Since carbon dioxide is always released during the limestone calcination process, producing climate-neutral cement is only possible in the long term if CO2 can be captured and stored or used as a raw material. The catch4climate project, in which several international manufacturers are involved, together with Buzzi Unicem, is now in full swing: work has started on the construction of a CO2-capture research and development plant in Mergelstetten, Germany, at the Schwenk Zement cement plant.The plant, which will require an investment of over € 120 million for its construction and operation, will use the Pure-Oxyfuel process for the first time to capture CO2. A special firing line with a production capacity of 450 tons per day will be built for this purpose.

Many sectors, such as the production of fertilizers, fuels for long-haul flights or plastic medical devices, are interested spectators of this project: up to now, carbon has been obtained almost exclusively from fossil fuels, whereas in the future it is our intention to use the captured CO2 to produce so-called “reFuels”, in other words synthetic fuels with a lower climate impact, such as paraffin for air traffic.

The commissioning of the CO2 capture plant is planned for the middle of 2024.