The LEILAC2 (Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement) project will pilot a breakthrough technology that aims to enable Europe’s cement and lime industries to capture their unavoidable process carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for minimal energy penalty (just compression). Responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions, low-cost, fast, and effective options are urgently needed for the cement and lime industries. Building on the success of the previously H2020 LEILAC1 project – capturing around 5% of a typical cement plant’s process CO2 emissions – the LEILAC2 project seeks to scale -up to around 20% of a typical cement plant’s process CO2 emissions in a deployable and scalable module; demonstrate the use of multiple fuel sources (particularly electricity with rapid ramping to enable renewable load-balancing); and show how it can be immediately, cheaply and incrementally or fully retrofitted to all cement plants. This will be achieved by building a demonstration plant alongside an operational cement plant in Europe: allowing 100ktpa of pure CO2 to be captured – and four business cases will be investigated for the near-term use or storage. Due to the purity of the captured CO2 (there are no new chemicals or additives), there is already interest from CO2 users. As an early mover in the heart of industrial Europe, LEILAC 2 would actively develop a CO2 hub, with onshore and offshore storage options being investigated. Engaging with all relevant stakeholders will be critical: CO2 producers and users, transport and storage operators, and most importantly the public – conducting Social Impact analysis, and extensive bespoke dissemination. The most feasible storage or use option will then result in a final business case being developed. The significant industrial partners involved in this project – contributing around €19m of funding - testifies to the interest of the cement and lime industries.

LEILAC, Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement, will successfully pilot a breakthrough technology that will enable both Europe’s cement and lime industries to reduce their emissions dramatically while retaining, or even increasing, international competitiveness. LEILAC will develop, build and operate a 240 tonne per day pilot plant demonstrating Direct Separation calcining technology which will capture over 95% of the process CO2 emissions (which is 60 % of total CO2 emissions) from both industries without significant energy or capital penalty. Direct Separation technology uses indirect heating in which the process CO2 and furnace combustion gases do not mix, resulting in the simple capture of high quality CO2. This innovation requires minimal changes to the conventional processes for cement, replacing the calciner in the Preheater-Calciner Tower. For lime there is no product contamination from the combustion gas. The technology can be used with alternative fuels and other capture technologies to achieve negative CO2 emissions. The project will also enable research into novel building materials with a reduced CO2 footprint, as well the upgrade of low value limestone fines and dust to high value lime applications. The high potential of the project is complemented by high deliverability. The requested grant will secure €8.8m of in-kind funding and support from the LEILAC consortium members, which include world leading engineering, cement, lime and R&D organisations. To accelerate further development, LEILAC will deliver a techno-economic roadmap, and comprehensive knowledge sharing activities including a visitor centre at the pilot site near Brussels. In order to reach the required 80% emissions reductions by 2050, CCS will need to be applied to 85% of European clinker production, and LEILAC is uniquely placed to allow Europe to achieve these targets in a timely, effective and efficient manner.

ELECTRA demonstrates that electric heating can substitute fossil fuels in the cement, lime, and pulp industries. ELECTRA develops and validates in real life emission-free, electrically heated cement and lime production process in MW scale capable of reaching temperature up to 2000°C. By using low-emission electricity instead of combustion for decomposing calcium carbonate, and by capturing the carbon dioxide produced in the production process, it is possible to run a cement plant with close to zero carbon dioxide emissions providing even negative-emission cement and lime products for the society. Successful implementation of ELECTRA will eliminate fuel-related CO2-emissions from the industries targeted by 30-50% of total process emissions, depending on the industry and mode of operation. Scalability and replicability is showcased by the platform-based solutions offering modularity, and the possibility is there to run in various hybrid modes in a transition period, lowering initial CAPEX. They allow for both new electric installations and revamping of old ones. Platform-based modular automation practices can potentially accelerate electrification by up to 5 years. Different applications also require different properties for lime and therefore variations of electrically heated processes are developed to support and complement MW scale demonstration. Replacing combustion processes with electricity-based solutions and significantly increasing emission-free electricity production is an effective means of mitigating climate change. As one of the ingredients for concrete, cement is the world's most used building material and globally the largest CO2 emitter of all industrial sectors. The results of ELECTRA contribute directly to the ambitious goal of eliminating direct CO2 emissions from the lime, paper and cement industries. The developed fully electrified solutions for calcination and clinkering will offer the cheapest option for decarbonation for these industries.