ANDRITZ partner Rohrdorfer has started up Germany's first amine-based CO2 capture plant for cement plants at its main site in Upper Bavaria. This technology developed by ANDRITZ will prospectively make a considerable contribution to CO2 reduction and thus to a sustainable circular economy. The special separation process recovers CO2 as a basic material for a large number of valuable intermediate products for further use in hygiene and pharmaceutical products as well as in the beverage and food industries.
“ANDRITZ designed the separation process individually for us – the results are impressive. The captured CO2 is food grade and can therefore be used in a variety of ways,” said Dr Helmut Leibinger, head of the Net Zero Emission Team at Rohrdorfer.
“CO2 can be converted into basic chemical substances for further processing,” said Dr Helmut Leibinger. “For this purpose, an experimental plant is operated in Rohrdorf that converts CO2 into formic acid. The formic acid is available to customers in the “Bavarian Chemical Triangle,” among others.”
“Our flagship project in Rohrdorf am Inn is a milestone for the circular economy in Germany. It shows what is already technically possible today. The demand for such innovations is correspondingly high,” said ANDRITZ CEO, Joachim Schönbeck.
Carbon, capture and utilisation (CCU) will be used in this form for the first time in cement production in Germany. Considering all production-related optimisations, the German cement industry can save more than half of all CO2 emissions. For the remaining 40 per cent, it needs processes like CCU to become carbon neutral by 2050. Rohrdorfer aims to produce climate-neutral cement as early as 2038. The pilot plant has been in continuous operation since August 2022. Operation was only interrupted for the duration of the annually recurring winter overhaul of the kiln line.
In the future, Rohrdorfer plans to increase the amount of CO2 captured to 1500tpd. Plans for capacity expansion and for a second plant at another Rohrdorf site are underway.
