Displaying items by tag: Study

Germany: Four of Europe’s leading cement producers have partnered to found and operate a 100% carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant at Schwenk Zement’s 1.0Mt/yr Mergelstetten plant in southern Germany. HeidelbergCement has announced that the catch4climate project will enter operation in 2020.

Belgium: A team of researchers from the University of Mons in Hainaut province has concluded a study in the use of amine-based solvents for carbon capture on between 20% and 60% CO₂ flue gas with funding from HeidelbergCement and the European Cement Research Academy. Lab tests and industrial-scale simulations showed that the solvents lowered regeneration energy, equivalent work and operating costs of carbon capture across the CO₂ concentration range of flue gases tested.

US: California-based Heliogen has developed concentrated solar-thermal plants (CSPs) with the ability to focus sunlight to generate temperatures over 1000°C by micro-adjusting mirrors using computer technology. It has now engaged Parsons Corporation to build arrays of its CSPs for installation in cement pre-calciners. Requiring 900°C heat, these represent the largest part of the industry’s CO₂ output. The technology will firstly reduce this by replacing fossil fuels with a clean heat source, which moreover entirely bypasses the electrical grid. Heliogen CEO Bill Gross says that the installations will make carbon capture and storage (CCS) of the remaining CO₂ emissions from the conversion of limestone to lime easier by removing other pollutants. Heliogen is now targeting 1500°C from its CSPs, which would enable them to supersede cement fuels in kilns.

Canada: HeidelbergCement’s Canadian subsidiary Lehigh Cement is trialling the cement industry’s first full carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation at its 1.4Mt/yr integrated Edmonton plant in Alberta in partnership with Canada’s International CCS Knowledge Centre. The installation will have a CO2 capture rate of between 90% and 95% and receive an investment of US$1.4m from the state government body Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). “We are part of HeidelbergCement’s vision of CO2-neutral concrete by 2050 and are committed to leading global change for CCS in our industry,” said Jeorg Nixdorf, Lehigh Hanson Canada regional president.

South Africa: Research carried out by Beton-Lab on the instigation off PPC has revealed a widespread flouting of cement quality regulations, with the majority of samples overweight or underweight and of inconsistent quality. Beton-Lab tested 14 products from 10 different producers. Cape Times has suggested that the results are due to the addition of fly ash and slag to finished cement as a common practice amongst producers.

In August 2019, PPC and other South African producers lobbied the government International Trade Administration Commission for a tightening of cement standards in response to a perceived compromise on quality by importers, whose 4.6% stake in the market grew by 293% year-on-year in July 2019.

Egypt: Siemens has submitted an integrated survey of the digitalisation potential of various industries in four zones to the Ministry of Industry (MoI) with a view to improving the competitiveness of the country’s products. Daily News Egypt has reported that the Germany-based technology company has already signed contracts for the supply of digital efficiency solutions with El Ameria Cement and Lafarge Egypt. It is also negotiating with Misr Beni Suef for the installation of thermal emission measuring units at its 3.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Beni Suef, Maadi.

Russia: Eurocement has trialled a novel cement transportation solution to increase the capacity of its Volga river barges by 100%. Firstly, the company strengthened its pallets to bear a double load. It then piled a second layer of cement in all four holds of its vessel, which successfully conveyed the 1200t load 1000km upriver to Yaroslavl from its 1.3Mt/yr integrated Sengileevskiy cement plant. Eurocement’s Director of Transport and Logistics Tatyana Dureiko has stated that this was the first time that the company has directly overseen the transportation by boat of its cement from launch to reception.

Brazil: A research team at the University of São Paolo (USP) has concluded a study of cement hydration and pozzolanic activity when using 10% sugarcane bagasse (SB) and bamboo leaf ash (BLA) mixture. A paper released by the team has stated that the additive lowered the calcium hydroxide and heat required for hydration, saving on costs and emissions in cement production. Both binary and ternary concretes had higher compressive strengths with than without the mineral-rich additive. The study was supported by public and private funding.

China: Research conducted by the North-West Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources has ascertained detailed data on carbon dioxide (CO₂) and mercury (Hg) output at a cement plant in Lanzhou using local spruces.

VerticalNews has reported of distance-dependent variations of Hg concentration in needles close to the cement plant, with the highest concentrations observed in needle samples from the site nearest to the plant. Hg in tree rings increased gradually for all sites by year, reaching a concentration of 65.8ng/g in the last growing period at 0m from the plant.

The study fuels hopes of accurate quantification of historical accumulation of air pollutants, including heavy metals, as well as contributing to our understanding of biochemical Hg cycling in forest ecosystems.

UK: A study by the University of Dundee has dispelled the myths of substantial performance differences between concretes made with cement containing dry or wet-stored fly ash, with comparable reinforcement corrosion between the two.

Vertical News has reported that the research, whose backers included the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Heathrow Airport Holdings, was aimed at “quantifying moisture effects, which indicate agglomeration of fly ash and a tendency for this to increase with free lime content, storage period and temperature.”

Researchers tested five moistened fly ashes and samples from two power station stockpiles, and further investigated different material and storage variables, comparing the concretes at 75mm slump and 28 day strength. Air permeability and water absorption of moistened fly ash proved greater with high free lime (up to 0.9%) and lower with low free lime (to under 0.1%). What benefits there were improved with longer storage. The moistening of low-free-lime fly ash generally yielded similar, or slightly higher, carbonation and chlorine diffusion. The moisture caused little change in high-free-lime ash’s carbonation, while increasing chloride diffusion. Furthermore, high storage temperature equated to greater carbonation.

In spite of these intriguing chemical differences, the study concluded, "these didn't seem to have a noticeable effect on concrete resistance.”