Mumbai, June 29 -- Ambuja Cements has entered a partnership with UK based clean technology company Leilac to develop a commercial scale low carbon cement production project at its Sanghipuram plant in Gujarat's Kutch district. The collaboration will assess Leilac's carbon capture and hybrid electrification technology at the company's six point six million tonnes per annum (mn t per annum) Sanghi facility. The initiative is presented as part of Ambuja Cements' long term decarbonisation strategy aligned with its Science Based Targets initiative validated commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The project is designed to reduce process carbon emissions, lower fuel consumption and increase the use of renewable electricity across manufacturing operations. Ambuja Cements indicated it is continuing efforts to increase electrification of cement manufacturing processes and to expand the use of renewable energy across its operations. The transition is supported by nearly one gigawatt of captive green power capacity which the company said would underpin higher electrification.

Ambuja Cements said combining greater electrification with carbon capture technologies would help improve the economics of capture projects and make large scale deployment more commercially viable for the cement sector. The company described the demonstration as a commercial scale pilot aimed at showing a low cost route to lower carbon cement production that could be replicated across the industry. The assessment at the Sanghi plant will measure emissions reduction, energy performance and integration with existing operations.

Ambuja Cements stated that a successful demonstration would allow the facility to be scaled up seven to eight times and to capture more than one mn t of carbon dioxide annually, a scale that would place it among the largest industrial carbon capture facilities globally. The partnership follows growing pressure on cement manufacturers to tackle emissions from one of the most carbon intensive industrial processes. The company said the collaboration reflects its commitment to evaluating next generation technologies and to pursue sustainable long term growth.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.