Holcim partners with TotalEnergies to fully decarbonise Obourg plant

Holcim has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TotalEnergies to work together to fully decarbonise the cement producer’s Obourg plant in Belgium.

In a bid to create the first carbon-free cement plant in Belgium, various energies and technologies will be assessed for the efficient capture, utilisation, and sequestration (CCUS) of around 1.3Mt of CO₂ emitted by the facility every year. Technologies include an innovative new air-oxyfuel switchable kiln, to facilitate the capture and purification of CO₂ in the flue gases, as part of Holcim’s upgrade of the current cement plant, and the transportation and use of the captured CO₂ by TotalEnergies for an innovative e-fuel producing scheme and/or deposit in geological storage in the North Sea.

TotalEnergies will assess the development of renewable projects to power a new electrolyser, which would generate the green hydrogen needed to produce e-fuels. This new renewable energy production capacity would also power Holcim's new oxyfuel kiln, thus contributing to the decarbonisation of the cement plant. The oxygen emitted by the electrolyser would be used to fuel the new kiln.

"The unique, integrated and sustainable solution that we are looking to provide to Holcim for the full decarbonisation of its cement plant emissions – with its range of technologies and new decarbonised molecules – is a first, marking a milestone in the decarbonisation of heavy industry and its hard-to-abate emissions. We are pleased to partner with Holcim to work on the development of sustainable and carbon neutral industries in Europe, in partnership with our clients and in line with their decarbonisation strategy," said Christophe Sassolas, senior vice president, OneB2B Solutions at TotalEnergies.

"TotalEnergies is looking forward to deploying other integrated solutions like this one elsewhere, as we move toward reducing our Scope 3 emissions, in line with our Climate Ambition to get to Net Zero emissions by 2050, together with society," he added.

"Cement industry decarbonisation is extremely challenging because of the process's inevitable CO₂ emissions, which put us firmly in the hard-to-abate sector. CCUS is vital for Obourg to become the first net carbon neutral clinker plant in northwest Europe. We are very happy to work with TotalEnergies to accelerate the development of these CCUS solutions for GO4ZERO. By joining the first movers, we want to set the standards for future clinker manufacturing plants," commented Bart Daneels, CEO, Holcim Belgium.