Displaying items by tag: Belgium

Germany: HeidelbergCement, Australia-based Calix and a European consortium have chosen the Hanover cement plant in Lower Saxony for the second phase of the LEILAC (Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement) carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The installation will capture 20% of the plant’s capacity or 100,000t/yr of CO₂. The project will take place in three phases, with design completed by June 2021, a complete demonstration installation before the end of 2023 and project completion in 2025. The group previously installed a 25,000t/yr LEILAC CCS system at its Lixhe plant near Liege in Belgium, which completed its test phase in 2020.

Chair Dominik von Achten said, "The LEILAC technology has the potential to enable the cement and lime industries to efficiently capture their process emissions on an industrial scale. The pilot project in Hanover is one of several promising CO₂ capture technologies that we are currently testing at full speed within the HeidelbergCement Group."

Greece: Titan Cement has signed a frame agreement with Belgium-based Magotteaux whereby the latter will continue to be the main partner for grinding media for Titan cement plants worldwide until the end of 2021. Magotteaux says that the deal follows the ‘very successful’ implementation of the first phase of a strategic partnership.

The supplier said, “Magotteaux is also proud to supply many more technical solutions to Titan, including ball mill internal cast parts such as liners and diaphragms.” It added, “The aim of this agreement is to improve Titan’s overall cost of production, by increasing the productivity, reducing maintenance cost and downtime, by using the latest technologies for the abrasive and impact applications.”

Belgium: IKN was presented with the first clinker from a modified calciner and IKN cooler installed at the CBR Cement integrated Antoing plant on 24 December 2020. The cement sector engineering supplier said, “We thank everybody involved for their determination and efforts in this challenging project: in spite of Coronanirus and a tough schedule there was no compromise on safety!” CBR Cement is a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement.

Belgium: Carmeuse has signed a joint development agreement with France-based energy transition specialist ENGIE and John Cockerill for a carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) project in Wallonia. It will concentrate CO₂ from a new type of lime kiln and combine it with ‘green’ hydrogen to produce ‘e-methane.’ The hydrogen will be produced by a 75MW electrolyser plant powered by renewable electricity. The company said, “The produced e-methane will be suitable for injection into the national natural gas grid. This renewable e-methane can be used by industrial users or as an alternative fuel in the transport sector, thus allowing these sectors to decarbonise.”

Construction is due to begin in 2022 for commissioning of the installation in 2025. Its total investment cost is Euro150m. The partners have applied for funding from the EU Innovation Fund and Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) fund. The project’s estimated CO₂ emissions reduction over 10 years is 900,000t

Chief executive officer (CEO) Rodolphe Collinet said, “We are delighted to join forces with John Cockerill and ENGIE for the development of this very exciting and strategic project. It is a major step forward in our ambition to become CO₂-neutral by 2050. This project is a very concrete and important example of Carmeuse’s strong commitment and contribution to sustainable development.”

Belgium: Magotteaux has launched Expand, a vertical roller mill (WRM) wear parts product line for the cement industry. The equipment supplier says that the range offers high resistance, consistent production, energy efficiency and lower maintenance and replacement frequency. It also uses a scrap buy-back program to consider product lifecycle concerns. The wear parts line comes in two variants: Expand One, the standard metal matrix composite (MMC) product; and the higher performance Expand+.

Sweden: The Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) and the Swedish Association for Construction Equipment (SACE) have announced that the CECE Congress will take place on 8 October 2020 via livestream from Stockholm. CECE said, “In the world of digitalisation, acknowledging the unprecedented situation that the COVID-19 outbreak has imposed on Europe, we present to you a digital CECE Congress.” CECE said that the event would be of interest to anyone involved in the cement industry. Attendance is free of charge.

Belgium: Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has published its new Carbon Neutrality Roadmap, setting out its ambition to reach net zero emissions along the cement and concrete value chain by 2050. The roadmap examines how CO₂ emissions can be reduced at each stage of the value chain – clinker, cement, concrete, construction and (re)carbonation – to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. It quantifies the role of each technology in providing CO₂ emissions savings, making concrete political and technical recommendations to support this objective.

“As Europe begins its green recovery, the significance of this moment for our sector is huge. This is our response to the EU Green Deal – we have a plan and are ready to make the leap.” said Raoul de Parisot, president of Cembureau. The association has identified areas where it says it requires decisive political action from the European Union (EU). These include: the development of a pan-European CO₂ transportation and storage network; action on circular economy to support the use of non-recyclable waste and biomass waste in cement production; policies to reduce European building’s CO₂ footprint, based on a life-cycle approach, that incentivise the market uptake of low-carbon cements; a ‘level’ playing field on carbon, regulatory certainty and an industrial transformation agenda.

Cembureau says it aspires to be in line with the Paris Agreement’s two degrees scenario, reducing CO₂ emissions by 30% for cement and 40% down the value chain. Its chief executive Koen Coppenholle added that, “Carbon neutrality along our full value-chain will be a massive effort, but we are confident we can achieve it. Our sector has made significant progress and, with the right tools and support from the EU, we can go much further.”

Europe: Australia-based Calix has announced that construction will begin on its second low emissions intensity lime and cement (Leilac) carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation at a ‘European cement plant’ on 7 April 2020. ASX ComNews has reported that collaborators on the project, which has received Euro16m under the EU’s Horizon 2020 grant scheme, are Portugal-based Cimpor, Germany-based HeidelbergCement, Germany and France-based energy companies Ingenieurbüro-Kühlerbau-Neustadt (IKN) and Engie and Belgium-based minerals and lime company Lhoist. Calix has said that the 100,000t/yr process emissions capture facility will be operational in late 2024.
The company has appointed Emma Bowring Leilac-2 project leader.

The first Leilac installation was completed at HeidelbergCement’s 1.5Mt/yr integrated Lixhe plant in Belgium’s Limburg province in mid-2019.

Netherlands: Royal Cement Benelux, part of Royal El Minya Cement and the Sesco Group, has acquired a new 18,500m² facility in the port of Schiedam near Rotterdam. The new facility, which includes 13,500m2 combined office, storage and operating space will be the company’s second European location. Available on the premises is 160 M1 Quay, which can receive ships up to 15,000dwt.

“The opening of Royal Cement Benelux’s new Schiedam facility is an important step towards the ambition to develop the European market,” said Martin Bakker, general manager of Royal Cement Benelux. The company intends to target its white cement products from the terminal to Germany by barge, to several locations in Belgium and the Netherlands by inland rivers and to the UK by sea.

The new location is intended to be first of several expansions for the company in 2020. Royal Cement Benelux says it wants to take former business in Western Europe from CBR since it stopped white cement production. The group is also opening an Italian terminal.

Belgium: Carol Jackson, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of HarbisonWalker International (HWI), has started a two-year term as president of the World Refractory Association (WRA). She suceeded Stefan Borgas, the CEO RHI Magnesita, who led the organisation since January 2018.

Jackson, aged 47 years, became CEO of HWI in 2017 following three years as its Senior Vice President and General Manager. She has spent over 20 years of her career in the paint, coatings, chemicals, glass, ceramic materials, and specialty steel industries, serving automotive, industrial, consumer, and construction markets. Before joining HWI in 2014, she served as Vice President of the bar, wire, and strip business units of Carpenter Technology Corporation. She also held various roles at PPG Industries, where she rose to became Director of Global Raw Materials Purchasing.

Jackson is a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania, US and she holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business. She earned her undergraduate degree from Duquesne University.