'We are fully committed to rapidly halving CO2 emissions from cement production'

Ecocem, founded over twenty years ago in Ireland by Donal O'Riain, took a global leadership role as early as 2002 with the start-up of low-carbon cement production at its Dutch site. Ecocem currently produces 2.4 million tons of low-carbon cement annually, at its four European production sites. Late last year, Ecocem announced ACT, a breakthrough, scalable low-carbon technology that can deliver up to 70% reduction in CO2. Currently, the technology is undergoing industrial testing. Ecocem will make this technology, which has the potential to permanently change the industry, available to the cement industry through licensing. The research breakthrough is the result of a long and intensive research process at its research center near Paris. Annually, Ecocem spends 1.5% of its total sales here on R&D. Ecocem employs more than 200 people, including as many as 30 in the research department. 

O'Riain: "The figures on the environmental impact of cement are disturbing to say the least. The production of Portland clinker as a binder for concrete alone accounts for over 7% of total global carbon emissions! Although cement accounts for only a good 10% of concrete volume, it still accounts for nearly 90% of polluting carbon emissions. Definitely an important factor to consider. And this has everything to do with the burning process of the basic raw material limestone. The high processing temperatures of more than 1,400°C consume a lot of energy and the whole process emits significant amounts of carbon."

"To make the production process of cement, and by extension concrete, more environmentally friendly, we started looking for alternatives to the polluting limestone fraction," says O'Riain. "Currently, in addition to a greatly reduced amount of Portland clinker, we are using ground blast furnace slag from the steel industry, among other things, for this purpose. The ground slag provides a better and faster reaction with water and leads to a stronger end product. ACT, the new technology, can be applied to a wide range of low-carbon alternatives to clinker, including BFS, limestone, natural pozzolans, other steel slag and burnt clay. Important here is that the new raw materials and technologies are scalable and do not shift the emissions problem to other industries."

Other technologies, such as Carbon Capture capture techniques that capture and neutralize CO2 via modified pre- or post-combustion in the cement kilns can also positively affect the ecological picture of the cement industry, but these require expensive and complex interventions in the production process and are therefore currently difficult to implement.

In its own report, "Cement: increased ambitions, reduced emissions," Ecocem makes it clear that sitting still and waiting is not an option. The company has developed scalable solutions to enable the 50% reduced carbon emissions by 2030. Says O'Riain, "With our ACT (Advanced Cement Technology) carbon reduction solution, we are making it possible to achieve the 70% reduction by 2035. In developing it, we did not go overnight but our R&D department worked closely with universities and leading companies such as Saint-Gobain. In doing so, ACT also represents an incentive for the industry to ACT now, before it is too late. The impact of using ACT on the total cost of production will be minimal. The alternative is at least financially less attractive: an expected 80% increase in the cost of allowances for those who fail to meet emissions standards."

O'Riain: "Already in 2022, we started producing and selling GGBS in the Netherlands. As a bridgehead, an obvious choice to access the Benelux, the largest and densest cement market in Europe with a long tradition in cement with low CO2 emissions. In fact, the Dutch market is currently the most advanced in Europe in this field. With this experience in the Benelux, we are perfectly placed to decarbonize cement on a larger scale. In the Netherlands, as well as elsewhere, we will license other cement companies to use our technology and provide technical support to ensure the best possible results. We also have an extensive program of demonstration projects in the pipeline, in collaboration with partners in cement, concrete and construction, to prepare for the large-scale rollout of Ecocem's low-carbon technology from the middle of this decade."

O' Riain: "Ecocem must take leadership responsibility in accelerating cement decarbonization. However, there are limits to the scale we can achieve. The role of other stakeholders is at least as crucial. The EU must expand its support for decarbonization beyond CCS and respond quickly. While CCS/CCUS is clearly part of any decarbonization solution, it makes more sense to prevent CO2 production in the first place. The EU should also accelerate the reduction of free allowances for CO2 emissions from cement production. EU and national authorities responsible for standards should accelerate changes to remove barriers to the use of low-CO2 cement. Finally, the cement industry must make the transition to low-CO2 technology at a rapid pace. The scale and speed of change are unprecedented. The answer must be coherent thinking and coordinated action among all stakeholders."

Thanks to pathfinders like Ecocem, a bright future is in store for building with concrete, long the most widely used building material and soon one of the most environmentally friendly.