For consumers, and for many businesses, the road to Net Zero is simple: replace fossil fuels with electricity, source the electricity from renewable sources, and use it as efficiently as possible,

But this isn’t a road every business can follow. Some have energy requirements so intense, that they cannot be easily powered from the grid. Others produce significant amounts of carbon, not through their fuel use, but through the process itself.

That’s the challenge faced by the minerals processing sector. Facilities like lime kilns burn natural gas to maintain constant temperatures of 850C or more, in a continuous process. They heat lime, or calcium carbonate (CaCO3), to produce quicklime, or calcium oxide (CaO), releasing large volumes of CO2. 

As Tarmac develops its own road map for Net Zero, it is working alongside the Mineral Products Association and the UK government to address these emissions. At Tunstead, it has recently completed a demonstration of hydrogen fuelled lime kilns. And it is helping to develop systems to capture and store carbon dioxide. Along with other innovations across the business, this will help Tarmac and its parent, CRH, reach its Net Zero goals.

Guests

Andy Flanagan, Lime Plant Manager, Tarmac

Diana Casey, Executive Director, Energy and Climate Change, Cement and Lime, Mineral Products Association

Erusa Adizie, Net Zero manager, Tarmac

Fergus Harradence, Deputy Director, Infrastructure, Construction & Rail, UK Department for Business & Trade (DBT)

Resources

Tarmac’s Net Zero Roadmap

UK Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero

UK Hydrogen Net Zero Investment roadmap

UK Hydrogen Strategy

Industrial Fuel Switching competition phase 3: Successful projects

Partner

Tarmac is the UK’s leading sustainable construction materials, road contracting and building products business. It leads in the supply of construction material comprising aggregates, asphalt, cement, lime, concrete, road contracting, building products and recycling services.

The post #228 Hydrogen, and the road to Net Zero building materials first appeared on Engineering Matters.