Heidelberg Materials signs global licence agreement with Leilac

Heidelberg Materials has signed an indefinite global licence agreement with the technology company Leilac, enabling the future scale-up of the joint carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) activities.

The agreement sets out the terms of use for the company’s carbon capture technology in Heidelberg Material’s operations. Leilac provides a highly efficient, low-cost capture solution for unavoidable CO₂ process emissions in cement production. The agreement is the result of a longstanding, close collaboration between the two partners, and a key milestone in the development and commercialisation of the Leilac technology, said Heidelberg Materials in a statement.

“Heidelberg Materials and Leilac have been successfully collaborating since 2014, further expanding our options to decarbonise the cement production process,” said Dr Dominik von Achten, chairman of the Managing Board. “Now we can implement this groundbreaking technology at a larger scale. Adding it to our portfolio of carbon capture technologies, we will be even better positioned to make custom-fit technology decisions at each site. The licence agreement enables us to scale-up the Leilac technology at very good commercial terms and based on a trusted partnership.”

 Leilac CEO, Daniel Rennie, said: “Scalable and low-cost decarbonisation technology solutions for cement and lime are essential to ensuring a just transition to net zero that balances social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Our work with Heidelberg Materials, and the innovative commercial agreement that has been reached, are major steps in the right direction.”

The Leilac technology can be implemented at cement plants with minimal operational impact. Leilac1, located at Heidelberg Materials’ plant in Lixhe, Belgium, is a pilot facility supported by EU funding, with a capacity to capture 25,000t of CO₂ annually. The follow-up project Leilac2, also EU funded and due to commence construction in 2023, will be located at Heidelberg Materials’ plant in Hanover, Germany, with an estimated capture capacity of 100,000tpa of CO₂. Both projects pave the way for future full-scale deployment of the LEILAC technology.