SCHWENK Latvija has celebrated the opening of its carbon capture test base at its cement plant in Broceni, Latvia.
The ceremony at the Broceni cement plant was attended by many industry stakeholders including the Prime Minister of Latvia Mrs. Evika Siliņa, Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of Economics of Latvia Jurģis Miezainis, Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of Climate and Energy of the Republic of Latvia Jānis Irbe, Mayor of Saldus region Māris Zusts.
The event also saw attendees treated to two panel discussions where experts discussed the opportunities created by carbon capture technology.
Grand reveal
The milestone moment comes after SCHWENK Latvija successfully captured the first CO2 emissions at its Brocēni cement plant through its pilot-scale carbon capture unit from the Norwegian company Capsol Technologies.
SCHWENK Latvija will operate the CapsolGo demonstration unit in test mode for the remainder of the year. This will see it capture around two tonnes of CO₂ daily.
“We at SCHWENK have come a long way through extensive analysis, studies, R&D processes and impact assessments to reach the point of the first CO2 captured,” SCHWENK Northern Europe managing director and chairman of the board for SCHWENK Latvija Reinhold Schneider said.
“Considering that cement is the base of the whole construction and building materials value chain and at the same time accounts for around 8 per cent of Latvia’s CO2 emissions, SCHWENK is strongly committed to launch a full-scale carbon capture plant in Brocēni by 2030. This test phase brings us one step closer to that.”
The SCHWENK Building Materials Group tested the CapsolGo® pilot plant as part of its broader technology evaluation program. Under this program, the CapsolGo® pilot plant has already been tested at the Akmenė site in Lithuania.
A final investment decision is planned for 2027. If this progressed, SCHWENK could have a full-scale carbon capture plant at the Brocēni cement plant operational by 2030. The company, in its release, estimated that a full-scale plant could capture around 800 000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
