UltraTech Collaborates with UCLA to Advance Cement Industry Decarbonisation

Mumbai / October 24, 2024: UltraTech Cement Limited, a cement and ready-mix concrete company under the Aditya Birla Group, has entered into a collaboration with the Institute for Carbon Management (ICM) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The partnership aims to pilot a revolutionary technology known as Zero Carbon Lime (ZeroCAL), developed by ICM, which has the potential to drastically cut carbon dioxide emissions in cement production. As part of the agreement, UltraTech and ICM will set up a first-of-its-kind demonstration plant at one of UltraTech’s integrated cement manufacturing units to showcase the technology, UltraTech said in a statement.

Researchers at UCLA’s ICM have developed the ZeroCAL process, which can eliminate up to 98% of carbon dioxide emissions from limestone decomposition during cement manufacturing. UltraTech Cement Limited will be the first company in the world to implement this groundbreaking technology at scale. Through a demonstration plant, UltraTech will produce several metric tons of zero-carbon lime per day. This partnership with UCLA reflects UltraTech’s commitment to sustainability and its ongoing efforts to adopt cutting-edge technologies that help decarbonize its operations, the statement added. 

The ZeroCAL process, developed by ICM researchers, can eliminate nearly 98% of carbon dioxide emissions associated with limestone decomposition in cement manufacturing. UltraTech will be the first company globally to implement the ZeroCAL process at scale through a demonstration plant that will produce several metric tons of zero-carbon lime per day. UltraTech’s partnership with UCLA aligns with its broader sustainability goals and its focus on developing and adopting innovative technologies to decarbonise its operations.

“UltraTech is fully committed to realising its Net Zero Goal by 2050. As an industry leader UltraTech is constantly exploring partnerships to overcome the technological barriers to decarbonise cement manufacturing,” said K C Jhanwar, Managing Director at UltraTech. 

“We are excited to collaborate with UCLA on this groundbreaking project. Partnerships like these, which place an emphasis on developing and deploying new and emerging technologies, will be a key enabler in our sector’s efforts to accelerate decarbonisation and deliver carbon neutral concrete by 2050,” he added.

“The ZeroCAL approach is a powerful solution to eliminate carbon emissions associated with the process of cement production within the existing industrial paradigm of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) clinker production and without a need for carbon capture and storage,” said Professor Gaurav Sant, ICM director and the study’s corresponding author and the Pritzker Professor of Sustainability at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. 

“It effectively eliminates the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from limestone’s decomposition while providing clean hydrogen and oxygen to heat the cement kiln,” he added.

To accelerate its decarbonisation efforts, UltraTech is collaborating with technology startups to explore the use of emerging decarbonisation technologies including kiln electrification and carbon capture & storage.