Heidelberg Materials launches Airvault CCUS project

Marking the latest addition to its portfolio of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) initiatives, Heidelberg Materials has announced another CCUS project at its Airvault cement plant in the French New Aquitaine Region. The AirvaultGOCO₂ project, with a planned capture capacity of approximately 1Mta, is part of the GOCO₂ initiative to decarbonise the west of France. 

“We started an ambitious modernisation programme for our sites in France several years ago, with a planned investment of more than EUR400m. With the integration of AirvaultGOCO₂, we are now adding a cutting-edge project in the field of carbon capture to our previous efforts, which will enable a further, massive reduction of Heidelberg Materials’ carbon footprint in France,” explained Dr Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials. 

The Airvault modernisation project is currently under construction. This includes the replacement of the two current semi-dry firing lines with a new dry line, including a precalciner with a capacity of 4000tpd. In future, almost 90 per cent of the plant's energy demand will be covered by alternative fuels. The project will also reduce the electricity consumption per tonne of cement by 10 per cent. In addition, the proportion of clinker in the cement will be lowered. Together, these measures will reduce the carbon footprint of the cement produced at the Airvault site by almost 30 per cent compared to current production.

The GOCO₂ initiative, launched in July 2023, is an investment programme to capture CO₂ at industrial sites and transport it to geological storage sites for permanent storage. The emissions, including the CO₂ captured in Airvault, are to be transported by pipeline to the coastal town of Saint-Nazaire and then by ship to storage wells under the North Sea. The biogenic part of the captured CO₂ is to be used for the production of e-fuels, essential for sustainable transport by air and sea. Subject to the granting of public subsidies and the various regulatory approvals required for implementation, the aim is to capture the first tonnes of CO₂ in Airvault in 2030.