Italian energy company Italgas has partnered with cement producer Buzzi Unicem to help the company decarbonise the production of cement using power to gas and carbon capture systems.
The two companies will conduct a study in which they will combine power to gas and carbon capture at Buzzi Unicem’s production facilities for decarbonisation of cement and concrete production.
Synthetic methane will be produced from green hydrogen acquired during the power to gas process and carbon emissions released and trapped during the production processes will be used to power Buzzi Unicem’s cement and concrete plants.
Italgas will leverage its experience gained in projects implemented in Sardinia where the company produced green hydrogen from a power to gas system, which was used to decarbonise transport and energy-intensive industries.
The collaboration falls under efforts by the two companies to ensure environmental sustainability whilst expanding their presence in the low-carbon energy business sector.
Paolo Gallo, the CEO of Italgas said: “We strongly believe in Power to Gas technology and in its strategic contribution to the energy transition in terms of sector coupling.
“The production of hydrogen from renewable sources enables the use of gas networks in the dual function of carrier and energy storage asset, ensuring greater flexibility to the system. The agreement represents a great opportunity for us to take a further step forward in the study of innovative solutions and technological best practices.
“Therefore, we are pleased to share with Buzzi Unicem the know-how we have developed in the design of the Italgas P2G plant that will be built in Sardinia, creating the first technological showcase of the green hydrogen production chain in Italy”.
Luigi Buzzi, group technical director at Buzzi Unicem added, “We are very interested in the opportunity to collaborate with Italgas as an experienced partner to develop a project that is fully integrated into our industrial investment plan aimed at identifying technologies for capturing and reusing the CO2 released by our plants, in line with the roadmaps defined by industry associations.
“Our aim is to responsibly contribute to containing climate change by developing CO2 capture technologies and identifying the best solutions for its reuse. We are currently experimenting with Calcium Looping technology for capturing the carbon dioxide released by the production process at our plant in Vernasca (PC).
“Thanks to the EU Horizon 2020 project “CLEANKER” (CLEAN- clinKER), it will be possible to assess the technical and economic sustainability of this technology and estimate the changes to the plant and the investments required to adopt this process in existing cement plants. We are ready to face the ecological transition with great determination and motivated to start the Power to Gas project with Italgas soon, hoping that this new technology can be adopted on a large scale in the future.”
