Displaying items by tag: Sustainability

Finland: Finnsementti and energy provider St1 have selected Norway-based Aker Carbon Capture to carry out a pre-engineering study for a planned carbon capture system at the cement producer's Lappeenranta cement plant in South Karelia. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that Aker Carbon Capture offers a 40,000t/yr carbon capture system, capable of producing 25,000t/yr of methanol for use as transport fuel. The project is scheduled to deliver commercial synthetic methanol by 2026.

The Lappeenranta cement plant carbon capture project recently received Euro35.4m in additional funding from the Finnish government, subject to European Commission approval.

Philippines: CRH subsidiary Republic Cement and its waste management subsidiary Ecoloop are seeking to establish partnerships with 'sustainability-minded' organisations. BusinessWorld News has reported that Republic Cement and Ecoloop process waste for 12 private companies and 30 local government units. Philippines law will require that large organisations recover 80% of their plastic packaging waste by 2030. For 2023, the minimum is 2023.

Ecoloop managing director Angela Edralin-Valencia said “Our goal is to make our cement a greener and more environmentally friendly product. Our ambition is to replace 50% of our fuel consumption with alternative fuel (AF)." She added "A lot of investments have to be put in place from our end to get to that number, but we are still reviewing our options.”

Mexico: Cemex has launched its global waste management subsidiary Regenera. Regenera will be involved in the reception, management, recycling and coprocessing three major waste streams: municipal and industrial waste, construction, demolition and excavation waste (CDEW) and industrial by-products. It will tie in with Cemex’s own cement sustainability initiatives, for instance in its supply of waste recovered from the River Nile to Cemex Egypt’s Assiut cement plant for co-processing as alternative fuel (AF).

Poland: The European Union (EU) Innovation Fund has awarded Euro228m towards the Go4ECOPlanet carbon capture and storage project at Lafarge Poland’s Kujawy cement plant. The project has a total cost of Euro380m.

It will use Air Liquide's Cryocap FG technology to capture the CO₂ at the plant. The CO₂ will be liquefied and transported by rail to a port and then injected into a depleted oil field for permanent storage. The transport and storage of CO₂ once it has left the cement plant will be accomplished by cooperation with other partners with knowledge and experience in the liquefaction, transport and storage of gases. The goal is to create a complete carbon capture and storage industrial and logistics chain. Commissioning of the cement plant upgrade is planned for 2027.

Austria: Lafarge Zement has successfully demolished the chimney of a former gas power plant at its Mannersdorf cement plant in Lower Austria. Hans Zöchling GmbH carried out the demolition work. Lafarge Zement plans to use the cleared space for a new solar power plant. Plant manager Helmut Reiterer said that further renewable power projects are also planned at the site.

Austria: Zementwerk Hatschek's Gmunden cement plant eliminated 3800t of CO₂ emissions from its local area during 2022 through its contribution to municipal heating. Zementwerk Hatschek, a subsidiary of Rohrdorfer, heats local households using recovered heat from the Gmunden cement plant's waste heat recover (WHR) system.

A delegation of cement plant representatives and local officials from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, visited the plant to learn about its WHR and heat supply systems on 20 January 2022.

Plant manager Peter Fürhapter said "Municipal heating based on our waste heat contributes to CO₂ reduction in Upper Austria, helping us to achieve our CO₂ reduction goals under the Paris Climate Agreement." He added "We are pleased that with this forward-looking project we are a model for similar projects in Europe."

Thailand: ThyssenKrupp Polysius says that it has successfully supplied and installed a Prepol SC alternative fuels (AF) system at a 12Mt/yr cement plant in Thailand. The system will supply the plant's four lines with 4000t/day of AF.

ThyssenKrupp Polysius' Asia Pacific CEO Lukas Schoeneck said "Asia Pacific, with its tremendous municipal solid waste (MSW) problem, is ideal when it comes to replacing coal with AF. The Prepol SC technology significantly reduces the need to treat MSW before using the inherent calorific value. Additionally, it helps to further reduce the ambitious CO₂ limit targets in the region."

Germany: The German Cement Works Association (VDZ) has appointed Kristina Fleiger as the head of its new Climate-neutral Process Technology department. Stefan Schäfer has become the head of Environment and Industrial Engineering department. Both posts report to Volker Hoenig, who retains his position as the managing director of the VDZ.

Fleiger has worked for the VDZ in project management and engineering roles since 2011.

Schäfer was previously the VDZ’s Deputy Head of Environment and Plant Technology. He has worked for the VDZ since 1999.

Denmark: Equipment manufacturer FLSmidth has launched new corporate strategies for its cement and mining sectors. The so-called ‘pure play’ plans are intended to further focus on technology, products and services and sustainability. The group says it is also simplifying its operating model to reduce risks, improve efficiencies, ensure stronger execution and improve profitability and quality of earnings. The announcement was made at the same time as the group’s latest investor event.

Mikko Keto, the chief executive officer at FLSmidth, said “We must prioritise our efforts on our core business, reduce risk and execute with excellence. We have already started to fundamentally transform our business to ensure stronger strategy execution and to achieve our long-term ambitions to the benefit of our stakeholders.”

In the cement sector the group’s ‘Green 26’ plan aims to make the company the preferred service supplier for the industry. It added that it has a “clear commitment to drive the green transition in the cement industry.” It has set a target of reaching an 8% earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin by 2026. For the mining sector the target is a 13 - 15% margin.

In provisional financial results for 2022, FLSmidth revealed that it had an EBITDA margin of 3.3% for cement and 7.6% for mining. Group revenue rose by 24% year-on-year to Euro2.93bn in 2022 from Euro2.37bn in the 2021. Revenue from the cement and mining sectors grew by 7% to Euro847m and 29% to Euro2.03bn respectively. The group said that the short-term outlook for the cement industry remained impacted by overcapacity and that a potential recession is expected to impact market demand negatively over the coming period. Its mining sector revenue was inflated by the acquisition of ThyssenKrupp Mining in 2022.

US: Sublime Systems says it has secured US$40m in funding from its latest investment round. Venture capital company Lowercarbon Capital, The Engine, Energy Impact Partners and others took part in the Series A funding round. Siam Cement Group has also been announced as a strategic investor. The company will use the new capital to increase production at its pilot plant, build its team, conduct product testing and promote offtake commitments from new customers and partners.

Sublime Systems is commercialising an electrolysis cement production process that will manufacture cement at ambient temperature from a variety of abundant calcium sources. It says it is the first company to produce cement through this process.

Leah Ellis, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sublime said, "We have successfully demonstrated the viability and scalability of our approach and we are able to produce cement with the same or better strength, slump and durability than today's Portland cement. The support of our talented team and capital from our investors will enable us to operate our pilot facility, secure advance offtake agreements and work toward producing our low-carbon cement at scale."

The company was spun-out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2020. It was co-founded by Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor and co-founder of several climate-tech companies, including A123 Systems, 24M Technologies and Form Energy, and Leah Ellis, an Activate Fellow and one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators under 35. To date, the company has concentrated its efforts on developing its first drop-in, low-carbon cement product, validating its manufacturing process at the pilot scale, validating buyer demand and building up its team.