Adbri joins Calix to develop zero-emission lime production

By Peter Roberts

@AuManufacturing has been extensively covering moves globally towards low and zero emissions cement and steel production.

Removing carbon emissions from these vital construction materials is vital if the world economy is to transition to a greener future.

Now a new agreement between industrial process technology company Calix and major cement producer Adbri has brought this potential to Australia – all stimulated by the federal government’s low emissions technology roadmap.

The two have signed a memorandum of understanding for a five-year collaboration to develop the world’s first commercial-scale, zero-emissions lime production facility.

Calix and Adbri plan a feasibility study to be completed by 2022 for a 30,000 tonne per annum demonstration lime production plant including a 20,000 tonne carbon capture capability and multiple fuel options.

A second phase would see design and construction of the plant at a site to be selected in the following 18 months with demonstration operations over a further two years.

A Calix technology calciner will replace today’s method of producing lime from natural limestone by burning the stone in a kiln.

Lime or calcium oxide is the most important ingredient of cement, giving it unique properties including flexibility not present in pure cement and sand mixes.

Lime is also used in producing steel, aluminium, rare earths, gold among other products.

Calix CEO Phil Hodgson said: “This important project is a world-first in ambition to produce zero-emissions lime, one of the most important industrial products globally.”

Calix is already making waves in the cement world with its European Union-funded Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) technology moving to the stage of construction of a full demonstration plant in Germany.

Adbri, formerly known as Adelaide Brighton, has been long been an innovator with its Brighton Cement Works in Adelaide the first Portland cement plant in Australia when it opened in 1882.

The companies have yet to work out commercial terms, but at the end of the program the plant would either be transferred to Adbri ownership or dismantled and removed.

Having seen such world-first initiatives taking place overseas, the prospect of Australian technology and a world-first demonstration plant right here on our shores is truly exciting.

Picture: Adbri

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