LafargeHolcim expands carbon capture projects

LafargeHolcim's portfolio of carbon capture projects was strengthened with the US Department of Energy's national Energy Laboratory Technology’s (DOE-NETL) announcement that it will support the LafargeHolcim CO₂MENT Colorado project. 

LafargeHolcim has gathered a consortium of partners that include Svante Inc, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC  and Total to complete a study to assess the viability and design of a commercial-scale carbon capture facility.  With DOE-NETL's finding confirmed, the partnership has committed to the next phase to evaluate the feasibility of the facility to capture up to 2Mt of CO₂ per annum from a LafargeHolcim cement plant and the natural gas-fired steam generator, which would be requested underground permanently by Occidental.

The Westküste 100 project in Germany has also received funding approval from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. This project will turn CO₂ captured at the Lägerdorf cement plant into synthetic fuel using hydrogen. This process will have a capacity of 1Mta of CO₂.

"Carbon capture, usage and storage will most likely play a key role in many industries' decarbonisation journey. That's why we are multiplying our pilots to test various scenarios with the ambition of reaching effective, affordable and scalable solutions," said LafargeHolcim’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Magali Anderson, "It is very encouraging to receive the support of funders such as the US and German governments, as partnering with like-minded organisations is key to scale up our impact."

LafargeHolcim is also creating pilot plans for carbon capture under the ECCO₂-LH project in Spain in collaboration with Carbon Clean and Systems de Calor. This project aims to capture CO₂ from flue gas at the Carboneras plant and turn it into agricultural use. The CO₂ circular economy business model could see 0.7Mt of CO₂ prevented from being released into the atmosphere and will achieve 100 per cent decarbonisation at the cement plant.

LafargeHolcim is expanding its CCUS portfolio with more than 20 projects across the US, Canada and Europe.