Plant in Gmunden soon

Inno

Rohrdorfer wants to be a technology leader and also decarbonize its own building materials production.

(Bild: Rohrdorfer)

It is a flagship project in terms of climate protection: the Rohrdorfer Group came third in one category of the State Prize for Innovation 2024 for the direct electrolysis of CO2. A plant that makes use of the award-winning expertise is now being built at the Hatschek cement plant in Gmunden. Read here to find out how an institute at JKU and EW Technology also impressed the jury.

What to do when low-CO2 cement is increasingly in demand on the market and production simply generates a lot of flue gas? The Rohrdorfer Group is addressing this question in the "Intensified Carbon Capture and Utilization" project, which also earned the company third place in the large company category of the 2024 State Prize for Innovation.

Katharina Mairhofer and Thomas Mairegger accepted the award.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

CO2 is extracted from flue gas and converted into chemicals
What happens in the process called "Intensified Carbon Capture and Utilization"? Using direct electrolysis, CO2 is extracted from the flue gases of cement production and simultaneously converted into chemicals such as formic acid or ethylene. "The chemicals produced can be used in various industries," explained Katharina Mairhofer at the state award ceremony.

The first pilot plants are already up and running, which should help to ensure that cement production at Rohrdorfer is completely decarbonized by 2038. The company is also building Austria's first industrial-scale CO2 recovery plant in the cement industry in Gmunden. It is scheduled to go into operation in 2026.

The JKU Institute for Chemical Technology of Organic Materials scored with new materials.

(Bild: Institut für Chemische Technologie Organischer Stoffe)

Lithium batteries become toxin-free thanks to binders from Linz
"We hope that there will soon be large batteries or cars that rely on our material," said Klaus Bretterbauer and Felix Leibetseder from the JKU's Institute of Chemical Technology of Organic Materials, which was the third-best research institution in the state prize. Thanks to the binding agent made from castor oil developed in Linz, lithium batteries are free of toxic substances.

Patrick Wagner and Philipp Ertl (right) from EW Technology.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

Thanks to a new machine: packaging with paper instead of film
Concept, prototype construction, series transfer - all this is done by EW Technology GmbH, which sees itself as a development company. With the PaperWrap, the company from Peuerbach has created a machine that allows loads on pallets to be wrapped in paper instead of plastic film. Reward: third place in the "small and medium-sized enterprises" category.