Displaying items by tag: Croatia

Croatia: Holcim Croatia's €237m 'KOdeCO' project has been declared a strategic investment by Croatia. This will reportedly make Holcim the first producer of carbon-neutral cement in Croatia and one of the first in Europe, according to a press release by the company.

In January 2024, Holcim Croatia began implementing the carbon capture and storage project at the cement plant in Koromačno, signing a contract with the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency and securing a grant from the EU Innovation Fund totalling €117m. The project will reduce annual CO₂ emissions by 367,000t/yr.

Croatia: Luka Ploce has acquired Zagreb-based New Concrete Technologies for €3m. The acquisition was formally reported to the Croatian Financial Services Supervision Agency (HANFA). New Concrete Technologies specialises in cement mixing, testing and grading.

The company said “This strategic acquisition aligns with Luka Ploce's goals to consolidate its cement infrastructure and expand into new markets, enhancing its capabilities in cement and technical waterway maintenance sectors.”

Croatia: Cemex Croatia has won contracts to install solar power plants at three of its facilities, co-financed by the EU's Modernisation Fund. The company will build new solar plants at Sv. Juraj and Sv. Kajo cement plants in Kaštel Sućurac and Solin, respectively, and at the Podsused production facility in Zagreb. The total investment is valued at €5m.

The solar power plants, with a combined capacity of 6.34MW, will be installed on the roofs of these facilities. The Sv. Juraj plant will receive a 3.79MW system worth €3m, the Sv. Kajo plant a 2.14MW system valued at €1.7m, and the Podsused facility a 0.41MW system costing about €318,000. The EU's Modernisation Fund will cover 60% of the costs for the Sv. Juraj and Sv. Kajo projects and 50% for the Podsused project.

"The savings that these measures will bring to us in terms of energy consumption will increase the efficiency of our production and reduce emissions from our operations. These are just some of the projects we are planning to achieve our climate goals" said Marijan Zekić, Cemex Croatia’s project and quality assurance manager.

Croatia: The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) has granted Holcim Hrvatska Euro117m-worth of EU funding for its KOdeCO Net Zero decarbonisation project. The project aims to decarbonise cement production at the company’s 500,000t/yr Koromačno cement plant in Istria by building a Euro237m carbon capture system there.

Holcim Hrvatska says that the project will commence in January 2024 and conclude by the end of 2028.

Europe: Mexico-based Cemex says that it will soon have obtained Type III environmental product declaration (EPD) certificates for the cement products it produces across its European network of cement plants. EPDs have been published for selected cements since 2021. Cemex has confirmed the publication of EPDs for all cement types in Poland and the publication of EPDs for its products produced in Croatia and Spain by the end of 2023. Phase Two of the publication process will see EPDs for cements produced in the UK, Germany and Czech Republic in early 2024, which will complete the full roll out in Europe.

Sergio Menéndez, President of Cemex Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia, said, "EPD certificates enable our customers to make an informed choice about which materials offer the lowest carbon footprint and reduce the environmental impact of their construction projects. We have therefore made securing these objective and reliable documents, which demonstrate that our products meet the requirements of more sustainable construction, a priority across our whole European operation. I am very pleased with the progress made so far and look forward to celebrating the completion of this process."

Croatia: Nexe Group has completed a US$3.3m upgrade to its Našice cement plant. SeeNews has reported that the project consisted of efficiency-increasing upgrades to the plant and other buildings at the site, and the construction of a solar power plant. The producer says that this will reduce the 600,000t/yr-capacity cement plant’s total energy consumption by 1.56GWh/yr.

The Našice cement plant is the site of an on-going expansion and carbon capture system installation project.

Croatia: Nexe Group has ordered a suite of software products from US-based Rockwell Automation to digitise production processes, reduce energy usage and increase production. It will use the FactoryTalk Analytics Pavilion8 software together with performance-management dashboards based on the ThingWorx IIoT platform, part of the FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, supplied by PTC

The software architecture to be deployed at Nexe was formulated by data science teams from Rockwell Automation and subsidiary Kalypso. The Pavilion8 model predictive control (MPC) product sits on top of automation systems and continuously assesses current and predicted operational data. It then compares this data to desired results, and drives new control targets to reduce process variability, improve performance and boost efficiency.

Danijel Koren, plant manager at Nexe’s integrated cement plant at Našice said “This is a push forward on this important journey for the whole group. We are looking to link all systems together and put operational data in the hands of people who can make a difference. Early results point to real success in terms of savings and efficiency; indeed, we are predicting a payback period of less than a year.”

Europe: Holcim has secured funding for three separate carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects at its cement plants in Europe. The recipient projects are the Go4Zero project at Holcim Belgium's Obourg cement plant in Belgium, the KOdeCO project at Holcim Croatia's Koromačno cement plant in Croatia and the eM-Rhône project at Lafarge Ciments' Le Teil cement plant in France. The Le Teil plant's system will be used to produce e-methanol, while the investment at the Koromačno plant will be part of a package of upgrades to turn the plant carbon neutral.

Alongside on-going projects in Germany and Poland, this will bring Holcim's total number of EU-funded CCUS projects to five. Holcim is committed to US$2.33bn-worth of investments of its own in over 50 carbon capture projects worldwide before 2030.

Holcim's Europe regional head Miljan Gutovic said “It’s exciting to be at the forefront of decarbonising the building sector in Europe. The support we are receiving from the EU Innovation Fund for five of our CCUS projects is a great testament to the strength of our engineering teams, the maturity of our technologies and our advanced partnerships across the value chain. Our robust pipeline of projects positions us as the partner of choice to scale up carbon capture technologies in Europe.”

Croatia: Nexe has awarded a contract to Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions for the construction of a new clinker line and carbon capture installation at its 0.6Mt/yr Nasice cement plant. The Poslovni Dnevnik newspaper has reported that the work will cost Euro400m. When commissioned in 2029, the upgraded plant will produce carbon neutral cement and despatch 700,000t/yr of CO₂ by pipeline for storage near Bockovac in Osijek-Baranja County.

Croatia: Volunteers from Cemex collaborated with the Agricultural and Veterans’ Cooperative Lintar and local school pupils to harvest 6.5t of olives from the site of its rehabilitated Split quarry in Split-Dalmatia. The company says that the winter crop produced 900l of olive oil.

Cemex’s Europe, Middle East and Africa corporate affairs, sustainability and environmental resources manangement vice president Andrew Spencer said “We recognise that our industry has consequences for the environment, but Cemex is working hard to actively counteract climate change and this drive is present through all aspects of our business. In our cement and aggregate quarrying operations across Europe, we restore and recultivate our sites to provide optimal conditions that are managed well to deliver for biodiversity.” He added “Our vision is of a successful, sustainable Cemex that makes a positive contribution to people and the environment.”