The Future of Pyro-Processing

Davide Zampini, CEMEX

Gianluca Ambrosetti, Synhelion

Cemtech Live Webinar – 3 March 2021

Copyright © 2021 CEMEX Innovation Holding Ltd., Switzerland, All Rights Reserved
CEMEX – SYNHELION
FOUNDING YEAR
2016

ORIGIN
ETH Zurich

TEAM
12 FTEs

TIME INVESTED
5 years R&D at Synhelion
10 years R&D at ETH

IP
12 patent families

SCIENCE
20 scientific publications
 CALCINATION

62% CO2
CLINKER MANUFACTURING PROCESS

350°C
Preheater

FUEL COMBUSTION
600°C
38% CO2
Calciner

850°C 25% CO2 13% CO2

1450°C
1000°C

 CO2 Reduction

CHALLENGES  CO2 Concentration & Capture

 CO2 Reutilization
Cement Manufacture Diagram - Pires, J.. (2019). Carbon Capture and Storage.
CO 2 EMISSIONS REDUCTION PATHWAY TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSIONS IN THE CEMENT INDUSTRY

Source: IEA 2018

CONENTRATED SOLAR HEAT

PS10 solar power plant, Wikipedia

 Concentrated solar thermal can offer costs of heat as low as 1 EUR cent / kWhth, lower than several fossil fuel sources.

CONCENTRATED SOLAR HEAT

Solar receiver Thermal process

Solar tower

Mirror field
 Radiation transmitted by the atmosphere
THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Composition [vol%]*

N2 78.084
O2 20.946
Ar 0.934
CO2 0.040
Ne 0.00182
He 0.00052
CH4 0.00017
Kr 0.00012
H2 0.00005
N2O 0.00005

H2O 1.000

* Numbers do not add up to exactly 100% due to roundoff and uncertainty. Water is highly variable. Source: NASA
Figure: Robert A. Rohde / Wikipedia - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atmospheric_Transmission.png
 The absorbing (greenhouse) gas is heated by the thermal radiation of the receiver walls and acts as heat transfer
fluid (HTF).
SYNHELION SOLAR RECEIVER

• Delivers clean solar process heat at up to 1’500°C with receiver efficiency > 80%at moderate solar concentration (~1’000 kW/m2)
• Heat transfer fluid (HTF): water vapor (H2O) or mixtures of H2O and carbon dioxide (CO2)

G. Ambrosetti and P. Good, Solar Energy 183, 521–531, 2019.

250 kW RECEIVER PROTOTYPE

Outlet temperatures beyond 1’550°C reached (Germany, 2020)

  DRIVE FULL PROCESS WITH SOLAR
SOLAR-DRIVEN PYRO-PROCESSING OF CLINKER ENERGY in line with conventional
process flow
 NO CO2 emissions
 NO fuel costs
 During the day the heat from the receiver is fed simultaneously to the process and to fill up the thermal energy
storage (TES).
DAYTIME OPERATION
 During the night the process is driven by the heat stored in the thermal energy storage (TES).

NIGHTTIME OPERATION
 Receiver
A GLIMPSE AT THE SHAPE OF THINGS

Thermal energy storage

(not shown)

Piping

Preheating tower
Heliostats

Grate cooler
Rotary kiln

13
INTEGRATION: STEP-WISE HYBRIDIZATION
CONFIGURATION INTERVENTION SCHEME
2021
Calcination “Lab” Pilot
250kWth
Solar Calcination
2023
Calcination Pilot
1 MWth
Full Solar
1 MWth

2026
Full Integration
10 MWth

2028
Full Solar Industrial Scale
100 MWth
600 tpd
UTILIZATION OF CAPTURED CO 2

CO2 H2O SYNGAS GASOLINE

(H2 + CO) DIESEL
JET FUEL
METHANOL