Adbri, one of Adelaide’s top companies, won the grant to undertake a front-end engineering and design study that may lead to upgrades of its cement facility at Birkenhead.

Announced to shareholders today, Adbri secured the money from the federal $400 million Critical Inputs to Clean Energy (CICEI) program, established to support projects that will assist in transitioning Australia’s economy to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Earlier this year, the government announced Sanjeev Gupta’s LIBERTY Steel was another CICEI grants recipient to the tune of $63.2 million for the purchase and installation of an electric arc furnace.

Adbri – currently subject to a $2.1 billion takeover – today the grant would fund the potential construction of a new vertical roller mill and a post-production blending system at its Birkenhead centre, which is SA’s largest cement manufacturing facility.

The ASX-listed company said the study scope contemplates an increase in overall production at Birkenhead where the company currently produces Australia’s lowest embodied carbon general cement.

“The project, supporting further decarbonisation of our operations, is expected to improve grinding efficiency and support customers in accessing a greater range of lower carbon cementitious products,” said Adbri, formerly known as Adelaide Brighton Cement.

CEO Mark Irwin said the company had already made “significant inroads to reducing emissions at its Birkenhead facility” and that the company was “the first cement manufacturer in Australia to use alternative fuels to supplement natural gas in the clinker manufacturing stage of the cement process”.

“With the Commonwealth’s support we have the potential to further accelerate the decarbonisation of our operations and products,” he said.

The study is expected to be completed by the first half of 2025, while the new vertical roller mill would be in operation from 2026 if the project is approved by Adbri’s board.

“This timing aligns with the delivery of a new hybrid electric battery vessel in 2026 that will be capable of transporting up to 2.7 million tonnes of limestone each year from our Klein Point quarry to Birkenhead,” Irwin said.

“I want to thank the government for their support in accelerating the decarbonisation of emissions intensive, hard-to-abate, industries such as cement while supporting local manufacturing and local jobs.

“Cement is a key component of concrete, with concrete the most used manmade product in the world.”

The news comes ahead of a planned $2.1 billion takeover of Adbri which has been unanimously recommended by the company’s directors.

Once passed, Adbri will be owned by a consortium of two major building materials businesses, and shareholders will receive $3.20 per Adbri share in cash.