Ambuja Cements partners with U.K.’s Leilac Ltd to build low-carbon cement project in Gujarat’s Kutch

Ambuja Cements (part of the Adani Group) has partnered with UK-based Leilac Ltd to demonstrate advanced carbon capture technology at its Sanghipuram (Sanghi)...

What Happened

Ambuja Cements (part of the Adani Group) has partnered with UK-based Leilac Ltd to demonstrate advanced carbon capture technology at its Sanghipuram (Sanghi) cement plant in Kutch, Gujarat.
Leilac's proprietary indirect calcination technology aims to capture CO₂ released during the cement manufacturing process — emissions that cannot be avoided through conventional energy efficiency measures alone.
The Sanghipuram plant has a capacity of 6.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA); if the demonstration succeeds, the project would be scaled up seven to eight times to capture more than one million tonnes of CO₂ annually.
The initiative supports Ambuja Cements' Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)-validated net-zero commitment for 2050.

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LEILAC Technology: How Indirect Calcination Captures Cement's Unavoidable Carbon

LEILAC stands for Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement. It is a carbon capture technology developed by Calix (Australia) and demonstrated in Europe under EU Horizon-funded projects, now being piloted in India for the first time at commercial scale.

In conventional cement production, limestone (calcium carbonate — CaCO₃) is heated in a kiln to produce lime (CaO) and CO₂. This calcination process releases CO₂ that is chemically locked into the raw material — approximately 60% of cement's total direct CO₂ emissions come from this process chemistry, not from burning fuel.
LEILAC uses an indirectly heated calciner: an inner tube containing the raw material (limestone) is heated externally via combustion (or electricity/hydrogen) in an outer tube. Because the CO₂ from the limestone is not mixed with combustion flue gases, it emerges as a near-pure CO₂ stream — making capture cheap and energy-efficient compared to conventional post-combustion capture.
Conventional carbon capture (post-combustion amine scrubbing) is expensive because CO₂ must be separated from nitrogen-rich flue gas; LEILAC sidesteps this by keeping process CO₂ and combustion gases separate from the outset.
A 240 t/d pilot at HeidelbergCement's Belgian plant demonstrated capture of up to 95% of process CO₂ (approximately 60% of total plant direct emissions).
The technology is fuel-flexible — supports electricity (renewables), biomass, and hydrogen, enabling integration with India's renewable energy expansion.

Connection to this news: The Kutch project is the first application of this EU-proven technology in India's cement sector, which is among the most CO₂-intensive industries globally.

India's Cement Sector and Climate Obligations

Cement is the second-largest industrial emitter of CO₂ globally, after steel. India is the world's second-largest cement producer, with over 600 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of capacity — and demand is projected to grow significantly with infrastructure expansion under programmes like PM GatiShakti and the National Infrastructure Pipeline.

Cement production accounts for approximately 7% of global CO₂ emissions and about 5% of India's total CO₂ emissions.
India's cement sector is covered under the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme — a market-based energy efficiency mechanism under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) targeting specific energy consumption reductions. Cement is one of the 13 energy-intensive sectors in PAT.
India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement include reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 45% (from 2005 levels) by 2030 and achieving about 50% of cumulative electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy. Cement sector decarbonisation is essential to meeting these targets.
Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) appears in India's long-term low-emission development strategy as a tool for hard-to-abate sectors including cement, steel, and fertilisers.
The Green Hydrogen Mission and increasing renewable energy capacity are enabling industry to consider electric or hydrogen-fired kilns — which LEILAC's fuel-flexible design can accommodate.

Connection to this news: The Ambuja-LEILAC project directly addresses the "process emissions" gap in cement decarbonisation — a gap that cannot be closed by renewable energy alone, making CCUS at scale essential.

Carbon Capture Technologies: CCS vs. CCU vs. CCUS

Carbon capture technologies fall into three main categories, relevant for UPSC Mains answers on climate technology.

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage): CO₂ is captured from industrial processes or power plants and injected into deep geological formations (depleted oil/gas reservoirs or saline aquifers) for permanent storage. Requires geological assessment of storage sites.
CCU (Carbon Capture and Utilisation): Captured CO₂ is used as a feedstock — for example, in urea production (India's fertiliser sector), synthetic fuels (e-fuels), enhanced oil recovery (EOR), or concrete mineralisation.
CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage): Combines both, offering flexibility. The LEILAC project produces a pure CO₂ stream that could be stored or utilised.
DAC (Direct Air Capture): Unlike point-source capture (at a plant chimney), DAC pulls CO₂ directly from ambient air — currently more expensive (US$ 300–1000/tonne CO₂) and less mature at scale. The Ambuja-LEILAC project is point-source capture, not DAC.
India does not yet have a dedicated CCUS policy framework or geological CO₂ storage regulations.

Connection to this news: The Sanghi plant project demonstrates point-source CCUS in cement — capturing process CO₂ before it enters the atmosphere — which is a more cost-effective starting point for India than DAC.

Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and Corporate Net-Zero

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a global body that enables companies to set greenhouse gas reduction targets aligned with Paris Agreement climate science — limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

An SBTi-validated net-zero target requires companies to reduce value-chain emissions by at least 90% and compensate the remaining 10% through permanent carbon removal (not offsets).
Ambuja Cements has committed to SBTi-validated net-zero by 2050 — the Leilac partnership is a concrete step toward addressing "unavoidable" process emissions that cannot be reduced through energy efficiency or renewables alone.
The SBTi's Corporate Net-Zero Standard (2021) requires companies to take action across all three scopes (direct emissions, indirect energy emissions, and value-chain emissions).
Scaling the Sanghi plant project to over 1 million tonnes of CO₂ annually would represent a significant fraction of a large cement plant's total emissions footprint.

Connection to this news: The Ambuja-LEILAC partnership is not a token gesture — it is directly tied to the company's SBTi commitment, making it a credible corporate climate action with measurable targets and external validation.

Key Facts & Data

Ambuja Cements Sanghipuram (Sanghi) plant: 6.6 million MTPA capacity, located in Kutch, Gujarat (Adani Group).
LEILAC technology: captures near-pure CO₂ from limestone calcination using indirect heating — no additional chemicals required.
Scale-up target: 7–8 times the demonstration plant size → over 1 million tonnes of CO₂ captured annually.
Cement globally: ~7% of total CO₂ emissions; India is the world's second-largest cement producer.
India's PAT Scheme: covers cement as one of 13 energy-intensive sectors; targets specific energy consumption reduction.
LEILAC pilot (Belgium): demonstrated capture of up to 95% of process CO₂ at HeidelbergCement's plant.
Ambuja Cements has nearly 1 GW of captive green power capacity, supporting the transition to low-carbon manufacturing.
India's NDC (2022 updated): 45% reduction in emissions intensity of GDP by 2030 (from 2005 levels); 50% non-fossil power capacity by 2030.