Over 2 million tv spectators watched the Superquark episode on Rai1 on August 26, which highlighted the innovation and ambition of the European research project Cleanker, being tested at the Buzzi Unicem cement plant in Vernasca.
The journalists Paolo Magliocco and Daniela Franco, with an speech by the LEAP researcher Martina Fantini, who is in charge of the scientific coordination of the project, explained how this initiative aims to isolate the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the cement plant during the production process, before it is released into the atmosphere.
The evocative name, Cleanker stands for Clean clinker production by calcium looping process, ie producing "clean clinker", capturing the CO2 generated by the production process, through the regenerative calcium cycle technology. The goal is to isolate the CO2 from gases, concentrating it over 90% and subsequently making it available for underground storage or for reuse in other industrial areas, such as synthesis processes or production of green fuels.
The pilot plant will be inaugurated this coming October and in the same month will start a phase of experimental and analysis campaigns that will last one year, to be closed by 2021.
If expectations are confirmed, Cleanker could represent an important innovation for the cement sector and for the protection of the environment.
The Superquark episode is available at this link (report starts from minute 43').