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Lhoist’s Jean Marbehant pretty much summed up the bind the cement and lime industries face from the tightening COP21 climate agreement when he said, “We produce CO₂… and our by-product is lime.” He made the comment at a ground breaking event that HeidelbergCement hosted this week for a new carbon capture pilot project at the CBR Lixhe cement plant in Belgium. The project with the Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) Consortium will test Australian company Calix’s direct CO₂ separation process at an operational cement plant for two years at a pilot level scale.

Previously the technology has been used by Calix in the magnesite calcining sector in Australia. Now it will be trialled at 10t/hr of raw material for cement production and 8t/hr of ground limestone in a 60m tall direct separation reactor that is about to be built next to the cement plant’s pre-heater tower. The process has a target to capture up to 95% of process CO₂ emissions. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018 and then followed by two years of operation and testing until the end of 2020. At this point the Euro12m funding ends but the next steps, if agreed, would be to test the process at a commercial scale for lime production and a large scale demonstration at a cement plant by 2025. Full scale commercial application at a cement plant would then happen by 2030.

The Innovation in Industrial Carbon Capture Conference was built around the various carbon capture initiatives that HeidelbergCement is involved with. The other big pilot is the oxyfuel project it is running with LafargeHolcim and the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA). As ECRA’s Volker Hoenig explained, this project is now set to move to the pilot scale at two cement plants in 2020 at a cost of Euro90m. The plants, in Italy and Austria, have been chosen so that the testing can start at a ‘simple’ plant and then move to a more complicated one. The former site, Colleferro, has a spare unused kiln that doesn’t use alternative fuels, making the testing less complicated. The latter, Retznei, does co-process alternative fuels and it also has a kiln bypass system. It’s also worth noting that Calix’s direct separation process is intended to be compatible with an oxyfuel kiln. Other technologies were also previewed at the conference such as the Cleanker calcium looping project, the CO2MIN mineral carbonation project, the Carbon8 process to make aggregates from flue gas and HeidelbergCement’s experiences with growing microalgae.

The event to mark the start of the pilot was an optimistic one but the cement and lime producers like Jean Marbehant have no illusions about the cliff face-steep challenge that meeting the CO₂ emissions reduction targets the Paris agreement potentially demands. One slide Marbehant discussed in his presentation placed the CO₂ marginal abatement cost for carbon capture at Euro90/t. However, since the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) currently places the cost of CO₂ at Euro9/t the real question about the future of carbon capture is about who is going to pay the bill. Albert Scheuer, a board member of HeidelbergCement, made it clear how his company thinks the cost should be divided when he said that its end product was concrete and he explained just how much cement and concrete everyone uses in their lifespan. He may not have said that we all need to pay but he certainly made it feel that way. The future of carbon capture it seems may be a bit like a group of friends awkwardly deciding how to split the bill after a meal.

One speaker at the LEILAC event used the phrase ‘no silver bullet’ to describe how industrial CO₂ emissions could be cut and how Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) might be used. Perhaps more tellingly though has been the emergence of a new acronym that seems to be doing the rounds at the European Parliament, of ‘Carbon Capture and Something.’ That ‘something’ here is of critical importance as it can either put up or decrease the price that CCS will add to cement production. So, whilst moving to Carbon Capture and Something might suggest that legislators are starting to get realistic about what carbon capture might actually be able to do, it might also indicate a naïve lack of understanding of how hard cutting CO₂ emissions is from essential industries that produce CO₂ from their core process.

The challenge for cement producers in this kind of environment is deciding how far they should go towards exploring CO₂ reduction strategies whilst governments are not being precise about how they intend to meet their targets. Going first might bring an innovator advantages if the legislation toughens up, but the early cost is high. HeidelbergCement and others are definitely doing ‘something’ but commercial applications are at least a decade away at current funding levels. And that timescale doesn’t include rolling out the new technologies across the entire industry. Despite this it was reassuring to hear the director of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action say that his outfit didn’t want to reduce cement production, only CO₂ emissions. This was ‘something’ cement producers want to hear.

US: Plibrico, a single-source supplier of refractory products and solutions, has appointed Pamela Gaul as its director of marketing. She will be responsible for directing all activities related to the strategic development and implementation of marketing initiatives for the organisation.

Gaul previously worked for RR Donnelley (RRD), where she served as a Senior Director of Marketing and Business Development. Much of her career has been spent with the marketing services division of RRD, where she held various marketing positions of increasing responsibility. Prior to RRD she held marketing positions with Riso and Canon Solutions America.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim has appointed George Michos as its new head of its Moroccan subsidiary. He succeeds Marcel Cobus, who moves to the LafargeHolcim executive committee in charge of the Europe region, according to Morocco World News. Previously Michos worked as the managing director of LafargeHolcim’s Heracles General Cement subsidiary in Greece.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has announced the appointment of Vanessa Guthrie and Geoff Tarrant to the Adelaide Brighton Board as non-executive Directors, effective 8 February 2018. Company Chairman Les Hosking said that the appointments of Dr Guthrie and Mr Tarrant were part of Adelaide Brighton's Board renewal process.

Dr Guthrie has qualifications in geology, environment, law and business management, including a Doctor of Philosophy in Geology. She has more than 30 years' experience in the mining and resources industry across a variety of roles including operations, environment, community, indigenous affairs, corporate development and sustainability. She was previously CEO and Managing Director of Toro Energy Limited and Vice President Sustainable Development at Woodside Energy. Dr Guthrie is currently Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia and a non-executive Director of Santos Limited, Vimy Resources Limited and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr Tarrant has a Bachelor of Business and is a finance executive with over 25 years' experience gained in Australia, the UK and Asia. He is currently engaged in a corporate finance consultancy role with Deutsche Bank, where he has held a number of senior roles since 2002, primarily in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Prior to this he held finance roles with Citigroup, National Australia Bank and Price Waterhouse.

Kenya: Bamburi Cement has announced the appointment of Seddiq Hassani as the new managing director of the company. Hassani will replace Eric Kironde who has been acting Managing Director and Finance Director for the past four months. Hassani joins Bamburi Cement from LafargeHolcim’s Middle East and Africa Region where he was the Head of Growth and Innovation since September 2015, based in Paris, France.

“We are confident that with his strong and wide experience in operational and functional positions, more specifically, in leading transformation and managing growth strategies at both country and international level, he will support the continued growth of the business to achieve its mid- and long-term strategic goals,” said the company board in a statement.

The board also announced the appointment of Nicolas George as a Board Director of Bamburi Cement Limited and Managing Director of Hima Cement Ltd, Uganda.

The cement maker plans to increase its production capacity from 2.3Mt/yr to 3.3Mt/yr in order to meet market demand in 2018, the first phase of its capacity expansion projects in both Kenya and Uganda. The US$38.5m expansion began in January 2017 with a new mill at its Athi River plant.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported a net loss of US$23.4m in the fourth quarter of 2017 due to lower prices and higher costs, primarily due to economic deceleration in Colombia. The net loss was a contrast to the US$21.6m profit made in the same period of 2016. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 8.9% to US$126.7m during the quarter.

"The fall in income and EBITDA of Cementos Argos is best explained by the price of cement in Colombia, which reached its lowest level in the second quarter of the year," said the company in a statement. Imports from countries that subsidise industrial energy costs and exchange rate changes led to the fall in prices.

For the whole of 2017 Cementos Argos’ net profit slumped by 86.3% to US$27.0m, compared to US$196.9m during 2016. EBITDA for the full year 2017 was down by 15% to US$497.0m.

Australia: Boral Ltd has announced that its profit for the first half of the 2017-2018 fiscal year (from 1 July 2017 – 31 December 2017) rose by 13%. The company benefited from the 2017 acquisition of the US-based building products firm Headwaters Inc. and continued growth in its Australian business.

It reported a net profit of US$136.0m for the six month period, a rise of 12.7% compared to the same period of the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year when it made US$120.7m. Its profit before amortisation and significant items increased by 58% to US$$186.5m.

"These strong results confirm that our transformation strategy is on track," said Chief Executive Mike Kane. "The Headwaters acquisition has helped transform Boral into a construction materials and building products group with a greater geographic reach and improved prospects for growth."

Boral’s US business, which was only breaking even in 2015 – 2016, recorded a fourfold rise in earnings, despite adverse impacts from bad weather, including two hurricanes.

Kane also said Boral’s Australian arm, its largest divison, was ‘exceptionally strong’ during the half. Boral reported a 12% rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from that business.

"Higher revenues and earnings were driven by increased spending on infrastructure, in line with our expectations that a large proportion of our work would gradually shift from residential to infrastructure projects, primarily in the eastern states," said Kane.

India: IDBI Bank has decided to withdraw the nomination of S K Mohapatra from the board of debt-ridden Jaiprakash Associates. In a BSE filing, crisis-hit Jaiprakash Associates informed that Subrat Kumar Mohapatra, the chief general manager of IDBI Bank, has resigned from the board. IDBI Bank has decided to withdraw the nomination of Subrat Kumar Mohapatra from the board of directors of the company with immediate effect, the filing said. Mohapatra thus ceased to be director of the company with effect from 13 February 2018.

Jaiprakash Associates, the flagship firm of the Jaypee Group, has interests in cement, construction, hospitality, power and real estate businesses. The company has divested a number of its assets, including cement plants, to reduce debt.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayso has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of and the full year 2017.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, sales volumes of cement, concrete and blocks increased by 7.3%, primarily due to increased sales volumes to the self-construction segment and to a pick up in public sector spending. The company’s cement-based earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 13.9% to US$32.3m, but consolidated EBITDA decreased by 35.7% due to a write-off in a water-desalination project.

For the full year, sales of cement, concrete and blocks decreased by 0.8%, despite the significant decline in sales volume during the first four months of the year due to the effects of the El Niño. It is important to note that year-on-year sales volume has increased steadily every month, from May 2017 through to the end of the year. Cement EBITDA for the year reached US$114.9m, a decrease of only 2.2%, despite the aforementioned detrimental El Niño effects on both sales and costs.

France: The French cement industry union (SFIC), plus three other professional organisations, has announced that has committed to increase the amount of wood waste used in France’s cement plants. It has committed to increasing the amount used by 90% compared to 2015 by 2020.

90,000t of wood were used as fuel in cement production in 2015. The goal is to use 170,000t in 2020. Four cement plants will act as pilot sites. The wood used must be from the same region as the plant burning it. According to the SFIC, alternative fuels account for 41% of cement fuels used in France.