On Thursday, 10th October, the Monselice Plant hosted a meeting to present the Nuada project, launched last spring, to the local community. The project aims to capture CO2 emissions and accelerate the decarbonisation of the cement industry.

The event began with opening remarks from Paolo Zelano, CEO of Buzzi Unicem and Paolo Paoletti, Director of the Plant. Luigi Buzzi, Group Technical Director, illustrated the principles of the Roadmap ‘Our Journey to Net Zero’, a long-term plan for decarbonization, in line with the objectives set by the European Green Deal.

Next, Francesco Magli, a specialist in Research and Development projects, shared the reasons for the collaboration with Nuada, a UK-based supplier of CO2 capture technologies. The proceedings were closed by Conor Hamill, CEO of Nuada, who emphasized that this pilot project represents a significant innovation milestone in carbon capture and highlights the technology's potential for cement production.

Nuada’s highly energy-efficient carbon capture solution combines new solid sorbents called Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOF) with an advanced vacuum oscillating pressure adsorption (VPSA) process. This is an electrically powered system that separates CO2 from industrial flue gases using pressure rather than heat. It offers a promising approach to overcome the challenges of energy consumption, costs and integration compared to the use of traditional carbon capture solutions in industry.

The Monselice experimental activity is aimed at acquiring useful information for the industrial-scale construction of a plant of this specific technology, potentially capable of capturing the majority of the CO2 emitted by the Group’s cement plants. Buzzi’s choice to make the Monselice plant available to Nuada is dictated by logistical and plant engineering reasons and does not preclude future experiments in other plants. The first data emerging during the tests are being processed and Nuada engineers believe they are in line with the simulations carried out on a theoretical basis.

At the end of the presentations, the guest participants had the opportunity to visit the capture facility.