Technology


Calix Awarded $15m grant for zero emissions lime and cement CCU plant

Technology




Low emission industrial technology developer Calix has been awarded a $15 million grant from the Australian Government’s Carbon Capture Technologies Program.

The grant will support the construction of a world-first, renewably powered carbon capture and use (CCU) demonstration plant in South Australia.

The plant will produce near-zero emissions lime and supply captured industrial CO2 emissions to the HyGATE Solar Methanol Project under construction at Port Augusta.

Calix CEO and Managing Director Phil Hodgson said: “Calix’s renewably powered technology platform can electrify mineral processing and capture unavoidable emissions to enable carbon-intensive industries like cement and lime to reach net zero.

“Zero emissions lime will also be an important enabling material for the development of an Australian green metals industry for green steel and aluminium.

“Additionally, by combining captured CO2 with Australian sunshine in collaboration with our partners in the SM1 project, we aim to demonstrate a low-cost decarbonisation pathway for cement and lime and a novel way to make low-carbon transport fuels.”

Lime is an essential material used in the iron & steel, alumina, paper, pharmaceuticals, food, farming, and chemical industries.

Like cement, lime is produced by heating limestone to form quicklime (calcium oxide), a process which releases carbon dioxide.

Electrification plus carbon capture by Calix’s Leilac kiln technology enables the avoidance of fuel emissions and the capture of unavoidable process emissions.

In a second phase of the project, the programme will aim to expand production to include the processing of cement raw meal to a near-zero emissions cement clinker product, with captured process CO2 again supplied for use.

The Solar Methanol Project is being developed by a consortium including Vast and German energy company Mabanaft, under the Australian-German funded HyGATE initiative.

Mabanaft’s Director New Energy Philipp Kroepels said: “We believe that government support, such as that provided by Australia and Germany through the HyGATE initiative, is essential to stimulate development of low-carbon, sustainable fuels, including methanol. Our joint project with Calix and VAST will certainly take us forward in developing viable.”

Further reading:
Vast secures approvals for solar methanol project

Picture: Calix



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