The work to establish one of Europe’s first fully integrated onshore CCS value chains can now begin. Cement producer Aalborg Portland has announced this milestone following the signing of a DKK 1.6 billion investment from the EU Innovation Fund for the ACCSION project.
As part of the project, Aalborg Portland, in collaboration with its partners, will develop, construct, and operate a CO2 capture plant, expected to achieve an annual CO2e reduction of 1.5 million tons from 2030. This means that the ACCSION project and the new plant will deliver the largest single CO2 reduction in Denmark’s history, making a significant contribution to the country’s national climate targets.
Mission-Driven Projects Have Provided Valuable Experience
Aalborg Portland is a partner in INNO-CCUS, one of the Danish Innovation Fund’s four mission-driven partnerships aimed at accelerating the green transition.
INNO-CCUS brings together key stakeholders in the CCUS sector to develop technologies for capturing, storing, and utilising carbon resources. Two projects under this partnership have contributed to securing the significant new EU investment for Aalborg Portland. Since 2021, the Innovation Fund has invested approximately DKK 354 million in the INNO-CCUS partnership, including funding for roadmap development and research and innovation projects.
“Since 2020, Aalborg Portland has been actively developing its CO2 capture and storage project. A significant contribution has come from the two INNO-CCUS projects, CORT and CASPER, where pilot plants for CO2 capture from Aalborg Portland’s cement production have been set up. These projects have provided valuable experience in operating CO2 capture facilities. At the same time, they have demonstrated to the EU Aalborg Portland’s expertise in CO2 capture,” says Jesper Sand Damtoft, Director of Sustainability at Cementir Holding N.V., Aalborg Portland’s parent company, and Chairman of the Board of INNO-CCUS.
“Other projects based on INNO-CCUS’s roadmap also support full-scale CO2 capture at Aalborg Portland. This particularly applies to projects that explore storage possibilities for CO2 in Denmark’s underground,” adds Jesper Sand Damtoft.Success for Green
Technology Development
Denmark’s four green mission partnerships are guided by individual roadmaps, ensuring that all stakeholders and research and innovation efforts within each mission work towards the same goals.
INNO-CCUS’s roadmap provides a detailed overview of developments, opportunities, and strategic directions Denmark should follow to realize the potential of CCUS technologies. The roadmap maps out the latest breakthroughs in CCUS technologies and outlines clear strategies for scaling them up so that Denmark can achieve its climate ambitions by 2050.
“It is a remarkable success that Aalborg Portland has secured EU funding for large-scale CO2 capture. The fact that the INNO-CCUS partnership and the Innovation Fund have contributed to this success is a strong testament to the value created when we align efforts and work mission-oriented,” says Søren Asp Mikkelsen, Deputy Director of the Innovation Fund.
About the ACCSION Project
The upcoming CO2 capture plant will capture 1.4 million tons of CO2 annually while utilizing excess heat from the capture process to supply district heating in Aalborg—equivalent to heating approximately 19,100 households per year. This will result in an additional 100,000 tons of CO2 reductions annually.
With the ACCSION project, Aalborg Portland will establish one of the first fully integrated onshore CCS value chains in Europe. Additionally, the project will be among the first to capture CO2 from two separate production units (from both the grey and white cement production lines) in a single process. The captured CO2 will be transported via pipeline to a new onshore storage facility, creating a cost-effective and scalable solution for the cement industry.
Aalborg Portland has allocated 50,000 square meters for the CO2 capture plant, which will be one of the largest CCS facilities in Europe.
