected. In 2023, the announced carbon capture capacity for 2030 increased by 35%, while the announced storage capacity rose by 70%. This brings the total amount of CO2 that could be captured in 2030 to around 435 million tonnes per year and announced storage capacity to around 615 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
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