21 March 2024

UK: Capsol Technologies has been selected to conduct a study on its carbon capture technology at Aggregate Industries Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire. Owned by the Holcim Group, the company’s plant will undergo a feasibility study by Capsol Technologies for its CapsolEoP® carbon capture system. The potential for carbon capture at this plant is 600,000t/yr of CO₂. The CO₂ captured will be stored geologically through the nearby MNZ Cluster or HyNet North West.

CCO Johan Jungholm said “CapsolEoP® provides a cost-efficient carbon capture solution for cement, and our solution can be run on electricity alone without expensive heat integration or external steam supply. It offers flexibility in the optimisation of the designs, allowing for high capture rates, high reliability and low energy consumption."

The contract includes supplier input for the feasibility study, and further pre-FEED engineering if Capsol's technology is selected. The UK Government's Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) is funding the study, with Petrofac as Aggregate Industries engineer. This study is part of Peak Cluster's objective to reduce over 3Mt/yr of CO₂ from cement, lime, and refuse facilities by 2030. Capsol Technologies is focusing on the cement industry, which accounts for about 8% of global CO₂ emissions.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) has closed its Athi River plant for a US$3m upgrade to boost production capacity.

Oliver Kirubai, EAPCC's managing director, said "We are doing the second phase of our machines upgrade, which is basically targeting to increase our output. Our target is that by June 2026 we should be able to produce 1Mt/yr of cement." He added "Seven local contractors are spearheading the upgrade of this plant. They will work with us during the 25-day closure of this facility." The current production capacity of the plant is 310,000t/yr.

EAPCC recorded a loss of US$9.8m for the financial year ending June 2023, despite making a profit of US$4m in the previous year. This shift was due to increased costs elevating the firm's cost of sales to US$29.4m from US$29.9m, despite a 37% increase in revenues to US$21.9m from US$15.9 in the previous year.

Italy: Scientists Gregory Chass and Kun Tian have developed a sustainable concrete from wet waste materials through their company Mesoscale Engineering Halcyon. This 'green concrete' concept was conceived in Garbatella and will first be tested on the district's pavements. The concrete, made by combining and recycling industrial CO₂ emissions with brine from saltworks, is part of the Clean Energy Transition Partnership. It is also central to the BUCK$$$ project, led by Kun, focusing on carbon capture and utilisation. This project, with €2.54m in funding, involves 13 partners from seven countries.

This innovative concrete arises from 'mineralised CO₂', which is similar to mollusc shells made of calcium carbonate, as well as materials derived from saltwork brine, desalination, and industrial wastewater. Both currently underused products are expected to become crucial in the cement and concrete industries, particularly in Italy.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement will install a gas engine power system at its Fujiwara cement plant in Inabe-shi, Mie Prefecture. The system replaces the existing thermal power system at the plant, which uses petcoke. Construction is set to begin in 2025 and the facility will be operational by the end of 2026. The new system will reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 130,000t/yr.

President and representative director Masafumi Fushihara said "Taiheiyo Cement positions the reduction of CO₂ emissions from its cement production as an important growth strategy and will work to continue to achieve carbon neutrality through various countermeasures and the promotion of further energy conservation."

Australia: Adbri has announced the early termination of its contract to supply quicklime to aluminium producer Alcoa, ending in April 2024 instead of the original plan for six months later. This decision is part of an amendment to meet changing demand. The news comes amid Adbri's ongoing review of its Western Australia lime operations and follows Alcoa's recent production curtailment at its Kwinana refinery. Adbri previously supplied to three Alcoa alumina refineries in Western Australia, but the number was reduced to one in 2021. 

Adbri is also in the process of finalising a US$2.1bn buyout with Irish company CRH.