Heidelberg Materials France has commissioned a state-of-the-art kiln line at its Airvault cement plant. It replaces two semi‑dry process clinker lines with a modern pre-calciner system with 1.25 Mta capacity. This milestone is part of the company’s modernisation project at its Airvault site that will enable almost 90% of the plant’s energy demand to be covered by alternative fuels and reduce specific electricity consumption by around 10%. The modernisation project involves an investment of more than €350 million and is partly funded by the French government. In the next step, a CCUS system will be installed with a planned capture capacity of nearly 1 Mta of CO₂ annually.