The Australian Government has awarded Calix an $11m grant

Calix is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $11m grant from the Australian Government’s Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) Hubs and Technologies Program to develop the world’s first commercial-scale process for the manufacture of low emissions lime with Adbri.

Highlights:

• Calix to receive $11m to develop a low emissions lime kiln with key project partner Adbri, as well as CarbonTP and the Heavy Industry Low Emissions Technology Co-Operative Research Centre (HILT CRC).
• The project will be located at Kwinana, Western Australia and provide low emissions lime for alumina, gold, and other industries across Western Australia.
• The plant will use Calix’s Low Emissions Intensity Lime and Cement (LEILAC) technology to demonstrate the use of renewable power and grid load balancing, assess alternative energy sources such as hydrogen, and the efficient capture of CO₂ process emissions.
• Captured CO₂ is planned to be provided to the proposed South West Hub Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project.

The project, undertaken by Calix in collaboration with key partner Adbri, will help accelerate Calix’s LEILAC technology by building and operating the world’s first commercial-scale process for the manufacture of low emissions lime. The proposed plant, at Kwinana, WA, will;

• produce lime using renewable power,
• demonstrate grid load balancing by flexibly operating only during peak renewable electricity production / low electricity cost periods,
• assess alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and alternative fuels, and
• capture the CO₂ emitted from the process.

Once the proposed South West Hub CCS project is operational, CO₂ can be fed into the system for permanent storage, creating truly zero emissions lime.

The project objectives are aligned with the Government’s Technology Roadmap to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and to lower the cost of CCS to less than $20/tonne. The use of low emissions lime will be directed to the trade-exposed alumina, nickel, rare-earth and gold producers to reduce the embodied emissions of their products.

With the $11m in funding secured from the Australian Government, Calix and Adbri will now proceed with the next stages of the project under the Heads of Agreement announced in March 2021, including the finalisation of commercial terms and further technical work.

Calix and Adbri anticipate undertaking a feasibility study for the project followed by a front-end engineering and design phase. The plant construction and demonstration is expected to include raw material feedstock contributed by Adbri and would test multiple fuel and energy options including natural gas, hydrogen and renewable electricity with load switching.