Norcem signs carbon capture project with Aker Solutions, Norway

Aker Solutions has won a contract to test and study the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gas emitted by the cement industry. The award from Norcem, in cooperation with the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) marks the first time technology to capture CO2 is used at a cement plant in Norway.

Aker Solutions will perform long-term testing on the actual flue gas to select optimum chemical solvent for high content CO₂ flue gas at Norcem's plant in Brevik, Norway. Tests will be performed with Aker Solutions' in-house developed Mobile Test Unit (MTU). The MTU is a fully fledged CO₂ capture plant that includes all processes and functions you will find in a large scale commercial plant.

The project results will provide Norcem and its parent company HeidelbergCement, information for future decision-making on reduction in CO₂ emissions, and help the European cement industry understand the use of technology for future full-scale CO₂ capture from cement production plants.

"The cement industry is a major emitter of CO₂ and there is a potential to reduce emissions substantially," says Henning Østvig, Head of Front End & Technology in Aker Solutions. "We really look forward to working with Norcem, HeidelbergCement and ECRA in this important forward-looking project."

"HeidelbergCement and Norcem have already taken major steps in reducing the emissions of CO₂ from the production of cement," says Per Brevik, Director Alternative Fuels at HeidelbergCement Northern Europe. "The next important step is CO₂-capture. We look forward to testing the technology together with Aker Solutions."

ECRA members picked Norcem Brevik as the site for ECRA operational CO₂-capture test project. The project is supported and partly financed by the CLIMIT programme, which is managed by Gassnova in cooperation with the Research Council of Norway.

Aker Solutions has developed CO₂-technology solutions since the early 1990s. A separate company, Aker Clean Carbon, was established in 2007 as a company under Aker ASA to commercialise carbon capture technology. Aker Solutions took full ownership of Aker Clean Carbon in 2012 and carbon capture and storage activities are an integrated part of Aker Solutions.