Business Update: July 2023

Air Liquide and carbon capture

Industrial gases company, Air Liquide, and cement producer, Holcim, co-applied for the European Innovation Fund in hopes of deploying Air Liquide’s Cryocap carbon capture technology at Holcim’s site in Belgium.

A little CO₂ capture context. When it comes to point-source CO₂ capture, there is really only one proven method of getting it done: the selective absorption of CO₂ into aqueous amine-based solution and subsequent desorption. Air Liquide’s cryogenic process works a bit differently — at a high level, they’re basically cooling down fluegas and turning CO₂ into dry ice, and then filtering out the solid CO₂.

What’s the connection between fluegas and cement? Cement is made by grinding up cement clinker, and cement clinker is made by reacting lime (calcium oxide) with silicon, aluminum, and ferric oxides in a very hot kiln. Firing that kiln burns natural gas, which emits CO₂; in addition, lime production emits even more CO₂, because CO₂ is produced when limestone (calcium carbonate) is converted into lime.

Bigger picture. The decarbonization of material production can be thought of as a race between companies developing CO₂ capture technologies, and companies developing ways of making materials without producing CO₂. Air Liquide and Holcim are part of the former camp, and Solidia, who just announced plans to expand production of its CO₂-free cement alternative in San Antonio, TX, is part of...