October 18 (SeeNews) - Construction has started on a full-chain carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project at the Devnya Cement plant in Bulgaria, with a potential commissioning date as early as 2028 subject to regulatory approvals, German parent group Heidelberg Materials said on Wednesday.
The ANRAV.beta pilot unit will be a proof of concept for OxyCal, an innovative carbon capture technology which generates carbon dioxide-rich flue gas with a high degree of purity that can be reused or safely stored, Heidelberg Materials, which is developing the project in partnership with Petroceltic Bulgaria, said in a press release.
Construction of the pilot unit is slated to take several months, while the demonstration period is expected to last between 12 and 24 months. The project, a first in Eastern Europe, will eventually cover carbon capture, transport, geological storage and utilisation.
The ANRAV project was approved last year to get an EU grant of 190 million euro ($201.1 million) and will also receive private financing. The facility is expected to have a capture capacity of about 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, according to an earlier statement. Plans have been made for offshore permanent storage in Petroceltic's depleted Galata gas field in the Black Sea.
The pilot project is seen as a way to showcase an economically viable way to decarbonise carbon-intensive industries in Eastern Europe and will contribute to fulfilling Bulgaria's carbon emission reduction goals. The coal-reliant Balkan country is still grappling with efforts to comply with EU carbon emissions targets while preserving mining jobs and guaranteeing its energy security.
In January, Heidelberg Materials set out to build a hybrid carbon capture unit at its Belgian Antoing cement plant using the OxyCal technology, with the aim of supplying over 15 million tonnes of carbon-free cement to the construction market in the first ten years of operation.
($ = 0.9448 euro)