Norway has opened the first large-scale carbon capture facility at a cement plant, which will enable the production of the world's first "carbon-free" cement, AFP reported.

The Heidelberg Materials plant in Brevik, in southeastern Norway, can now capture up to 400,000 tons of CO2 per year—50% of its emissions—thanks to amino-based solvents.

Through a "capture and account" system, the company, which is one of the world's largest cement producers and has more than a century of history, will be able to redistribute the profits to its other cement plants and thus offer its customers partially or fully decarbonized products.

"This cement product will have almost zero emissions," said Heidelberg Materials CEO Dominik von Achten.

After being converted into the end product concrete, which absorbs small amounts of CO2 throughout its life cycle, "it will have zero net emissions," he added.

The volume of decarbonized cement sold will depend on the amount of CO2 actually captured in Brevik and the type of cement sold, as the amount of carbon varies from product to product.

But according to Heidelberg Materials, it will be around several hundred thousand tons—a small fraction of the 4.2 billion tons of cement produced worldwide each year.

Cement production alone is responsible for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Association of Cement and Concrete.

The partial decarbonization of the Brevik cement plant is part of the Longship project, supported by the Norwegian government, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Longship project will capture carbon dioxide emitted by industrial sites – the cement plant in Heidelberg and, at a later stage, a waste incineration plant – and transport it by ship to a terminal on the west coast of Norway, where it will be injected and stored under the seabed.

Norway will cover 22 billion kroner of the total estimated cost of 34 billion kroner for installation and operation during the first 10 years.

This is "an extremely important technology that allows us to meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement," said Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland.

"If we want to tackle the climate challenges we face, we must capture CO2, especially in industries where there are no alternatives," he added, citing cement production as an example.

Carbon dioxide capture and storage is supported by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a way to reduce the carbon footprint of industries that are difficult to decarbonize, such as cement and steel production.

However, the technology remains complex and expensive.

Without financial assistance, it is currently more profitable for industries to buy "pollution permits" on the European carbon emissions market than to pay for the capture, transport, and storage of CO2. |BGNES