Displaying items by tag: Belgium

Belgium: Cembureau has issued a joint statement with other members of the Industrial Emissions Alliance declaring its concern for aspects of the upcoming European Commission proposals regarding the Air Policy Review. In particular the European Cement Association (Cembureau) singled out emissions reduction targets and the target year of 2025.

The statement calls for 50% 'gap closure' for emission reductions as it views a proposed rate of 75% as 'unobtainable' due to issues with how emissions reductions will be delivered by current legislation, the costs of going beyond current legislation and the environmental benefits of further measures. It added that the high rate would damage European Union (EU) industrial competiveness and EU jobs. The statement also calls for the target year to be extended to 2030 to align it with the Framework for Climate and Energy Policies dates.

Belgium: Loesche has developed a dry refining process for stainless steel slag (EDS), with CALA Aufbereitungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, to obtain a high-purity metallic portion and a valuable, metal and mineral-free filler material at the same time. Belgian company RECOVAL assigned Loesche with the engineering and delivery of a turnkey processing plant primarily for stainless steel slag.

In the recovery process, and purely by the addition of CO₂ to the EDS, finished components with structural properties like those of concrete are produced without the use of conventional cement. A Loesche Vertical Mill type LM 15.2M will be at the centre of a newly-built processing plant for the manufacture of such components in the district of Charleroi, Belgium. Around 20t/hr of stainless steel slag will be processed in this specially designed mill.

Belgium: CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association, has published a roadmap, the role of cement in the 2050 low carbon economy, detailing how the cement industry could achieve lower carbon emissions.

The project presents five parallel routes that can each contribute to lowering emissions related to cement production, as well as concrete production. These include methods such as resource efficiency, energy efficiency and carbon sequestration and reuse. These methods have been quantified in the roadmap because they are under the cement sector's control. The other two routes, product efficiency and downstream, look at how cement and concrete can contribute to a low carbon society.

"The cement roadmap is a view into the future. It shows us what is possible and where we find limitations. It is a good basis for future work, a good starting point. We need cooperation, not confrontation, but we also need to push each other to find new ideas, new pathways, towards a more sustainable future," said MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz at the launch event on 25 September 2013.

Belgium: The Belgian Competition Council has fined three cement producers and two related organisations Euro14.7m for restricting competition in the Belgian cement market. In a statement, the Belgian Competition Council accused HeidelbergCement subsidiary CBR, Italcementi subsidiary CCB, Holcim Belgium, FEBELCEM and the national centre for technical and scientific research for the cement industry (CRIC/OCCN) of concerted behaviour.

According to the council, the accused parties acted in a coordinated manner between May 2000 and October 2003 to delay the adoption of a licence and of standards allowing ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) to be used as a component for ready-mix concrete. The cement producers and FEBELCEM sought to protect their own interests in selling cement for ready-mix concrete and CRIC/OCCN aided them in doing this.

The council noted that Irish GGBS producer Orcem had its import of GGBS to Belgium delayed due to the anticompetitive practices.