Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Rohrdorfer Zement has fired up a pilot clay tempering unit at its Rohrdorf cement plant in Bavaria. The project has received Euro8.65m in funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the EU. It is one of a number of industrial projects under the EU’s Euro800bn NextGenerationEU post-Covid-19 economic recovery instrument. Sources of heat for the pilot unit at the Rohrdorf cement plant include waste heat from the plant’s clinker line. If the pilot succeeds, the introduction of tempered clay into cement production at the site will follow. This will entail the construction of an on-site full-scale clay tempering plant. Rohrdorfer Zement says that this would reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 16 – 18%, or by 30% if it achieves carbon neutral clay tempering through the use of green hydrogen.

Rohrdorfer’s dedicated Net Zero Emissions Labs team is working to turn the Rohrdorf cement plant carbon neutral by 2038. Other initiatives include the installation of carbon capture systems at the Rohrdorf plant and another in Austria, and participation in the H2-Reallabor Burghausen hydrogen partnership.

Regarding the latest pilot, Rohrdorf Net Zero Emissions Labs project leader Helmut Leibinger said “As a cement component, tempered clays make a significant contribution to CO₂ mitigation. With the pilot project of process-integrated tempered clay, we are taking not just a step in our decarbonisation roadmap, but a leap.”

Morocco: Ciments du Maroc has appointed Severin Weig as its chief executive officer with effect from 1 February 2024. He will succeed Matteo Rozzanigo in the post, who will become the president of the Northeast-North America Region of Heidelberg Materials Group.

Weig joined Heidelberg Materials in 2012 and has held various corporate treasury roles in Germany before becoming the group’s Director of Treasury, Insurance and Corporate Risk within its German organisation. He was also appointed as a member of the Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance of the German Federal Government in June 2022. Prior to working for Heidelberg Materials Weig held a number of positions in multinational investment banks.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Sergo Vashakidze as its Commercial Director Africa & Mediterranean-Western Asia. Vashakidze has worked for the group since 2011 in a variety of roles. He became the Deputy General Manager for RMC/AGG operations at HeidelbergCement Kazakhstan in 2014, that country’s Sales and Marketing Director Cement in 2016 and then the Area Commercial Director NEECA (Northern & Eastern Europe - Central Asia) based in Germany in 2021. Prior to this he worked in a variety of banking positions in Georgia and Germany.

Vashakidze holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Tbilisi State University and a master’s degree in economics and social studies from the University of Trier.

Germany: Ratings agency EcoVadis has awarded drives supplier Flender its Platinum medal for its performance across environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement metrics.

CEO Andreas Evertz said "With our commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, we have already achieved significant milestones. This excellent rating confirms our very good progress in the right direction. We are pleased with this but are also aware that there is still a long way to go. We aim to be pioneers in sustainability and inspire others - with full dedication and alongside our strong partners.”

Germany: Holcim Deutschland has announced for the ‘most extensive’ modernisation of its Beckum cement plant to date. Local press has reported that the modernisation will commence with the installation of a Euro20m pendulum cooler to replace the plant’s existing tube cooler. The new cooler will reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions and make separated CO₂ better suited for capture, according to the producer. The Beckum cement plant is the site of an on-going carbon capture trial.

General manager Jan Kristof Peters said “We want to implement all construction work as quickly as possible and with as little noise pollution as possible for the neighbourhood. As in previous years, we ask for our neighbourhood’s understanding.”

Europe: Ireland CRH announced the completion of its divestment of its lime operations in the Czech Republic, Germany and Ireland on 4 January 2024. The deal marks the first phase of the group’s divestment of its entire European lime business, for US$1.1bn.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials Mineralik has started a partnership with UM Recycling to use demolition and construction waste in the production of cement and concrete in the greater Frankfurt Area. UM Recycling, a subsidiary of Antal Group, specialises in the disposal and recycling of construction waste and other materials.

George Antal, the owner of the Antal Group, said “After more than 15 years of active work in the dismantling industry, we are looking forward to working with our partner Heidelberg Materials to transform mineral waste into a product for use in concrete and cement, thereby making a valuable contribution to holistic building material recycling."

Heidelberg Materials operates several ready-mixed concrete plants around Frankfurt and runs a cement grinding plant at Mainz.

Germany: The European Union Innovation Fund has awarded Heidelberg Materials Euro191m in funding to support its development of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain at Geseke cement plant in North Rhine-Westphalia. The planned project, called GeZero, involves the construction of an oxyfuel kiln, capture system and train transport infrastructure. Having received the funding, Heidelberg Materials and its partners will commence work in January 2024. They will subsequently scale the capture system to 700,000t/yr and build pipelines to transport CO2. Energy provider Wintershall Dea will receive the CO₂ at its upcoming coastal hub for processing and storage below the North Sea.

Heidelberg Materials Germany general manager Christian Knell said “Together with our partners, we walk the talk and pave the way for CCS in Germany. GeZero will complement our global project portfolio with a truly unique approach. We are developing a promising novel solution for inland cement sites, with the intention to inspire industry peers and other emission-intensive sectors to follow.”

Global chief custainability officer Nicola Kimm said “The successful grant agreement demonstrates the relevance of GeZero for the decarbonisation of our sector, and the trust that European authorities place in our approach.”

UAE/UK: The World Cement Association has endorsed new commitments agreed upon by Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative (IDDI) member countries Canada, Germany, the UK and the US at the COP28 climate conference. The commitments include the development of time-bound low CO₂ cement procurement plans. The WCA says that IDDI members’ collective leverage of national purchasing power will help to accelerate the decarbonisation of construction globally.

CEO Ian Riley said “The WCA has always emphasised the need for immediate and collaborative action between government and industry to make carbon-negative concrete a reality at scale. Creating demand for low-emission materials is essential for decarbonisation. Now is the moment to work together to make necessary progress this decade.”

Germany/UAE: Holcim has claimed two sustainability awards at the COP28 climate conference for its work on the Carbon2Business carbon capture project at its Lägerdorf cement plant in Germany. Holcim won a COP28 Presidency’s Energy Transition Changemaker award and the Outstanding Project award for Germany at the COP28 Mission Innovation Net-Zero Industries Awards. The COP28 Presidency Energy Transition Changemaker initiative fosters deployment of scalable innovations to accelerate decarbonisation. Holcim was among 39 winners across four different industries. Meanwhile, the Mission Innovation Net-Zero Industries Awards are the first global competition in recognition of projects that have revolutionised industries, disrupted the status quo and set new benchmarks for decarbonisation in energy intensive sectors.

Holcim’s chief sustainability officer Nollaig Forrest said “It's great to close COP28 with two awards for our Carbon2business project in Lägerdorf. This is just one of our six carbon capture, storage and utilisation projects in Europe enabling us to produce at least 8Mt/yr of fully net zero cement by 2030.” Forrest added “These awards recognise companies for their collaboration and innovation, and at COP28 Holcim continued to create momentum with our partners across the building value chain to accelerate decarbonisation.”