Displaying items by tag: Alternative raw materials

UK: James Whitelaw will take on the role of managing director in Hanson UK’s newly-established recycling business line. He will be responsible for identifying opportunities to grow organically using the company’s existing capabilities and for integrating new acquisitions.

Whitelaw has held management roles in Hanson UK since 2001 and most recently served as aggregates managing director. Former concrete managing director Brian Charleton will replace him in this role, while Gordon Napier, previously concrete regional director, joins Hanson UK’s executive team as the new concrete managing director.

US: Sublime Systems’ Sublime Cement reduced-CO₂ cement has received an ASTM C1157 designation. InterestingEngineering News has reported that this enables builders to use it in various projects in line with international building codes. Sublime Systems’ cement consists of lime and silica produced by electrolysis using non-carbonate calcium compounds.

CEO Leah Ellis said "Our aim is to make a profound and lasting impact on global CO₂ emissions. The ASTM C1157 designation is a validation of our efforts to integrate low-carbon innovation into quality construction materials."

Australia: Adbri has awarded ABx Group a contract to supply 90,000 – 120,000t of bauxite to its Birkenhead, South Australia, cement plant over a five-year period from early 2024. Business News has reported a ‘conservative’ estimated value for the contract of US$5.4m. ABx Group will supply bauxite from its DL130 mining project. The project commands 13.7Mt-worth of bauxite reserves across three deposits. Mining is due to begin in October 2023. The parties have agreed an undisclosed price for the first shipment of bauxite under the contract.

ABx Group managing director and CEO Mark Cooksey said "This represents a significant milestone for ABx and endorses the suitability of our bauxite for the broader cement industry. It enables both parties to plan for ongoing supply with confidence. Importantly, regular mining operations to supply Adbri will increase ABx's ability to secure additional customers, for which there are active discussions."

India: Bokaro Steel Plant has won granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) supply contracts with ACC and UltraTech Cement. Under the contracts, Bokaro Steel Plant expects to supply 1.3Mt of GBFS from its facilities in Jharkhand for use in cement production in the state. The Pioneer newspaper has reported that the contracts will run until August 2026.

Austria: Christine Gröll has taken over the role of head of material flow management and process control at Alpacem Zement Austria. The producer created the new role for Gröll, who will lead a dedicated team of eight people to achieve net zero CO₂ cement production at the company’s Wietersdorf cement plant by 2035. The team will focus on alternative raw materials and alternative fuel (AF) substitution.

Gröll is an Ulm University-trained chemist with over four years’ experience working within Alpacem Zement Austria. Prior to that, she worked as a research associate for Schwenk Zement in Germany, on the development of its Celitement hydraulic binder.

Alpacem Zement Austria’s technical director Florian Salzer said "It fills us with particular pride that we were able to fill the new department with talented employees from our own company. This clearly underlines the potential that exists in our team and emphasises the extensive expertise that we have built up. We are also pleased that the department management is in the competent hands of Christine Gröll, who brings an incomparable mix of research drive and practical experience.”

Spain: Residents of Cartagena, Murcia, have protested Cemex’s plans to begin mining pozzolan at new sites locally. The Murcia Plaza newspaper has reported that the protestors are calling for a mining ban, in line with their interpretation of the area’s Rural Area of Special Environmental and Social Sensitivity designation.

Spain: Switzerland-based Synhelion and Cemex España plan to build a new clinker plant near Madrid. The plant will use Synhelion’s synthetic fuel to produce clinker from clay and crushed sand at 1200°C. The fuel consists of a gas produced from green hydrogen and captured CO₂, using solar heat. La Tribune de Genève Online News has reported that Synhelion’s thermochemical reactor further helps to capture CO₂ emissions from clinker production. A study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne indicated that this can halve the cost of carbon capture at cement plants, to below Euro85/t.

Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) recorded sales of US$7.22bn in the first half of 2023, down by 17% year-on-year from US$8.69bn. Cement and building materials accounted for US$2.6bn (36%) of sales, behind chemicals at US$2.74bn (38%). The company's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 24% to US$915m from US$1.21bn. Meanwhile, its profit excluding extra items dropped by 49% to US$279m from US$543m. Cement and building materials contributed 78.5m (28%) of group profit, down by 38% from US$126m (23%).

During the first half of 2023, sales of alternative CEM-I and CEM-II cement rose above 50% of SCG's cement sales for the first time, compared to 41% throughout 2022. The group substituted 22% of all cement fuel with alternative fuel (AF) across its operations, and 22% of cement fuel in its Thai domestic business. SCG invested US$91.5m in capital expenditure in its cement and building materials business throughout the first half of 2023.

Sweden: CemVision has reported the successful conclusion of a large-scale production pilot of its ultra low carbon alternative clinker. CemVision produces the clinker using up to 100% recycled industrial secondary materials from the steel and mining sectors. CemVision says that its production process heats the raw materials using renewable electricity, and without the use of fossil fuels. The alternative clinker offers CO₂ reductions of up to 100% compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) clinker. CemVision has opened an invitation to possible collaborators to help scale up production, with a target of hundreds of thousands of tonnes per year.

Chief technical officer Claes Kollberg said "We are a climate-first company, making high performance cement. With our competence and experience, it is our duty to produce the most environmentally friendly cement for each application."

Australia: Alternative cement and concrete producers have welcomed a new Australian civil engineering standard that allows builders to use reduced-CO₂ geopolymer concrete in infrastructure projects. Wagners, which produces Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC), said that the revision has removed on if its key barriers to wider market acceptance. EFC replaces 100% of cement with supplementary cementitious materials, including ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and pulverised fly ash, by virtue of its binder technology. Wagners previously supplied EFC for the London Power Tunnels project in the UK, based on local technical approval-based building codes. The producer now expects a new standard like the Australian one to follow in the EU.