Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world. As a key component of conc

rete, cement—and more specifically its production process—is a significant contributor to

climate change. Every year, over 4 billion tonnes of cement are produced, and this activity is 

responsible for around 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. Surprisingly, around 60 percent of 

the CO2emissions associated with this production aren't released from the combustion of fossil 

fuels, but from the chemical reaction in the process. With this challenging problem in mind, the 

EU-funded  LEILAC  project  developed  a  breakthrough  technology  with  the  potential to dramatically reduce the emissions of Europe's cement and lime industries.

Called direct separation, the technology efficiently captures the CO2 emitted during lime and 

cement production. Normally, when cement is produced, limestone is decomposed to lime and 

CO2 in special kilns, or calciners.

By re-engineering the standard process flows of a traditional calciner, the LEILAC system 

enables pure CO2 to be captured as it's released from the limestone while the furnace 

combustion gases are kept separate. The innovation requires no additional chemicals and only 

minimal changes to the standard cement production processes, namely the replacement of the 

calciner.