Carbon capture and cement: design and specification notes for project engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Carbon capture in cement production is being pushed as a near‑term route to cut emissions from a material responsible for up to 8% of global CO₂ output, with technologies such as post‑combustion capture on kiln exhausts and oxy‑fuel firing now moving from pilots to early commercial schemes. Current projects focus on retrofitting existing clinker lines, integrating amine‑based capture units and planning CO₂ transport to geological storage or utilisation plants. For designers and contractors, this raises immediate questions on specifying low‑embodied‑carbon concretes, verifying EPD data, and managing supply risk as capture retrofits disrupt plant operations.
Technical Brief
- Cement’s contribution of “as much as 8% of global CO₂ emissions” frames it as a primary decarbonisation target material.
- Focus is on concrete as the second most used material on earth, implying decarbonisation leverage across all major infrastructure sectors.
- Industry trend-wise, treating cement as an 8% global CO₂ source is likely to hard‑wire embodied‑carbon limits into future infrastructure procurement.
Our Take
With cement responsible for an estimated 8% of global CO₂ emissions, carbon capture in this sector is likely to feature increasingly in the 45 Materials stories in our database, which already skew heavily towards Sustainability-tagged content.
New Civil Engineer’s recent webinars on BIM, CDEs and asset data handover suggest that any cement-focused carbon capture rollout will need to integrate emissions and performance data into existing digital project workflows rather than sit as a standalone technology.
Because New Civil Engineer also runs innovation-focused initiatives with asset owners such as Heathrow Airport, coverage of cement carbon capture here may signal that clients are starting to look for embodied-carbon solutions in addition to operational decarbonisation on major projects.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.