Displaying items by tag: Refractory

Austria: RHI Magnesita and MCi Carbon, supported by €3.8m in funding under the Australia-Austria Industrial Decarbonisation Demonstration Partnership Program, are moving forward with plans to establish the world’s first carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) plant in the refractory industry at Hochfilzen, Tyrol.

The funding, provided by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund and the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, will support the CCUPScale project. This includes raw material analysis, pre-demonstration trials, low-carbon product development, process engineering and industrial integration.

The plant is expected to begin operations at RHI Magnesita’s facility in 2028 and aims to capture, convert and utilise 50,000t/yr of CO₂ to produce ‘CO₂-negative’ mineral products. The initiative uses MCi Carbon's mineral carbonation technology to reduce Scope 1 emissions and transform CO₂ into value-added materials.

Constantin Beelitz, regional president Europe, CIS & Türkiye at RHI Magnesita, said "This funding approval shows that we are on the right track with this project. For industries with unavoidable emissions like ours, CO₂ capture is currently the only viable path to achieve net-zero by 2050. However, we go one step further by not only capturing CO₂, but also converting it into products that provide solutions for us and other hard-to-decarbonise sectors, such as the cement industry."

World: The Biennial Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR) has appointed Daniel Llaguno as its president. He succeeds Mauro Cueva who has resigned due to health issues. Llaguno was the vice-president of UNITECR 2025. He is also the CEO of NUTEC Group, a company that produces industrial heating products.

Jessica Fernández has been appointed as the vice-president of UNITECR 2025. She is the Administrative Vice President at Mexico-based WM Refractories and has worked for the company for over 20 years.

UNITECR 2025 will take place on 27 - 30 October 2025 in Cancun, Mexico.

Austria: RHI Magnesita has launched 4PRO, a new refractory solutions contract model. It says that the new business model is designed to “lead high-temperature industries like steel, cement, glass, non-ferrous metals etc. towards a sustainable and technologically-advanced future through a more holistic and contemporary approach.” The 4PRO contract model is guided by four key pillars: Performance; Partnership; People; and Planet.

The company supplies refractory products, systems and solutions for high-temperature processes exceeding 1200°C in a wide range of industries, including steel, cement, non-ferrous metals and glass. RHI Magnesita has over 20,000 employees in 67 main production sites (including raw material sites), 12 recycling facilities and more than 70 sales offices.

France: Calderys has appointed Sander Bovee as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Bovee, a Dutch national, previously worked for Nouryon (formerly known as AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals), a specialty chemicals company, as its Vice President of Group Control & Treasury. He was also the company’s interim CFO for a period. Prior to this he worked for AkzoNobel in a variety of business and corporate finance roles based in the US, China and the Netherlands. He holds a master’s degree in economics and an executive masters in Finance and Control at Maastricht University.

World: The 19th Biennial Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR) has announced its call for papers for its event taking on 27 - 30 October 2025 in Cancun, Mexico. The deadline for abstracts is 20 December 2024. The meeting is being hosted by the Latin American Association of Refractories Manufacturers (ALAFAR).

Mauro Cueva, the president of UNITECR 2025, said “I invite speakers from around the world to grab the wonderful chance we offer to be at the heart of this prestigious forum for the international refractories community. Please become part of our roster for 2025 and take this fantastic opportunity to boost the knowledge base from within your own particular discipline. There will be a dynamic, receptive audience in Cancun, eager to listen, to learn, and to network. We would really love you to be part of this story.”

UNITECR held its first event in 1987 in Tokyo, Japan. The most recent outing took place in in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2023. The event, hosted by the German Refractory Association, featured over 200 speakers and more than 1100 participants in total.

For more information visit: www.unitecr2025.com/call-for-papers

India: RHI Magnesita India plans to invest approximately €442m to expand and upgrade its production capacity by the end of the financial year 2025, according to The Hindu newspaper. This follows a €331m investment over the past two years, which increased the company's refractory production capacity in India to over 0.5Mt/yr.

Global: The World Cement Association (WCA) has recently welcomed Refratechnik Asia as an Associate Corporate Member. Refratechnik Asia supplies refractory materials to the cement and lime industries in China, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. The firm produces 120,000t/yr of refractory materials.

Ian Riley, CEO of the World Cement Association, said "We are keen to see Refratechnik Asia promote its value-orientated culture within our organisation and its commitment to driving greener practices in the cement and wider construction industry.”

Australia: Boral's Berrima cement plant team has successfully concluded its annual kiln shutdown and maintenance period. The producer invested US$13.1m and 100,000 working hours over a period of three weeks. The project required coordination with 50 different contracting companies to undertake mechanical repairs and replace the kiln refractory, which is crucial for protecting the kiln shell from heat damage and ensuring operational safety. Employing Cement 4.0 technology and advanced diagnostic tools, the team efficiently identified the necessary repairs. About 300 employees and contractors were engaged in the specialist tasks, facilitating a rapid resumption of kiln operations.

France: Calderys Group says that it has successfully implemented technology sharing between US-based HWI and Calderys, following their integration in February 2023. In the past 12 months, the group has transferred select Calderys products to HWI in the Americas and introduced HWI products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific. The refractories supplier says that the collaboration offers customers an enhanced product range.

Calderys Group president and CEO Michel Cornelissen said "The past 12 months have been exciting, demanding and very productive for our newly-formed group. The combination brought together two dynamic businesses with complimentary product ranges and created the opportunity for technology sharing and cooperation for the benefit of the world's high temperature manufacturing sectors. I am delighted that we are already seeing great results. Throughout 2024, we will continue to add to, and update, our product portfolios.”

US: Calderys-subsidiary HWI has highlighted upgrades it has undertaken in 2023. This has included upgrading plant production software, increasing capacity at the White Cloud plant in Michigan, the Lowellville plant in Ohio and the Thomasville plant in Georgia, and adding new equipment at sites in Ohio and Missouri. Additional investment projects are planned for 2024.

Ross Wilkin, Calderys Senior Vice President of Americas, said, "In less than a year under new ownership and since combining with Calderys, we've successfully integrated our Americas operations with the former Calderys operations in the US and in Brazil, enhanced our products and services portfolio for customers, and completed massive investments in our manufacturing facilities. We are well-positioned for the future."

Private equity investment company Platinum Equity completed its acquisition of Calderys from Imerys in January 2023. It then purchased HWI in February 2023.