Aalborg Portland will participate in an international consortium led by New Energy Coalition and the University of Groningen that will develop a European innovation project named “ConsenCUS – CarbOn Neutral cluSters through Electricity-based iNnovations in Capture, Utilisation and Storage”.

The objective of this project is to investigate the potential of the carbon capture and storage technology to reduce CO2 industrial emissions and to allow local communities to share the benefits.

Industrial and academic partners from The Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, Romania, Greece, China and Canada have joined forces to make electrochemical CO₂ emission reduction possible worldwide. From April 1^st, 2021, over €13 million of European funds and private investments will enable scaling up technological innovations and conducting socio-economic research. A mobile demo plant will be constructed that will capture up to 100 Kg CO₂/h at cement production, oil refinery and magnesia production across Europe and convert it to useful chemicals (potassium formate and formic acid). In the same locations, the opportunities or challenges that the CO₂ clusters bring to the local economy, geology and community will be studied.

International cooperation for an international challenge
Several crucial European industrial sectors emit CO₂ as an inherent part of their production process (e.g. cement, magnesia or refinery). To meet European climate targets, this CO₂ will have to be captured and used or stored (known as CCUS). So far, CCUS only takes place in a few locations world-wide, and often uses additional fossil fuels for the boilers that regenerate the CO₂-absorbing material. The ConsenCUS consortium wants to make capture and conversion possible with (green) electricity, so that it can be done more sustainably and even climate-neutral. The innovation action includes designing so-called CO₂ clusters, such that regional companies can work together with governments and citizens to make smart investments in shared infrastructure (such as pipelines or temporary storage locations) to reach net-zero carbon emissions safely.

Aalborg Portland’s role  
Within ConsenCUS, Aalborg Portland will operate a CO₂-capturing test-facility to provide reference data for the new capturing technology. Aalborg Portland is responsible for preparing, supporting and testing of the capturing facility for 5 months.

About ConsenCUS
ConsenCUS is a 4-year international Innovation Action under the Horizon 2020 framework of the EU. It investigates how electrochemically driven carbon capture and conversion innovations can combine with safe transport and/or storage through economically viable networks and clusters, with specific attention for the interaction of local communities with the technological developments.
The consortium consists of University of Groningen, New Energy Coalition, Wetsus, Coval Energy (NL), Danish Technological University, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Danish Gas Technology Centre, Aalborg Portland(DK), Heriot-Watt University, Robert Gordon University, OGTC Ltd, British Geological Survey (UK), Center for Research and Technology Hellas, Grecian Magnesite (GR), OMV Petrom, Energy Policy Group (RO), Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN) and University of Calgary (CA).