Holcim and 44.01 have initiated the world’s first pilot combining direct CO₂ capture from a cement plant with in-situ mineralisation, offering a potentially game-changing approach to permanent carbon storage in geological formations.
Holcim and the climate-tech company 44.01 have teamed up to launch what they’re calling the world’s first pilot project that combines direct carbon capturing from a cement plant with in-situ CO₂ mineralisation. Basically, they say this could be a game-changer for permanently storing CO₂ in geological formations, especially in sectors that are really tough to decarbonise.
According to the initial reports, the project is based in Fujairah. It will, in its early stages, aim to capture about 5 tonnes of process-related CO₂ each day from cement manufacturing. That captured gas will then be injected into underground formations of peridotite rock, where it’s expected to mineralise over time. The project partners highlight that mineralisation turns CO₂ into stable carbonate minerals, providing a natural, safe, and irreversible method of storage.
This pilot involves a quite diverse coalition, including the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC), which is supporting the project, along with NT Energies, a joint venture between Technip Energies and NMDC Energy. The CO₂ capture equipment will be supplied via a collaboration involving Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies, utilizing Shell’s CANSOLV™ technology. According to Holcim, the Fujairah plant will serve as a demonstration site for innovative technologies that could later be scaled up and replicated across other regional and global cement operations, fitting into its NextGen Growth 2030 strategy.
Observers point out that this Fujairah pilot isn’t exactly isolated. It runs alongside another related initiative led by ADNOC and 44.01, which already demonstrated rapid mineralisation in the same kind of peridotite formations. That earlier pilot, initiated in 2023 and powered by renewable energy supplied by Masdar, successfully mineralised 10 tonnes of CO₂ in less than 100 days. ADNOC has announced plans to expand on that work, scaling up the process by injecting over 300 tonnes of CO₂ to test whether sustained operations are feasible and whether the technology can be used at a commercial level across the UAE. Governments and industry groups believe that if they can successfully scale, it could mean mineralising billions of tonnes of CO₂ in the region.
Why Fujairah? Well, the geology there is pretty ideal. Geological surveys and the project partners agree that the emirate’s abundant peridotite rocks are naturally reactive with dissolved CO₂, making the process of converting CO₂ into carbonate minerals relatively quick once the CO₂-rich fluids are injected. The ADNOC pilot highlights this too: in that case, the captured CO₂ gets dissolved in seawater and then is injected deep underground, where geochemical reactions permanently lock it into the rock.
Holcim’s approach is a bit different because they’re pairing mineralisation directly with CO₂ captured from an industrial process, in this case, cement production. Cement manufacturing inherently produces process emissions when limestone is converted into clinker, so coupling capture and mineralisation could offer a way to permanently deal with those emissions. They argue that this method not only addresses process emissions but also provides a useful demonstration for other heavy industries trying to find ways to cut their carbon footprint.
Obviously, the broader context is important here. Holcim states that the pilot ties into its NextGen Growth 2030 plan, which aims to scale low-carbon, circular, and carbon-capture technologies. The company also notes other initiatives at the Fujairah site: a cement plant producing roughly 3.2 million tonnes annually, using over 40% alternative fuels sourced from industrial waste and by-products, plus deploying a waste heat recovery system that’s estimated to cut electricity consumption by about a quarter. Holcim also points to partnerships, like with Etihad Rail, aimed at reducing transportation-related emissions along the supply chain.
Collaboration between industry, tech developers, and local authorities is seen as crucial. The team describes the Fujairah pilot as a first-of-its-kind deployment within the cement industry globally and a significant step for 44.01, which states this is its first project working directly with an industrial customer and a European multinational. 44.01 has previously been recognized for its mineralisation work, including an Earthshot prize linked to its early trials, so, they’re not new to this space.
Now, while the promise of rapid, permanent mineralisation sounds promising, experts are cautious. Success in a pilot doesn’t automatically mean this will scale up easily to gigaton levels. Challenges include maintaining consistent injection rates, establishing long-term monitoring, creating regulatory frameworks for underground operations, and ensuring a reliable supply of renewable energy to power everything, without adding indirect emissions. According to ADNOC and related reports, future phases will focus on testing the process over longer periods and at larger volumes, which will be key to assessing whether this approach can really be commercially viable.
Regulatory oversight will also be integral. The report from TradingView notes that the Fujairah pilot will operate under environmental guidance from the Fujairah Environment Authority. The project emphasizes monitoring plans designed to ensure that the CO₂ injected mineralises correctly and doesn’t escape back into the atmosphere.
On a national level, the UAE sees these pilots as supporting its ambitions to reach Net Zero by 2050. Government agencies and partners view mineralisation as a complementary tool alongside other emission reduction and removal strategies. The involvement of Masdar in earlier ADNOC trials underscores the importance of renewable energy in minimizing lifecycle emissions from such projects.
If these pilots can be replicated successfully, industry experts say it could offer more options for decarbonising cement, a sector responsible for roughly 7–8% of global CO₂ emissions, and for deploying permanent carbon removal techniques that meet geological and chemical standards. Of course, the current pilot is relatively small-scale. Still, project partners regard these demonstrations as critical milestones on the way toward larger, more impactful facilities.
The coming months are likely to be decisive: whether the technology can sustain capture-to-rock operations over time, how well measurement, reporting, and verification protocols are established, and whether it can integrate into broader decarbonisation efforts, all these factors will determine if mineralisation moves from experimental pilot to a mainstream industry solution, not just in the Gulf but potentially worldwide.
Source: Noah Wire Services
- https://www.cemnet.com/News/story/180424/uae-holcim-launches-co2-mineralisation-pilot-with-44-01.html – Please view link – unable to able to access data
- https://www.cemnet.com/News/story/180424/uae-holcim-launches-co2-mineralisation-pilot-with-44-01.html – Holcim has partnered with carbon-mineralisation company 44.01 to launch the world’s first pilot project combining CO₂ captured directly from a cement plant with in-situ mineralisation. Located in Fujairah, the initiative aims to provide permanent geological storage for cement-sector emissions, supporting the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 strategy. The pilot plans to capture approximately 5 tonnes of CO₂ per day from cement production and inject it into suitable underground rock formations for mineralisation. This process offers a natural, safe, and permanent form of carbon storage, marking a pioneering deployment of carbon capture and mineralisation within the global cement industry. The project is supported by the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation and delivered in collaboration with NT Energies—a joint venture between Technip Energies and NMDC Energy. Shell CANSOLV™ carbon capture solutions will be deployed through the alliance between Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies. For Holcim, the initiative aligns with the group’s NextGen Growth 2030 strategy and broader plans to scale low-carbon, circular, and carbon-capture technologies across its global operations. The company stated that the Fujairah plant will serve as a demonstration site for technologies that could later be replicated across cement assets in the region and internationally. For 44.01, the project represents its first collaboration with an industrial customer and a European multinational, viewed as a significant step in scaling its mineralisation technology toward commercial and eventually gigaton applications. The company noted that the pilot supports a growing customer pipeline as it works to introduce mineralisation projects in key global markets. Project partners highlighted that the initiative demonstrates how collaboration between industry, technology developers, and local authorities can advance decarbonisation in hard-to-abate industrial sectors while contributing to long-term sustainable development in the UAE.
- https://www.adnoc.ae/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2024/adnoc-and-4401-to-scale-up-carbon-torock-project-following-successful-pilot – ADNOC and 44.01 have announced plans to scale up their carbon-to-rock project in Fujairah following the successful completion of their pilot, in partnership with the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC) and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar). The initial pilot of 44.01’s Earthshot prize-winning mineralisation technology commenced in 2023 and permanently mineralised 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) within Fujairah’s peridotite rock formations in under 100 days. Building on this achievement, the first phase of scale-up will inject more than 300 tonnes of CO₂ over a longer duration to demonstrate the potential of the technology to be deployed at scale in the UAE. The project aims to eliminate CO₂ from the atmosphere by capturing it directly from the air, dissolving it in seawater, and injecting it into peridotite formations deep underground, where it mineralises, ensuring the CO₂ cannot escape back into the atmosphere. The first phase of the scale-up will build on this process. The project is powered by renewable energy provided by Masdar. A successful pilot would open the possibility of mineralising billions of tonnes of captured CO₂ across the region.
- https://www.adnoc.ae/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2023/adnoc-to-turn-co2-into-rock – ADNOC, in partnership with the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC), Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), and 44.01, announced a pilot project to permanently mineralise carbon dioxide (CO₂) within rock formations in Fujairah. The project, which commenced in January 2023, uses 44.01’s Earthshot prize-winning Carbon Capture and Mineralisation (CCM) technology to eliminate CO₂ from the atmosphere. It is the first CCM project by an energy company in the Middle East. Fujairah was selected for this pilot due to its abundance of peridotite, a form of rock that naturally reacts with CO₂ to mineralise it. In this pilot, CO₂ is captured from the air, dissolved in seawater, and then injected into peridotite formations deep underground, where it mineralises, ensuring that it cannot escape back into the atmosphere. The project is powered by solar energy supplied by Masdar. A successful pilot would open the possibility of mineralising billions of tonnes of captured CO₂ across the region.
- https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com%2C2025-12-09%3Anewsml_ZawlsJ2q%3A0-projects-holcim-44-01-launch-first-cement-co2-mineralisation-pilot-in-uae/ – Holcim and Oman-based climate-tech company 44.01 have launched the world’s first pilot project to mineralise carbon dioxide captured directly from a cement plant. The project will initially capture 5 tonnes of CO₂ per day from cement production and inject it into peridotite rock formations in Fujairah, where the gas will naturally mineralise. This provides a safe, permanent geological storage method and marks the first time captured industrial CO₂ from cement manufacturing is paired with in-situ mineralisation. Holcim operates a 3.2 million tonnes per annum cement production plant in Fujairah. The initiative is supported by the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC) and will operate under environmental guidance from the Fujairah Environment Authority (FEA). Carbon capture for the project will be delivered in partnership with NT Energies, a joint venture between Technip Energies and NMDC Energy, using Shell CANSOLV capture technology through the alliance between Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies. Holcim UAE is tackling emissions across all scopes, according to a November 2025 report by Dubai-based newspaper Khaleej Times. For Scope 1, it uses over 40 percent alternative fuels, including industrial waste and byproducts, and incorporates construction and demolition waste as raw materials. For Scope 2, a waste heat recovery system at Fujairah will cut electricity use by 25 percent. For Scope 3, Holcim is partnering with Etihad Rail to reduce transport emissions. The pilot in Fujairah is 44.01’s second CO₂ mineralisation project in the UAE and supports the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 strategy and Holcim Group’s NextGen Growth 2030 plan. It also marks 44.01’s first project with an industrial customer, expanding its mineralisation portfolio in the region.
- https://gulfnews.com/business/energy/adnoc-expands-carbon-to-rock-project-in-fujairah-after-successful-pilot-1.1730788290613 – ADNOC will expand its ‘carbon-to-rock’ project in Fujairah after a pilot run met targets successfully. The technology helps reduce carbon content by permanently mineralising CO₂ within Fujairah’s peridotite rock formations in under 100 days. The next phase will involve injecting more than 300 tonnes of CO₂ to demonstrate the potential of the technology to be deployed at scale in the UAE. Fujairah was selected for this pilot due to its abundance of peridotite, a form of rock that naturally reacts with CO₂ to mineralise it. At scale, peridotite mineralisation could eliminate billions of tons of carbon emissions, helping decarbonise vital industries and remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.
- https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/holcim-and-4401-pioneer-carbon-capture-and-mineralisation-pilot-project-in-fujairah – Holcim and 44.01 have announced the launch of the first pilot project to mineralise CO₂ captured from the cement industry. The initiative supports the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 pathway by advancing permanent carbon storage solutions for the cement sector and marks a major milestone in the region’s industrial decarbonisation journey. The pilot project initially aims to capture 5 tonnes of CO₂ per day directly from cement production and permanently store it in the underground rock formation where it will mineralise, thereby providing a natural, safe and permanent method of geological carbon storage.
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
10
Notes:
The narrative is fresh, with the earliest known publication date being 9 December 2025. No earlier versions with differing figures, dates, or quotes were found. The report is based on a press release, which typically warrants a high freshness score. No discrepancies or recycled content were identified.
Quotes check
Score:
10
Notes:
The direct quotes in the narrative appear to be original, with no identical matches found in earlier material. No variations in wording were noted, suggesting the quotes are unique to this report.
Source reliability
Score:
10
Notes:
The narrative originates from reputable organisations: Holcim, 44.01, and the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC). These entities have verifiable public presences and legitimate websites, enhancing the credibility of the report.
Plausability check
Score:
10
Notes:
The claims made in the narrative are plausible and align with known information about carbon capture and mineralisation projects in the UAE. The involvement of established companies and the support from local authorities add to the credibility. The language and tone are consistent with typical corporate communications, and the report includes specific factual anchors such as names, institutions, and dates.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): PASS
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): HIGH
Summary:
The narrative is fresh, original, and originates from reputable sources. The claims are plausible and supported by specific details, with no signs of disinformation or recycled content.
