LEILAC

LEILAC, which stands for Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement, is a technology group focused on decarbonizing the cement and lime industries. It originated in 2014 when Australian environmental technology company Calix patented its unique calcination technology for this specific application. Recognizing the collaborative effort required, Calix formed a consortium with major industrial and academic partners, which led to the creation of the LEILAC-1 project in 2016.

The core of LEILAC's business is the licensing and deployment of its breakthrough carbon capture technology. This technology re-engineers the calcination process, a major source of emissions in cement and lime production where limestone (CaCO3) is heated to produce lime (CaO) and CO2. LEILAC's Direct Separation Reactor indirectly heats the raw material inside a special steel tube. This design keeps the process CO2 released from the limestone separate from the furnace's combustion gases, resulting in a nearly pure stream of CO2 that can be captured without significant energy penalties or the need for additional chemicals. The captured CO2 is then ready for utilization or geological storage. The business model involves licensing the technology to cement and lime producers, who can then have it installed by their preferred engineering firms. Clients are the major players in the cement and lime industries, which are responsible for approximately 8% of global CO2 emissions.

The journey began with the LEILAC-1 pilot plant, launched in 2016 and built at a Heidelberg Materials (formerly HeidelbergCement) facility in Lixhe, Belgium. The €21 million project, supported by a €12 million grant from the EU's Horizon 2020 program, successfully demonstrated the technology's effectiveness, separating CO2 with over 95% purity. Following this success, the LEILAC-2 project was initiated in 2020 with an additional €16 million in EU funding. This second phase aims to build a demonstration plant at a Heidelberg Materials facility in Hanover, Germany, designed to capture about 20% of the plant's process emissions, or 100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. In June 2024, LEILAC and Heidelberg Materials formed a joint venture for the construction and operation of the Leilac-2 plant, with construction planned for 2025 and commissioning in 2026. The modular technology is designed to be retrofittable, scalable, and flexible with various energy sources, including electricity, hydrogen, and alternative fuels, positioning it as a critical pathway to carbon-neutral cement and lime.

Keywords: carbon capture, cement decarbonization, lime decarbonization, direct separation technology, indirect calcination, CO2 emissions reduction, process emissions, clinker production, Horizon 2020, Calix technology, industrial decarbonization, green cement, sustainable construction materials, carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), retrofittable technology, low-cost carbon capture, Heidelberg Materials, climate technology, environmental technology, European Union research, industrial emissions