In light of high levels of carbon emissions, a Swiss initiative came up with a technology that uses solar energy to produce cement in a more eco-friendly way.

All over the world, cement is commonly used as building material, despite causing a substantial portion of global greenhouse gas emissions.

With the aim of decarbonising the cement manufacturing process, Synhelion (a spin-off from ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich) and Cemex have jointly developed a technology to operate cement factories using solar energy instead of fossil fuels. CO2 emissions released during production are captured and then used as the bae material for the production of synthetic fuels.

Synhelion works with what is known as a solar receiver, which is able to generate process temperatures of more than 1,500 degrees. Hence, the CO2 emissions from cement manufacturing are mixed with the heat transfer medium of the company's solar receiver and integrated in the process. As a closed loop, CO2 emissions can simply be extracted—with this excess CO2 eventually being processed further into fuel.

Synhelion's core team is made of around 27 people, and additionally benefits from some additional advisors. Cemex is a global company, with around 15,000 employees overall, and a management team of 11 employees.

While still in its infancy, this technology seems to be the first in the world to offer a comprehensive solution for the decarbonisation of the cement industry.

Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash