The Alliance for the Decarbonisation of Industry presents their project to Catalonia's electro-intensive industry leaders

12^th February 2025 – The Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) hosted the meeting of the Decarbonisation Project for Catalonia’s Electro-Intensive Industry, an initiative led by the Alliance for the Decarbonisation of Industry of Tarragona (ARDIT, S.L.). This company is formed by the Eurecat technology centre and ICIQ, with the participation of Rovira i Virgili University, represented by the Chancellor as a board member. The project’s goal is to develop innovative solutions for CO₂ capture and utilisation. The meeting included leading companies from the petrochemical, cement, steel, and waste management sectors.

The project aims to shift the industrial paradigm to address the climate emergency through the implementation of advanced CO₂ capture and utilisation technologies, developed with Catalan expertise. As the driving force behind this initiative, ARDIT focuses on pre-industrial scaling and infrastructure management for decarbonisation, facilitating the application of these solutions across various industrial environments.

The meeting served as a platform for companies to review the detailed design of the four CO₂ capture and utilization units and to provide feedback and suggestions to enhance their functionality and ensure their success. It also allowed participating companies to express their interest in specific pilot plants and to discuss technical requirements and implementation timelines.

During the meeting, the design of the four pilot plants was presented, each plant featuring different technologies: three CO₂ capture technologies (solid adsorption, liquid absorption, and carbonation) and a CO₂ conversion technology for producing high-value products. The configuration of each unit was presented, and included 3D models and process simulations, highlighting the versatility of these plants, which will be installed in 20- or 40-foot mobile containers to be able to operate in various industrial settings.

The meeting was led by Júlia Viladoms, Manager of the Industrial Decarbonisation Unit at ICIQ, with the participation of representatives from key companies in the mentioned sectors, as well as the consortium formed by Eurecat and Cirauqui, which won the tender for the design and manufacturing project of the plants. Speakers included Agustí Chico, Carmen Torres, Jaime González, Jorge Cored, Maia Montaña, Aitor Gual, and Ernesto Cirauqui.

According to Viladoms, the project coordinator, these meetings are crucial for identifying and understanding industry-specific challenges and for establishing synergies that strengthen the project. She also emphasized the importance of collaboration among all stakeholders, highlighting the value of the collective work done over the past two years to build a cohesive community—an essential element for achieving the project’s long-term goals.

The project’s next actions include collecting and analysing responses from an anonymous survey sent to participating companies, aiming to identify their interests, technical requirements, and specific needs for the implementation of the pilot units. The results will be key to defining project priorities and strengthening applications for additional funding.

The information gathered is expected to support efforts to secure financial resources for the tendering process to manufacture the four pilot plants during 2025. The total estimated investment exceeds €10 million, with an approximate cost of €2.5 million per plant.

Currently, the project has an initial funding of €5 million from the 2023 budget of the Government of Catalonia. Additionally, the Industrial Decarbonisation Project for Catalonia’s energy-intensive and hard-to-abate CO₂ industries has been included in the reprogramming of the 2021–2027 Catalonia FEDER Programme as one of the strategic, high-impact technological projects from the European Commission’s STEP initiative.

About the Alliance for the Decarbonisation of Industry of Tarragona, S.L. (ARDIT)

ARDIT is a limited liability company founded by Eurecat and ICIQ, with Josep Pallarès Marzal, Chancellor of Rovira i Virgili University, as a board member. Its goal is to develop joint solutions for pre-industrial scaling and infrastructure management aimed at reducing, capturing, and storing CO₂ emissions in industrial processes, particularly in the chemical sector and other industrial fields, thus contributing to progress in decarbonisation.