Russia: SibCem subsidiary KuzbassTransCement has appointed Eduard Ishimov as its managing director. He succeeds Alexander Chagaev, who will continue to work as an advisor to president of Sibcem on transport and logistics. KuzbassTransCement is responsible for the operation of the railway fleet of SibCem.

Ishimov, aged 53 years, started working in the railway sector in the late 1990s. In 2006 he began working at KuzbassTransCement and has held the positions of Director for Transportation and Operation of Rolling Stock and Director for Transportation and Logistics. A graduate of the Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute, he also holds qualifications from t he Siberian State University of Communications and the Moscow International Higher Business School.

China: Sibo (Steven) Yan has been appointed as the general manager of KHD’s Chinese unit KHD Beijing. His new role is intended to help KHD grow its market share in China in conjunction with the company’s main shareholder, AVIC.

Yan started working for KHD in 2016 as Manager of the Tendering Department before becoming Vice President - Tendering & SCM in 2019. Previously he worked as a Technical Manager for AVIC International Beijing. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Beijing University of Technology.

US: Cadence Environmental Energy has appointed Tom Lane as Vice President of Finance. In addition to his financial tasks he will also serve as a strategic advisor to Cadence’s president, recommending financial initiatives, policies, programs and practices that support the company’s key business initiative. Lane joined Cadence’s accounting department in 1991. A trained and accredited CPA, he graduated from Ball State University in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Cadence Environmental Energy provides technology for waste fuel recycling and emission reduction technology to the cement industry.

France: Lafarge France has commissioned its Martres cement plant’s new kiln line. China-based Sinoma Construction carried out the work on the plant in Occitanie Region. The supplier said that the new kiln will use 85% alternative fuel (AF), which will cut 163,000t/yr (28%) of its CO₂ emissions. This will reduce its clinker’s carbon footprint by 240kg/t.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has signed an agreement with Italgas to collaborate on the development of power to gas plants for implementation in combination with carbon capture systems. Their research will assess the possibility of producing and using synthetic methane obtained from the combination of green hydrogen from power to gas plants with captured CO₂.

Buzzi Unicem’s group technical director at Luigi Buzzi said "We are very interested in the opportunity to collaborate with Italgas as an experienced partner to develop a project that is fully integrated into our industrial investment plan aimed at identifying technologies for capturing and reusing the CO₂ released by our plants, in line with the roadmaps defined by industry associations.” He added “Our aim is to responsibly contribute to containing climate change by developing CO₂ capture technologies and identifying the best solutions for its reuse. We are currently experimenting with calcium looping technology for capturing the carbon dioxide released by the production process at our plant in Vernasca, Piacenza. Thanks to the EU Horizon 2020 Cleanker project, it will be possible to assess the technical and economic sustainability of this technology and estimate the changes to the plant and the investments required to adopt this process in existing cement plants.”

Australia: RMIT University in Melbourne, Victoria, has developed a new method of carbon capture, called the bubble column method. The method uses liquid gallium at 100 – 120°C, through which flue gas is bubbled. This activates the CO₂, leading to oxidation of the metal. The captured carbon accumulates on the surface of the pool.

Gallium is a by-product of bauxite and zinc ores mining. The United States Geological Service (USGS) has estimated its global reserves in these ores alone as 1Mt.

Project co-lead Torben Daeneke said “Turning CO₂ into a solid avoids potential issues of leakage and locks it away securely and indefinitely. Because our process does not use very high temperatures, it would be feasible to power the reaction with renewable energy.” He added “Ideally the carbon we make could be turned into a value-added product, contributing to the circular economy and enabling the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to pay for itself over time.”

The Australian Government plans to invest US$719m in low emissions technologies by 2050 under its Net Zero Plan.

Kazakhstan: International Cement Group has resumed operations at its Almaty cement plant following its suspension of production due to political unrest.

The group said "To safeguard our employees and plant during the nationwide unrest, the company temporarily closed its cement plant located in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan." It added “As far as business is concerned, everything appears back to normal now, but last week we definitely did not know what was going to happen."

Kyrgyzstan: A new 1.8Mt/yr cement plant is to be built at Tunuk-Suu in Batken region. 10 hectares of land have been set aside for the project, according to local government sources quoted by Central Asia News. The initiative is a joint venture between the authorities and investors. Construction of the plant is scheduled to be complete by early 2024. A 60km road supporting the proposed plant is also being repaired.

Croatia: Volunteers from Cemex collaborated with the Agricultural and Veterans’ Cooperative Lintar and local school pupils to harvest 6.5t of olives from the site of its rehabilitated Split quarry in Split-Dalmatia. The company says that the winter crop produced 900l of olive oil.

Cemex’s Europe, Middle East and Africa corporate affairs, sustainability and environmental resources manangement vice president Andrew Spencer said “We recognise that our industry has consequences for the environment, but Cemex is working hard to actively counteract climate change and this drive is present through all aspects of our business. In our cement and aggregate quarrying operations across Europe, we restore and recultivate our sites to provide optimal conditions that are managed well to deliver for biodiversity.” He added “Our vision is of a successful, sustainable Cemex that makes a positive contribution to people and the environment.”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement says it plans to raise the price of its cement-related products by 20% in April 2022. It has blamed this on rising raw material, energy and logistics costs.