Producing a greener cement

Aiming at recovering and re­cycling CO₂ produced by the clinker process, the Gargenville plant, one of the ten cement plants of Italcementi Group in France, has started to cultivate microalgae from the process of producing clinker. Microalgae can be extensively used to capture CO₂ from the cement plant and the resulting algal biomass can be used in oil production, converted into biodiesel or bioplastics, or act as a renewable replacement for coal when the latter is dry.