Specialist quarried materials group, SigmaRoc has installed its first carbon capture unit at the company’s Nordkalk’s site in Köping, Sweden. The carbon capture system – designed by Norway-based Aqualung Carbon Capture – is fully scalable and uses a membrane-based technology to enable carbon capture and separation.

During 2023, SigmaRoc conducted a review of several different technologies – including amine absorption, solid absorption, membrane and cryogenic – before deciding to install Aqualung’s membrane technology.

The membrane technology was chosen due to its small footprint, high efficiency and its fully scalable and modular design among other aspects. Furthermore, Aqualung’s module is capable of capturing up to 25% of the process emissions emitted from a standard kiln process at Nordkalk.

In addition to carrying out its main function, the carbon capture unit will also be connected to a pilot purification module to “simulate settings required to produce higher purities of CO2 for different end use applications that go beyond sequestration requirements”.

At present, the SigmaRoc is working with several businesses regarding the end use of the CO2. The company is also working with the Norvik Infrastructure CCS East Sweden project to evaluate CO2 utilization options.

Alongside the installation, the Nordkalk site has also secured part-funding from the Swedish Energy Agency to implement and scale the Köping carbon system to gain knowledge on the engineering, commissioning, and operation phase of the initial module.

The Group aims to implement the technology in all of Nordkalk’s operating kilns by 2030.