Dear reader,

This is the fifth newsletter from the Horizon 2020 project CEMCAP, conducting analytical and experimental research on CO₂ capture from cement plants. In this letter, you can read about recent activities and deliverables from the project, including completion of oxyfuel testing, publication of a comparative framework for CO₂ capture technologies for cement plants, and an upcoming workshop on CO₂ capture technologies in cement industries.

The CEMCAP newsletters are distributed every six months, until the end of the project (October 2018). If you know someone who might be interested, they can subscribe on the CEMCAP webpage. Furthermore, you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this newsletter.

You can visit the CEMCAP Website to learn more about our project and follow us on twitter - @CEMCAP_CO2 - to keep updated on CEMCAP news.

Enjoy the reading!

Kristin Jordal, CEMCAP coordinator

CEMCAP/ECRA workshop in Düsseldorf

CEMCAP and ECRA (European Cement Research Academy) are organizing its 2^nd joint workshop on CO₂ capture technologies in cement industries in Düsseldorf, November 6-7. The programme covers advances in CEMCAP research, results from the CO₂ storage pilot in Ketzian and also the Norcem full-scale CCS project, the H2020 LEILAC project and the ECRA CCS project. The workshop begins on November 6 with an informal light buffet dinner and a poster session, and continues on November 7 with presentations. A preliminary agenda can be found on the CEMCAP webpage. The interest in the workshop has been high and it is already fully booked, but presentations and posters will be posted on the CEMCAP website after November 7.

The CEMCAP comparative framework for cement plant CO₂ capture-technologies

CEMCAP has developed a framework for comparative techno-economic analysis for evaluation of four different CO₂ capture technologies for application in cement plants. It defines a reference cement kiln with description of the main unit, and characteristics of raw material and flue gas. The framework document is now publically available on the CEMCAP webpage. The framework has also received attention from IEAGHG (International energy agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme), with a short comparison of this and another deliverable on MEA with their own report on CCS for the cement industry. The contents of the CEMCAP framework is also described in a #SINTEFblog on from the TCCS-9 conference that took place in Trondheim on June 12-14 this year.

Flowsheet of the reference cement plant utilised within the CEMCAP project.

We encourage any parties working on or interested in CO₂ capture from cement plants to explore the framework and share your experience and ideas for improvements.

Completion of oxyfuel testing

The testing of oxyfuel technologies in CEMCAP, performed by VDZ, IKN GmbH, HeidelbergCement,and University of Stuttgart is entering its final phase. Besides completion of the oxyfuel clinker cooler tests described in the previous newsletter, CEMCAP researchers have since then completed the oxyfuel burner and calciner tests. These tests constitute milestones in the advancement of cement oxyfuel technologies, and thereby for bringing the European cement industry towards low-emission cement production. The results of the tests will posted online by the end of 2017. Meanwhile, CEMCAP has produced a film of the oxyfuel clinker cooler, which will soon be available on YouTube!

From testing of the oxyfuel clinker cooler technology at VDZ's premises. See also the webpage of VDZ.

CSI/ECRA Technology Papers 2017

An important report on technological advances on energy efficiency and CO₂ abatement for cement plants has recently been released. The report, co-authored by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) and ECRA, comprises 52 individual technology papers and also 7 papers, summarizing the state-of-the-art and anticipated development in in thermal and electrical energy efficiency, use of alternative fuels, materials and biomass, reduction of the clinker content in cement, new binding materials, CCS, and CO₂ capture and utilization (CCU). You can read about the report in a press release by ECRA, and download the report from CSI webpage.

ZEP report on CLIMATE solutions for EU industry

The European Zero Emission Technology & Innovation Platform (ZEP) has launched a new report entitled “Climate solutions for EU industry: interaction between electrification, CO₂ use and CO₂ storage”. The report recommends that it is critical to complement decarbonized electrification and CCU of energy-intensive industries with CO₂ capture and storage to obtain the necessary scale of CO₂ abatement. This supports the importance of CEMCAP's mission: "Prepare the ground for large-scale CO₂ capture in the European cement industry".

ZEP serves as advisor to the European Commission on the research, demonstration and deployment of CCS. CEMCAP Executive Board member Rob van der Meer (HeidelbergCement) has contributed to the report.

CEMCAP publications and conference presentations

CEMCAP researches regularly participates on conferences and workshops to disseminate results. All presentations are made available at the webpage after the conferences, while associated papers can be downloaded freely from publishers through open access. During the past months, CEMCAP has among other participated on the following events:

• The 4th Post-Combustion-Capture-Conference, organised by IEAGHG, where progress on the chilled-ammonia process for cement plants was presented. See also the blog by IEAGHG.

• The 9^th Trondheim Conference On CCS (TCCS9), with several presentations and posters on results from CEMCAP.

• High Temperature Solid Looping Cycles Network meeting, Luleå, Sweden, with two presentations (link) on calcium looping.

• The Future of Cement Symposium in Paris, with poster presentation.

The first peer-reviewed paper from CEMCAP has been published in Industry & Engineering Chemistry Research. The paper describes results and analysis of bench-mark calcium looping testing on a retrofitted 30 kWth testing facility at CSIC-INCAR in Oviedo, Spain. The paper can be freely downloaded from ACS webpages through open access.

CEMCAP deliverables

A number of deliverables from CEMCAP have been approved and made publically available. These are:

• D3.2 CEMCAP framework for comparative techno-economic analysis of CO2 capture from cement plants.

• D4.1: Design and performance of CEMCAP cement plant without CO2 capture.

• D4.2 Design and performance of CEMCAP cement plant with MEA post combustion capture.

• D8.1: Status Report on Calciner Technology.

• D12.1 Results from 30 kWth CaL CFB experiments.

• D12.2 CO₂ capture from cement production.

At the CEMCAP results webpage, both abstracts and full reports of deliverables can be downloaded. CEMCAP deliverables will also be uploaded to the CEMCAP community in the open repository Zenodo.

CEMCAP progress: Post-combustion technologies

In addition to the major progress in testing of oxyfuel technologies for cement plants, CEMCAP researchers are also making advances in analytical and experimental testing of post-capture technologies.

Intensive work is taking place in the lab of SINTEF Energy Research to prepare for pilot-scale testing of membrane-assisted CO₂ liquefaction (MAL). These lab facilities will provide the basis for experimental investigation of how to integrate and optimally operate membrane separation and low-temperature separation as a hybrid CO₂ post-combustion technology. You can read more about the MAL technology and lab facilities in newsletter four.

Preparations of the low-temperature CO₂ liquefaction rig.

 For the chilled ammonia process, experimental campaigns during the last months have investigated the removal of SO₂ from the flue gas as a previous step to the CO₂ capture process. Two different aqueous solutions have been studied as SO₂ absorbents: a caustic and an ammonia solution. In both cases, the influence of the liquid flowrate and solution pH on the SO₂ removal have been studied. As a main result, it has been found that the SO₂ contained in the cement plant flue gas can be removed in a direct contact cooler (DCC) before addressing the capture of CO₂ in the main absorber.