Mitchell cement plant receives US$8.9m for carbon storage project

Heidelberg Materials North America is to receive approximately US$8.9m in funding from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) initiative, to study the subsurface geology for suitability for the storage of CO₂ at its new state-of-the-art cement plant in Mitchell, Indiana.

Heidelberg Materials is contributing about US$1.5m in funding while the prime contractor, Illinois State Geological Survey at the University of Illinois (ISGS) will be contributing approximately US$0.6m for a project total of US$11.1m. The funding, managed by the US National Energy Technology Laboratory, was part of a DOE initiative that generated nearly US$125m in funding for 10 projects to characterise suitability for carbon storage across the USA.

The new Mitchell cement plant will more than triple its current capacity during 2023. The proposed project will geologically characterise several prospective reservoirs under the Mitchell plant for safe storage of more than 50Mt of CO₂ over a 30-year timeframe. 

“We are excited to participate in this project and pleased it received the additional federal funding to assess the ability to store carbon at the Mitchell site,” said Chris Ward, president and CEO of Heidelberg Materials North America and member of the Managing Board.