Displaying items by tag: Plant

Germany: Calix's subsidiary Leilac and Heidelberg Materials have formed a joint venture to build the Leilac-2 low emission cement demonstration plant at Heidelberg's Ennigerloh facility. Construction is set to begin in 2025, with the plant's commissioning scheduled for mid-2026. The Leilac-2 plant will showcase a module capable of capturing up to 100,000t/yr of CO₂ emissions from cement and lime production. Following construction and commissioning, Leilac-2 will be operated for up to three years to test the performance of the technology.

The project benefits from €16m in funding from the EU's Horizons 2020 programme and contributions from partner cement companies. Following construction, Heidelberg Materials may repay Leilac's capital contribution, and the partners will consider a full-scale commercial installation of Leilac technology at a Heidelberg plant. Plans for Leilac-3 envisage a significantly increased capture capacity, potentially capturing 0.5–1Mt/yr of CO₂.

Leilac CEO Daniel Rennie said "The formation of a joint venture with Heidelberg Materials for the Leilac-2 plant marks another important milestone for commercialisation of the Leilac technology. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Heidelberg Materials to demonstrate and deploy cost-effective solutions to decarbonise cement production at commercial scale.”

Canada: Hyperion Global Energy has fired up its pilot Tandem Carbon Recycling System at Lafarge Canada’s Bath cement plant in Ontario. The system mineralises captured CO₂ to produce mineral components for alternative building materials. It has a capture capacity of 1000t/yr. The partners will test the Tandem Carbon Recycling System in producing Lafarge Canada’s 30 – 90% reduced CO₂ ECOPact concrete.

Lafarge Canada’s Eastern Canada regional president and CEO of David Redfern said "Our collaboration with Hyperion marks an exciting milestone in our decarbonisation journey and the advancement of our circular construction technologies. We look forward to advancing our net zero strategy by leveraging carbon utilisation technology like Hyperion's, enabling us to further reduce CO₂ emissions from our operations while at the same time producing innovative and sustainable building solutions."

Hyperion CEO Heather Ward said "Working together with an innovative partner like Lafarge on this exciting pilot project allows us to apply our proprietary carbon recycling technology to large-scale industries, and make an immediate, measurable reduction on carbon emissions. At the same time, we are advancing our vision to offer a scalable and affordable decarbonisation solution for industry, and a market-driven profit incentive on the cost of carbon removal."

Spain: Heidelberg Materials plans to stop clinker production at its Añorga plant near San Sebastián and run the site as a cement grinding plant instead. It says it intends to use the change to focus on low-carbon cement products in Spain and the South-West of France. The clinker required to supply the markets in Northern Spain and the South-West of France will be produced at Heidelberg Materials Spain’s Bilbao plant instead. The closure of the clinker production line at Añorga will start once staff negotiations at the plant are completed. The company said that, “socially acceptable solutions for all affected employees are being sought.”

Portugal: Sacopor has inaugurated a new bag production line at its paper bag plant near Lisbon. The new line will increase capacity to 160 million bags per year from 130 million at present. It had an investment of €11.5m. The subsidiary of Cimpor sells bags to the cement mortar industries.

Nigeria: The government of Bauchi State has signed a deal with Resident Cement and Sinoma Nigeria Company for the construction of their upcoming 10Mt/yr cement plant in the state. The deal stipulates total investments by the companies of US$500m to build the plant, situated in Gwana District.

Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed said "We are reassured in our commitment to maximise the available resources to exploit the natural resources Bauchi State possesses for the economic development of the state.”

Ethiopia: The Lemi National Cement Factory is preparing to begin production within two months. Located in Amhara Regional State, 130km north of Addis Ababa, the plant will produce 6.4Mt/yr of cement, nearly doubling the nation's current production capacity. The plant represents a joint investment between Ethiopian and Chinese investors and according to 2Merkato News, is expected to become the largest cement plant in Africa.

Cemex announced last week that it will stop producing clinker at its Lloseta plant in Mallorca. Grinding activity at the site will continue, along with the shipment of bagged and bulk cement products. The company has framed the closure as part of its decarbonisation plans. The dismantling of the two preheater towers at the plant is scheduled to take place by the end of 2030. Cemex said that it will take this long to allow the cement plant to continue operating, as well as a neighbouring hydrogen unit and other nearby industrial units. The status of the Lloseta plant has been in question before. It was closed in early 2019 due to reduced cement demand and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations. However, it reopened in 2021.

Readers may recall that Cemex España participated in the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project. Land by the Lloseta cement plant was used to hold solar panels and a solar-powered hydrogen unit. Other partners in the project included energy suppliers Enagás and Redexis and renewable power and infrastructure company Acciona, among others. When the unit was commissioned in early 2022, it said it was the first solar power-to-green hydrogen plant in Spain. The link between Cemex and hydrogen is noteworthy given the cement company’s adoption of hydrogen injection as part of its alternative fuels strategy. Interestingly, Acciona planned to use a blockchain method to certify that hydrogen produced at the site was made using renewable energy sources. Heidelberg Materials also plans to use the same process to verify its evoZero brand of net-zero cement products in 2025. Another recent sustainability sector news story in Spain is the commissioning by Çimsa of a 7.2MW solar plant supporting its Buñol white cement plant in Valencia. The new installation is expected to supply about 18% of the plant’s energy needs.

On the corporate side of things, FCC revealed in mid-May 2024 that it was preparing to spin-off its cement and real estate subsidiaries into a new company called Inmocemento. The cement part of this is Spain-based Cementos Portland Valderrivas. The move is intended to bolster the values of the different parts of the business. The proposal will be put to FCC’s shareholders in late June 2024, with any resulting action taking place by the end of the year. The decision to separate FCC’s cement assets is reminiscent of the financial engineering Holcim has proposed with its US business. However, in this case the driver does not appear to be the disparity between the European and US stock markets.

Graph 1: Domestic consumption and exports of cement in Spain, 2013 - 2023. Source: Oficemen.

Market data was also out this week from Oficemen, the Spanish cement association. Domestic cement consumption grew year-on-year in April 2024 but the year so far is looking weaker with consumption from January to April 2024 down by 4.5% year-on-year to 4.65Mt. This is below Oficemen’s forecast for 2024 where it expected a stagnant situation. However, there are eight more months to go. In 2023 cement consumption fell by 3% to 14.5Mt and exports declined by 7.5% to 5.2Mt. The association blamed continued underinvestment in both the public and private sectors due to economic instability since the Covid-19 pandemic. Graph 1 above shows the wider situation in the Spanish cement market over the last decade. The share of exports has declined and local consumption rebounded after 2020 but has declined since then.

These news stories provide a snapshot of what’s been happening in Spain recently in the cement sector. Oficemen’s prediction for 2024 is gloomy but local consumption has risen over the past 10 years. Exports have fallen but the cement association has started to spin the country’s decarbonsiation drive as a potential positive for the industry’s competitiveness generally. It’s hard to discern right now but there might be an advantage for an export-focused country that conforms to European standards in the future if it can hold onto its capacity. Admittedly, that’s a big if. This thinking along sustainability lines could be seen earlier in May 2024 when Cementos Molins Group rebranded itself as Molins. It described the rebranding as a bid to represent the wider range of construction products it manufactures and sells beyond cement. Oficemen has also pointed out that the local market has room for development given the relatively low cement consumption per capita in Spain compared to its peers. So, whatever happens next, there is likely to be room for improvement in the cement market.

Nigeria: BUA Cement has appointed Chikezie Ajaero as its acting chief financial officer. He succeeds Jacques Piekarski in the post, who resigned at the end of April 2024.

Ajaero is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and has over 25 years of experience in financial reporting and control. He also holds a masters of business administration from the University of Lagos. He previously worked as the finance director for the company’s Obu cement plant since 2020.

Indonesia: PT Kobexindo Cement has entered an agreement to construct a new cement plant in South Aceh, despite a national moratorium on such developments. The project, under China-based Hongshi Holding Group subsidiary Zhejiang Hongshi Cement, plans a US$621m investment for a facility with a 6Mt/yr capacity, according to the Jakarta Post.

The Indonesian central government's moratorium, aimed at curbing oversupply in the cement market, prohibits new cement plants except in specified eastern regions. This edict arose as national cement production significantly exceeded demand, according to the Indonesia Cement Association (ASI).

ASI president Lilik Unggul Raharjo said that the move by South Aceh regency not only violated the ban but also threatened the viability of three state-owned cement companies in Sumatra. Raharjo said "These companies are guaranteed to go out of business. The Industry Ministry will conduct a technical verification of foreign direct investment in the cement industry before the permit is issued.”

Tanzania: Fortune Cement Co has initiated white cement production at its new plant in Mkuranga District, Coast Region, aiming to meet both domestic and international demand. The plant, which produces 200t/day of white cement, will bolster employment and increase revenue through exports under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Exaud Kigahe, said “The Ministry will collaborate to ensure that the products manufactured in this plant cross national borders and reach even the African free market.” He also noted that the new production capacity will reduce imports and create job opportunities for Tanzanian youth while enhancing foreign exchange earnings. Currently, over 50% of the raw materials for the plant are sourced locally, excluding white clinker, which is imported.