Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from burning Swedish lime

The objective of the project was to explore and demonstrate the use of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels in lime kilns for the production of quicklime. The aim was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from quicklime production by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources such as leftover products from forests or agriculture, as well as refined biofuels, Umeå University wrote in a press release.

– The project focuses on the use of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels in lime kilns, which has been very successful, says Matthias Ericsson, director of the Center for Sustainable Cement and Quicklime Production and assistant university lecturer at the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umeå University.

– The project’s goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from non-renewable energy carriers in Nordkalk AB’s quicklime production by 46 percent, which is equivalent to 71,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, says Matthias.

Two sub-goals

The project was divided into two sub-goals to achieve this. In the first step, the 100 percent renewable energy carriers were served at the Kalkproduktion Storugns AB (KPAB) lime kiln in Lärbro. The second interim goal was to integrate 30 percent renewable energy carriers into Nordkalk AB’s lime kiln in Köping.

Nordcalk has had remarkable success replacing coal with biofuel in a lime kiln in Köping, says Matthias Ericsson.

Practical support

In addition to providing Nordkalk and KPAB with hands-on implementation support, researchers and doctoral students at the Center for Sustainable Production of Cement and Burnt Lime conducted laboratory studies in which they screened selected biofuels in a simulated industrial environment.

– In these studies, the impact of biofuels on limestone, fired lime and refractory materials is evaluated under controlled conditions, providing a detailed understanding of the possibilities and limitations that come with fuel changes, says Markus Brostrom, professor at the Department of Applications Physics and Electronics at Umeå University .

The results of the project have been published in a number of publications. Read more here

The article was published on Monday, June 12, 2023

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