Cemex USA has been awarded $1.1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate a dry sorbent CO2 capture technology at one of its cement plants in the U.S. The commercial-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) demonstration project is expected to store up to 1 million tons of CO2.
Cemex, in partnership with RTI International, will design and construct a dry sorbent CO2 capture and compression system, an injection station, and pipeline, if needed. The company will fund 20 percent of Phase I of the CCS project.
The DOE is also funding 11 other CCS systems in industrial plants that include paper mills, chemical plants, manufacturing plants, refineries and cement plants, aimed at significantly reducing greenhouse gases at these types of industrial plants, reports ArticleSnatch.com.
After completion of Phase 1, which is about seven months, the projects will undergo a competitive analysis for additional funding for design, construction and operation.
In March 2009, Cemex was awarded Energy Star Partner of the Year by the DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 115,000 metric tons. Cemex says by participating in the CCS project it will further reduce its carbon emissions, and in the future, the cement industry, reports ArticleSnatch.com. Click here for other environmental awards.
Meanwhile, carbon capture and sequestration for coal-fired utilities has made some headway over the past year in part due to federal and state funding.
A recent audit, conducted by Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, finds that CCS projects face a high risk of failure due to their high costs and should be implemented across many sectors to achieve a higher rate of success.
