Displaying items by tag: Solid Recovered Fuel

There have been a few burner and related stories to note in the cement industry news this week. Firstly, Canada-based PyroGenesis announced that it had signed a deal with an unnamed-European cement company to supply a plasma torch system for a ‘calcination furnace.’ Around the same time UBE Mitsubishi Cement (MUCC) revealed that it had successfully tested natural gas co-firing at MUCC’s Kyushu Plant using a newly developed burner.

The PyroGenesis project is a potential game-changer for the sector because it alters the way cement production lines are heated. Roughly one third of CO₂ emissions associated with cement manufacture arise from the fossil fuels used to heat the kiln and the pre-calcination system. Cut out some of that and the specific CO₂ emissions of cement production drop. PyroGenesis’ approach uses electricity to generate high-temperature plasma. This then gives the cement plant the option of obtaining its electricity from renewable sources. PyroGenesis signed a memorandum of understanding with the power conversion division of GE Vernova in March 2025. This had the aim of targeting high temperature processes, such as cement production, with electric plasma torches. The current deal with a cement producer has been valued at US$871,000 with delivery to the client scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.

We don’t know who the mystery client might be. However, Heidelberg Materials reportedly operated a 300kW plasma-heated cement kiln at its Slite cement plant in February 2025 as part of the ELECTRA project. The producer said it had achieved 54 hours of continuous operation, with 60% CO₂ concentration in the flue gas. The aim was to reach 99%. It then said that it was planning to build a larger 1MWel furnace at its Skövde cement plant in 2026 with tests to continue in 2027. In an interview with Global Cement Magazine in May 2025, Heidelberg Materials said that it was using commercially supplied CO₂ as the ionising gas in the plasma generator but that it was considering using captured CO₂ from the production process in the future. It also mentioned issues from its trials such as the effective ‘flame’ being hotter than the conventional process but not as long. This increased the reactivity of the resulting clinker. Finally, Heidelberg Materials noted from a feasibility study that a 1Mt/yr cement plant would need around 170MW of plasma generation, but that typical plasma generators topped out at around 8MW. Hence, any full set-up would likely require multiple plasma generators. For more on non-combustion style kilns see GCW561.

UBE Mitsubishi Cement’s burner installation is more conventional but again it is concerned about sustainability. In this case the line has tested burning natural gas. The cement producer says it is the first such installation at a cement plant in Japan to do so commercially. The burner was jointly developed by UBE Mitsubishi Cement, Osaka Gas and Daigas Energy. Firstly, the plant will consider switching to natural gas. This will reduce the unit’s CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion. However, a later step being considered is to move on to e-methane. This is a synthetic methane made from CO₂ and hydrogen using renewable energy.

Finally, another recent story on this theme is the installation of a new satellite burner by Northern Ireland-based Mannok at its Derrylin cement plant in August 2025. This is Phase One of a two-part project to upgrade the pyro kiln system at the site. The cement company worked with FLSmidth on the €2.5m upgrade. The new burner has now allowed the plant to burn solid recovered fuel (SRF) by up to a 30% substitution rate in the kiln. This followed a project, also with FLSmidth, to install a FuelFlex Pyrolyzer in 2022. This is used to replace coal with SRF in the pre-calcination stage of cement production. Phase two will be an upgrade of the main burner to a new Jetflex burner. Once this part is completed, Mannok is aiming for an overall substitution rate of 65 - 70% on the whole pyro-processing system.

Burners at cement plants are replaced fairly commonly. However, the supplier companies don’t advertise every installation due to the commercial relationships with their clients and other factors. Hence the more interesting upgrades tend to get the publicity. Typically this means if a burner uses new technology, meets sustainability goals and so on, we find out about it. It’s a similar situation when a new heating technology such as plasma is trialled. Changing trends in fuel types for cement plants suggest different types of conventional burners. Some of this can be seen in the burner stories above with the trend moving towards ever higher rates of alternative fuels usage. Combustion in cement kilns is here to stay for the time being but plasma trials will be watched carefully.

The 18th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition on alternative fuels for cement and lime 2025 will take place in Milan on 17 - 18 September 2025

Ireland/UK: Mannok has completed Phase 1 of a two-phase upgrade to its pyroprocessing system with the installation of a new satellite burner in collaboration with FLSmidth. The €2.5m project enables the use of solid recovered fuel (SRF) as a replacement for coal, achieving up to 30% substitution and reducing CO₂ emissions by 23,000t/yr.

Phase 2 will involve upgrading the main burner to a Jetflex system, targeting 65–70% coal substitution across the kiln. Mannok produces about 1.4Mt/yr of cement for customers across the UK and Ireland.

Lithuania: Recycling company Ekobāze is set to construct a plastic byproducts and solid recovered fuel (SRF) processing complex in the Akmenė Free Economic Zone. The project is valued at about €12m and received €10m in EU financing, according to BNS News. It will create 60 new jobs. The complex will supply SRF to Akmenės Cementas, the sole cement producer in Lithuania, utilising post-consumer plastic unsuitable for recycling in its production processes. Ekobāze will process other plastic into pellets. Construction will begin at the end of 2025, with production starting in early 2027.

Spain: Votorantim Cimentos will construct a solid recovered fuel (SRF) production plant at its subsidiary Cementos Cosmos’ plant in Oural, aiming to produce up to 0.15Mt/yr of alternative fuel, reports Digital Economia newspaper. The facility, spanning 5800m², will utilise non-recyclable industrial byproducts and various discarded materials from the local community such as plastic, paper and wood, to partially fuel the combustion in its cement kilns. The plant, currently in the public exhibition phase, will start production at 60% capacity, producing 85,000t/yr of alternative fuel. Plans include ramping up to full capacity to produce roughly 0.15Mt/yr. The new plant will create 15 jobs.

Votorantim Cimentos has not detailed the investment in the new facility, although the budget presented to the local council amounts to €12m.

Kenya: Mombasa Cement will build a 20MW power plant at its Vipingo plant in Kilifi County, to help reduce energy costs. The US$19.4m project will generate 10MW of electricity using a waste heat recovery system and 10MW from solid fuels. The waste heat will be recovered from flue gases emitted during cement production. The plant has two clinker production lines. The power generated will be used onsite to support cement production.

Denmark: Norway-based Geminor has appointed Per Mernelius as Country Manager for Geminor Denmark. He succeeds Kasper Thomsen in the position, who was recently appointed as the Operations Director for Geminor Group. Mernelius is currently the Country Manager for Sweden and he will add the new responsibilities to this role. Initially, he will be in charge of the Danish market for 12 months, pending the appointment of a new country manager in Denmark.

Mernelius commented “Denmark and Sweden are our two biggest downstream markets, with nearly 1Mt of imported refuse-derived fuel/solid recovered fuel in 2023. As such, many similarities open up for synergies in the coming year. An important factor is logistics, and how we can coordinate the two markets for more efficient operations. Our ambition is to grow further and to cater for the existing over-capacity within energy recovery in Scandinavia.”

Mernelius has worked for Geminor since 2016. Before this he worked for Sweden-based energy supplier Jönköping Energi. He is a graduate of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

France: Authorities have granted construction and environmental clearances to N + P Group to set up its planned Isbergues Subcoal solid recovered fuel (SRF) plant in Hauts-de-France. When commissioned in 2024, the 150,000t/yr-capacity plant will be France's first to commercially produce the coal alternative for cement and other industries. The company says that its products will be able to eliminate 100,000t/yr of industrial CO₂ emissions nationally. N + P Group will use locally sourced waste at the unit.

Chief development officer Lars Jennissen said “Obtaining the environmental and construction permit is a major achievement for us, and we thank our colleagues and partners for their hard work in realising this important milestone. The new location will contribute to the circular economy in Hauts-de-France by converting regional non-recyclable wastes into new resources for regional customers, and it offers a massive potential CO₂ savings for the French market.”

France: Heidelberg Materials' subsidiary Ciments Calcia has laid the foundation stone for its construction of a Euro285m CO₂ emissions-reducing upgrade to its Airvault cement plant in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Ciments Calcia first published its plans for the installation of a new 4000t/day production line to replace both existing lines at the Airvault plant in 2021, with commissioning scheduled for mid-2024.

Germany-based ThyssenKrupp secured the order to supply a 1200t/hr double-shaft hammer crusher, a longitudinal blending bed, a 370t/hr Quadropol QMR² 45/23 vertical roller mill, a 10,000t raw materials tangential blending silo, a single-string, five-stage Dopol cyclone preheater with integral calciner for alternative fuels (with the possibility of conversion to oxyfuel), a Polytrack clinker cooler, a solid recovered fuel preparation line and dedusting systems for the project.

Panama: Waste management company EMG has won a contract with Cemex Panama for the supply of solid recovered fuel (SRF) derived from commercial and industrial waste, beginning in early 2023. EMG is working to expand its SRF production capacity to 18,000t/yr from the start of the supply contract.

Indonesia: Entsorga has dispatched two Spider bridge cranes and two Pelican feeding and dosing systems for the construction of two new solid recovered fuel (SRF) storage, feeding and dosing systems at Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa’s 11.9Mt/yr Citeureup cement plant in Bogor Regency. The systems will have a total capacity of 50t/hr. An advanced supervision system will monitor and control their 24-hour operation. The Italy-based supplier says that both lines are highly automated and will reduce both CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption.

CEO Francesco Galanzino “The systems will help the cement plant to maintain its 2030 sustainability commitments, in line with the policies of HeidelbergCement who is a real first mover in the path toward sustainability. Such project it is a very important step in a Country where environmental policies are in their early stage.”