Industrial gases company Air Liquide and minerals and lime producer Lhoist have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to decarbonize Lhoist’s lime production plant in Réty, France. The companies plan to use Air Liquide’s carbon capture technology CryocapTM.
Lhoist and Air Liquide have applied for the European Innovation Fund with this project that takes the building of a low-carbon industrial ecosystem a step further.
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Lime is among the hard-to-abate industries as the decomposition of limestone generates CO2. Thanks to the project, the site in Réty – which is the largest in France – would be able to reduce emissions by over 600,000 tons per year starting in 2028, or the equivalent of 55,000 French households.
“Decarbonizing the Industry is at the heart of Air Liquide’s strategy and we are committed to accompanying our customers with a wide range of solutions, in line with our Sustainability Development objectives,” said Pascal Vinet, Senior Vice President, a member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee, supervising Europe Industries.
Using its innovative CryocapTM FG (Flue Gas) technology, Air Liquide will build and employ a unit that can capture and purify 95% of Réty’s CO2 emissions. This will be the first time using CryocapTM for lime production decarbonization in the country.
Once the carbon dioxide is captured, it will be transported to a multimodal CO2 export hub in Dunkirk that is currently in the making, and then sent to the North Sea as part of the D’Artagnan project, which the European Commission has labeled PCI (Project of Common Interest).
“As a leader in the lime industry, we are very proud that for the first time, a lime plant will capture its CO2 emissions and store them in safe conditions,” said Cedric De Vicq, Lhoist CEO Europe.
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The carbon capture initiative is a milestone for France as it could be the beginning of a large-scale deployment of the technology across the country for the decarbonization of lime production. It could be used as a case study for similar future projects demonstrating the efficiency of carbon capture technology.
