Displaying items by tag: US
US: ASTM International’s concrete and concrete aggregates committee (C09) is developing a proposed standard specification for a broad range of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). Larry Sutter, an ASTM International member and the principal engineer at Sutter Engineering, commented that this performance specification (WK70466) will ease the adoption of new materials used for SCMs as established sources become less available.
Sutter said “For a variety of reasons, historic sources of SCMs, like coal fly ash from electric power generation, are in short supply and new materials are emerging.” He added, “These new materials do not fall under existing specifications, leading to the need for new specifications. Rather than writing a new specification for every emerging material, we are writing a performance specification that can be used to cover the full range of them.”
Sutter noted that concrete made with SCMs can be less costly, more durable and more sustainable than ordinary Portland cement. New specifications will allow these new materials into more construction projects. This effort relates to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #7 on clean and affordable energy.
US: Heidelberg Materials says that the first clinker has been produced on the new production line at its integrated Mitchell cement plant in Indiana. Construction work on the project started in 2019 and the majority of the work is now completed. The US$600m upgrade is expected to increase the production capacity at the unit to over 2.4Mt/yr. It will also create 50 new full-time jobs at the site, bringing the total to 170.
Chris Ward, president and chief executive officer of Heidelberg Materials North America, said “We are extremely pleased to have the new Mitchell kiln online and producing clinker.” He added “With the capabilities of the new facility, we will be able to supply our customers more efficiently, consistently and sustainably than ever before.”
CalPortland abandons attempt to buy Tehachapi cement plant from Martin Marietta Materials
28 April 2023US: Taiheiyo Cement says that its subsidiary CalPortland has terminated its deal to buy the Tehachapi cement plant from Martin Marietta Materials. It has blamed the situation on the two parties being unable to “timely obtain the necessary approval by the US Federal Trade Commission.” The deal was originally announced in August 2022 with CalPortland agreeing to buy the integrated plant in California and two terminals.
CRH now ‘de facto’ American company
28 April 2023Ireland/US: Albert Manifold, the chief executive officer of CRH, has described the company as a ‘de facto’ American company at it its annual general meeting. "This is a golden age of construction in the US," said Manifold, according to the Irish Times newspaper. He added that moving the group's main stock market listing to the US made it "more of an American company, which de facto we actually are". He also noted comments by US president Joe Biden in February 2023 that the country was planning “to buy American” as part of its infrastructure spending. North America accounted for 75% of the group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2022 compared to around a half in the early 2010s.
CRH said in March 2023 that it was preparing to move its primary listing of shares to a US-based stock exchange.
Update on fly ash in the US, April 2023
26 April 2023Heidelberg Materials announced a US acquisition at the same time as the ongoing IEEE/IAS-PCA Cement Conference in Dallas, Texas this week. It has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire The SEFA Group, a fly ash recycling company based in Lexington, South Carolina. Its operations include five beneficiation plants, five utility partners, 20 locations and over 500 employees. It supplies fly ash to over 800 ready-mixed concrete plants in 13 states. It processes around 1Mt/yr of ash from storage ponds using its proprietary thermal beneficiation process. No value for the acquisition was disclosed.
The proposition for a heavy building materials manufacturer of securing a supply of fly ash is an attractive one. Fly ash can improve the performance of concrete, reduce its cost by lowering the amount of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) required and decrease the associated carbon footprint. It can also be use to make blended cement products. Heidelberg Materials and its US-subsidiary Lehigh Hanson could have various options here including using this new supply of fly ash internally, selling it on to other companies or licensing the beneficiation technology. Heidelberg Materials’ global sustainability report in 2021 reported that just under 9% of its cement-type portfolio comprised pozzolana or fly ash cements.
Graph 1: Coal combustion product production and use, 1991 – 2021. Source: ACAA.
Data from the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) shows in Graph 1 that coal combustion products (CCP) production have declined in the last decade as the proportion used has steadily risen. In its annual production and use survey, the ACAA revealed that the use of harvested ash continued to grow in 2021 and that it constituted around 10% of the volume of ash recycled from current power plant operation. Thomas H Adams, the executive director of the ACAA, said “The rapidly increasing utilisation of harvested CCP shows that beneficial use markets are adapting to the decline in coal-fuelled electricity generation in the US. New logistics and technology strategies are being deployed to ensure these valuable resources remain available for safe and productive use.” Separately, the ACAA reported that coal-fuelled power stations represented about 50% of the country’s electricity demand in the mid-2010s compared to 20 – 25% in 2021 despite base-load remaining the same. It forecast that fly ash production was likely to remain fairly constant to around 2040 but that harvesting would help to cut the gap between supply and demand in some regional markets. It said that over 2Bnt of coal ash was in disposal. However, no indication of how recoverable this was given although it did note the higher cost of beneficiation. Work on updating specifications was ongoing to suit current circumstances.
As with the slag market, this presents a dilemma for cement and concrete producers that want to become more sustainable. They want to use more by-products from other carbon-intensive heavy industries – such as coal-fired power stations and steel plants – but these industries themselves are also trying to become more sustainable and are producing less secondary cementitious materials. Heidelberg Materials’ interest in a fly ash beneficiation company makes sense because it secures a bigger portion of a dwindling resource from the direct operations and opens up the possibility of selling the beneficiation technology to others. It is also worth mentioning that other fly ash thermal beneficiation processes are available. For example, Charah Solutions installed its MP618 technology at its Sulphur terminal in Louisiana in early 2019.
The general fly ash market in the US looks set to track the level of coal-fired power generation for the foreseeable future. Yet the proportion of CCPs being used continues to rise. In this context focusing on harvesting may be starting to make more financial sense. Charah Solutions’s new unit in 2019 and SEFA Group’s new units in 2020 and 2021 seem to support this view. Heidelberg Materials’ acquisition of SEFA Group may be further confirmation of this.
Double-digit growth for GCC in first quarter of 2023
26 April 2023Mexico: The construction materials producer GCC reported double-digit growth in its first quarter results, driven by higher prices for its products in Mexico and the US. Its operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first three months of 2023 rose by 16% year-on-year compared to the same period in 2022 to reach US$63m, while revenues rose by 18% to US$243.9m.
"GCC delivered solid results in the first quarter," said Enrique Escalante, GCC’s chief executive officer. "High demand continues and we are leveraging all of GCC's resources to ensure we deliver the highest profits and strengthen our margins."
The growth in revenue was driven by higher ready-mixed concrete (RMC) sales volumes in the US, which were 27% higher than in 2022, and 11% higher cement and RMC volumes in Mexico. GCC also noted an increase in cement and RMC prices of 21% and 6%, respectively, in the US, while in Mexico the increases were 13% for cement and 11% for ready-mix.
US: Holcim US has joined the Department of Energy's (DOE) 'Better Climate Challenge' to reduce CO2 emissions and save energy. It is the first cement producer to commit to the DOE program. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim plans to power the electrical operations at 13 cement plants in the country with 100% renewable energy by 2030 and to reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. As part of the 'Better Climate Challenge' it has committed to reduce CO2 emissions in the US by at least 25% by 2033.
Examples of current renewable power usage at Holcim US cement plants include the installation of three onsite wind turbines at the Paulding plant in Ohio that generate 11,500MWh while a forthcoming solar unit at the Hagerstown plant in Maryland will generate up to 18,440MWh. All 13 Holcim cement plants will conduct reviews to identify projects that could contribute to meeting goals of the challenge.
With grant support from the DOE, Holcim is also investigating the feasibility of using carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) at its cement plants in Portland, Colorado, and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. In addition to involvement in the Better Climate Challenge, Holcim US is a continuing partner of the DOE's 'Better Plants Challenge', sharing facility-level energy data and solutions to help guide other industrial companies with implementing energy solutions in their facilities.
US: A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a new method to sequester CO2 in concrete before curing it. The method is based on the addition of bicarbonate of soda, which reacts with cement to produce a calcium carbonate-calcium silicone hydrate composite. The Journal of Engineering has reported that the method adds the benefits of CO2 mineralisation during production and casting, doubling the mechanical performance of early-stage concrete. It also eliminates the effects of carbonation reactions in cured concrete, which weaken the concrete by lowering its alkalinity, which accelerates the corrosion of rebar. The method has the potential to sequester 15% of CO2 emissions from cement production.
The team said “The pre-curing capacity of concrete to sequester CO2 has been largely underestimated and underutilised. Our new discovery could further be combined with other recent innovations in the development of lower carbon footprint concrete admixtures to provide much greener, and even carbon-negative, construction materials.”
Vulcan Materials to increase compensation claims against the Mexican government from US$1.9bn
05 April 2023Mexico: Vulcan Materials is reportedly preparing to launch new legal action against the government of Mexico. The government supported an alleged illegal entry by Cemex into the company's Punta Venado cement terminal on 14 March 2023. The cement producer is engaged in existing lawsuits against the government for compensation worth a total sum of US$1.9bn. It originally sued the government for US$529m in 2019. Local press has reported that the producer previously filed a subordinate claim to its suit for incursions onto its mining operations in Quintana Roo in mid-2022. The latter supplied limestone to Vulcan Materials' US operations.
Holcim completes Duro-Last acquisition
04 April 2023US: Holcim has completed its acquisition of roofing systems producer Duro-Last.
CEO Jan Jenisch said "This is another exciting step in the expansion of Solutions and Products, advancing our Strategy 2025 - Accelerating Green Growth." He added "I am excited to welcome all 840 Duro-Last employees to the Holcim family. Duro-Last is a perfect strategic fit for our roofing business. Its proprietary technologies and leading brands complement our offering in the fast-growing North American market. Its energy-efficient systems and excellence in recycling will further advance our leadership in sustainability."