November 20, 2024

Synhelion and Cemex’s joint solar clinker project recognized at COP29

Synhelion and Cemex’s joint solar clinker project was recognized at COP29 and Cemex received the Net-Zero Industries Award granted by Mission Innovation for the revolutionary solar clinker production using solar energy powered by Synhelion’s technology.

Cemex was awarded the Net-Zero Industries Award for the joint solar clinker initiative with Synhelion. The award recognizes and celebrates outstanding innovations in industrial decarbonization. It spotlights the people and projects revolutionizing energy-intensive industries and driving substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Mission Innovation presented the Net-Zero Industries Awards in a ceremony during COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Mission Innovation is a global initiative to catalyze action and investment in research, development, and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive, and accessible to all in this decade.

Diverse applications of solar heat
Synhelion has developed proprietary solar technologies that generate high-temperature solar process heat. We primarily use this solar heat to produce synthetic fuels. However, our solar heat can also be applied to other industries that require high-temperature process heat.
The cement industry is responsible for around eight percent of global CO2 emissions. Cement manufacturers are searching for solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. Synhelion’s technology offers the potential to drive the full cement manufacturing process sustainably with renewable solar energy.

A trailblazing partnership
Cemex and Synhelion partnered up in 2019 to reduce CO2 emissions in the cement manufacturing process. In 2022, they achieved the first-ever successful production of solar clinker using a small-scale batch pilot process. In 2023, the companies scaled the technology to industrially-viable levels, enabling continuous clinker production – the most energy-intensive step in cement manufacturing – using only solar heat. Cemex and Synhelion are now taking further steps to scale the technology.