Heidelberg Materials is busy drawing a line under old processes and embracing new concepts to promote circularity and accelerate decarbonisation.
In France it has announced plans to shut its Beffes (Cher) and Villiers-au-Bouin (Indre-et-Loire) by October 2025.
The restructuring follows a ‘stronger alignment’ towards low-carbon products and a significant decline in cement sales in the European country.
The company, which aims to reduce specific net CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material by 47% by 2030 (compared to 1990), said it is also making significant progress towards circularity.
A large-scale closed-loop recycling project, CIRCO₂BETON®, involves implementing an industrial-scale selective separation platform at its Achères quarry, where demolished concrete will be crushed and separated into sand, aggregates, and recycled concrete paste (RCP).
The recycled sand and aggregates will be used in new concrete, while the RCP will be carbonated using CO₂-containing exhaust gases from the kiln at the Ranville cement plant.
Its Airvault site is undergoing major modernisation, combining conventional CO₂ reduction measures with Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technology to capture approximately 1 million tonnes annually (1Mtpa).
At the end of March, it was selected for funding of up to $500 million to advance industrial-scale carbon capture, transport, and storage (CCUS) at its new cement plant in Mitchell, Indiana.
Last month, it also installed the kiln as the central part of a new demonstration at its Mergelstetten cement plant (main photo).
The polysius® pure oxyfuel technology will be applied to capture and reuse up to 100% of the plant’s CO₂ emissions. Since carbon is urgently needed in many industries, for example in the production of fertilisers, fuel for long-haul flights, or sanitary medical products, the captured CO₂ can be utilised for a variety of purposes.
With the mechanical completion of its Norway-based Brevik CCS project targeted for the end of 2024, Heidelberg Materials will soon operate what it claims will be the world’s first industrial-scale carbon capture facility in a cement plant.
It aims to generate 50% of its revenue from sustainable products that are either low-carbon or circular by 2030.
Read more on Heidelberg Materials’ decarbonisation drive in this month’s issue of gasworld global magazine
