BASF’s gas-treatment technology to be used by Linde and Heidelberg Materials’ large-scale CO2-capture plant

A CO₂ capture process, jointly developed by Heidelberg Materials, Linde GmbH (Pullach) and BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, all Germany), and based on BASF’s advanced OASE blue technology, will be used for the first time at a large-scale CO₂-capture facility operated by Capture-to-Use (CAP2U) – a new joint venture (JV) established by Heidelberg Materials and Linde. The plant will be the world’s first industrial-scale carbon capture and utilization (CCU) facility. Around 70,000 tons per year of CO₂ will be captured, purified and liquefied. Linde will sell the majority of the resulting liquid CO₂ as a feedstock for the chemicals industry and into the food and beverage end-use markets.

The process will also use the patented OASE aerozone design — a technology that reduces dust and aerosol-induced emissions from the gas flow — in one of its first industrial applications.

“Our portfolio of OASE technologies makes a significant contribution to sustainability and is perfectly suited to help our customers achieve their sustainability targets. This carbon capture and use unit facility has the potential to become a show-case project in a hard-to-abate sector. We are proud to work with Linde and Heidelberg Materials and contribute our more than 50 years of experience in industrial gas treatment and pave the way for a sustainable cement production,” says Andreas Northemann, head of BASF’s global Gas Treatment business.

According to a study by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, the cement industry is responsible for seven percent of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the environmental techniques adopted by the industry, cement production is, and will continue to be, associated with significant amounts of CO₂ generation because it uses a calcination process to treat calcium carbonate (limestone). In contrast to other energy-intensive industries, emissions caused by fuel consumption do not constitute the major part of total emissions. As a result, carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is essential to mitigate these hard-to-abate industrial emissions.