Displaying items by tag: Portland Pozzolana Cement

Suvo Strategic Minerals said this week that it had made moves towards establishing a joint-venture between a subsidiary and the Huadi Bantaeng Industry Park (HBIP). The plan is to manufacture and sell low-carbon cement and concrete products that contain nickel slag and other byproducts. This news story is noteworthy because of the location of HBIP in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In a release to the Australian Securities Exchange Suvo explained that HBIP is the managing company of the Bantaeng Industrial Park, where ‘significant’ quantities of nickel slag are stockpiled as part of the local nickel pig iron operations. HBIP will supply the nickel slag to the joint-venture. It will also give it access to infrastructure such as land, port facilities and utilities. Suvo subsidiary Climate Tech Cement, for its part, will supply the low carbon cement and or concrete mixtures and/or formulations. This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding in September 2024, in which the companies agreed to process the nickel slag into geopolymer cement and precast concrete materials.

At first glance Indonesia seems like an unlikely place to market a low-carbon cement or concrete product, given the large cement production overcapacity in the country. The Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) reported a production capacity of just under 120Mt/yr in 2024 and forecast a utilisation rate of 57% in November 2024. However, the government seems serious about reaching net zero by 2060 as the country’s economy develops. The ASI updated its decarbonisation roadmap in 2024 and the draft is currently under review with the Ministry of Industry and consultants from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

In the latest roadmap, carbon capture is at least a decade away, with the first large-scale capture tentatively anticipated from 2035 onwards. Although Indonesia launched its carbon trading scheme in 2023, it is not expected to start affecting the industrial sector until the late 2020s. Instead, the short-to-medium term Scope 1 reduction methods include increasing the use of alternative fuels, reducing the clinker factor of cement and reducing and/or optimising the specific thermal energy consumption of clinker. Initiatives such as Suvo’s joint-venture in South Sulawesi tie into that middle strand. Separately, over the summer of 2024 the government and producers said that they were working together to introduce and promote the use of Portland composite cement (PCC) and Portland pozzolana cement (PPC). At this time the ASI reckoned that a complete change could cut cement sector emissions by just over a quarter. In June 2024 local media also reported that ASI members were planning to supply low-carbon cement for the Nusantara capital city project to help it realise its aims as a ‘green city.’

Semen Indonesia, the country’s largest producer, reported a clinker factor of 69% in 2023 for all of its cement products, down from 71% in 2021. Limestone was the biggest substitute followed by trass and gypsum. It is currently aiming for a clinker factor of 61% by 2030. In its Sustainability Report for 2023 it said that it was promoting the use of non-OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) cement “...according to the needs of construction applications.” It added that non-OPC products also had a “...5 - 15% more economical price.” However, the company has not said how its current sales are split between OPC and other products.

One of the surprises at the 26th Technical Symposium & Exhibition of the ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM), that took place in Kuala Lumpur in November 2024, was the sheer amount of work that has been going on outside of Europe and North America towards decarbonising building materials. The cement associations of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand all presented progress and targets towards this aim at the event. Suvo Strategic Minerals’ joint-venture plans in South Sulawesi are another example of this trend.

Closing points to note about the Suvo project are firstly that it is away from Indonesia’s main cement production area in Java. Secondly, the presumption is that the low-carbon cement and concrete products manufactured by the project will either be cheaper than the competition or benefit from green procurement rules. Finally, nickel slag reserves seem insufficient to reshape the entire national cement market. Yet a general move towards using more supplementary cementitious materials could. Watch this space for more developments.

Read a review of the 26th Technical Symposium & Exhibition of the ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM) in the forthcoming January 2024 issue of Global Cement Magazine

India: SRMPR Cements has launched its Portland pozzolana cement (PPC) for the first time, in Tamil Nadu. The Hindu BusinessLine newspaper has reported that the company controls 420,000t/yr of cement production capacity across three facilities in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. It invested a total US$27m in its production facilities and warehouses. SRMPR Cements will sell its PPC in 50kg bags. It also plans to launch ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in the future. It said that its products will help to meet ‘massive’ demand from public construction projects.

CEO Ohm Prakash said that the producer has already concluded deals with 100 different regional retailers of cement.

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has launched Dalmia Supreme cement, a Portland pozzolana cement (PPC), in the Eastern India market. The producer says that the cement is a is a specialised, best-in-class product formulated for all construction applications, offering better workability, higher density, chemical resistance and strength and faster setting times than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Dalmia Cement already sells Portland fly ash cement under its Konark cement brand.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat)'s head of sales, logistics, technical services and marketing Rajiv Prasad said “We are excited to introduce Dalmia Supreme Cement in the Eastern market. In line with the company’s customer-centric approach, this new offering is to cater to the growing needs of a specialised product for 'Stronger, Faster and Better' construction."

India: Four UltraTech Cement cement products have received Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification. UltraTech Cement's ordinary Portland cement (OPC), Portland pozzolana cement (PPC), Portland slag cement (PSC) and Portland composite cement (PCC) all successfully underwent lifecycle assessment studies in line with EPD requirements.

The Aditya Birla subsidiary said that 70% of its cement sales consist of blended cement. It offers over 70 different GreenPro certified products across its range.

India: Nuvoco Vistas is promoting its products in Northern India with the launch of its Double Bull cement brand in the region. As part of the initiative it has increased its dealer network in the states of Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. It is also preparing to build a 1.2Mt/yr grinding plant at Bhiwani in Haryana to support its presence in the north of the country.

The cement producer manufactures Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Portland Slag Cement (PSC), Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) and Portland Composite Cement (PCC) products. Its flagship brands include the Concreto, Duraguard and Double Bull products.

India: The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has certified the sustainability claims of Dalmia Cement’s portfolio of blended cements. The portfolio consists of composite cement, Portland pozzolan cement and Portland slag cement. The council employed a full-cycle assessment of the cements’ impacts.

Head of sales, marketing and logstics Sanjay Wali said “We see GreenPro’s accreditation as a milestone in our journey to becoming carbon-negative by 2040. This also reaffirms our blended cement products’ green supremacy, which is accelerating the global transition from a grey to green reality.”

India: BK Birla Group subsidiary Mangalam Cement has launched Mangalam ProMaxX, a premium fly ash Portland pozzolana cement (PPC) that it says boasts “high one-day strength and also high 28-day ultimate strength.” The company says that the new cement is “an environmentally-friendly alternative with all the performance abilities of Mangalam Cement’s Birla Uttam cement.”

Nepal: Annapurna Cements has started test production at its new plant in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor. The US$5.8m plant has a production capacity of 12000bags/day of Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), according to the Kathmandu Post. Commercial production at the site is expected to start by the end of June 2017. The plant will import raw materials from India and it plans to sell its products initially in Provinces One, Two and Three.

India: Malabar Cements will restart operations at its Cherthala cement grinding plant following approval from the Kerala High Court. The cement producer says its has been granted permission to produce Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) using clinker, gypsum and fly ash at the plant. Previously the Bureau of Indian Standards objected to the cement producer manufacturing PPC.