Technology Roadmap Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry

Demonstration needs to 2030
for carbon capture
The cement industry has performed a few pilot 
studies of carbon capture technologies, including a 
commercial-scale demonstration project on amine-
based post-combustion. 
43. For example, urea (the main precursor of fertilisers) is 
commercially produced from CO
2
and ammonia, but the CO
2
is 
released back into the atmosphere as the fertilisers get hydrated 
when applied to agricultural sites.
Oxy-fuel capture technologies are still not proven 
at commercial scale in the cement industry. There 
is potential to improve the process integration 
across the additional units (e.g. air separation units 
for oxygen production) and the cement plant, to 
reduce the air in-leakage and to obtain operational 
insights from scaling up the system. Operational 
knowledge could also be gained by operating 
full-scale demonstrations of amine-based post-
combustion capture technologies in the cement 
industry. Pilot testing of other carbon capture 
options should also be pursued.
The roadmap vision considers that the integration 
of carbon capture technologies in the cement 
sector reaches commercial-scale deployment 
by 2030. It sets key milestones within that time 
frame, including accomplishing commercial-
scale demonstration of oxy-fuel carbon capture 
technologies in cement production and gaining 
experience in operating large-scale post-
combustion technologies in cement plants.
Challenges to implementation
EHR for power generation
z
Economic viability
would be the deciding factor 
for wider deployment in the cement industry, 
given the adaptability of EHR technologies 
to different plant conditions and location 
(e.g. availability of water), and considering 
the absence of legal mandatory installation 
requirements. It is generally not economically 
feasible without additional financial support or 
other indirect economic benefits (e.g. avoided 
costs of unexpected kiln stoppages due to 
unreliable electricity supply or valorising the 
provision of flexibility to the electricity grid).