Displaying items by tag: Texas

US: Mexico-based GCC has concluded two bank loan agreements totalling US$135m to fund the expansion of its cement plant in Odessa, Texas. The loans have five- and ten-year maturities respectively, and will support development at the site. GCC did not provide further details in its statement.

It said “These facilities reflect GCC's continued commitment to strengthen its operating and financial performance, while increasing the company's financial flexibility.”

In addition to the Odessa plant, the producer has cement plants in Rapid City, South Dakota; Trident, Montana; Tijeras, New Mexico; and Pueblo, Colorado.

US: Cemex has obtained US$13m through the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) to deploy four lower-emission locomotives and two haul trucks at its cement and aggregate sites in New Braunfels and Katy, both in Texas. TERP provides financial incentives to businesses and governments to reduce emissions from vehicles and equipment. Three of the four locomotives and both trucks began operations in late 2023 and mid-2024 in New Braunfels, respectively, according to Energy Tech news. Cemex reportedly intends to deploy additional equipment in 2025.

A US$2m grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) will fund two additional locomotives for Cemex’s Florida operations in Jacksonville and Miami in the summer of 2025. Cemex plans to decommission the vehicles that are replaced and expand its low-emission fleet for its operations in Victorville, California.

One unusual thing about coverage of cement in the media is the way that discussions often centre precisely on its absence – that is, on alternatives to cement. These alternatives boast unique chemistries and performance characteristics, but are all produced without Portland cement clinker. They are generally called ‘alternative cements,’ perhaps because ‘cement-free cement’ does not have such a commercially viable ring to it. This contradictory tendency reached a new high in the past week, with developments in alternative cement across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Together, they hint at a more diverse future for the ‘cement’ industry than the one we know today.

Asia

In Indonesia, Suvo Strategic Minerals has concluded tests with Makassar State University of a novel nickel-slag-based cement. Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia supplied raw materials, and tests showed a seven-day compressive strength of 37.5MPa. Suvo Strategic Minerals says that a partnership with Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia for commercial production is a likely next step.

Europe

Cement producer Mannok and minerals company Boliden partnered with the South Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM) research centre in Ireland to launch a project to develop supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) from shale on 7 October 2024. The project will additionally investigate CO₂-curing of cement paste backfill for use in mines. Irish state-owned global commerce agency Enterprise Ireland has contributed €700,000 in funding.

UK-based SCM developer Karbonite expects to launch trial production of its olivine-based SCM with a concrete company in 2025. The start-up launched Karbonite Group Holding BV, with offices in the Netherlands, to facilitate this new phase. Karbonite’s SCM is activated at 750 – 850°C and sequesters CO₂ in the activation process, resulting in over 56% lower CO₂ emissions than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Managing director Rajeev Sood told Global Cement that talks are already underway for subsequent expansions into the UAE and India.

Back in the UK, contractor John Sisk & Son has received €597,000 from national innovation agency Innovate UK. John Sisk & Son is testing fellow Ireland-based company Ecocem’s <25% clinker cement technology in concrete for use in its on-going construction of the Wembley Park mixed development in London.

At the same time, Innovate UK granted a further €3.23m to other companies for concrete decarbonisation. Recipients included a calcined clay being developed by Cemcor, an SCM being developed from electric arc furnace byproducts by Cocoon, a geopolymer cement technology being developed by EFC Green Concrete Technology UK and an initiative to develop alternative cement from recycled concrete fines at the Materials Processing Institute in Middlesbrough. Also included was the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, which is working on the London stretch of the upcoming HS2 railway. The joint venture, along with partners including cement producer Tarmac and construction chemicals company Sika UK, will test low-kaolinite London clay as a raw material with which to produce calcined clay as a cement substitute in concrete structures in HS2’s rail tunnels.

Middle East

Talks are underway between UK-based calcined clay producer Next Generation SCM and City Cement subsidiary Nizak Mining Company over the possible launch of a joint venture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The joint venture would build a 350,000t/yr reduced-CO₂ concrete plant, which would use alternative cement based on Next Generation SCM’s calcined clay.

North America

Texas-based SCM developer Solidia Technologies recently patented its carbonatable calcium silicate-based alternative cement, which sequesters CO₂ as it cures.

Meanwhile, C-Crete Technologies made its first commercial pour of its granite-based cement-free concrete in New York, US. C-Crete Technologies says that the product offers cost and performance parity with conventional cement, with net zero CO₂ emissions. Its raw material is globally more abundant than the limestone used as a raw material for clinker. Other abundantly available feedstocks successfully deployed within C-Crete Technologies’ repertoire include basalt and zeolite.

Across New York State, in Binghamton, KLAW Industries has succeeded in replacing 20% of concrete’s cement content with its powdered glass-based SCM, Pantheon. KLAW Industries has delivered samples to local municipalities and the New York State Department of Transportation. Its success expands the discussion of possible circular cement ingredients from the industrial sphere into post-consumer resources.

In Calgary, Canada, a novel SCM has drawn attention from one of the major cement incumbents: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. It invested in local construction and demolition materials (CDM)-based SCM developer EnviCore on 9 October 2024. The companies plan to build a pilot plant at an existing Heidelberg Materials CDM recycling centre.

Conclusion

Alternative cement developers are still finding the words to talk about their products. They may be more than ‘supplementary’ up to the point of entirely supplanting 100% of clinker. Product webpages offer ‘hydraulic binder,’ ‘pozzolan’ and even ‘cement.’ As alternative ‘cements’ are developed, they build on the work of pioneers like Joseph Aspdin and Louis Vicat. Start-ups and their backers are now reaching commercial offerings, on a similar-but-different footing to cement itself. None of these novel materials positions itself as the sole, last-minute ‘super sub’ in the construction sector’s confrontation with climate change. Rather, they are a package of solutions which can combine into a net zero-emissions heavy building materials offering, hopefully before 2050.

Related to this is the need for ‘technology neutral’ standards, as championed this week by the Alliance for Low-Carbon Cement and Concrete (ALCCC), along with 23 other European industry associations, civil society organisations and think tanks. The term may sound new, but the concept is critical to the eventual uptake of alternative cements: standards, the ALCCC says, should be purely performance-based. They ought not attempt to define what technology, for example cement clinker, makes a suitable building material. According to the ALCCC, Europe’s building materials standards are not technology neutral, but instead ‘gatekeep’ market access, to the benefit of conventional cement and the exclusion of ‘proven and scalable low-carbon products.’

At the same time, cement itself is changing. Market research from USD Analytics showed an anticipated 5% composite annual growth rate in blended cement sales between 2024 and 2032, more than doubling throughout the period from US$253bn to US$369bn. If you can’t beat it, blend with it!

For a further discussion of alternative cement and binders in Europe, see Global Cement’s interview with ALCCC co-ordinator Joren Verschaeve in the forthcoming November issue of Global Cement Magazine on 17 October 2024.

US: Cemex, in collaboration with the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) and supported by the Bezos Earth Fund, is undertaking an analysis of decarbonisation strategies at its Balcones cement plant in Texas, US. This initiative is part of Cemex's broader goal to achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. The analysis will explore various technological pathways including the use of alternative fuels, incorporation of lower-carbon materials, carbon capture and storage and the utilisation of captured carbon for producing synthetic fuels, chemicals, or construction materials. The partnership focuses on innovations such as substituting traditional fossil fuels with waste, renewable gas, biomass, hydrogen and electrification in the cement production process.

CEO of Cemex, Fernando González said “Our collaboration with the Mission Possible Partnership represents a joint effort seeking to accelerate our sustainable commitments and comprehensively evaluate the extent to which we can utilise decarbonisation levers within a specific plant ecosystem. This involves leveraging scalable technologies that would contribute to achieving our ambitious decarbonisation goals on the path to becoming a net-zero company by 2050.”

Valentine’s Day last week included some ‘hot’ news for the cement sector with the announcement that Electrified Thermal Solutions is preparing to build the first commercial-scale pilot of its Joule Hive thermal battery (JHTB) in San Antonio, Texas. The company is working with the Southwest Research Institute on the project along with Buzzi Unicem USA, 3M and Amy’s Kitchen as industrial partners. Advisors include Imerys. The project update follows the award of a US$5m grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) in late January 2024.

The funding description from the DOE’s Industrial Efficiency & Decarbonization Office reports that the end goal is to “turn intermittent renewable electricity into constant industrial grade heat” that can replace fossil fuel usage. Electrified Thermal Solutions aims to test its JHTB thermal energy storage system, which uses electrically conductive refractory bricks, to convert and store electricity as heat at temperatures higher than 1700°C. The JHTB power ranges between 1 - 200MW of thermal output, with duration up to tens of hours, enabling ‘very affordable’ high temperature energy storage and on-demand heat. Notably, it can charge and discharge simultaneously, allowing a continuous heat supply.

Electrified Thermal Solutions is not alone in targeting the cement sector. As Global Cement Weekly has covered previously energy storage is a growing topic of interest with a few large-scale electrical battery units running at cement plants in Pakistan and Taiwan. The other big name in thermal batteries for cement production is Rondo Energy. Both Electrified Thermal Solutions and Rondo Energy are using modular three-dimensional arrays of refractory bricks to store thermal energy and then release it, although they are likely to have key proprietary differences. However, Rondo Energy appears to be further along the industrial adoption process so far. Titan Cement and Siam Cement Group (SCG) invested in Rondo Energy in 2022. Then in July 2023 SCG and Rondo Energy said that they were planning to expand the production capacity of a heat battery storage unit at an SCG plant from 2.4 GWh/yr in mid-2023 to 90GWh/yr. For more information on Rondo Energy read the feature by CEO John O’Donnell in the January 2023 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

The reason that this matters, as partly explained above, is that fossil fuels contribute about one third of the CO₂ emissions created by heating up the kiln in cement production to make clinker. This is dropping globally due to the uptake of alternative fuels, but burning alternative fuels emits gross CO₂, however you account for the emissions. Mass adoption of thermal batteries by the sector could potentially cut out this double-accounting and reduce that third down to the carbon footprint of the refractory bricks used. This would then create knock-on issues concerning what to do with the waste streams instead but that is not a problem for the cement sector. These are worries for another day, as we first need to see how thermal batteries work at scale at a cement plant.

A recent feature in the Economist considered whether the mass adoption of electrical power from renewable sources might be an increasingly viable path to decarbonising industry. Geopolitics, faster-than-expected growth in renewables and new technology are all doing their bit to make this possible. As with so much of the carbon agenda it may alter the very concept of the traditional cement production line or at least the speed of change. Just imagine how a future cement plant might look, decked out with a electrical micro-grid, a heat battery, an oxy-fuel kiln, a carbon capture unit and either a chemical plant or gas pipeline junction. Will it happen? Who knows… but it is an exciting time for the cement sector.

US: Holcim US has entered a partnership with climate tech start-up incubator Greentown Labs to accelerate decarbonisation in the built environment, using the latter’s Somerville, Massachusetts, and Houston, Texas, incubators. Holcim said that the collaboration will increase its access to start-ups in the field of sustainable building solutions. The producer has additionally joined Greentown Labs’ Industry Leadership Council for strategic guidance. Greentown Labs supports over 200 start-ups and has assisted more than 525 since its inception. It offers lab space, office space, machine shops, electronics labs, tool shops, software, business resources and a network of stakeholders to climate tech start-ups.

Holcim chief sustainability officer Nollaig Forrest said “With our open innovation ecosystem, we partner with hundreds of start-ups worldwide to accelerate the shift to sustainable building. By partnering with Greentown Labs, we aim to empower the best and brightest start-ups active in the built environment to scale up their impact. The combination of Holcim MAQER Ventures, our venture capital programme, with Greentown’s stellar roster of successful climate tech start-ups will serve as a catalyst to reinvent how the world builds for a regenerative future.”

Greentown Labs CEO Kevin Knobloch said "Greentown Labs is thrilled to be partnering with Holcim, a global leader in sustainable building solutions to decarbonise the built environment to bolster cutting-edge climate tech innovations in this critical sector. We look forward to seeing Holcim engage with our building tech start-ups, sharing its unmatched expertise in low-carbon building innovations and helping advance our entrepreneurs' solutions."

US: Shipments of cement, including imports, in the US and Puerto Rico fell by 2.5% year-on-year to 80.7Mt in the first nine months of 2023 from 82.8Mt in the same period in 2022, according to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Shipments fell in most states with the exception of Texas and Pennsylvania. The USGS estimated that, in September 2023, 98% of all blended cement shipments were of Portland Limestone Cement. Turkey was the biggest exporter of cement to the country during the reporting period at 6.3Mt followed by Canada, Vietnam, Greece and Mexico.

The Hunter cement plant in Texas looks set to become one of the most expensive integrated units in the world following the announcement this week that CRH is preparing to buy it for US$2.1bn. The Ireland-headquartered company said that it has agreed to acquire the plant at New Braunfels near San Antonio from Martin Marietta Material. The deal also includes four cement terminals around and near to Houston and 20 ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plants near to San Antonio and Austin. It is expected to complete in the first half of 2024 subject to regulatory approval.

Assessing the value of this deal is tricky given the various RMX plants and terminals in strategic locations. However, solely based on integrated cement production capacity, this one works out at US$1000/t given that the Hunter plant has a production capacity of 2.1Mt/yr. The value of terminals and RMX plants in the right locations cannot be overstated, but it still appears to price the cement plant dearly. CRH bought Ash Grove in 2018 for US$350/t. Five years later and the price it is paying for cement production capacity in the US has nearly tripled.

Other more recent purchases in the US include US$395/t for UNACEM’s acquisition of the Redding cement plant in California earlier in November 2023, around US$525/t for the valuation of Argos North America’s four integrated plants in September 2023, or just over US$310/t for the proposed purchase of the Redding cement plant by CalPortland from Martin Marietta Materials in March 2022. The Argos North America valuation is another awkward one given that it is part of the proposed merger between it and Summit Materials and it also includes two grinding plants, 140 ready-mix concrete plants, and a distribution network of eight maritime ports and 10 inland terminals.

Figure 1: Map of CRH production assets in Texas. Source: CRH earnings presentation.

In a statement, CRH’s chief executive officer Albert Manifold highlighted the usual synergy benefits but he also mentioned the expected “self-supply opportunities.” He added that the company believed that there was “significant potential to unlock additional growth opportunities across an expanded footprint in this attractive growth market.” If the acquisition completes, the company will become the largest cement producer in the state, based on integrated production capacity, at around 3.2Mt/yr. Plus, as the company pointed out in its third quarter earnings update, it also operates the Foreman cement plant in Arkansas, just across the state border to the north-east. This then gives CRH and its subsidiary Ash Grove a cement plant and/or terminals in the main population areas in Texas, namely: Houston; San Antonio and Austin; and Dallas and Fort Worth.

One reason why CRH may have gone all out for a cement plant in Texas is because it is one of the few states in the US where cement shipments have actually increased so far in 2023. Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows that shipments of Portland and blended cement fell by 2% year-on-year to just under 71Mt in January to August 2023. Yet Texas comprehensively bucked this trend with shipments rising by 10% to 8.04Mt. The only other states with this kind of growth were Maine and New York. At the start of 2023 the Portland Cement Association (PCA) predicted a 3.5% decline in cement consumption in 2023 and based on the January to August 2023 data from the USGS it isn’t far off at present.

Meanwhile, selling its cement assets in Houston and San Antonio nearly brings Martin Marietta Materials’ decade-long excursion into the sector to an end. It purchased its cement plants in Texas in 2014 when it acquired Texas Industries (TXI). Plants in California were soon sold to CalPortland but Martin Marietta Materials later picked up two more cement plants in the state when it bought the US West Region of Lehigh Hanson from Heidelberg Materials in 2021. Then, once again, the plants were sold, this time to CalPortland and UNACEM, respectively. This now leaves Martin Marietta Materials with one integrated cement plant, Midlothian, and two terminals. The size of the Midlothian plant, at 2.4Mt/yr, still gives the company a decent presence in the state.

With US cement consumption expected to bounce back to growth in 2024 and the Texas market ahead of this, CRH’s decision to buy big from Martin Marietta Materials seems like a logical move given its focus on North America. The price may seem high, but the investment seems as close to a steady bet as it gets. The day after the Texas announcement CRH revealed that it was selling its lime business in Europe to SigmaRoc for US$1.1bn. The key bit though was that these assets generated earnings of around US$137m in 2022 but, by comparison, the new units in Texas are expected to earn US$170m in 2023. This suddenly makes the price agreed for Hunter seem more reasonable. Let’s check back in a couple of years to see how well CRH’s acquisition in Texas works out. In the meantime all eyes are likely to be on what Martin Marietta Materials does next with the Midlothian plant.

US: Ireland-based CRH has concluded a deal for the acquisition of Martin Marietta Materials’ South Texas business. This includes the 2.1Mt/yr Hunter cement plant, a network of cement terminals on the Gulf of Mexico and 20 ready-mix concrete batching plants. The value of the transaction is US$2.1bn.

CRH chief executive officer Albert Manifold said “The acquisition of these high-quality assets further strengthens our market leading position in Texas and increases our exposure to attractive, high-growth markets. Our ability to leverage our cement expertise and technical capabilities will enable us to enhance and optimise our existing footprint in Texas, resulting in significant synergies and self-supply opportunities. This transaction reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation as well as our commitment to deliver further growth and value creation for our shareholders. We also believe there is significant potential to unlock additional growth opportunities across an expanded footprint in this attractive growth market.”

US: Solidia Technologies has commenced production of its mineralised CO₂-based supplementary cementitious material (SCM) at a pilot line at its headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. The pilot line increases the company’s production capacity of the SCM by a factor of 25.

Solidia Technologies senior director of strategy and business development Pradeep Ghosh said "With the dramatic increase in production capacity that the new pilot line brings, we are now shipping significant quantities of Solidia SCM to ready-mix concrete producers, transport agencies and contractors to qualify and trial our material."