Fossil-free cement on the horizon

World’s first carbon capture cement plant

The urgent climate crisis is putting pressure on highly emitting industries to decarbonise. But how do we transform existing industries without jeopardising production streams of fundamental value chains throughout society, such as construction, infrastructure, and transportation?

Advansia, a part of AFRY, has been working in partnership with Heidelberg Materials (formerly Norcem) to develop the world’s first cement factory - designed to capture the carbon dioxide emissions generated during production.

The demand for concrete is rapidly increasing worldwide. Cement is the glue in concrete, and while the material is one of the most cost effective and well-suited for construction, the carbon foot-print from the cement industry accounts for around 6-8% of CO2 emissions globally. Cement production requires a lot of energy and has historically been dependent on fossil fuels such as oil or coal for firing up ovens. Newer methods largely involve renewable fuel. Approximately two thirds of cement-related CO2 emissions, however, do not stem from the expenditure of fuel. Instead, carbon dioxide is released from the processing of limestone - an inevitable part of cement production¹ .

Governments, businesses, and organisations worldwide highlight technologies for carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a viable alternative for reducing emissions from industrial processes, but the technology has not been fully tested in large scale industrial production.

Two engineers in cement production plant inspecting large piping

Carbon capture facilities on the rise

The number of carbon capture facilities has dramatically increased during the past decade, from 11 operational commercial-scale facilities in 2010 to 47 facilities in 2024. These facilities currently capture about one-thousandth of global emissions, but there is scope for further rapid increases with more than 600 integrated carbon capture facilities are now in development, mostly in North America and Europe.

Heidelberg Materials (former Norcem Brevik), has performed pilot testing of the capture technology and is now building and integrating a full-scale flagship CCS facility into their existing cement plant in Brevik, Norway.

With the facility up and running 1,3 million tonnes of cement is produced annually, and with the capture of 400 000 tonnes CO2, the CO2 footprint is halved.

Liv Bjerge, Assignment Manager at AFRY (Advansia)

Cutting-edge technology up and running by 2025

AFRY, represented by its subsidiary Advansia, has played a key role in the project development and has been responsible for various parts of the planning and implementation of the CCS technology at Heidelberg Materials, such as coordination of engineering and interfaces, evaluation of project models and contract strategy, follow-up on technology providers and being a general advisor for the integration.

When completed, the carbon capture facility’s integration with the cement plant will make the Heidelberg Materials plant in Brevik the world’s first cement production plant with integrated carbon capture storage technology.

Brevik CCS plant

From capture to storage – a process with high energy demand

The planned carbon capture facility specifically targets flue gas emitted from the cement plant. The flue gas goes through what is called amine gas treating, where CO2 is separated and bonded to a liquid solution. The CO2 free flue gas is then released into the atmosphere, with the CO2 enriched liquid solution remaining. The CO2 is then boiled off using excess heat from the cement production and is subsequently cleaned from impurities, cooled, and compressed into a liquid state.

With the current facility around 50% of the emitted CO2 will be captured.

Liv Bjerge, Assignment Manager at AFRY (Advansia)

After capture, the liquid CO2 is shipped by boat to a reception facility in Øygarden in the west of Norway. The liquid CO2 is then transported through a pipeline into subsea storage formations underneath the seabed. Thanks to the enormous pressure under the North Sea, the CO2 is permanently locked in place with minimal risk of leakage or running out of storage.

The reception and storage facilities, part of the Northern Lights project, are completed and have a storage capacity of 1.5 million tons of CO₂ per year. The first deliveries are scheduled for 2025.

Governmental support needed in transition towards CCS-solutions

While there is considerable potential for CCS-technologies in decarbonising heavy emitting industries, it remains a costly process both to implement and operate the facilities. Two thirds of the costs associated with the Heidelberg Materials project stem from integrating the carbon capture facility into the continuously running cement plant without interrupting production. Construction has been ongoing since 2021, with work now ongoing to fully incorporate the systems for commissioning in summer 2025. One of the main difficulties is installing certain components during the plants limited scheduled maintenance stops that only run for three weeks each year. Political support and financing are therefore crucial for developing the technology to become a financially viable option.

Industrial scale-up coming soon

The flagship plant in Brevik is an important step in demonstrating the CCS technology at full industrial scale. Heidelberg Materials currently leads eight other carbon capture projects in Heidelberg Cement Group where one potential initiative involves implementing carbon capture technology in cement production in Slite, Sweden. Once operational by the preliminary date of 2030, an estimated 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 will be captured annually at the plant.