Aalborg I – Carbon Capture from Aalborg Portland

Challenge

Northern Jutland has the highest CO2 emissions per capita, primarily due to the Aalborg Portland cement plant, which emits over 2 million tons of CO2 annually – more than 10 times the amount of the second-largest CO2 emitter in Denmark.

In 2020, the northern Jutland cement plant entered into an agreement with the government to reduce its CO2 emissions by a minimum of 660,000 tons of CO2 by 2030. The company also committed to further reductions to help achieve the common 70% reduction target.

Reducing CO2 emissions is essential, but it is just as important to find a smart way to capture the emissions, store them efficiently, and use them for meaningful purposes. CO2 capture will become one of the key elements for a successful green transition.

Solution

This project is the first step and a necessary part of the value chain to realize Aalborg’s vision of becoming a business hub for CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage). The project involves analyzing and modeling two different CO2 capture technologies: Cryogenic and Amin-based CO2 capture, with the goal of creating a decision-making foundation for selecting the most cost-effective CO2 capture technology for Aalborg Portland. This result will then be used in the design of the CO2 capture hub.

Impact

• A decision-making foundation for selecting CO2 capture technology based on comparable studies of the most relevant technologies.
• Design of a CO2 capture hub project, including expected operational data, economic efficiency, and infrastructure design with a focus on sector coupling around the CO2 capture plant at Portland in Aalborg.
• An investigation into the potential for providing system services from a cryogenic CO2 capture plant and the possibility of achieving the necessary purity of CO2 from this type of plant. This is done through participation in DOE-supported trials with cryogenic CO2 capture at a cement plant in Missouri, USA.

The project is part of the northern Jutland business hub, CO2Vision, which is managed by a consortium consisting of Energy Cluster Denmark, Erhvervshus Nordjylland, Aalborg University, Aalborg Portland A/S, Arbejdsmarkedskontor Midt/Nord, Business Region North Denmark, Green Hub Denmark, EVIDA, and the EU office of North Denmark.

CO2Vision is funded by REACT-EU funds.
You can learn more about CO2Vision here: www.co2vision.dk.