Displaying items by tag: Government

UK: Thermoteknix Systems, a global manufacturer of infrared and thermal imaging systems for the cement industry, has been presented with the King’s Award for Enterprise, recognising significant and sustained growth in the company’s international trade. Overseas sales for the company grew by 173% in a three-year period across key markets including North America, Europe and Asia.

Thermoteknix has been a multiple recipient of the public accolade awarded to UK business, having previously won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade once and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation twice. The awards have been renamed following the accession of King Charles III, emphasising his desire to continue the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II in celebrating the achievements of outstanding UK businesses each year, which she began in 1965.

Commenting on winning the first King’s Award honour, founder and managing director of Thermoteknix, Richard Salisbury said “We are extremely honoured to receive this award and would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment shown by our whole team in delivering outstanding results for our customers around the world in what continues to be fast-changing and challenging markets made all the more onerous during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Founded in 1982, Thermoteknix has sustained continued growth from its Cambridge headquarters, manufacturing and supplying advanced thermal imaging solutions to defence and security markets, and process monitoring. Thermoteknix successfully exports to more than 70 countries around the world.

Paul Douglas, Production Technician at Thermoteknix, is part of the team on site at the company's UK manufacturing facilities who prepare the Thermoteknix kiln shell scanners, and kiln and cooler cameras for delivery to Cement plant customers around the world.

Lithuania: Arturas Zaremba, the head of Akmenes Cementas, has warned that government proposals to increase the import tax on coal in 2024 and the abolition of subsidies for the fuel will affect the company. The country’s parliament is also proposing scaling the import tax based on a CO₂ scale, according to the Baltic Business Daily newspaper. Zaremba said that the cement producer uses 130,000t/yr of coal. However, it is currently investing Euro22m on an upgrade to its Akmenes integrated plant to allow it to switch to using a higher proportion of solid-recovered fuel. It currently has a 10% alternative fuels substitution rate using dried sewage sludge and tyres.

Zaremba said "There will be some impact because we will still have some of that coal left, but not as much as we would have had without the investment. I have not followed how much they plan to increase the excise duty, but we need to look into how much that would be in the financial terms. Any increase has an impact."

Cuba: Corporación Cementos Cubanos’ Siguaney plant is supplying oil well cement products for Empresa de Perforación y Reparación de Pozos de Petróleo y Gas (EMPERCAP) and Australia-based Melbana. It has contracts to supply around 300t to both companies for local projects, according to the Prensa Latina news agency. It is also supplying PP-25 and P-35 types of oil well cement to the government.

US: Holcim US has joined the Department of Energy's (DOE) 'Better Climate Challenge' to reduce CO₂ emissions and save energy. It is the first cement producer to commit to the DOE program. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim plans to power the electrical operations at 13 cement plants in the country with 100% renewable energy by 2030 and to reach net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. As part of the 'Better Climate Challenge' it has committed to reduce CO₂ emissions in the US by at least 25% by 2033.

Examples of current renewable power usage at Holcim US cement plants include the installation of three onsite wind turbines at the Paulding plant in Ohio that generate 11,500MWh while a forthcoming solar unit at the Hagerstown plant in Maryland will generate up to 18,440MWh. All 13 Holcim cement plants will conduct reviews to identify projects that could contribute to meeting goals of the challenge.

With grant support from the DOE, Holcim is also investigating the feasibility of using carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) at its cement plants in Portland, Colorado, and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. In addition to involvement in the Better Climate Challenge, Holcim US is a continuing partner of the DOE's 'Better Plants Challenge', sharing facility-level energy data and solutions to help guide other industrial companies with implementing energy solutions in their facilities.

France: Ciments Calcia has announced an investment of Euro86m to further decarbonise cement production at its integrated Beaucaire plant. The subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg Materials has allocated a total of Euro600m towards reducing CO₂ emissions from all of its operations in the country in response to a government initiative, according to The Tribune newspaper.

The current funding follows a spend of just under Euro7m on upgrades at the site, including installing a new clinker cooler that will allow for greater recovery of waste heat, and the addition of a new computer control system. Following this work, the single production line plant was restarted in early April 2023.

The next stage of investment has started with a feasibility study. If successful, a tendering process could start in the second half of 2023 with work planned to start in 2025. The company intends to renovate the plant’s electricity network, modernise the production line with a preheater and a pre-crusher and make further changes to target an alternative fuels thermal substitution rate of 75%. A third stage, involving carbon capture and utilisation and/or storage, is tentatively planned to start in 2030.

Malaysia: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says that a ‘reasonable’ cement price will be offered to housing developers that develop affordable projects. The initiative is targeted at the Bottom 40% (B40) and Middle 40% (M40) income groups, according to the Bernama news agency. The government is working with the Malaysian Cement and Concrete Association (C&CA) and private housing developers to offer the reduced cement price. US$27m will be provided to back the incentive. 1Mt of cement will be made available at a subsidised discount of 29% under the Rahmah Cement Scheme Initiative.

Anwar Ibrahim said “This private incentive is adequate for the construction of up to 24,000 units of affordable houses.” It is part of the coalition government’s ambition to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Germany: Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, has visited specialist Flender at the Hannover Messe trade fair. He spoke with the company’s head Andreas Evertz about the energy transition goals for Germany and Europe, Flender's role as a supplier for the wind sector, and the importance of an energy-efficient industry on the way to reach global climate goals. The mechanical drive manufacturer was part of the government minister’s official tour of the exhibition.

Habeck said, "Discussing about the expansion of renewable energies, we usually talk about the electrical output, the production. But here at Hannover Messe, we see also the other side of the coin. A lot of the industrial production is here in Germany, or at least with German companies. And when you say the market is now swinging in and growing, that's good news." He added that “It is challenging to bring electricity production out of renewables to 80% of the demand by 2030, but it is possible."

Evertz said "Flender is a major driver of the energy transition. And this starts with any kind of materials. In drive technology, Flender not only manufactures wind gearboxes, but industrial gearboxes that are involved in the production of raw materials for wind turbines. Flender is part of nearly every supply chain."

Other recent interest shown by the German government include a tour by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Flender’s plant in Tianjin as part of a tour of China.

India: India Ratings & Research forecasts that cement demand will grow by up to 9% in the 2024 financial year that started in April 2023, due to continued government infrastructure spending. Despite mounting inflation and a large number of capital expenditure projects in progress, it expects cement company profits to recover due to slowing increases in energy costs, according to the Press Trust of India. The current prediction for the 2024 financial year follows a growth estimate of 9% in the 2023 financial year.

The credit ratings agency warned that sector expansion projects will hold back cement production capacity utilisation rate below 70% in the 2024 financial year compared to 65% in the 2023 financial year. It forecasts that three-quarters of around 150Mt/yr of new production capacity is likely to be commissioned by the end of the 2025 financial year. However, as most of this new capacity will be grinding plants, the clinker utilisation rate is likely to remain high.

It added that it expects to see more industry merger and acquisition activity in the south of the country in the short-to-medium term.

Saudi Arabia: The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has congratulated City Cement on achieving the advanced level assessment as part of the Future Factories Program. The program uses the SIRI methodology (Smart Industries Readiness Index), which represents the global index adopted by the country to measure how industrial plants are adopting digital developments, such as interconnectivity and software-based automation, with assessments conducted by accredited evaluators. The government is promoting the initiative to raise industrial efficiency, reduce costs and create jobs.

Malaysia: YTL Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM) to support the transition of the local construction industry to sustainable construction practices. Under the deal, YTL Cement will also contribute to the Construction Industry Development Board’s (CIDB) goals by rolling out human resource development programmes, research and development initiatives.

As part of the MOU, YTL and the CIDB will jointly design training programmes for young adults to be certified as concrete technicians and develop the training syllabus for accreditation programmes of qualified personnel in operations. It is hoped that this will assist in attracting, retaining and growing skilled workers in the construction industry. CREAM will work with YTL Cement’s team of experts to conduct research and development on lower embodied carbon alternatives in materials and construction methods. CIDB and YTL Cement will also work together to increase awareness on the embodied carbon of the construction sector by providing channels for discussions and knowledge transfer among industry practitioners and experts.