By KERRY SMITH

MITCHELL, Ind. – The Mitchell (Indiana) Cement Plant decarbonization Project, led by Heidelberg Materials US, Inc., learned March 25 that it is one of 33 recipients of the federal government’s Industrial Demonstrations Program.

Mitchell is located in southern Indiana, 90 miles south of Indianapolis and approximately 70 miles north of Louisville, Ky.

The program, administered by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, announces up to $6 billion for 33 projects across more than 20 states to decarbonize energy-intensive industries, reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions, support good-paying union jobs, revitalize industrial communities and strengthen the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness.

Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the projects will create and maintain tens of thousands of high-quality jobs and help accelerate the commercial-scale demonstration of emerging industrial decarbonization technologies crucial to meeting U.S. climate and domestic manufacturing goals.

These 33 projects – of which Mitchell, Indiana’s cement plan is one, will focus on the highest-emitting industries where decarbonization technologies will have the greatest impact – including aluminum and other metals, cement and concrete, chemicals and refining, iron and steel and more. Together, the projects are expected to reduce the equivalent of more than 14 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year – an amount the DOE says is equivalent to the annual emissions of 3 million gasoline-powered cars.

Many of these projects will deploy first-in-the-nation, emissions-reducing technologies that have the potential for sector-wide adoption and transformation, multiplying the magnitude of the emissions cuts and supporting the future of U.S. manufacturing. The March 25 announcement represents the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in American history, helping to position American manufacturers and workers to lead the global clean energy economy.

The newly modernized Mitchell, Ind. plant plans to construct and operate an integrated carbon capture, transport and storage system. This project would capture at least 95 percent of the carbon dioxide from one of the largest cement plants in the nation and store it in a geologic formation beneath the plant property. Heidelberg Materials officials say their project expects to prevent two million tons of carbon dioxide per year from entering the atmosphere and will demonstrate a pathway to decarbonize existing cement plants in the U.S. This project builds on the ongoing OCED awarded front-end engineering and design study and sequestration site development; it represents one of the first carbon capture and storage projects for cement facilities in the nation.

The other 32 projects receiving grant awards under this latest program are:

Aluminum and Metals

• Advanced Copper Recycling Facility | Wieland North America Recycling (Up to $270 million – Shelbyville, Kentucky)
• Green Aluminum Smelter | Century Aluminum Company (Up to $500 million – Prefer Kentucky or Ohio/Mississippi River Basins)
• Low Carbon SmartMelt Furnace Conversion | Constellium (Up to $75 million  – Ravenswood, West Virginia)
• Nexcast – Next Generation Aluminum Mini Mill | Golden Aluminum (Up to $22.3 million - Fort Lupton, Colorado)
• Zero Waste Advanced Aluminum Recycling | Real Alloy Recycling (Up to $67.3 million – Wabash, Indiana)

Cement and Concrete

• Deeply Decarbonized Cement | Brimstone Energy, Inc. (d/b/a Brimstone) (Up to $189 million – TBD)
• First Commercial Electrochemical Cement Manufacturing | Sublime Systems, Inc (Up to $86.9 million – Holyoke, Massachusetts)
• Lebec Net Zero Cement Plant Project | National Cement Company of California, Inc. (Up to $500 million – Lebec, California)
• Limestone Calcined Clay Cement Production | Roanoke Cement Company, LLC (Up to $61.7 million – Troutville, Virginia)
• Low-Carbon Calcined Clay Cement Demonstration | Summit Materials, Inc (Up to $215.6 million – Port Deposit, Maryland; McIntyre, Georgia; Elmendorf, Texas; Sulphur Springs, Texas)

Chemicals and Refining

• Baytown Olefins Plant Carbon Reduction Project | ExxonMobil Corporation (Up to $331.9 million – Baytown, Texas)
• Chemical Production Electrification and Heat Storage | ISP Chemicals, LLC an Ashland Company (Up to $35.2 million – Calvert City, Kentucky)
• Novel CO2 Utilization for Electric Vehicle Battery Chemical Production | The Dow Chemical Company (Up to $95 million – U.S. Gulf Coast)
• Polyethylene Terephthalate Recycling DE carbonization Project | Eastman Chemical Company (Up to $375 million – Longview, Texas)
• Star e-Methanol | Orsted P2X US Holding LLC (Up to $100 million – Texas Gulf Coast)
• Sustainable Ethylene from CO2 Utilization with Renewable Energy (SECURE) | T.EN Stone & Webster Process Technology, Inc. (Up to $200 million  – U.S. Gulf Coast)
• Syngas Production from Recycled Chemical Byproduct Streams | BASF Corporation (Up to $75 million – Freeport, Texas)

Food and Beverage

• DE carbonization of Unilever Ice Cream Manufacturing | Unilever (Up to $20.9 million – Covington, Tennessee; Sikeston, Missouri; St. Albans, Vermont; and Waterbury, Vermont)
• Delicious DE carbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage | Kraft Heinz (Up to $170.9 million – Champaign, Illinois; Columbia, Missouri; Fremont, Ohio; Holland, Michigan; Kendallville, Indiana; Lowville, New York; New Ulm, Minnesota; Muscatine, Iowa; Mason City, Iowa; and Winchester, Virginia)
• Heat Batteries for Deep DE carbonization of the Beverage Industry | Diageo Americas Supply, Inc. (Up to $75 million – Shelbyville, Kentucky and Plainfield, Illinois)

Glass

• Flexible Fuel Electric Hybrid Glass Furnace Demonstration | Libbey Glass (Up to $45.1 million – Toledo, Ohio)
• Glass Furnace DE carbonization Technology | O-I Glass, INC (Up to $125 million – Tracy, California; Zanesville, Ohio; Toano, Virginia)
• Hybrid Electric Glass Furnace Project | Gallo Glass Company (Up to $75 million – Modesto, California)

Iron and Steel

• Hydrogen-Fueled Zero Emissions Steel Making | SSAB (Up to $500 million – Perry County, Mississippi and Montpelier, Iowa)
• Hydrogen-Ready Direct Reduced Iron Plant and Electric Melting Furnace Installation | Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corporation (Up to $500 million – Middletown, Ohio)
• Induction Melting Upgrade | AMERICAN Cast Iron Pipe Company (Up to $75 million – Birmingham, Alabama)
• Iron Electric Induction Conversion | United States Pipe and Foundry Company (Up to $75.5 million  – Bessemer, Alabama)
• Low-Emissions, Cold-Agglomerated Iron Ore Briquette Production | Vale USA (Up to $282.9 million – U.S. Gulf Coast)
• Steel Slab Electrified Induction Reheat Furnace Upgrade | Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corporation (Up to $75 million – Lyndora, Pennsylvania)

Process Heat

• Steam-Generating Heat Pumps for Cross-Sector Deep DE carbonization | Skyven Technologies (Up to $145 million – TBD)
• Vikrell Electric Boiler & Microgrid System | Kohler (Up to $51.2 million – Casa Grande, Arizona)

Pulp and Paper

• Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency and Electrification Upgrades | International Paper Company (Up to $46.6 million – Mansfield, Louisiana)