Materials
Free Digital Tool Tracks Cement Sector's Decarbonization Efforts
A carbon capture and storage feasibility study at Heidelberg Materials' plant in Mitchell, Ind., is the largest project of its kind in the U.S., according to the Green Cement Technology Tracker.
Photo courtesy of Heidelberg Materials
A free online tool is now available that provides information on the cement sector’s decarbonization efforts—beginning with carbon capture technologies. The goal of the tool is to promote new technology that helps cement producers achieve net-zero carbon emissions—globally.
The Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) and Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) launched the Green Cement Technology Tracker July 20 to coincide with the CEM14/MI8 clean energy transition conference in Goa, India. The tracker currently includes publicly announced carbon capture and storage projects and carbon capture utilization and storage projects of cement producers around the globe. Most have not yet begun operating.
The tool does not currently include other cement decarbonization efforts, such as lower-carbon-content cement. LeadIT says it plans to regularly update the tracker and expand its scope to include other technologies. The tracker and the data set used to produce it are available on LeadIT’s website.
More than half of the 47 projects included on the tracker, as well as the largest-scale ones, are located in Europe. In North America, the efforts are mostly pilot projects or feasibility studies. The largest tracked U.S. project is Heidelberg Materials' carbon capture and storage feasibility study in Mitchell, Ind., with an expected CO2-capture capacity of 2 million tons per year. CEMEX and Holcim also have carbon capture projects in North America.
Carbon capture accounts for 36% of planned reduction levers in GCCA’s 2050 Cement and Concrete Industry Roadmap for Net Zero Concrete, released two years ago with the goal of guiding the sector’s decarbonization efforts. The roadmap also includes efforts such as efficiency in design and construction, and reductions in cement, binders and clinker, but carbon capture is the plan’s largest piece.
“Unleashing technology such as [carbon capture utilization and storage] is key to achieving our net-zero mission in our sector,” Thomas Guillot, GCCA's chief executive, said in a statement.
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