In Athens, the Greek Capital, a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for IFESTOS, the Carbon Capture Project was signed by thyssenkrupp and TITAN Group. Right now IFESTOS is one of the largest carbon capture projects within Europe and the purpose of it is to make the production of zero-carbon cement and concrete possible.

The agreement was signed at a signing ceremony and this was attended by Marcel Cobuz, Chairman of TITAN Group Executive Committee, Samir Cairae, Chief Technology Officer of TITAN Group, Leonidas Canellopoulos, Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer of TITAN Group, Dr. Cetin Nazikkol, Chief Strategy Officer at thyssenkrupp Decarbon Technologies and Christian Myland, CEO thyssenkrupp Polysius.

Altogether the new contract means that thyssenkrupp will be able to design and equip the two kiln lines of the Kamari cement plant with oxyfuel systems, so that they are suitable for carbon dioxide capture. Utilising this kind of technology will mean that it will be possible to reduce the plant’s CO2 emissions almost entirely. At the moment, it has been scheduled that the plant will go into full operation by the end of 2029.

Once it has been captured, the next step in the process is for the CO2 to be liquefied and then transported to a place in the Mediterranean region, which is where it will be permanently stored. This would mean that thyssenkrupp’s technology would become the starting point for the development of an important CCS value chain within southern Europe.

The pure oxyfuel technology was developed by thyssenkrupp Polysius and the basic point of this technology is to separate the carbon dioxide that is produced into a kiln plant from the exhaust gases generated by cement factories, which means that this CO2 would be prevented from entering the atmosphere. In order to make this possible, during the combustion process, pure oxygen is used in place of ambient air. By combining this technique with downstream treatment, it has become possible to capture almost 100% of CO2 emissions from cement clinker production.

After this, the next step involves treating the separated gas, in order to make high-purity CO2. Once this has occurred, the high-purity CO2 can then go on to be used as feedstock within the chemical industry, or alternatively it could be utilised as a raw material in other industries. Another option is that it could be stored.

Chief Strategy Officer at thyssenkrupp Decarbon Technologies, Dr. Cetin Nazikkol, commented, “With the oxyfuel technology we have developed, around 1.9 million tons of CO2 can be captured annually at the Kamari plant alone. This corresponds to around twelve percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from Greek industry. We are thus making a significant contribution to one of the largest CO2 capture projects in Europe.”

Chairman of TITAN Group Executive Committee, Marcel Cobuz, mentioned, “This partnership further advances our efforts to achieve net-zero emissions and produce zero-carbon cement. We are committed to driving meaningful decarbonization initiatives that align with our vision for a sustainable future. IFESTOS is a complex project and we are aligning multiple stake-holders across the value chain at fast pace. It is currently the largest carbon capture project in Europe and is expected to have a highly positive impact in advancing our sustainability targets and offering green cements as modern materials for infrastructure and housing.”

Chief Technology Officer of TITAN Group, Samir Cairae added, “TITAN is harnessing cutting-edge carbon capture technologies in collaboration with global leaders who share our commitment to green innovation. The agreement with our partners on conducting this particular FEED study on oxyfuel technology is the next step in the technical implementation of the IFESTOS project and establishes that we are moving systematically closer to our target. We are proud to be at the forefront of our industry’s technological transition to a more sustainable future.”