Heidelberg presses on with zero-carbon cement factory

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Worley have won the engineering, procurement, and construction management contract to deliver the Padeswood carbon capture and storage plant – a key piece of infrastructure that will unlock the production of EvoZero cement.

With the signing of the EPCM deal, construction will be able to begin at Heidelberg Materials’ CCS facility before the end of the year. This will line up the manufacture of EvoZero by 2029.

The Tokyo-headquartered MHI and Sydney-headquartered Worley are both familiar with the project, having been brought on to do the front-end engineering design study in 2024.

Cement, one of the most important building materials, is responsible for between 7% and 8% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions due to its carbon-heavy production process.

However, Heidelberg is hoping to cut down on this dramatically when making EvoZero. It will accomplish this by using MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process for carbon capture – with Padeswood set to be the first facility in Europe to do so.

Heidelberg will utilise this method to capture around 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually from the cement production process. This will then be sent via the HyNet pipeline to be stored in the depleted gas fields under Liverpool Bay.

Development of the CCS facility is set to create 50 permanent jobs at Padeswood and secure an additional 200 existing ones. It will support up to 500 jobs during the construction phase, according to Heidelberg.

Tatsuto Nagayasu, senior vice president of green transformation solutions at MHI, said: “We are proud to support Heidelberg Materials in realizing the UK’s first full-scale carbon capture facility in the cement sector.

“Using our Advanced KM CDR Process™, this project will play a leading role in decarbonising one of the most challenging industrial sectors,” Nagayasu continued.

“Together with Worley, we look forward to delivering this landmark CCS facility that will contribute to the long-term resilience of UK industry and help fulfil the country’s net zero ambitions.”

Worley’s chief executive, Chris Ashton, added that his company was “proud” to be part of helping the UK meet its net zero goals.

“Our role in this project reflects our ability to enable sustainable industrial solutions and leverage our global expertise in delivery for complex energy and infrastructure projects,” Ashton said.