SigmaRoc PLC on Thursday said that it has installed its first carbon capture unit at Nordkalk Oy AB’s site in Koping, Sweden.

SigmaRoc is a London-based buy-and-build group targeting construction materials assets in the UK and Northern Europe. Company shares were up 0.9% at 58.90 pence each in London on Thursday.

Nordkalk is a manufacturer of limestone-based products based in Finland. The firm was acquired by SigmaRoc in August 2021 for €470 million, through a reverse takeover.

The carbon capture system has been developed by Aqualung Carbon Capture AS, a provider of membrane-based carbon capture and separation technology based in Norway.

After reviewing a wide variety of technologies, SigmaRoc said it believed Aqualung was the most suited to carbon capture in Koping, on the basis of its small footprint, and low capital and operating expenditure.

The Aqualung module can capture up to 25% of the process emissions emitted from a standard kiln process at Nordkalk, and was initially designed as a ’capture and release’ system to demonstrate the durability and efficiency of the membranes.

It will also be connected to a pilot purification module to simulate settings required to produce higher purities of carbon dioxide for different end-use applications that go beyond sequestration requirements.

‘Alongside our fossil fuel replacement program where we have proven the ability for 100% substitution; the carbon capture system represents a crucial milestone in our journey towards achieving Net Zero by capturing our remaining process emissions,’ said Chief Executive Officer Max Vermorken.

In September 2022, a report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis proved that the majority of carbon capture projects have either failed or underperformed. Successful carbon capture exceptions mainly occurred in the natural gas processing sector serving the fossil fuel industry, leading to further emissions.

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