Displaying items by tag: Alternative Fuels

Canada: Lafarge Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy and Carbon Management Canada have announced that they are investing more than US$8m to develop the use of alternative fuels at Lafarge Canada's cement plant in Bath, Ontario. This multi-partner initiative intends to produce low-emission, low-carbon fuels from local supplies such as construction and demolition site debris (wood based), railway ties, and other energy containing materials that aren't presently recycled.

"We are delighted to bring this world-class demonstration initiative to the Canadian cement industry. We believe that this project is exactly in line with our mission of building better cities by lowering our carbon footprint, making use of local fuel supplies and creating local sustainable jobs," said Bob Cartmel, President and Chief Executive Officer in Eastern Canada for Lafarge Canada Inc.

According to figures released by Lafarge, the Canadian cement industry currently emits about 3.8% of the country's carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and about 30 - 40% of those emissions are due to fossil fuel use.

Carbon Management Canada (CMC), a network of Centres of Excellence that supports research to reduce CO₂ emissions, is providing a US$400,000 grant over three years to a research team working on the project. Natural Resources Canada is awarding US$2.68m to Lafarge Canada to construct a full-scale demonstration plant. Other project partners include Pollution Probe, WWF Canada, Queen's University, the Cement Association of Canada, Mesa Bioenergy, Scott Environmental and Rail Link, a Metis company.

Lebanon: Holcim has been named by the Environment Ministry as the country's sole disposer of pharmaceutical waste, according to a press release. The ministry issued a permit to the company to burn the drugs in its cement kiln. Holcim is in the process of destroying hundreds of tons of expired pharmaceuticals in the kiln at its factory in Shekka, in the north of Lebanon.

The drugs that are to be burnt were discovered during investigations that uncovered hundreds of tonnes of expired medicinal goods around the country. Officials sought a responsible way to dispose of the material and discovered that they could be used as an alternative fuel for a cement kiln. The high temperatures (~1500°C) in the kiln ensure that organic materials are completely destroyed during combustion.

China: China is expected to introduce rules to boost the use of waste treatment as an alternative fuel in cement kilns, a China Securities Journal report has said.

Xu Yongmo, vice chairman of the China Building Materials Federation, said at a forum that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), together with other six ministries, were mulling over policies to boost co-processing in cement industry. The waste used in the cement kilns covers municipal sludge, household garbage and industrial solid waste.

Mexico: Cemex has been named by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) as the best Latin American company in terms of climate change data disclosure and one of the top ten in overall carbon emissions performance.

The rankings were announced during the launching of the CDP's latest report, CDP Investor Latin America 2012, which comprises data on the emissions of greenhouse gases from 32 major companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru. The CDP is a UK-based independent non-governmental organization that possesses the world's largest database of self reported climate change data.

According to data released by Cemex, the company achieved a 22.7% reduction on CO₂ net emissions per ton of cement produced in 2011 relative to its 1990 baseline. Cemex's rate of alternative fuel use rose to approximately 25% in 2011, an improvement from its rate of 20.3% in 2010. Cemex is on track to reach its 2015 target of 35% alternative fuels substitution rate.

UK/Lativa: Recycling and resource management company, SITA UK, has signed a three-year contract to supply 180,000t of solid recovered fuel (SRF) to Cemex in Latvia. The fuel will be produced by processing residual commercial waste in a purpose-built facility at Ridham Docks in Kent. Once processed, the SRF material will be used as a fossil-fuel replacement at a Cemex plant in Broceni, southern Latvia.

"We have invested over Euro7.53m developing a new processing facility to produce and bale SRF at Ridham. This brand new, purpose-built facility was commissioned in August 2012 and we are sending our first shipment to Latvia in September 2012," said Andy Hill, head of organics and alternative fuels, at SITA UK.

SITA UK uses residual commercial waste, which has a higher calorific value and lower moisture content than municipal waste. Its facility in Ridham can process up to 50t/hr. The company has a one year trans-frontier shipment permit to export the SRF to Cemex in Latvia.

Earlier in April 2012, SITA UK and Cemex announced their intention to develop two waste recycling plants to produce alternative fuel for Cemex's Rugby plant in Warwickshire. SITA UK, a subsidiary of Suez Environment, is a recycling and resource management company employing over 6000 staff with a turnover in excess of Euro879m/yr.

UK: Lafarge Cement UK's Cauldon Works in Staffordshire has received recognition for its industry-leading sustainability achievements, which have seen it reach an alternative fuel substitution rate of 50%. The achievement is the latest milestone for the plant, which has been researching, developing and using alternative fuels, mainly processed sewage pellets (PSP) and tyre chips, for a decade.

Its parent company, Lafarge Group, has honoured the works as part of its annual awards. These champion the efforts of employees worldwide who are transforming the way in which products are manufactured. As part of the latest achievement, Lafarge has announced that the Cauldon team was able to run the calciner for a trial 10hr period using just PSP and tyre chips. Cauldon is only the third of Lafarge's 166 production sites across the world to achieve 100% alternative fuel substitution on the calciner for a limited period.

Cauldon Works' optimisation manager, Andy Woodcock, said, "We are aware that environmental legislation across the construction sector will increase in the near future and we want to be sure that we have measures in place to stay at the forefront for environmental performance and delivering sustainably-produced products to our customers. We're pleased to announce this development, which will help us continue to reduce our carbon footprint and reinforce our position as Lafarge UK's flagship works for the use of waste-derived fuels."

Canada: The Cement Association of Canada has applauded the Government of Canada's announcement that it will invest almost US$1m in Ontario-based Pond Biofuels for the advancement of Canadian biofuel technology and expertise. The investment will be made under the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario's 'Investing in Business Innovation' initiative.

The contribution will help Pond Biofuels complete a pilot demonstration of a technology developed jointly with St Marys Cement to capture and convert CO₂ and other emissions from the cement manufacturing process into oxygen and biomass.

"This technology pioneered by Pond Biofuels in partnership with St Marys Cement speaks to the Canadian cement industry's commitment to innovation and commitment to reducing its carbon footprint," said Michael McSweeney, President and CEO of the Cement Association of Canada. "Government support plays a critical role in fostering innovation and we warmly welcome the investment in this groundbreaking initiative as an important step in the future of sustainable development for Canada's cement industry."

Two stories this week on alternative fuels illustrate their current place in the cement industry succinctly. Sumitomo Osaka Cement in Japan plans to increase the sales of power generated in-house at its Tochigi Prefecture plant using wood biomass fuel. Meanwhile on the other side of the Pacific Cemex US is planning to cut costs and carbon emissions by installing wind turbines at its Victorville site in California.

At the recent Global CemTrader conference on supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), coal and petcoke and logistics for the global cement industry, Patrick Peenaert of Lafarge delivered a presentation entitled the 'Global Overview of Worldwide Coal & Petcoke.'

In his talk Peenaert revealed, unsurprisingly, that fossil fuels dominate the global cement industry for the energy consumption of the top four international producers, with coal and petcoke making up over 70% of usage. However, alternative fuel usage has grown from 13% in 2008 to 18% in 2011. As price pressures on fossil fuels grow from other industries so too will investment into alternative fuel options.

The Japanese story demonstrates this well, especially given that the economic fallout of the 2011 earthquake on the Japanese power industry has made an alternative fuel process considerably more valuable for a plant with a temporary closed kiln. By contrast the US story is more nonchalant: operations will proceed at the Californian plant regardless of whether the turbines are built or not.

Yet hedging one's bets with power sources is increasingly seen to be a prudent long term strategy in an uncertain world. A familiar refrain in the recent batch of cement producer financial reports has been mounting energy costs. This week's half-year results for the Pretoria Portland Cement in the bullish African market is no exception.

Watch the video of Patrick Peenaert's presentation at the Global CemTrader 2012 conference, and all the other presentations

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement has announced plans to lift sales of power generated in-house at its Tochigi Prefecture plant using wood biomass fuel. The current fuel mix is 85% wood chips and 15% coal, 20% more wood chips than previously.

The group's operating profit is expected to surge by 41% to US$144m in the fiscal year ending March 2013. Sumitomo Osaka Cement does not disclose power-related earnings, but the steady advance of power sales is expected to become a factor that boosts operating profit by US$12.5-25m.

The power generation facilities at the Tochigi plant were completed in February 2009 and went into full operation in April 2009. Current output is 25,000kw.

Sumitomo Osaka Cement suspended operations at one of the plant's two kilns in January 2012 as part of restructuring measures, giving it capacity to supply more of its leftover power. It aims to contribute to the power supply by selling the excess electricity, especially with Japan's nuclear plants remaining offline due to the aftermath of the Fukashima radiation leak following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

US: Cemex USA has announced a novel plan to install four 120m-tall wind turbines at one of its US cement terminals and quarry in order to cut carbon emissions and energy costs.

The Victorville Planning Commission has unanimously approved the two turbines proposed at Cemex's cement manufacturing plant, with the company stating the project would help keep jobs in the Victor Valley.

"Our operations will continue at Victorville even if the turbine permits are not approved," said Cemex spokeswoman Sara Engdahl. "However, the wind turbine project at our Victorville site is beneficial not only to our operations but to the environment as well. The project will contribute to the local economy through jobs created for the construction and engineering of the turbine, and the project directly partners with California-based Foundation Windpower."

The two turbines in Victorville will produce an estimated 6500MWh of electricity in an average year, enough to sustain 650 average homes, according to the company. The other two proposed turbines will be built at the Black Mountain Quarry in an unincorporated area of Apple Valley. They are under review by San Bernardino County.

The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilise energy costs for Cemex, while preparing the company to comply with future carbon emission requirements, according to Cemex's proposal to the city of Victorville.

"The wind turbine project at our Victorville plant is part of our vision and commitment to reduce our environmental footprint and contribute to a cleaner environment," said Engdahl. "Cemex is increasingly using renewable energy to generate power for our operations."

She added that Foundation Windpower began working on foundations of the Victorville site in August 2011. It is scheduled to start erecting the turbines in September 2012.