Workshop on the prerequisites for CO₂ infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia
Today VDZ is hosting the workshop “CO₂-Infrastruktur in NRW” in Duesseldorf as part of the IN4climate.NRW initiative. The event provides participants of industry, science, politics and civil society with an opportunity to discuss the prospects for the establishment of CO₂ infrastructure in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, within the context of climate protection. “The capture, transportation, use and possibly also the storage of CO₂ will play an important role in the reduction of process-related CO₂ emissions in the cement industry,” emphasises VDZ Chief Executive Dr Martin Schneider.
Participants at this workshop will consider which prerequisites would make the establishment of CO2 infrastructure in NRW beneficial and necessary. Findings from various disciplines and the perspectives of different stakeholders will be taken into account here. “It is not enough to consider these issues from the technical viewpoint alone. Instead, we also need to address economic framework conditions and societal concerns at an early stage,” says Martin Schneider.
The workshop will deal with the following focal areas: CO2 reduction technologies in cement and steel production, and regional and international prospects for CO2 management in NRW will be presented in the “CO2 sources and sinks” subject module. After this, experience with “CO2 storage and transport/infrastructure” in Germany and “Planning and legal framework conditions” will be the focus. The module of “Societal awareness and prerequisites” will then deal with the important question of the societal acceptance of CO2 transport and CO2 storage.
The European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) and VDZ have been carrying out research for the cement industry for over ten years on suitable technologies for CO2 capture. “Thanks in part to these efforts, a number of carbon capture processes have already been developed to such an extent that we will soon be able to test them on a full scale,” explains Dr Martin Schneider. The sector is also currently involved in various so-called power-to-X projects in which the capture of CO2 and its use in the form of fuel is to be tested over the coming years.
IN4climate.NRW is a platform for industry, science and politics in NRW that is working to develop strategies for climate-neutral industry. It was initiated by Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy (MWIDE) of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. VDZ is supporting the IN4climate.NRW initiative as a link to the cement industry and is also a partner in the initiatives scientific competence centre SCI4climate.NRW.
15 German cement manufacturers with a total of 46 cement plants are members of VDZ. In Germany, the industry generates an annual turnover of over 2.8 billion euros and employs around 8,100 people.
Further information on the workshop is available in German at https://vdz.info/8leq0.
