Displaying items by tag: Sustainability
US: Purebase and Fortera have signed a non-binding agreement to build a commercial plant at Purebase’s headquarters in Ione, California. The companies are working towards a definitive agreement to build a plant using Fortera proprietary recarbonation process that uses captured CO2 and mineralises it into a secondary cementitious material.
Scott Dockter, the chairman, and chief executive officer of Purebase, said, “We believe that a strategic partnership with Fortera would put Purebase on a fast-track to bring a lower carbon product to market.” He added, “We believe Fortera has developed a unique solution to reduce carbon emissions in cement, and it will have the advantage of using Purebase’s mineral resources and location in Ione, California which is ideally located in northern California near major ports which can effectively serve the western-US markets and abroad.”
Purebase acquires, develops, and markets minerals for use in agriculture, construction, and other specialty industries.
INSEE Cement signs conservation memorandum of understanding
01 December 2022Sri Lanka: INSEE Cement and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) have signed a memorandum (MoU) of understanding to extend their global biodiversity management partnership until 2026. Projects include quarry restoration, wildlife rescue and release and field surveys of the Koggala and Aruwakkalu mangrove restoration sites and Unawatuna manmade coral reef.
INSEE Cement's environment and corporate social responsibility manager Rohan Lakmal said "Biodiversity is one of the fundamental pillars of INSEE's Sustainability Ambition 2030. Our partnership with IUCN enables INSEE Cement to meet our own ambitious sustainability targets, while also creating more awareness of the general decline in Sri Lanka's biodiversity, and the urgency to do our part to conserve our natural habitats."
US: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering has launched a new carbon capture alliance with energy company ExxonMobil. Under the partnership, ExxonMobil will deploy Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering's liquid amine carbon capture model for its customers across multiple industries. Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO) will also support the deployment in more CO2-intensive industries, including cement.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering president and CEO Kenji Terasawa said “Carbon capture and storage technology and innovation are critical to our path to net zero. As an expert in advanced engineering, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is committed to leading the way in achieving decarbonisation goals through strategic collaboration and investments in new technologies. We look forward to partnering with ExxonMobil to continue advancing carbon capture technologies, to provide essential carbon neutrality solutions for various industries.”
Aqualung Carbon Capture to supply CCS system for Nordkalk lime plant
30 November 2022Scandinavia: Norway-based Aqualung Carbon Capture has secured a contract to supply a membrane-based carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for a Nordkalk lime plant in Scandinavia. The supplier said that each Aqualung Carbon Capture unit has the capture capacity to remove 25% of an average Nordkalk lime kiln's CO2 emissions. The project will commence in early 2023.
Nordkalk plans to roll out Aqualung Carbon Capture CCS systems across all of its kilns before 2030. Accordingly, parent company SigmaRoc has newly committed to tightened group CO2 reduction targets under the guidance of the Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi).
SigmaRoc CEO Max Vermorken said “Our partnership with Aqualung is an exciting next step for the group and the fruit of many months of diligent work by Aqualung and our technical teams in the UK and at Nordkalk. It demonstrates that capturing all process emissions is possible, with existing technology and at industrial scale. Once we roll this out across the group, I believe we will be industry-leading when it comes to our carbon capture strategy, demonstrating again the agility of our business and our business model.”
Aqualung Carbon Capture president and chief technical officer Henrik Utvik said “Aqualung Carbon Capture is extremely pleased to partner with a pioneering company like SigmaRoc to apply our decarbonisation concept in lime production. Due to the size and energy advantages, we believe our technology is ideally suited for this application, and the collaboration with SigmaRoc will fast-track the deployment of full-scale carbon capture installations.”
Titan America completes Portland limestone cement conversion
30 November 2022US: Titan America has successfully converted its cement operations to 100% Portland limestone cement (PLC) production. As part of its transition, the producer established two new 70,000t storage domes to serve its key markets.
President and CEO Bill Zarkalis said "I would like to thank all members of the Titan America team who are able and energised to provide the highest performing products to our customers, and do so with our 2030 goals for a sustainable future at top of mind. Our conversion to 100% Type IL PLC production and our expanded investments to deliver lower carbon products and solutions to customers showcase the progress we have made and our commitment to accelerate our contribution to addressing climate change."
Ecocem launches ACT alternative materials cement product
29 November 2022Ireland: Ecocem has announced the launch of ACT, an alternative materials-based cement ingredient capable of reducing the CO2 emissions of cement production by 70%. The developer says that any existing cement plant can produce ACT at comparatively low cost. The technology is globally scalable, and Ecocem expects to achieve full commercial availability across its Benelux, France, Ireland and UK markets by 2025.
Ecocem managing director Donal O’Riain said “We are eager to work closely with the cement industry and with policymakers to support the scaling and development of a new generation of low-carbon cements. Current policy priorities on decarbonising cement have now been overtaken by technology. Fully effective deployment of ACT requires policymakers to provide effective support well beyond their traditional emphasis on CCUS as the core cement decarbonisation technology.”
Ecocem's investors include France-based building products company Saint-Gobain and US-based Breakthrough Energy Investments.
Bestway Cement is a Carbon Neutralisation Pioneer
28 November 2022Pakistan/UAE: China-based renewables supplier LONGi Green Energy Technology has awarded Bestway Cement its Carbon Neutralisation Pioneer award at a ceremony in Dubai, UAE. The award acknowledges progress in industrial sustainability during the past year. Bestway Cement is the first Pakistani recipient of the prize.
Bestway Cement operates 62MW-worth of solar power capacity at installations at its Chakwal, Farooqia, Hattar and Kallar Kahar cement plants. Managing director Irfan Sheikh said that this setup enables it to minimise CO2 emissions and the company's reliance on the national grid. Bestway Cement was also the first Pakistani cement producer to install waste heat recovery (WHR) plants across all of its integrated cement plants.
C-Capture's solvent-based carbon capture system wins IChemE Global Awards Energy award
25 November 2022UK: C-Capture won an IChemE Global Award in the Energy category for its solvent-based carbon capture system. C-Capture's model differs fundamentally from currently commercially available systems, offering a lower energy penalty than technologies including amine-based capture. It is robust in handling impurities in flue gases, including O2, SOx and NOx, while offering competitive cost and safety performance.
CEO Tom White said “Being shortlisted was honour enough, but to win the global Energy award is fantastic recognition for the C-Capture team and our unique carbon capture technology. The IChemE Global Awards represent the pinnacle of excellence in chemical process engineering. This achievement is testament to our exceptional team and their commitment to accelerating the global adoption of carbon capture and storage to achieve net zero by preventing greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.”
N + P Group's planned Isbergues Subcoal plant receives clearance
25 November 2022France: Authorities have granted construction and environmental clearances to N + P Group to set up its planned Isbergues Subcoal solid recovered fuel (SRF) plant in Hauts-de-France. When commissioned in 2024, the 150,000t/yr-capacity plant will be France's first to commercially produce the coal alternative for cement and other industries. The company says that its products will be able to eliminate 100,000t/yr of industrial CO2 emissions nationally. N + P Group will use locally sourced waste at the unit.
Chief development officer Lars Jennissen said “Obtaining the environmental and construction permit is a major achievement for us, and we thank our colleagues and partners for their hard work in realising this important milestone. The new location will contribute to the circular economy in Hauts-de-France by converting regional non-recyclable wastes into new resources for regional customers, and it offers a massive potential CO2 savings for the French market.”
Update on CRH, November 2022
23 November 2022CRH released its third quarter trading statement this week and the results were rosy, especially when compared to its peers in the cement business. Double digit growth in both sales revenue and earnings was reported for the nine month period so far in 2022. The company’s figures mainly attributed this to growth in its Americas Materials and Building Products divisions, although the presentation in its trading update took care to point out that the Europe Materials division had reported growth in the first half of 2022 only for it to run into a slowdown in the third quarter as energy prices increased. Even this wasn’t as bad on a like-for-like basis, with only earnings down in the third quarter in Europe. Chief executive officer Albert Manifold summed it up as follows: “This performance reflects the resilience of our business and the benefits of our integrated and sustainable solutions strategy.”
Manifold’s focus on integrated products was unsurprising given that the group has spent US$3bn in the year to date on businesses that make these kinds of things. These acquisitions have been added to its Building Products division adding to its already strong growth so far in 2022. The big one was the US$1.9bn deal to buy Barrette Outdoor Living, a US-based retailer and distributor of residential fencing and railing products. This was completed in July 2022. Other so-called bolt-on investments in 2022 have reached a total of US$1.1bn for 20 companies including Calstone, Hinkle, Rinker and Normandy in outdoor living, road and critical utility infrastructure sectors.
At the same time the group divested its architectural glass Building Envelope business for an enterprise value of US$3.8bn to private equity company KPS Capital Partners. That deal was completed in May 2022. On a smaller scale, it is also worth noting that Thomas Gruppe announced in early November 2022 that it had signed a purchase agreement to buy Opterra Zement and Opterra Beton. This includes the integrated Karsdorf cement plant, the decommissioned Sötenich grinding plant and the Neufahrn ready-mix concrete plant. However, there was no mention by Thomas Gruppe of the integrated Wössingen plant operated by Opterra Wössingen. Neither Opterra or CRH appears to have commented on this publicly yet though.
How CRH tweaks its business portfolio is interesting in comparison to the other cement companies. As Global Cement Magazine has covered recently, Holcim is bulking up a fourth business in light building materials and Cemex, Heidelberg Materials and others are similarly diversifying away from cement production to various degrees. CRH has generally held a more mixed portfolio away from the heavy materials trio of cement-concrete-aggregates over the last decade. However, it concentrated more on heavy materials when it picked up assets divested in the merger of Lafarge and Holcim in 2015. Since then it has been steadily pulling out of developing markets and focusing on North America and Europe. So, to see CRH moving out of the building envelope sector at the same time as Holcim and others dive in is a clear difference in approach.
The other point to highlight is that Manifold links sustainability to the group’s integrated products plan in his quote above. Earlier in 2022 the company revealed a new 25% reduction target in absolute CO2 emissions by 2030, that has been certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and a continued goal of becoming net-zero by 2050. It clearly takes sustainability seriously as Manifold was also previously the president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association when it was set up in 2018. Other indicators include the company’s use of an internal carbon price as indicated in its 2021 sustainability report. It also mentioned here that 43% of its direct CO2 emissions were covered under an emissions trading scheme. One implication here is that focusing on doing business in developed markets means that the group has to take its CO2 emissions seriously, as legislators in these places do too.
CRH is one of the largest building materials companies in the world and its cement business has grown and shrunk a little over the last decade. Despite this it remains in the top 10 of cement producers globally based on production capacity. Its purview of multiple markets in building materials continues to make it a company to watch as the more traditional heavy materials cement companies adjust their own product portfolios.