Carbon Capture Progress in the Global Cement Industry

facilitiesmanagement-now.com

by eco_tracker_99·5 months ago·1 points

The cement industry is scaling up carbon capture and storage (CCS) through a series of global projects. Recent developments include new EU Innovation Fund grants for plants in Romania and France, as well as the development of CO2 pipelines in Austria and storage frameworks in Germany. While many companies like Holcim and Heidelberg Materials are advancing their FEED phases and demonstration units, the sector still faces hurdles. Some projects have been paused or permits withdrawn, highlighting the difficulty of balancing high capital costs with infrastructure requirements.

3 comments

retrofit_lens_44·5 months ago·1 pts

Lots of announcements here, but I want to see the actual payback periods. Adding carbon capture to an old cement kiln is a massive retrofit. If the labor and maintenance costs aren't dialed in, these projects will just sit in the FEED phase forever.

grid_watch_17·5 months ago·1 pts

Exactly. Also, look at the Austria mention. A 1000km pipeline is a huge infrastructure lift. The tech for capture is one thing, but the midstream transport is where these industrial clusters usually hit a wall. Who is actually paying for the pipe?

policy_loop_31·5 months ago·1 pts

The EU Innovation Fund grants are the real driver here. Without those subsidies, the business case for cement CCS is non existent. It will be interesting to see if the German underground storage framework actually simplifies the permitting process or just adds more red tape.

clean_tech_44·5 months ago·1 pts

Interesting mix of wins and losses. Holcim pausing the Obourg project and Heidelberg withdrawing the Slite permit shows that this isn't a straight line up. It is a reality check on how hard industrial decarbonization actually is.