A CO2 capture process, jointly developed by Linde, Heidelberg Materials, and BASF, and based on BASF’s advanced Oase blue technology, will be used for the first time at a large-scale CO2-capture facility operated by Capture-to-Use (CAP2U) – a new joint venture established by Heidelberg Materials and Linde.
According to a study by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies the cement industry is responsible for seven percent of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the environmental techniques adopted by the industry, cement production is, and will continue to be, associated with significant amounts of CO2 generation because it uses a calcination process to treat calcium carbonate (limestone). In contrast to other energy-intensive industries, emissions caused by fuel consumption do not constitute the major part of total emissions. As a result, carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is essential to mitigate these hard-to-abate industrial emissions .
The plant at Heidelberg‘s Lengfurt site in Bavaria will be operated by Capture-to-Use (CAP2U), a new joint venture between Heidelberg Materials and Linde. It will be the world‘s first large-scale carbon capture and utilization (CCU) plant. Around 70,000 metric tons of CO2 will be captured, purified and liquefied there each year. Linde will sell most of the resulting liquid CO2 as a raw material for the chemical, food and beverage industries.
Oase blue for flue gas and post combustion CO2 capture
Oase blue Technology was developed specifically as a large-scale carbon capture technology. BASF supplies customers with a customised technology package along with highly stable, solvent solutions for various carbon capture applications.
The process at the Heidelberg Materials site will also use the patented Oase aerozone design – a technology that reduces dust and aerosol-induced emissions from the gas flow – in one of its first industrial applications. “Our portfolio of Oase technologies makes a significant contribution to sustainability and is perfectly suited to help our customers achieve their sustainability targets. This carbon capture and use unit facility has the potential to become a show-case project in a hard-to-abate sector,” said Andreas Northemann, Head of BASF’s global Gas Treatment business.
