Displaying items by tag: Sustainability

France: Heidelberg Materials, Lafarge France, Lhoist and utilities provider TotalEnergies launched the GO CO₂ carbon capture and storage project at the port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire on 10 July 2023. The Le Marin newspaper has reported that the Euro1.7bn project will treat and liquefy captured CO₂ for underwater storage. The initial participating plants will be Lafarge France’s Saint-Pierre-la-Cour cement plant and Lhoist’s Neau lime plant.

Preliminary studies will commence later in 2023, with an investment decision to be taken in 2027, for commissioning of the project in 2030. The consortium will initially process 2.6Mt/yr of captured CO₂, rising to 4Mt/yr in 2050.

US: In 2022, Fortera began building a 15,000t/yr-capacity plant to produce its low-carbon cementitious material, Fortera Reactive Calcium Carbonate (RCC), at CalPortland's Redding cement plant in California. The commercial-scale plant will produce a reactive form of calcium carbonate using CO₂ from the kiln of the 600,000t/yr cement plant. Fortera's process converts 1t of limestone into 1t of Fortera RCC by capturing and mineralising CO₂ from the cement plant's kiln. Fortera cement production emits 60% less CO₂ than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The 15,000t/yr plant will operate at 20 times the scale of previous pilot tests. The Redding Record newspaper has reported that 15 workers will be employed at the site.

Former Redding cement plant owner Lehigh Hanson formed an agreement with Fortera to collaborate on the low-carbon cement plant project in March 2021. The plant subsequently switched ownership to Martin Marietta Materials in October 2021, before CalPortland bought it in July 2022.

Kyrgyzstan: Kant Cement has successfully transitioned Grinding Unit 8 of its Kant cement plant to closed cycle grinding operations. Business World News has reported that China-based CNBM Beijing Triumph carried out the work. The transition has increased the unit's production capacity by 30 - 40%.

Kant Cement's general director Pavel Dekhtyarev said "The mill previously produced 40t/hr of CEM II cement and 30t/hr of CEM I cement. Now it produces 58t/hr and 50t/hr, respectively. With this productivity, it was possible to reduce the specific energy consumption by 30% and reduce dust emissions. In addition, closed circuit grinding allows us to produce high grades of cement that could not be obtained with open circuit grinding systems."

UAE: Lafarge Emirates Cement, part of Holcim, has awarded a contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group subsidiary Turboden to supply and install a 10MW waste heat recovery (WHR) system at its Fujairah cement plant. The system relies on ENGIE Solutions' organic Rankine cycle technology. The supplier says that the installation will reduce the 3.2Mt/yr cement plant's energy-related CO₂ emissions by 29,000t/yr (28%).

Turboden CEO Paolo Bertuzzi said "We are proud that Holcim Group, already our customer for three other WHR plants, has again chosen Turboden for this first project in the UAE. At COP 28, this year in the UAE, we will have the opportunity to present this energy-saving and CO₂-reducing project to raise awareness in energy intensive industries."

Uzbekistan: United Cement Group (UCG) has implemented environmental social governance (ESG) standards across its Uzbek cement operations. The new standards establish transparency on the company's legal compliance, working conditions and impacts on all stakeholders.

Business World Magazine has reported that general director Serik Ukanov said "Control of emissions of harmful substances and compliance with ESG norms is carried out by each enterprise under the supervision of the holding company. Each factory of the holding has a separate 'Targets' department, which is responsible for operations, repair and maintenance, as well as the adjustment of all the dedusting installations of raw materials and grinding mills and rotary kilns. We produce monthly and quarterly emissions reports and keep statistics on the carbon footprint per tonne of cement." He continued "UCG's next big step is a multi-phase project to reduce this carbon footprint. A contract was signed with KHD Humboldt Wedag to renovate two rotary kilns."

UCG subsidiary Qizilqumsement said that it was carrying out testing at its Qizilqum cement plant in partnership with Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag in May 2023. The company is in the process of expanding the plant's integrated capacity by 1.8Mt/yr through the construction of its upcoming Line 4.

China: Asia Cement has launched its 2050 decarbonisation strategy, entitled 'Net-Zero Carbon Emissions By 2050 - Asia Cement Advanced Deployment.' The strategy consists of multiple pillars, namely 'alternative fuels,' 'reducing cement's clinker factor,' 'increasing renewable energy reliance' and 'carbon capture.'

During 2022, Asia Cement reduced its limestone, clay, iron and sand consumption by 266,000t, its coal consumption by 17,000t and its gypsum consumption by 56,000t year-on-year. This eliminated 95,100t of CO₂ emissions throughout the year, according to the producer.

Peru: UNACEM Peru said that it reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 2.7% year-on-year during 2022. Throughout the year, the company reduced its electricity consumption by 3.4%. It sourced 90% of its electricity from renewable sources and met 70% of its fuel needs with natural gas. UNACEM Peru is committed to reaching carbon neutral cement production by 2050.

In terms of community engagement, the producer benefitted 76,700 people through its social infrastructure investments and 14,1000 people through its dialogue space initiatives, and provided its remote health guidance service to 3000 people.

Thailand: US-based Rondo Energy and Siam Cement Group (SCG) plan to expand the production capacity of a heat battery storage unit at a SCG plant to 90GWh/yr. Once complete the site will reportedly have a production capacity larger than any current heat battery-supported manufacturing facility worldwide and will save up to 12Mt/yr of CO₂. The SCG site already has a capacity of 2.4GWh/yr.

SCG’s executive vice president Thammasak Sethaudom said “Rondo offers an innovative solution to reduce the carbon emissions from industrial process heat used in factories worldwide. SCG can use Rondo’s technology to lower our own carbon emissions and SCG Cleanergy can partner with Rondo to help our customers cut emissions.” He added “We also realised that we can leverage our 70 years of technical expertise in the refractory business and supply chain.”

Rondo heat batteries consist of refractory bricks capable of storing renewable energy as heat. The heat energy can then be returned to an industrial process as hot air or steam. SCG invested in Rondo Energy in 2022.

This story was amended on 4 July 2023, after a previous version erroneously stated the location of the plant as Ukraine. Global Cement apologises for this error.

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has named the 15 anticipated deliverers of low-CO₂ cement and concrete production shortlisted for participation in its second Innovandi Open Challenge. The association chose the start-ups based on their potential to deliver CO₂ emissions reduction in the global cement and concrete sector in line with its Concrete Future 2050 Net Zero Roadmap. The applicants are presenting their pitches to GCCA members on 30 June 2023. All those accepted will gain access to members' plants, labs, networks and expertise. The following start-ups made the Innovandi Open Challenge 2023 shortlist:

GCCA cement director and innovation lead Claude Loréa said “We received more than 70 quality applications, so drawing up a shortlist was challenging." Loréa continued "Our essential industry needs something easily scalable and affordable. Those start-ups on the list demonstrated the most potential, and we look forward to hearing more about their ideas. But we’ll also be keeping in touch with other start-ups who didn’t make this year’s shortlist, with future projects in mind.”

UK: Breedon Cement commenced a 24-hour trial of graphene-enhanced cement production at its Hope Cement plant in Derbyshire on 28 June 2023. The trial advances the work of a consortium led by Australia-based First Graphene. It is using existing grinding aid dosage lines, with minimal adjustment required. Breedon Cement and its partners aim to produce 2000t of graphene-enhanced cement, using 1.2t of PureGRAPH 50. Graphene-Info News has reported that Breedon Cement will supply concrete produced under the trial to Morgan Sindall Construction for use in its building projects. The University of Manchester is also participating in the consortium.

Breedon Cement managing director Jude Lagan said “The role graphene can play in helping to decarbonise the cement industry could be significant, and we are keen to contribute to this process by facilitating what is set to be one of the largest global trials of this kind.”