On 22 April, Thorsten Hahn, CEO of Holcim Germany, together with Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and Schleswig-Holstein's Minister President Daniel Günther, broke ground for the „Carbon2Business“ project in Lägerdorf.
With the help of new technologies for large-scale CO2 capture, a cement plant is to be built on site by 2028 that will be able to almost completely eliminate the greenhouse gas in the exhaust air. The CO2 will then be available for subsequent processing into an industrial raw material.
„Today we are giving the go-ahead for another innovative German industrial project“, says Daniel Günther. „The prototype for the decarbonisation of the cement industry is being built on an industrial scale in Lägerdorf. This shows once again that the future is climate-neutral. And this future begins here in Schleswig-Holstein, the number one state for the energy transition.“
New technology as an important impetus for the CO2 economy
At the Lägerdorf plant, Holcim Germany is building a new kiln line for burning cement clinker, which is operated with pure oxygen, as well as a CO2 treatment plant. With this technology, Holcim and its project partners Thyssenkrupp Polysius and Linde Engineering are advancing CO2 capture on an industrial scale and contributing to the development of a CO2 economy in Germany. In total, Holcim Germany is investing a mid three-digit million euro sum in the climate-neutral cement plant, which is being subsidised with around 110 million euros.
The raw material carbon is of great importance for sectors such as the chemical industry and is required, for example, for the production of plastics, tyres, speciality chemicals and medicines. In the course of defossilisation and climate protection, new sources will be needed in industry in the future. Captured and processed CO2 (Carbon Capture and Utilisation/CCU) could fill this gap.
A corresponding infrastructure is required for the successful development of this market. This includes, in particular, pipelines, intermediate storage facilities and transhipment hubs for ship transport, but also legal regulations for transport. Hahn: „The German government and the EU are addressing these issues in their carbon management strategies. We are ready as a partner to get the CO2 economy in Germany on track together with politicians.“
Concrete as a building material will remain indispensable in the future
Thorsten Hahn, CEO of Holcim Germany, emphasises the importance of climate-neutral cement production: „We make cement the foundation of a sustainable world. Concrete is indispensable for our cities, factories, houses, bridges and much more. And the energy transition also needs to be built – foundations and towers for wind turbines, tracks for railway lines. With the climate-neutral cement plant, we are ensuring that the building material will continue to be available in the future, but will no longer pollute the atmosphere.“
Cement production is not possible without CO2 emissions. The majority of the gas (around
60 %) is released from the rock itself during the burning process. „We are creating sustainable prosperity with this pioneering project“, continues Hahn. „By capturing the CO2 and processing it into a valuable raw material, we are protecting the climate and enabling the creation of new value chains.“
In addition to the CO2-neutral cement plant in Lägerdorf, which is scheduled to start operations in 2028, further test projects for CO2 capture and processing are currently underway at the cement plants in Höver (Lower Saxony) and Beckum (North Rhine-Westphalia).
Federal Minister Robert Habeck: „The cement industry is facing a particularly big challenge when it comes to decarbonisation. Here in Lägerdorf, we are now showing how it can be done: decarbonising production and boldly implementing climate-neutral production of cement and concrete. The fact that the carbon dioxide can not only be captured but also utilised as a raw material is a prime example of the green transformation.“
(Quelle: Holcim Deutschland)
