Displaying items by tag: Belgium

Belgium: WindEurope, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) and the European Composites Industry Association (EUCIA) have created a cross-sector platform to look into using glass fibres and fillers from old wind turbine blades as a raw material for cement production. Other methods, such as a mechanical recycling, solvolysis and pyrolysis, are being developed and considered.

In 2018 wind energy supplied 14% of the electricity in the European Union (EU), from 130,000 wind turbines. Wind turbines blades are made up of a composite material, which boosts the performance of wind energy by allowing lighter and longer blades. At present 2.5Mt of composite material are in use in the wind energy sector. In the next five years 12,000 wind turbines are expected to be decommissioned.

“Wind energy is an increasingly important part of Europe’s energy mix. The first generation of wind turbines are now starting to come to the end of their operational life and be replaced by modern turbines. Recycling the old blades is a top priority for us, and teaming up with the chemical and compositors industries will enable us to do it the most effective way,” said Giles Dickson, the chief executive officer (CEO) of WindEurope.

Belgium: Cembureau, the European cement association, has appointed Raoul de Parisot, advisor to the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vicat, as its new president. He will succeed Gonçalo Salazar Leite, the Vice-Chairman of SECIL. Isidoro Miranda Fernandez, CEO of LafargeHolcim Spain, will assume the position of Vice President.

Belgium: The Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium partners and its external advisory board have held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its pilot Direct Separation Calciner unit at the HeidelbergCement cement plant in Lixhe. The project started commissioning the unit in March 2019. Testing is now set to start to validate the performance of the pilot.

Kuwait: Kuwait Cement has hired Belgium’s Magotteaux to modernise three of its cement mills. The project consists of closing the open circuit with fourth generation XP4i separators, installing new mill internals components, including diaphragms, and adapting a new ball charge gradation. The aim of the project is to increase the production rate, reduce the specific energy consumption and improve the product quality, by reducing the residue on 45μm by keeping the same Blaine value.

Italy: Cementir Holding’s sales revenue fell by 4.2% in 2018 on a like-for-like basis due to poor performance in Egypt and Norway. Military operations in the Sinai impacted production in Egypt between February and May 2018 and bad weather in Norway affected the first quarter. However, it noted good results in Malaysia, Belgium and China.

On an adjusted basis its revenue rose by 4.9% to Euro1.2bn from Euro1.14bn. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 7.1% to Euro239m from Euro223m. Grey and white cement sales volumes fell by 4.4% to 9.8Mt from 10.3Mt. Ready-mixed concrete volumes fell slightly to 4.9Mm³.

Greece: Titan Group’s share exchange offer between its subsidiaries has failed. It blamed this on a lack of ordinary shares being tendered despite the support of Titan’s core shareholders and its board of directors. The voluntary share offer was intended to help list its shares at exchanges in Brussels and Paris. The group said that its strategy remained focused on international growth. It added that broadening sources of funding and improving access to international capital and credit markets was an important priority.

Belgium: The European Commission has approved the acquisition of sole control over Cimpor Portugal by Turkey’s Oyak. The commission ruled that there are no competition concerns between the cement producers given that they operate in different geographic markets. The deal was announced in late October 2018.

Belgium/France: LafargeHolcim has appointed François Petry as the chief executive officer (CEO) of LafargeHolcim France and Head of France - Belgium. He succeeds Bénédicte de Bonnechose, who has decided to leave the group.

Petry has been the managing director of Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim in the UK, since 2015. Prior to this he was the CEO of LafargeHolcim Romania since 2014 and the general manager for Aggregates in Holcim France since 2008. Before that, he held senior positions across the infrastructure, construction and waste industries in France.

He holds degree in Engineering from the École Nationale Superieure D’Arts et Metiers, ParisTech, as well as an executive MBA from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris.

Greece: Titan Group has submitted a share exchange offer to help list its shares at exchanges in Brussels and Paris. Following the completion of the process, Belgium-based Titan Cement International will become Titan's ultimate parent company managed from Cyprus, according to Reuters. The group intends to list its shares at Euronext Brussels with secondary listings on the Athens Exchange and Euronext Paris. Titan says it wants to broaden its funding sources by improving access to international finance.

Brazil: Mineração Belocal, a subsidiary of Belgium’s Lhoist, has purchased L-Imerys, a lime producer that operates a plant at Doresópolis in Minas Gerais. L-Imerys is a subsidiary of France’s Imerys, according to the Diário do Comércio newspaper. The 0.4Mt/yr lime plant was inaugurated in 2013. The sales is depending on approval by the relevant competition bodies. No value for the acquisition has been disclosed.