GeZero: on the path to Germany’s first fully decarbonised cement plant 

Geseke will be one of the first European cement plants able to produce carbon captured net-zero cement and clinker. Once GeZero has been implemented, the facility will have the capacity to capture around 700,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. This is equivalent to about 3.5 per cent of the annual emissions of the German cement industry or the yearly average carbon footprint of just under 66,700 people in Germany (calculated based on data underlying the Federal Environment Agency carbon calculator, 2023). 

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the concept of capturing CO₂ emissions produced from the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation and industrial processes, preventing the carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and storing it permanently in suitable geological formations underground. Several technologies are in use to capture CO₂ from different sources of emissions. 

Carbon capture is the process of removing CO₂ from large emission sources. The purpose of carbon capture is to limit the release of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere by capturing the CO₂ and then either using it or storing it safely. Carbon capture & storage (CCS) refers to the process of capturing, transporting, and storing CO₂ in suitable geological formations.

Based also on the knowledge gained in Brevik, Heidelberg Materials has launched around a dozen other CCUS projects, some of which come with significantly higher capture rates and will completely decarbonize some of our cement plants already before 2030 (e.g. our plants in Edmonton/Canada, Padeswood/UK, Geseke/Germany, Mitchell/US, etc.).
 

⅔ of the direct CO₂ emissions come from the calcination of limestone into cement clinker during the burning process in the cement kiln. Because we cannot change chemistry, these emissions are unavoidable. CCUS is therefore a prerequisite to achieve net-zero emissions in our sector – and to be able to offer net-zero products.

In addition to our CCS projects aimed at capturing and storing the captured CO₂, we are also investigating, trialing, and scaling various promising options for the utilisation captured CO₂ – in the food industry, to produce synthetic fuels, in the cultivation of microalgae or for the recarbonation of recycled concrete. These applications are in constant development, and the possible applications for captured carbon are evolving rapidly as well. As of today, regulatory framework and potential business cases for CCU applications may be less developed and more challenging than for CCS. For example, in the EU Emissions Trading System and legislation many aspects of CCU need further clarifications.

The production of cement, the “glue” in concrete, is highly carbon-intensive – and as a result, the building materials industry is one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide. Today, CCS is one key lever to significantly reduce otherwise unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions in the cement industry, and to keep CO₂ out of the atmosphere that would otherwise worsen climate change. Other technological solutions are only able to reduce some carbon emissions, not all carbon emissions. 

To transport and store the CO₂, we work with expert partners - in the case of our first project, Brevik CCS, our technology partner Equinor has thorough experience from handling and storing CO₂ in the North Sea. 
CO₂ is usually stored in geological formations deep underground, often at depths of one kilometer or more, either onshore or offshore. The CO₂ will be injected and stored in rock formations at 2,600 meters depth. The geological storage of CO₂ has been in practice for several decades already beneath the North Sea, where nearly 1 Mt CO₂ has been successfully injected annually both the Sleipner field (1 mill tons CO₂ annually since 1996) and the Snøhvit field (appr. 700,000 tons CO₂ annually since 2007) in Norway.

Scientific research shows that the storage of CO₂ on the Norwegian continental shelf is safe, and thorough monitoring measures are in place to verify that there is no CO₂ leakage from the storing. One of the standard monitoring parameters in all CCS projects is to guarantee that no impact is created on the biodiversity in the sea (e.g. by a changing pH value). 

As around 40 Mt tonnes of CO₂ are currently stored annually in all CCS projects worldwide, all these projects must report according to their permits. Up until today, no CCS project had to be stopped due to environmental concerns.

FluidFlower experiment (© Wintershall Dea)

What happens 2,000 metres below the seabed when CO₂ is injected into depleted oil or gas reservoirs? The impressive FluidFlower experiment, developed by the University of Bergen in Norway, demonstrates what you can't normally see. The interesting video from Wintershall Dea shows why CO₂ storage is safe.