Heidelberg Materials AG marks milestone in carbon capture project in Norway

Heidelberg Materials AG has achieved a significant milestone in its efforts to combat carbon emissions with the full assembly of its carbon-capture plant located at the Brevik cement factory in Norway. This development represents a crucial step in a larger $2.6 billion initiative aimed at sequestering emissions under the North Sea.

The factory, situated to the west of Oslo, is set to capture approximately 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Following the capture process, the CO2 will be transported via ship to a designated storage facility at Blomoyna, managed by a consortium consisting of Equinor ASA, Shell Plc, and TotalEnergies SE, located near the coastal city of Bergen.

The cement industry has long grappled with the challenge of reducing its carbon footprint, primarily due to emissions generated from the combustion of fuel to heat production kilns, the decomposition of limestone, as well as emissions stemming from the quarrying and grinding processes. Heidelberg Materials views carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as a potential solution to mitigate pollution, despite its associated costs and complexities.

The new carbon-capture facility is a fundamental element of the Longship project, which is poised to become the world's first large-scale CCS hub dedicated to industrial emissions. In a recent development, the receiving terminal at Blomoyna was completed in September and is designed to accommodate the liquefied CO2 in 12 storage tanks, each standing approximately as tall as a 10-story building. The captured gas will subsequently be injected into a reservoir located more than a mile beneath the seabed.

The European Union has set ambitious targets for carbon capture, stating that hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 will need to be sequestered each year by 2050 in order to meet net zero objectives. The Norwegian project serves as a pivotal test case for evaluating the practicality and scalability of such solutions, which hold implications for various sectors including the global oil and gas industries.

As part of the Longship project, the partners involved in the Northern Lights initiative announced on November 25 that construction has been completed on the first of four specialised vessels intended for transportation and storage. This vessel, named the Northern Pioneer, is scheduled to arrive in Norway in early 2024, marking another step forward in the comprehensive management of carbon emissions from industrial sources.

Source: Noah Wire Services