Displaying items by tag: Canada

Canada: Lafarge Canada has supplied the first EcoPact Zero near-zero net CO2 ready-mix concrete in Canada. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim supplied the concrete to a Habitat for Humanity housing development site in Kingston, Ontario.

Canada: Giatec has launched Roxi, an AI testing programme designed to reduce cement use in ready-mix concrete production. The programme combines with Giatec’s proprietary sensing technology. The supplier has received funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for Roxi’s development and industrial roll-out.

CEO Pouria Ghods said “Based on two case studies, we estimate that up to 20% reduction in cement usage can be achieved using our technology. With this funding, Giatec will provide a solution that will bring not only economic, but also environmental benefits, by reducing CO2 emissions, air pollution, and water use in the construction industry.”

Canada/US: Schaeffler has launched Optime, a condition monitoring system, on the Canada and US markets. The supplier says that the system consists of wireless vibrator sensors, a cellular gateway and a dedicated data collection app. The captured information is then processed and analysed by Schaeffler’s proprietary software and models. This can then be used to improve cement producers’ awareness of possible damage to components such as fans, motors and pumps.

Americas regional manager for condition monitoring and Industry 4.0 service solutions Frank Mignano said “With Optime, comprehensive and automated condition monitoring is now a cost-effective proposition for reliability personnel and facility operators.”

Canada: Progressive Planet and sustainable construction company ZS2 have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on green cement technologies development. The pozzolan-based cement producer will supply ZS2 with 10,000t/yr of natural pozzolan, beginning in late 2021. It will also purchase US$300,000-worth of shares in ZS2. The companies will also explore sequestering CO₂ in magnesium-based cements.

ZS2 chief executive officer Scott Jenkins said "The technical collaboration between PLAN and ZS2 continues to grow. The potential to reduce the carbon footprint of innovative cement products is significant with the combination of our mutual research and commercialisation to date. ZS2's growing portfolio of high performance, fire-resistant and sustainable building technologies will be greatly enhanced by our expanding partnership, and we are extremely excited about our shared future potential."

China: China National Building Materials (CNBM) subsidiary China Building Materials Academy (CBMA) has signed a knowledge sharing agreement with the Canada-based International CCS Knowledge Centre to collaborate on carbon capture technology. Their first initiative will pilot a CBMA model and front end engineering design (FEED) to a test platform with a capture capacity of around 155kg CO₂/day on an active cement plant kiln. If successful, the study may see CNBM roll out CCS across its entire cement operations.

Canada: The government has granted a subsidy worth US$20m to Svante for the establishment of a Centre for Excellence for Carbon Capture, Use and Storage in Vancouver, British Columbia. The centre will consist of a filter production plant, headquarters and testing centre. The company said that it will help in the global deployment carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions ‘at Gigatons scale.’

“Vancouver is the Silicon-Valley of carbon capture technology development,” said Claude Letourneau, the president and chief executive officer of Savante. “Lowering the capital cost of the capture of the CO₂ emitted in industrial production is critical to the world’s net-zero carbon goals.” He added “The carbon pulled from earth as fossil fuel needs to go back into the earth in safe CO₂ storage.”

Canada: Lafarge Canada has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with carbon utilisation company, Carbon Upcycling Technologies. The agreement allows for the potential integration of Carbon Upcycling’s CO₂-embedded concrete additive into Lafarge operations and will explore opportunities to expand Carbon Upcycling’s operating capacity by developing larger processing facilities.

Carbon Upcycling produces an additive that makes concrete both stronger and more sustainable with the ability to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by up to 25% on a lifecycle basis. Carbon Upcycling’s involvement into construction materials began in 2018 through its participation in the LafargeHolcim Accelerator program, which aimed to accelerate the growth of innovations in the building materials industry.

The deal aligns with Lafarge's Net-Zero 2030 pledge to accelerate green construction and combat the climate change crisis with low carbon concrete and circular economy solutions, and Carbon Upcycling goal to reduce overall CO₂ emissions by 600Mt by 2030.

New Zealand: Stevenson Concrete is set to bring concrete made using CarbonCure technology to the country in July 2021. The Auckland-based concrete producer is currently conducting final internal quality assurance at its Drury quarry and concrete plant before opening the product up on general sale. Canada-based CarbonCure’s technology uses a CO₂ mineralisation process during production to reduce carbon footprint of concrete.

"Along with a number of other carbon-decreasing initiatives we are using, this technology is going to change the way New Zealand builds houses, footpaths, roads, pipes, and thousands of other man-made, everyday objects. Stevenson has brought it into the New Zealand mainstream, just as this technology is used in countries like Singapore, North America and parts of Europe," said Anthony Bitossi, general manager of Stevenson Concrete.

India: Ambuja Cements and ACC are planning to participate in parent company LafargeHolcim’s ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ programme. The initiative, which aims to make cement manufacturing more efficient through better plant optimisation, higher plant availability and a safer working environment, is part of LafargeHolcim’s ‘Building for Growth’ strategy, which was launched globally in mid-2019.

The four-year programme implemented by LafargeHolcim aims to create a global network of over 270 integrated cement plants and grinding stations in more than 50 countries by applying automation technologies and robotics, machine learning, predictive maintenance and digital twin technologies to the entire production processes. The ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ initiative is also being implemented in other key markets in Switzerland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, US, Canada and Russia.

“As an industry leader we are looking at 'Plants of Tomorrow’ as a big opportunity and responsibility to place India on the map of global cement manufacturing. This path-breaking project will lead to transformative outcomes not just in terms of operational and financial gains but also make cement manufacturing in the country environmentally sustainable and create a safe work environment for our colleagues across all our plants,” said Neeraj Akhoury, the chief executive officer (CEO) of India Holcim and managing director and CEO of Ambuja Cements.

Canada: Testing specialist Giatec has launched SmartMix, a web-based software product for concrete ingredient optimisation. It is intended to help concrete users lower their cement construction for jobs. The supplier estimates that the tool could lower the CO₂ emissions of concrete production by 400Mt/yr, the equivalent carbon footprint of 110m cars.

Head of research and development Andrew Fahim said, “Artificial intelligence (AI), machine-learning algorithms and advanced analytics on construction jobsites are going to pave the path forward for our industry to meet increasing infrastructure demands. I am proud to provide contractors and producers AI tools to make impactful decisions and get ahead of the competition by bringing more value to their customers while reducing the carbon impact of their products.”