Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Rock Tech Lithium has signed a memorandum of understanding with Schwenk Zement to utilise lithium production by-products from Rock Tech’s Guben converter for use in cement manufacturing at Schwenk's facilities. The primary objective of the partnership is to develop industrial applications for residues generated from Rock Tech's lithium-hydroxide production, specifically spodumene leach residues. During initial studies conducted by the Institute of Technologies and Economics of Lithium, the leach residues demonstrated potential as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for use in cement manufacturing, offering benefits such as reduced carbon emissions and cost savings.

The partnership aims to process up to 200,000t/yr of by-products by 2029, with Schwenk planning investments in drying, grinding and storage facilities for the leach residues.

Johann Trenkwalder, member of the management board of Schwenk Germany, said "Ensuring the future supply of sufficient quantities of high-quality cement grinding materials is of great strategic importance for Schwenk. The leached spodumene concentrate produced during the operation of the planned converter in Guben represents an interesting and regionally-available source of SCMs."

China: The Conch Zongyang Line 4 preheater modernisation project, based on KHD technology, has been selected as a pilot project under the Sino-German Energy Efficiency Improvement Demonstration in Key Industries programme. The initiative will be executed by KHD, its parent company AVIC International Beijing, and Conch Group’s research and development department. Results are expected by the end of 2025.

The programme stems from a 2023 agreement between China and Germany on climate change and ‘green’ transition cooperation. The programme was announced in 2024. It evaluated 12 candidate projects before selecting the Conch Zongyang project for its integration of technologies to achieve energy efficiency and a reduction in CO₂.

This project is one of several provided by AVIC to Chinese cement producers using KHD’s pyroprocessing, grinding, alternative fuel and digitalisation solutions.

Germany: Iberdrola Germany and Schwenk Zement have entered a long-term electricity supply agreement. Schwenk will receive 1500GWh from the Windanker offshore wind farm, currently under construction in the Baltic Sea. This supply will account for about 20% of Schwenk's electricity needs. The wind farm will have 21 turbines, each with a capacity of 15MW, and will cover an area of approximately 17.9 km², located 38km northeast of Rügen. The farm will be connected to the grid in 2026.

Germany: KHD will carry out a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for the new oxyfuel kiln at Heidelberg Materials' Geseke cement plant, part of the GeZero carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The project will capture and store around 0.7Mt/yr of CO₂.

Matthias Mersmann, chief technology officer at KHD, said "At KHD, we have long recognised oxyfuel technology’s potential for cement decarbonisation and are well-positioned to contribute to this important flagship project.”

Germany: Capsol Technologies has signed a cooperation agreement with Holcim to deliver a CapsolGo carbon capture demonstration campaign at Holcim’s Dotternhausen plant in southern Germany. The CapsolGo campaign will test Capsol’s carbon capture technology using its hot potassium carbonate (HPC) solvent. Capsol Technologies will provide the demonstration as a turnkey solution, including testing and validation to supply critical data and insight into the technology.

Dieter Schillo, plant manager of Holcim (Süddeutschland), said “The CapsolEoP (End-of-Pipe) unit’s design, requiring no external steam supply and exhibiting low energy consumption, makes it an attractive option for our Dotternhausen plant.”

If successful, Holcim plans to deploy Capsol’s technology across multiple cement plants globally. This builds on a feasibility study conducted by Aggregate Industries UK, a Holcim subsidiary, for the Cauldon cement plant in Stoke-on-Trent. Testing at Dotternhausen will run for four months, starting in the second quarter of 2025.

Germany: Claudius Peters has launched its Eta 5.0 clinker cooler. According to the company, Eta 5.0 offers energy savings, lower maintenance downtime and reduced environmental impact. It also features efficiency improvements, such as a new low-pressure-drop system and reduced friction in the transport system. The new cooler can be retrofitted to existing installations with minimal intervention.

Germany: Fluor has signed a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract with Heidelberg Materials for its GeZero project to integrate an industrial-scale CO₂ capture and storage solution into its cement production facility in Geseke. Fluor will recognise the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2024. It will be responsible for design integration of several decarbonisation technologies at the Geseke cement production facility. Construction is planned to start in 2026, with commissioning three years later.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Gün Burak Günbey as Senior Project Manager at its Competence Center Cement global research and development hub.

Günbey has worked for the cement sector since the late 2000s. He has held engineering, project management and investment roles at OYAK Bolu Çimento, Limak Cement and Vicat. He became the Group Investment Manager for Vicat Group Türkiye in 2021 and subsequently worked as Project Expert for VICAT Senegal Sococim from 2023.

Germany: thyssenkrupp Polysius has appointed Philip Glörfeld as Head of Business Development & Sales. He will succeed Lukas Schoeneck in the role from the start of January 2025. Schoeneck became the head of Operating Unit Green Solutions in October 2024.

Glörfeld has worked for thyssenkrupp since 2015 in business development roles. In 2020 he became the Director Business Development & Sales Europe, Africa & CIS for the Polysius business unit that later became thyssenkrupp Polysius. Prior to his time at thyssenkrupp he worked at Siemens. He is a graduate from the Steinbeis Hochschule Berlin and holds a master of business administration from the University of Plymouth.

Germany: Aumund and Holcim have demonstrated an electric linear calcination conveyor (eLCC) at Aumund’s headquarters in Rheinberg, Germany. Initial tests of the eLCC have reportedly demonstrated efficient thermal activation of clay through a combination of radiant heat and material circulation. In 2020, Aumund Fördertechnik teamed up with Holcim for a project focused on the electrical calcination of clay using an Aumund pan conveyor.

The company stated that the eLCC system is fully enclosed and insulated, minimising energy requirements and heat loss, with its compact design allowing for expansion of production capacities. It can operate with electrical heating elements powered by 100% renewable energy sources like wind or solar. The first industrial plant utilising this technology will be constructed in 2025.