Heidelberg Materials and Linde launch joint venture

12 April, 2023

The world's first industrial-scale carbon capture and utilization (CCU) facility will be built at Heidelberg Materials' Lengfurt cement plant

Companies to build world’s first large-scale carbon capture facility in a cement plant

HEIDELBERG Materials have formed a joint venture with Linde under the name ‘Capture-to-Use’ (CAP2U) to build and operate the world's first industrial-scale carbon capture and utilization (CCU) facility.

The carbon dioxide capture and liquefaction plant is scheduled to go into operation as early as 2025 at Heidelberg Materials’ Lengfurt cement plant in Germany. It will capture, liquefy, and purify around 70,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, with the majority of the resulting liquid CO₂ to be marketed by Linde as feedstock for the chemicals and food industries.

A smaller proportion will be used by Heidelberg Materials to drive forward new CO2 recycling and recarbonation technologies. For the implementation of this project, the substantial contributions of both partners will be supplemented by funding of around €15 million from the Decarbonisation of Industry funding programme on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

‘We are pleased to implement the world's first large-scale CCU project in the cement industry together with our partner Linde,’ said Dr Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials. ‘As part of our ambitious global CCUS [carbon capture, utilization, and storage] strategy, we are currently driving forward a number of different industrial-scale carbon capture and utilization projects.

‘This way, we aim to identify viable and efficient ways to reduce our carbon footprint and reuse CO2. The project in Lengfurt is scheduled to go into operation as early as 2025. The BMWK funding shows the importance that the German government also attaches to our joint project.’

The CCU plant is being designed and built by Linde Engineering – one of the leading companies for CO2 facilities. Based on an amine scrubbing system specially developed for flue gases, the carbon dioxide will be separated directly from part of the exhaust gas stream from the cement clinker kiln. Equipment for purification and liquefaction, tanks for intermediate storage of the product, and loading facilities are also part of the project scope.

Linde will bring to the joint venture their expertise in forward-looking, gas-based environmental technologies that allow customers worldwide to increase productivity while reducing their environmental footprint.