Displaying items by tag: Alternative raw materials

Germany: France-based Fives has won a contract to build a 50t/day clay calcination unit at Rohrdorfer’s Rohrdorf cement plant in Bavaria. The unit will integrate into the plant’s clinker line in order to allow it to test the production of limestone calcined clay cement with up to 40% reduced CO₂ emissions. Fives’ clay calcination unit uses a flash calcination process, based on a three-stage preheater, flash calciner and decolourisation system.

Rohrdorfer’s Net Zero Emissions Labs team is responsible for the project to decarbonise the Rohrdorf cement plant by 2038. Its managing director Helmut Leibinger said “After a detailed technical review, we decided that the flash calciner with an integrated clay calcination unit from Fives FCB was the best solution in terms of reliability, efficiency and colour control. We are confident that the unit will be essential in moving forward on our pathway to net zero.”

US: St Marys Cement won three national awards at the Slag Cement in Sustainable Concrete Awards 2023. The producer won the awards for supplying its slag cement for the construction of Wixom Assembly Park in Wixom, Michigan; of 333 North Water in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and of Excellerate Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Australia: The Australian federal government has granted Adbri US$32.5m for a new front-end engineering and design study at its Birkenhead cement plant. The study will assess the possible installation of a new vertical roller mill and post-production blending system at the plant. InDaily News has reported that the proposed upgrade will increase the plant’s production capacity and help to expand its range of reduced-CO₂ cements. The funding falls under the government’s US$260m Critical Inputs to Clean Energy programme, which aims to help decarbonise the Australian economy by 2050.

CEO Mark Irwin said “With the Commonwealth’s support we have the potential to further accelerate the decarbonisation of our operations and products.”

UK: Heidelberg Materials UK has opened a new circular materials hub at its Appleford depot in Oxfordshire. The site will recycle construction waste for use in low-CO₂ building materials. The move advances the company’s strategy to conserve natural materials and support the circular economy.

Recycling managing director James Whitelaw said “Recycling, reusing and reducing the use of primary raw materials is crucial to reaching net zero. Our network of recycling hubs will allow us to provide the most sustainable products to our customers through circularity and innovation to enable building more with less.”

Indonesia: Siam Cement Group (SCG) subsidiary PT Semen Jawa used 24,000t of alternative raw materials in its cement production during the first quarter of 2024. These circular materials included bottom ash, fly ash and slag. This corresponds to 3% of its total raw material usage. Meanwhile, the producer co-processed 15,000t of alternative fuel (AF) during the quarter, representing a 20% AF substitution rate.

SCG Indonesia director Warit Jintanawan said that the developments "Not only enhance production efficiency, but also significantly reduces our carbon footprint. This is a testament to SCG's commitment to supporting Indonesia's climate goals, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32%, aligned with Enhanced National Determined Contributions."

France: NeoCem plans to build a €50m clay calcination plant at Saint-Maximin, Picardy. The company recently raised €23m in investments in its Series A funding round. The Le Journal des Enterprises newspaper has reported that the Saint-Maximin plant will enter operation in 2025, and will subsequently grow to 200,000t/yr in capacity. NeoCem aims to employ 100 people by 2030.

Head of industrial deployment Guillaume Luu said “To be used in concrete, limestone must be heated for several hours at 1400°C. Our clay-based binder generates CO₂ emissions of 120kg/t, compared to almost 1000kg/t of limestone binder, and our technology can transform all types of clays available. The idea is not to open new quarries, but to give a second life to materials already on the surface." He continued “The up-cycling of clays and their transformation into a low-carbon binder addresses several challenges for the construction sector. On the one hand, the reuse of clay waste, and on the other hand, the decarbonisation of the building materials sector.”

Ireland/France: Ecocem will showcase its Advanced Cement Technology (ACT) at the Buildings and Climate Global Forum in Paris on 7-8 March 2024. The French Government and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will host the event, supported by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (Global ABC). It aims to advance the climate outcomes of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in 2023. Ecocem joins global policy-makers, industry stakeholders and international organisations as the event’s sole international cement technology company exhibitor.

Managing director Donal O'Riain said "The Buildings and Climate Global Forum is happening at a crucial moment for the planet. Urgent and deep decarbonisation of construction materials is essential to achieving the 2015 Paris Agreement targets.” He continued “Ecocem’s ACT low carbon technology can decarbonise the cement sector on a trajectory consistent with 1.5°C of global warming, the first major industry sector to achieve this feat. But we must now mobilise resolutely, rapidly and globally to deploy this technology. The first ambition should be a 50% reduction in CO₂ emissions from cement by 2030. Technology is no longer the barrier."

UAE: Emirates Steel Arkan has concluded a partnership for the deployment of Finland-based Magsort’s technology in steel slag processing at its Al Ain cement plant. ZAWYA News has reported that the partners expect the technology to help reduce the plant’s limestone and fuel consumption. This will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 15%.

Emirates Steel Arkan CEO Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi said "Green solutions such as this will help decarbonise the sector's value chain."

Canada: Lafarge Canada has transitioned its St-Constant, Quebec, cement plant to the production of OneCem Portland limestone cement (PLC). The producer expects the transition to reduce the St-Constant cement plant’s CO₂ emissions by 60,000t in 2024 alone.

Lafarge Canada (East) president and CEO David Redfern said "We are excited to take another crucial step in our sustainability journey. The transition to OneCem production at our St-Constant plant indicates Lafarge Canada's nonstop commitment to driving positive change within our construction industry. Our teams have been engaged in reducing our products’ environmental impact by embracing greener practices and materials."

US: The Department of Transportation has announced a US$5m initiative to investigate the use of steel slag in cement and concrete. This will take the form of a collaboration between the Department of Transportation and a selected US-based steel producer and university partner. The initiative seeks to reduce CO₂ emissions in the production of building materials. Prospective participants may view the grant opportunity here.

Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg said "We're proud to make this funding available to help develop the next generation of construction materials so that the future of our transport infrastructure is more resilient, more sustainable and made in America.”

Robert Hampshire, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology and chief science officer, said “This funding initiative will develop and advance innovative materials and technologies that support the nation’s goals to decarbonise the transportation sector by 2050, strengthen resilience of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, and address adverse environmental impacts created by the transportation system.”