Cement is a key component of concrete, the world's second mostconsumed material, and it is widely used in modern infrastructure.Cement production is also one of the largest single CO2emitting industries, making it subject to increasing environmentalpressure as more net-zero pledges are announced.

About half of the CO2 emissions in cement productionare due to the inevitable chemical process of calcination while theremaining comes from the energy-intensive heat needed for theprocess. A recent report by Clean Energy Technology at IHS Markitbenchmarked multiple decarbonization pathways currently availablefor the cement industry. Results show that, from all availableoptions, CCUS is by far the solution with the highest mitigationpotential since this technology significantly and directly reducesCO2 from the calcination process.

However, adding CCUS to cement production currently more thandoubles the cost of cement; hence, a wide range of capturetechnologies, with different degrees of technology readiness, arebeing tested globally with the objective to reduce capture cost.Currently, multiple CO2 capture technologies are plannedto start operations in large-scale projects, including therelatively developed post-combustion amine scrubbing, oxy-fuelcombustion, and other emerging CCUS options, such as cryogenic,solid sorbent, membranes. Despite the cost reduction the newtechnologies could bring, policy support will still be required toincentivize these projects. Thus, there is no surprise to see thatregions with defined policy support like Europe are leading thepipeline of CCUS projects in the cement industry globally.

Europe emerges as a leader for first CCUS projects inthe cement industry

The CCUS pipeline of projects for the cement industry is mainlya story of European cement manufacturers. Europe not only accountsfor 56% of the CCUS projects in the cement industry, but also twoEuropean players - LafargeHolcim and Heidelberg cement -are leading 73% of the CCUS projects for the industryglobally.

These companies are leading efforts to decarbonize the industry,anticipating the critical role that CCUS can play in the industry,and the potential costs associated with untackled emissions thatcould lie ahead if they don't decarbonize their operations. Infact, the European emissions trading system (EU-ETS) will start thephase-out of free allowances in 2026 through 2030, which willrepresent a significant cost for cement manufacturers goingforward. However, if decarbonization solutions are in place,producers could significantly reduce the emission cost of theiroperation.

An analysis from IHS Markit shows that the investment in capturetechnologies such as oxy-fuel combustion, calcium looping and aminescrubbing in Europe could offset the emission costs from EU-ETSbeyond 2035, which could be a significant incentive for cementmanufacturers to implement decarbonization technologies such asCCUS in their operations.

There is no doubt that policy support is needed to decarbonizethe cement industry, and although Europe seems to be moving in theright direction, the region only accounts for 4% of the globalcement production. If we want to see a significant change, mainlandChina - the main cement producer globally with more than 50% of theglobal cement production- will have to put the right policy inplace to accelerate the decarbonization of the Chinese cementindustry.

To learn more on this topic, request freeaccess to our Global Clean Energy Technology service on the Climateand Sustainability Hub here.

Posted 26 July 2022 by Edurne zoco, Executive Director, Clean Technology & Renewables, S&P Global Commodity Insights and

Paola Perez Pena, Principal Research Analyst, Gas Power and Climate Solutions, S&P Global Commodity Insights and

Yufei Li, Sr. Research Analyst, Global Clean Energy Technology (CET), IHS Markit

This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

Excerpt from:

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is the technology with the highest mitigation potential to decarbonize the cement industry - IHS Markit