HeidelbergCement and RWTH Aachen to research 'CO2MIN'

HeidelbergCement and Aachen University are setting up a three-year project to investigate absorbing CO₂ from flue gas using olivine and basalt. Funded by EUR3m from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and surpported by supported by the Potsdam Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the Dutch start-up Green Minerals, the CO2MIN project aims to turn carbonised minerals into a value-added product.

Olivine and basalt are able to bind CO₂ over their entire life-cycle. With natural absorption, it takes decades until these are saturated with the greenhouse gas. The research project intends to speed up the absorption process.

The use of CO₂ as a raw material has high priority in the climate strategy of HeidelbergCement. "We are already reducing the CO₂ emissions of our plants very successfully by using alternative fuels and raw materials and by optimising the efficiency of our kilns," explains HeidelbergCement's Director of Alternative Resources, Jan Theulen. "In order to reduce CO₂ emissions even further in the future, we have to develop and test new approaches. One of them is the binding of CO₂ by minerals."