Leilac and Heidelberg Materials form Joint Venture for Leilac-2

The JV includes a suite of agreements that cover the construction, operation, and future ownership of the Leilac-2 demonstration plant. Construction of the Leilac-2 plant is expected to commence in 2025, and commissioning of the plant is expected to occur in mid-2026.

Daniel Rennie, CEO of Leilac, states, "The formation of a joint venture with Heidelberg Materials for the Leilac-2 plant marks another important milestone for commercialisation of the Leilac technology. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Heidelberg Materials to demonstrate and deploy cost-effective solutions to decarbonise cement production at commercial scale."

Meanwhile, Christian Knell, General Manager of Heidelberg Materials Germany, explains, "The rapid testing and implementation of state-of-the-art carbon capture technology is key to decarbonising the cement industry in Germany. I look forward to the construction start and seeing the Leilac-2 demonstration plant taking shape soon."

The Leilac-2 project aims to demonstrate a replicable module that can efficiently capture up to 100 000 tpy of unavoidable process carbon dioxide emissions released during cement and lime production.

Following construction and commissioning, Leilac-2 will be operated for up to three years to test and demonstrate the performance and operability of the technology.

The Leilac-2 project was awarded funding of €16 million from the European Union’s Horizons 2020 programme and is supported by various cash and in-kind commitments from the project’s consortium partners.

The project timeline remains subject to permitting, with construction expected to occur in 2025 and commissioning in 2026.

Towards full-scale commercial deployment – 'Leilac-3'

Leilac has had a long-standing relationship with Heidelberg Materials. Construction of the Leilac-2 project follows the pilot-scale Leilac-1 project at Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Lixhe, Belgium, which was opened in 2019.

In parallel with the construction of Leilac-2, Heidelberg Materials and Leilac have committed to explore initial steps required for the development of a full-scale commercial installation of the Leilac technology at a Heidelberg Materials cement plant.

Leilac-3 would be the third and final scale up step for the Leilac technology, representing an up to five-fold increase in capture capacity from the demonstration plant. A Leilac-3 plant could potentially process all the host cement plant’s raw material, typically capturing between 0.5 – 1 million tpy of unavoidable process CO₂ emissions, depending on the size of the host plant.

Heidelberg Materials and Leilac have previously signed a global licence agreement. The agreement covers the potential use of the Leilac technology at up to 150 Heidelberg Materials’ cement plants across five continents in case the performance and operability of the technology have been demonstrated successfully.

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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/14062024/leilac-and-heidelberg-materials-form-joint-venture-for-leilac-2/