ABB and Sweden-based, green-tech supplier Salt X agreed Mar. 12 to further develop its Electric Arc Calcination (EAC) technology. While it’s difficult to decarbonize cement, quicklime and other industries that rely on high-emission fossil fuels, EAC reportedly reinvents the high-temperature calcination process with renewable electricity that makes it possible to reach several thousand degrees Celsius and capture CO₂ emitted during heating.
ABB will also become a minority shareholder in Salt X, and contribute control and electrical systems to EAC. The two companies also plan to commercialize EAC. The two companies started collaborating on EAC in 2022, and built Salt X's research and test facility (ECRC) in 2023.
“Together with a capital injection, Salt X is gaining an optimal industrial partner with experience in implementing and globally scaling up new industrial technologies,” says Carl-Johan Linér, CEO of Salt X. “This strengthens us as a company, and enables us to progress with our growth plans. With ABB and our other partners, we can take a leading role in the electrification wave sweeping through the industrial sector.”
Michael Marti, business line manager for global growth industries at ABB Process Industries, adds that, “ABB is decarbonizing the cement and other emission-intensive industries, and providing solutions to our customers. Collaboration with Salt X is a milestone because its benefits include replacing fossil fuels with renewable electricity in the calcination process, and enabling cost efficient capture of the carbon emissions at the same time. This will be a highly effective way of curbing lime production emissions.”
