Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: HeidelbergCement has accelerated its specific CO₂ emissions reduction target to 2030 to 400kg CO₂/t CEM compared with 1990 levels. This represents a 30% cut compared to 2021 levels and a 47% cut compared to 1990 levels. The previous target was 33% compared to 1990 levels. The company said that in the next eight years to 2030 its CO₂ emissions are set to decrease more strongly in percentage terms than in the last three decades.

The building materials producer made the announcement as part of a new set of medium-term sustainability and financial targets entitled ‘Concrete Promises’ that were presented at its Capital Markets Day event in late May 2022. The group plans to generate half of its revenue from sustainable products by 2030. Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) projects that have already been launched are expected to achieve a cumulative reduction of 10Mt CO₂ by 2030. By 2025, more than 70% of its debt will be covered by sustainable financial instruments. Among other things, the group plans to use a bond programme that it says is the first in the industry to be aligned with the climate goals of the European Union taxonomy.

Dominik von Achten, chair of the managing board of HeidelbergCement, said “We have the ambition, speed, knowledge, technologies and partners to lead the necessary change process in our sector. Our focus is on expanding our portfolio of sustainable products, reducing our CO₂ emissions quickly and significantly, proving that CO₂-free products are possible on a large scale, and creating a circular economy by consistently applying the principles of circularity. Our new sustainability targets for 2030 illustrate this ambition.”

Germany: The Ministry for Economy and Climate Protection has presented HeidelbergCement with its German Climate and Environment Innovation Prize (IKU) for its ReConcrete-360° concrete recycling process. The process retrieves hardened cement paste from waste demolition concrete for use in place of limestone in clinker and cement production. The recycled material can also bind CO₂ to act as a carbon sink.

Global research and development Wolfgang Dienemann said “With ReConcrete-360°, we have succeeded in developing a limestone substitute from demolished concrete that also allows us to use the carbon-containing exhaust gases from cement production. A small revolution with a big impact: In Germany alone, the CO₂ savings potential of this process is 10Mt/yr. The IKU award underlines that we can be proud of our pioneering innovation.”

Germany: Schenck Process’ first-quarter sales increased by 21% year-on-year to Euro187m in 2022, led by an ‘outstanding performance’ in its Americas region, according to the company. The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter were Euro20m, up by 9.3% year-on-year. Schenck Process said that it experienced synergy effects from its acquisition of Thailand-based material processing and packaging company SHAPE and agreed to sell its mining business to Sweden-based Sandvik. It said that a Euro598m order book ensures its ‘continued business momentum’ throughout the remaining quarters of 2022.

Chief executive officer Keith Cochrane said “We continued to demonstrate the resilience of our business by delivering another strong performance in the first quarter of 2022. The disposal of our mining business will enable us to advance a more focused strategy for our other core businesses and strengthen our positions as a global solutions provider for the food, chemical and performance materials as well as the infrastructure and energy markets. Despite a difficult global environment, we are looking forward to a period of further growth building on our recent successes.”

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s first-quarter sales were Euro4.43bn in the first quarter of 2022, up by 12% year-on-year from Euro3.96bn in the first quarter of 2021. Its cement and clinker sales volumes remained level year-on-year at 28.4Mt. Sales grew in all regions except North America, where they fell by 6% to Euro798m from Euro849m. Cement and clinker sales volumes fell there by 17%, but rose in every other region.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “The first quarter of 2022 was not an easy one for HeidelbergCement. Despite the continuing uncertainties regarding the supply of energy and raw materials and the associated rise in energy prices, we were able to increase our revenue significantly.” Looking to the rest of 2022, von Achten said
”Although there is still a lot of uncertainty concerning energy and raw material availability and costs, we continue to see strong demand for our products in all regions. In particular, demand for sustainable, low-carbon products is growing rapidly.” 


Germany: Holcim Deutschland says that the preliminary test phase of a new CO₂ separation unit at its Höver cement plant in Lower Saxony has delivered positive results. Plant manager Stephan Hinrichs said that the company was “delighted” with the results so far. In late 2021 Cool Planet Technologies and Hereon signed a memorandum of understanding with Holcim Deutschland to deliver a carbon capture system for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) trial at the plant based on Hereon’s PolyActive membrane technology.

The next stage of the project will start in August 2022 and it will last until late 2024. This will include a one-year active test phase, in which the system is to be examined in long-term operation, planned to start in September 2023. If the results are good enough then the carbon capture unit will be expanded step-by-step so that after the final expansion stage it can separate around 90% of the CO₂ emissions and deliver high-purity CO₂ in liquid form for sequestration or further use. The ultimate aim of the project is to demonstrate performance, economy and operational behaviour on a larger scale in order to check whether the technology can be used at both Höver and other cement plants. Continued funding for the scheme is dependent on an application to the Competence Centre on Climate Change Mitigation in Energy-Intensive Industries (KEI) as part of the Decarbonisation in Industry program.

Germany: Beumer has announced its acquisition of conveying systems supplier FAM Group. The group says that the two companies complement each other ‘ideally.’ FAM Group employs 750 people in Germany, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China and India, as well as representatives elsewhere. Beumer says that the company’s ‘leading technology’ for transporting and processing minerals fits well with its own portfolio.

Germany: Fagus-GreCon has launched its new GreCon Intelligent Extinguishing Module (IEM) for its existing spark extinguishing systems.Its sensorsoffer integrated early wear recognition and automatically report very small leaks to cement plants’ control centres.

Germany: Mexico-based Cemex has joined a consortium with Sasol EcoFT and Enertrag that plans to use CO₂ and hydrogen to produce aviation fuel. The project is part of Cemex’s Future in Action program and is part of its plan to develop a carbon neutral operation at its Rüdersdorf cement plant by 2030. The consortium will source green hydrogen generated from wind and solar energy from Enertrag. The CO₂ will come from the Rüdersdorf cement plant, which will provide 100t/day CO₂ in the project’s initial stages. Sasol will then contribute its technology to produce e-kerosene, which, once certified, can be blended to constitute up to 50% of jet fuel.

The Rüdersdorf carbon neutral alliance includes over 20 start-ups, universities, companies from other industries and authorities working to develop industrial-scale solutions achieve the first carbon-neutral cement plant in the world.

Enertrag is a renewable-energy company based in Brandenburg. It operates utility-scale integrated energy plants in 10 countries. Its plants produce electricity and green hydrogen from wind and solar sources.

Sasol EcoFT is part of Sasol Group. It uses its technology to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources, via the Power-to-Liquids process.

France: Hazemag has opened an office at Sarreguemines. Its French team will support a growing customer base in France, francophone parts of Europe and some territories in North Africa. The Germany-based group supplies equipment such as screeners, feeders and crushers for raw material markets.

Germany: ThyssenKrupp Uhde, Holcim and the Technische Universität Berlin have started a joint project to investigate the use of a novel amine scrubbing technology for carbon capture. The goal is to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions from existing cement plants and at the same time utilise the captured CO₂ for other applications. This includes the development of new mass transfer process equipment that is more efficient and resilient to contaminations. The project is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

The equipment is being tested using exhaust gas at Holcim’s Beckum plant. Various possibilities for using the captured CO₂ are also being examined, such as manufacturing methanol or sustainable fuels. The aim is develop a technology that can be retrofitted at existing cement plants.

Ralph Kleinschmidt, head of technology, innovation and sustainability at ThyssenKrupp Uhde said, "Amine scrubbing is already commonly used to recover CO₂ from process gases or exhaust gases. Now, we are developing the technology further and optimising it for the cement industry. Additional applications for capturing CO₂ direct at source, such as in waste incineration plants, are also possible."Arne Stecher, head of decarbonisation at Holcim Germany added that the company is testing different processes to find the best carbon capture technology.