Go4zero Plant Produce Tender

Scope : To Build GO4ZERO Plant to Produce Net Zero Cement in Belgium

Building materials company Holcim announced that it has broken ground on its new GO4ZERO plant in Belgium, engineered to produce net zero cement, and supporting European decarbonization goals.

Planned investment in the new plant is expected to reach over €500 million, with the facility engineered to produce 2 million tons of net zero cement annually by 2029.

Building materials are a key source of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cement production, an ingredient in concrete, accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 900 kg of CO2 emissions generated for every 1000 kg of material produced.

In its first phase, the new GO4ZERO project will deploy an air-oxyfuel switchable kiln with carbon purification technology at Holcim’s cement plant in Obourg, Belgium, enabling a 30% emissions intensity reduction. In a subsequent phase of the project, CO2 at the plant will be captured and purified using Cryocap technology from Air Liquide, with the captured CO2 to be sequestered under the North Sea.

The plant will source more than 95% of its energy from alternative fuels, including operating what the company said is Europe’s largest installation of floating solar panels. Additionally, more than 30% of its raw mix will come from partly decarbonized alternative raw material, predominantly waste generated by other industries.

The launch of the new project follows a series of commitments announced by Holcim last year, including a pledge to invest CHF2 billion (USD$2.2 billion) in carbon capture technologies by 2030, and to capture more than 5 million tons of CO2 per year, in addition to a target to reduce its Scope 1 emissions per ton of cementitious material by over 22% by 2030.