HeidelbergCement Group hosted international conference on Carbon Capture and Storage
Over 130 international experts from across industry, academia and government gathered on 07.02.-08.02.2018 at the inaugural “Innovation in Industrial Carbon Capture Conference” in Oupeye/Belguim.
The two-day event was organised by the LEILAC (Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement) Consortium, a European Union Horizon 2020 backed research and innovation project.
The wide-ranging agenda was designed to encourage discussion and knowledge sharing across key stakeholder groups with a strategic interest in innovation in carbon capture technology. As part of the programme, the wider challenges faced by the cement and lime sectors in Europe were also explored focusing on how EU industry can contribute to reaching climate change targets, the role of innovation and company entrepreneurship and a knowledge exchange fair on technology.
The Leilac Consortium, which consists of representatives from the lime and cement industries, key technology and engineering providers and research institutes, has set up an industrial project securing €12 million EU funding in order to demonstrate technology to reduce carbon emissions from cement and lime industries. Centrepiece of this project is a demonstration facility at the HeidelbergCement plant in Lixhe/Belgium.
A highlight of the conference programme was the official ground breaking ceremony to mark the construction phase of the Leilac project’s pilot plant, which will see Calix’s carbon capture technology demonstrated for two years at an operational HeidelbergCement plant in Lixhe.
Mr. Christoph Streicher, General Manager of HeidelbergCement Benelux: “For years, the HeidelbergCement Group, parent company of CBR, has been working hard to continuously decrease its environmental footprint. Thanks to these efforts, the company has already come a long way to reduce the carbon emissions from its production process. However, to remain competitive and to meet the climate change goals, further improvement is necessary. We believe, carbon capture is an important part of the solution and that’s the reason why we signed up for this ambitious project and are very happy to support this conference.“