Calix gets green light for cement industry CO2 capture

Industrial process technology company Calix has got the go ahead to scale up its Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) technology to a full demonstration plant to be built in Germany.

To be launched on April 7, the project involves construction of a 100kTpa CO2 capture plant at a working cement plant in Europe.

This is the equivalent 100 per cent of the CO2 emissions from a large lime kiln.

More climate warming CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere from cement production than any other industry.

With many countries pledging to achieve zero net emissions by 2050 there is enormous pressure on the global cement sector to mitigate CO2 production.

Calix, which is commercialising a range of technologies across advanced batteries, crop protection, aquaculture, wastewater and carbon reduction, will develop the plant with HeidelbergCement, Cimpor, Engie, IKN and Lhost.

Calix’s technology re-engineers the existing process flows of a traditional calciner, indirectly heating the limestone via a special steel vessel.

This unique system enables pure CO2 to be captured as it is released from the limestone, as the furnace exhaust gases are kept separate.

The companies have executed project agreements with the European Commission which will help fund the 34 million Euro ($57.7 million) project under a Horizon 2020 (H2020) research and innovation project.

The LEILAC-2 demonstration plant will be four times the size of an existing pilot plant built at Heidelberg Cement’s Lixhe cement facility in Belgium (pictured).

Picture: Calix

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