India launches first cluster of CCU testbeds for cement industry

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) recently unveiled a pioneering national initiative: five Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) testbeds in the cement sector, forming a first-of-its-kind research and innovation cluster to combat industrial carbon emissions.

Key Highlights

This is a significant step towards India’s Climate Action for fostering National Determined Contributions (NDCs) targets and to achieve net zero decarbonisation pathways for Industry Transition., towards the Government’s goal to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2070.

Carbon Capture Utilisation (CCU) holds significant importance in hard-to-abate sectors like Cement, Steel, Power, Oil &Natural Gas, Chemicals & Fertilizers in reducing emissions by capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and converting it to value add products such as synthetic fuels, Urea, Soda, Ash, chemicals, food grade CO2 or concrete aggregates.

CCU provides a feasible pathway for these tough to decarbonise industries to lower their carbon footprint and move towards achieving Net Zero Goals while continuing their operations efficiently.

DST has taken major strides in fostering R&D in the CCUS domain. Concrete is vital for India’s economy and the Cement industry being one of the main hard-to-abate sectors, is committed to align with the national decarbonisation commitments.

New technologies to decarbonise emission intensity of the cement sector would play a key role in achieving of national net zero targets.