DECARBONISATION 71

Spain’s cement sector: carbon

neutrality by 2050
To meet its 2050 deadline of carbon neutrality, the Spanish cement industry will need
to implement climate change mitigation measures at all levels. Therefore, the sector has
developed a technical roadmap to chart the requirements needed.
n by Miguel Angel Sanjuán, Spanish Institute of Cement and its Applications (IECA), Pedro Mora,
Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and Aniceto Zaragoza, Oficemen, Spain

If the Spanish cement industry is to

achieve its target of carbon neutrality by
2050, the sector will need to take a range
With pillars with a maximum height of 110m, the
Silva Bridge in Gran Canaria ranks as one of the
highest bridges in Spain. It was built with CEM II/
A-P 42.5 N, Portland cement with pozzolana
of actions, including the development
and implementation of innovative
measures to mitigate climate change at
all levels of its value chain. Furthermore,
a reliable estimation of the CO2 uptake
by cement-based materials should
be taken into account by the climatic
models incorporated in the new scientific
assessment of the state of knowledge on
climate change (Sixth Assessment Report,
AR6) and in the future revision of the IPCC
Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories by The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

CO2 uptake by cement-based carbonation has recently generated However, carbonation is a well-known
materials considerable interest in terms of climate physico-chemical process that has been
CO2 uptake by mortar and concrete change (see Table 1). extensively documented in specialised

Table 1: CO2 uptake estimations (2000-20)

Author CO2 uptake1 Gajda & Jacobsen Pade & Guimaraes (2003)2 Galán et al
(Year) Miller & Jahren (2009)2
(2000-01) (2002)
Country USA Norway Denmark Norway Sweden Iceland Spain
Lifecycle Calcination (%) 14-19 57 33 33 34
Clinker (%) 8-11 34 19 19 20
Service life Calcination (%) 7.5 24 16 18 28 3
(50-100yr) Clinker (%) 4.4 14 9 11 17 2
Author CO2 uptake1 Nygaard & Anderson Yang et al Fitzpatrick Xi et al Vermeulen Andrade
(Year) Leemann et al (2013) (2014) et al (2015) (2016) (2017)3 & Sanjuán
(2012) (2018)4

Country Switzerland Sweden Korea Ireland Global Netherlands Spain

Life cycle Calcination (%) 27 29-34 43 37
Clinker (%) 17 18-21 28 23
Service life Calcination (%) 15-16 23 10 15 30 11
(50-100yr) Clinker (%) 9-10 14 6 10 19 7
1
CO2 uptake (% with regard to the total emissions or calcination process) 2
Surface/Volume = 3 and degree of carbonation (DoC) = 15–20%
3
includes CO2 uptake in slag 4
Surface/Volume = 3 and degree of carbonation (DoC) = 62.5%.

© TRADESHIP PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2021 SEPTEMBER 2021 INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW

 72 DECARBONISATION
“In addition, as most
climate models do not
take net CO2 emissions
into account, how
accurate are climate
model projections?
Including this CO2
uptake in climate
models would reduce
the gap between such
models and reality.”
literature for some time. As it can be
enhanced in recycled concrete, the process
can be considered a mitigation measure.
At present, the net CO2emissions in
Portland cement and cement-based
materials – defined as the amount emitted
in the calcination process during clinker
production minus the CO2uptake by the
mortar and concrete carbonation – is
not included in the IPCC’s Guidelines for
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
In addition, as most climate models
The cement manufactured at CEISA’s Arguineguín plant in the Canary Islands is more sustainable since each tonne of clinker is replaced by local
pozzolana, a raw volcanic material, which results in an approximate saving of 1t of CO2
INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW SEPTEMBER 2021
Figure 1: roadmap towards carbon neutrality of the Spanish cement sector, 2018-50
900
800
1990: 815 kg CO2/t cement
Carbon dioxide emissions (kgCO 2/t cement)
700
2018: 729 kg CO2/t cement
600
-181
500
CCUS
2030: 461 kg CO2/t cement
400
-272
-159
300
200
-45
0 -72
100
0
clinker cement concrete construction carbonation Zero emissions
(2050)
Stage of the carbon dioxide emissions reduction cycle
do not take net CO2 emissions into Methodology to estimate
account, how accurate are climate model the CO2 uptake
projections? Including this CO2 uptake To model the CO2 offsett by mortars and
in climate models would reduce the gap concretes in Spain, a simplified calculation
between such models and reality. methodology, congruent with Guidelines
Net CO2 uptake emissions should be for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories,
implemented in the climatic models was considered. More detailed statistical
reported in the upcoming IPCC’s data, system descriptions and calculation
Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), and methodology, named advanced
subsequently, in the next revision of The methodology, will require a greater degree
IPCC’s Guidelines for National Greenhouse of computational complexity. Therefore, it
Gas Inventories. will be used in a second step.
 DECARBONISATION 73

CO2/t cement and 89kg CO2/t cement

Concrete measures for the concrete in use in 2030 and 2050,

respectively.

To reduce CO2 emissions by 28kg of CO2/t cement in 2030 and by ~40kg Need for innovative break-
CO2/t cement in 2050, measures include: through technologies
• improving the concrete mix design to enhance the quality of the final As can be seen from Figure 1, currently-
material available technologies for the production
• use of high-performance concrete and use of clinker, cement, concrete, and
• increasing the low-carbon cement content (considering circularity carbonation steps are not sufficient to
in the cement production) for the same durability and strength by an achieve the expected net-zero carbon
adequate selection of all the constituents, particularly the adequate emissions. Therefore, emerging and
use of additives breakthrough technologies such as
• development of new mix designs at the concrete scale including cutting-edge CO2 capture, utilisation,
recycling strategies and storage (CCUS) methods should be
• increasing the use of pre-cast elements deployed (-272kg CO2/t cement) by the
• reducing waste in construction Spanish cement sector to achieve the
• post-tensioning for increased strength climate neutrality objective.
• optimising the structural design to limit over-specification The Spanish cement sector endorsed
• implementing breakthrough construction techniques including the objective of achieving a climate-
3D-printing. neutral production by 2050. This followed
the commitments made by the EU and
its member states on signing the Paris
The simplified calculation underlying The Spanish cement sector commits to Agreement in 2015.
the estimation of the annual CO2 uptake achieve carbon neutrality, ie CO2 emissions CO2 uptake by carbonation of cement-
(ACDU) is based on Equations 1 and 2, minus CO2 sequestration equal zero, based materials in Spain is estimated to
where the parameters for α and β are 0.20 considering the combined of effect of be 0.14Gt from 1898 to 2018 (120 years).
and 0.03, respectively. contributions made by all levers (clinker Seventy-seven per cent of this amount
ACDU (service life) = α × IPCC reported production process, cement production, is accounted for by Portland cements
emissions due to the calcination process concrete production, Construction, produced in the last 40 years (1978-2018).
(Equation 1) carbonation process).The analysis takes Therefore, CCUS technologies should
ACDU (end-of-life) = β × IPCC reported as its point of departure the direct and be implemented by the Spanish cement
emissions due to the calcination process indirect emissions released in 2018 (729kg industry to achieve zero CO2 emissions by
(Equation 2) CO2/t cement) and subsequent CO2 drop- 2050. n
off for each stage in 2050 is shown in Figure
Technical roadmap for the 1. CO2 reduction for each of the five levers
References
Spanish cement sector is as follows: 1
Sanjuán, MA, Argiz, C, Mora, P AND
In the current race to achieve carbon 1. clinker production: -181kg CO2/t Zaragoza, A (2020) ‘Carbon Dioxide Uptake
neutrality by 2050 the Spanish cement cement in the Roadmap 2050 of the Spanish Cement
Industry’ in: Energies, 13, 3452. https://doi.
industry has considered several levers to 2. cement production: -159kg CO2/t
ad, 1/8 page org/10.3390/en13133452
reduce its emission intensity. This action cement 2
Sanjuán, MA, Andrade, C, Mora, P AND
programme will serve as a technical
draft, November 12,
3. concrete production: -45kg CO2/t
2020A (2020) ‘Carbon Dioxide Uptake
Zaragoza,
by Cement-Based Materials. A Spanish Case
roadmap going forward (see Figure 1). cement Study’ in: Applied Sciences, 10, 339. https://doi.
These carbon reduction scenarios, 4. construction: 0kg CO2/t cement org/10.3390/app10010339
or levers, are divided into clusters. 5. carbonation:
Accordingly, the levers fall into five -72kg CO2/t Your new coal grinding system Full STOP
categories: cement.
1. clinker production process As shown To a specialist in the know, the GA drawing of
2. cement production above, the Spanish your supplier’s proposal is a clear forecast of
3. concrete production cement roadmap possible incorrect fire and explosion
4. construction towards carbon protection.
5. carbonation process. neutrality does not Let Coal Mill Safety Pte Ltd comment on the
This approach looks at a reduction of 43 consider the CO2 proposed GA free of charge. You will be
per cent in 2030 (461kg CO2/t cement) of drop-off due to surprised!
the CO2 released from 1990 levels of 815kg the construction Do this in the earliest project stage, before it is
CO2/t cement. However, the new European stage. By contrast, too late for corrections.
Union (EU) target in relation to the European cement
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction association www.coalmillsafety.com
is about 50-55 per cent, to be achieved CEMBUREAU info@coalmillsafety.com
by 2030. Moreover, carbon neutrality is includes a CO2 Coal Mill Safety also evaluates existing situations.
expected to be achieved by 2050 anyhow. decrease of 54kg

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