The U.S. Department of Energy awarded CEMEX USA and non-profit research institute RTI International a $3.7-million cooperative agreement to help fund a carbon capture study at CEMEX’s Balcones cement plant in New Braunfels, Texas.
The front-end engineering design (FEED) study is expected to determine and assess the overall costs of the integration of a commercial-scale carbon capture system into the manufacturing process. The system will have the capacity to capture 670,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
During the 18-month study, the project team will also evaluate CO2 capture from cement flue gas redirected into a tower for reaction with RTI’s non-aqueous solvent (NAS) technology with a 95% CO2 capture efficiency.
The $4.6 million FEED study is the second grant-backed initiative at the Balcones plant since 2020. The plant recently concluded a carbon-capture study that examined the use of membrane technology.
“CEMEX has ambitious CO2 reduction goals, and we remain committed to exploring technologies that can help us meet our targets as we build a more sustainable future,” said CEMEX USA President Jaime Muguiro. “We are striving to cut emissions across all our operations, and this study with RTI is one of the many steps CEMEX is taking to achieve our objectives.”
CEMEX and RTI are also currently conducting a second carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) study at the former’s Victorville, Calif., cement plant. The study, backed by a separate grant, is examining the costs associated with the implementation of a NAS carbon capture system with a modular design.
