Insights and Commentaries
World’s largest capture pilot plant for cement commissioned in China
5th December 2018
The cement industry has made great strides in CCS deployment with the announcement of the commissioning of a 50,000 tpa CO2 capture plant in China.
The plant is owed by a Hong Kong listed company - Anhui Conch Cement Company. It is the world’s largest carbon capture demonstration plant for the cement sector. The capture plant is located at the company’s Baimashan Cement Factory in Wuhu, Anhui Province (location shown in Figure 1). The construction commenced in October 2017 and the plant started operation in October 2018. The plant uses amine technology to capture CO2 from its cement kiln (Figure 2).
Amine-based carbon capture technology has previously been applied at larger scales at power stations, including the Boundary Dam Project in Canada, and Petra Nova Project in the United States. The company invested RMB50 million (around USD7.31 million) in this project [1]
Figure 1: Location of Baimashan Cement Factory in Wuhu, Anhui Province
Cement production generally emits 0.65 – 0.95 tonne CO2 per tonne cement [2]. The global cement industry has been developing carbon capture solutions for emissions reduction. There are generally four types of carbon capture technologies applicable for cement sector:
- Chemical absorption (technology used by the Conch Project)
- Oxy-combustion
- Calcium looping
- Direct separation
Other current examples of technology developments include the Industrial Technology Research Institute which has been working with Taiwan Cement to develop calcium looping technology.
In Belgium, Australian company Calix has been supported by European Commission Horizon 2020 funds to develop Direct Separation calcining technology in collaboration with multiple industry partners.
Carbon capture and storage has a unique role to play in achieving critical emissions reductions for the cement industry. Further cost reductions are expected through continuous collaborative efforts between industry, researchers and governments.
Figure 2: Carbon capture plant at Baimashan Cement Factory [3]
[1] Anhui Conch Cement Company, http://www.conch.cn/dt2111111117.asp?DocID=2111395015
[2] Global CCS Institute, Global Status of CCS 2016.
[3] Anhui Conch Cement Company, http://www.conch.cn/dt2111111117.asp?DocID=2111395015