Lehigh Hanson partners with Fortera to reduce carbon emissions

North America's Lehigh Hanson (HeidelbergCement) and Fortera Inc have announced a collaboration project to reduce emissions from Portland cement production.

The two companies will work together to construct and operate a small commercial plant at Lehigh's cement facility in northern California. The plant will capture CO₂ from the kiln exhaust and convert it into a cementitious material. This can then be blended with Portland cement and used by ready-mix concrete producers as an SCM or used as a 100 per cent cementitious binder for preformed materials such as bricks, blocks and precast structures.  

"We feel very fortunate to be a part of this exciting project and we are confident that this will be a key step toward our goal of zero net CO₂ emissions," said Dan Fritz, president of Lehigh Hanson's West Region.
 
The plant will be the first installation of its kind to capture CO₂ directly from a cement kiln and convert it to a profitable product, according to a press release.

"The Fortera process has been designed to utilise the existing cement infrastructure, from the quarry to the kiln, but with less CO₂ emissions, lower energy and lower processing temperatures, leading to 60 per cent lower CO₂ emissions per tonne of product," said Dr Ryan Gilliam, CEO of Fortera.