Displaying items by tag: Lafarge Canada

Canada: Lafarge Canada has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with carbon utilisation company, Carbon Upcycling Technologies. The agreement allows for the potential integration of Carbon Upcycling’s CO₂-embedded concrete additive into Lafarge operations and will explore opportunities to expand Carbon Upcycling’s operating capacity by developing larger processing facilities.

Carbon Upcycling produces an additive that makes concrete both stronger and more sustainable with the ability to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by up to 25% on a lifecycle basis. Carbon Upcycling’s involvement into construction materials began in 2018 through its participation in the LafargeHolcim Accelerator program, which aimed to accelerate the growth of innovations in the building materials industry.

The deal aligns with Lafarge's Net-Zero 2030 pledge to accelerate green construction and combat the climate change crisis with low carbon concrete and circular economy solutions, and Carbon Upcycling goal to reduce overall CO₂ emissions by 600Mt by 2030.

Canada: Lafarge Canada, part of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim, has made its first delivery of 2021 to Northern Ontario. The Lafarge ship Alpena made the journey across the Hudson Bay. Sales and logistics vice president Andrew Stewart thanked the US Coastguard for its icebreaking assistance.

Canada: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada, Svante and France-based Total have completed Phase 2 of the CO₂MENT carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Lafarge Canada’s Richmond cement plant. The completed phase consisted of construction and installation of the CO₂MENT technology to capture and filter the flue gas. Lafarge Canada said that Phase 3, scheduled for construction over the next three years, will include the installation of a liquefaction unit, the development of an expansion project to further reduce emissions and a business case review for further expansion across the Lafarge network

Western Canada president and chief executive officer Brad Kohl said “This has been a turbulent year for business and people due to the Covid-19 pandemic with many large scale projects being put on hold, but the perseverance that the people working at the Richmond cement plant continue to show is evident in the success of Project CO₂MENT.” He added “To continue leading change in the building materials industry means we are always looking to partner with like-minded thought leaders such as Svante and Total. This partnership is showcasing our drive towards a net-zero future, and we are seeing this vision become a reality right now with the completion of this phase.”

Canada: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s serious crime unit has launched an investigation into the death of one person at Lafarge Canada’s Richmond, British Columbia integrated cement plant on 19 November 2020. The Vancouver Sun newspaper has reported that the incident caused the plant to be evacuated.

Spokesperson Jill Truscott said, "We are in shock and are extremely concerned about the impact to this individual's family and friends. Steps have been taken to protect all employees on site and the surrounding community."

WorkSafe British Columbia is conducting a separate investigation.

Canada: Lafarge Canada, Geocycle Canada and Rio Tinto are working together to reuse waste from the aluminium smelting process to make cement. The three companies have developed a new product called Alextra, made from used potlining, as part of the aluminium electrolysis process that would otherwise go to landfill. Lafarge Canada plans to produce on average 1Mt/yr of cement at its plant in Bath, Ontario, using Alextra as an alternative to raw materials such as alumina and silica. The companies will also explore options to further expand the supply of Alextra from Rio Tinto’s Potlining Treatment Plant in Saguenay-Lac-St Jean to Lafarge Canada's network of cement plants.

"This partnership shows how Rio Tinto is innovating to find new ways to reuse waste, generating value from our operations and reducing their environmental footprint,” said Rio Tinto Aluminium manager valorisation and marketing Stéphane Poirier. “We have worked closely with Lafarge Canada and Geocycle Canada over the past two years to develop a product that meets their needs and look forward to building on this partnership,”

Canada: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada has dismissed an employee after a thorough investigation into a piece of racist graffiti ended in discovery of the guilty party. Canada Newswire has reported that the harmful drawing, which occurred at the company’s 1.0Mt/yr integrated St Constant plant in Quebec, has been removed. Lafarge Canada said, “To increase employee awareness and strengthen everyone's role in creating a positive work environment, we have communicated with all of our employees on all of our sites and encourage them to speak up if they see, hear or feel any concerns whatever.”

Canada: Tina Larson has been appointed as Vice President, Saskatchewan and Manitoba by Lafarge Canada. She first joined Lafarge in 2010 as General Manager, Pipe in the Greater Calgary Area following a 16-year career with Weyerhaeuser Canada where she held various management positions. In 2015, Tina was promoted to the country level role of Director, Health and Safety for Western Canada. Larson holds an undergraduate and graduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has received a US$0.3m fine for failing as an employer to ensure that safety measures and procedures in the workplace were upheld. This follows the 2017 death of an employee who fell from a corroded catwalk at the company’s Beachville quarry.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has launched the first phase of its CO₂MENT project. The objective is to build a full-cycle solution to capture and reuse CO₂ from a cement plant. The project is a partnership between Lafarge Canada, Inventys and Total.

“LafargeHolcim is committed to reducing CO₂ emissions and we are excited to join forces with Inventys and Total through Project CO₂MENT. We hope to discover ways to capture emissions from our production processes and reuse them in our products, advancing a circular economy even further than today. The recent launch of the new lower carbon fuel (LCF) system at our Richmond plant aims to make the facility the most carbon efficient cement plant in Canada,” said René Thibault, Region Head North America for LafargeHolcim.

Over the next four years, Project CO₂MENT will demonstrate and evaluate Inventys’ CO₂ Capture System and a selection of LafargeHolcim’s carbon utilization technologies at its Richmond cement plant in British Columbia. The project has three phases and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2020. Subject to the pilot’s success, the vision is to scale up the project and explore how the facility can be replicated across other LafargeHolcim plants.

During the first phase the partners will work on purifying the cement flue gas in preparation for CO₂ capture. The second phase will focus on the separation of CO₂ from flue gas using a customised for cement version of Inventys’ carbon capture technology at pilot scale. As part of the final phase, the captured CO₂ will be prepared for reuse and support the economical assessment and demonstration of CO₂ conversion technologies onsite, such as CO₂ injected concrete and fly ash.

Canada: Lafarge Canada plans to develop and demonstrate a full-cycle solution to capture and reuse CO₂ from a cement plant. Project CO₂MENT will demonstrate and evaluate Inventys' CO₂ capture system and a selection of CO₂ utilisation technologies at Lafarge's Richmond cement plant in British Colombia over the next four years. This project is being led by Inventys in partnership with Lafarge Canada and Total. It also received financial support from CCP (CO₂ Capture Project), the Province of British Colombia and Canada's federal government through the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).

"At Inventys, we see a real opportunity to build a CO₂ marketplace where tonnes of CO₂ are traded between emitters and users," said Inventys president and chief executive officer (CEO) Claude Letourneau.

Phase I of Project CO₂MENT, the Contaminant Program, will attempt to reduce harmful organic and inorganic substances, such as sulphur dioxide, dust and soot, as well as nitrogen oxides, from cement flue gas. Phase II, the CO₂ Capture Program, will separate the CO₂ from flue gas using a customised-for-cement version of Inventys' carbon capture technology at pilot scale. Phase III, the CO₂ Reuse Program, will prepare post-combustion CO₂ for reuse and support the economical assessment and demonstration of CO₂ conversion technologies onsite, such as CO₂-injected concrete and fly ash.

Funding for the first two phases is complete and development of Phase I is underway. Phase I will begin operation in 2019 followed by Phase II and III in 2020.