Air Liquide and Holcim have signed a new agreement to advance large-scale carbon capture at Holcim\u2019s near-zero cement facility in Obourg, Belgium, pushing the project from concept into a more concrete delivery phase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deal centers on deploying industrial-grade capture technology alongside process changes at the kiln \u2013 a combination aimed at tackling the cement sector\u2019s structurally hard-to-abate emissions.<\/p>\n
At the core of the collaboration is an oxyfuel-ready clinker line, supplied with oxygen by Air Liquide<\/a> and paired with the company\u2019s proprietary Cryocap\u2122 OXY capture system.\u00a0<\/p>\n By replacing ambient air with oxygen in the combustion process, the exhaust stream becomes highly concentrated in CO2, lowering the energy penalty of capture. The captured gas is slated for transport via pipeline to a regional export hub, such as the Antwerp@C cluster in Antwerp, before shipment for permanent storage beneath the North Sea.<\/p>\n From pilot concepts to bankable infrastructure<\/p>\n The agreement marks a critical step toward turning the Obourg site into one of Europe\u2019s first large-scale near-zero cement plants, with an annual capture capacity of around 1.1 million tons of CO2.<\/p>\n The project sits within Holcim<\/a>\u2019s GO4ZERO investment program, which aims to put the company on track for climate-neutral cement production in Belgium by the end of the decade, in line with the European Union\u2019s 2050 net-zero objective.<\/p>\n Still, the pathway to final approval remains conditional. A final investment decision will hinge on additional partnerships across the CO2 value chain, from transport and shipping to storage access, as well as public-sector backing. Developers continue to flag the need for enabling regulation around shared CO2 infrastructure and de-risking mechanisms to unlock private capital at the scale required.<\/p>\n