Displaying items by tag: Titan Cement

Global: Titan Group and Sinoma CBMI have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on new business opportunities and technological innovations, focusing on decarbonising and digitising cement manufacturing.

Chair of the Titan Group executive committee, Marcel Cobuz, said "Our partnership with Sinoma will enhance our Green Growth Strategy 2026, benefiting both companies and advancing efficiencies across various fronts. Together, we are transforming the building materials sector towards a net zero future."

The MoU extends the collaboration beyond their initial joint venture on Titan's cement plant in Albania, exploring further advancements in low-carbon fuel and cooler technologies, virtual cement applications, digital logistics and carbon capture solutions.

Egypt: Titan Egypt has appointed Amr Reda as its CEO. Reda has worked for Lafarge and related companies since 2008 starting as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Lafarge Pakistan Cement. He then became the Country CEO for Lafarge Pakistan in 2012 and the Country CEO for Lafarge Jordan in 2015. Prior to holding positions with Lafarge, Reda held senior finance positions for subsidiaries of Heineken and 3M in Egypt. He is a business graduate from the American University in Cairo and holds a master of business administration (MBA) from the same institution.

Greece: FLSmidth has signed a two-year global service agreement with Titan Group to support 14 cement plants, three grinding plants and a cement terminal across locations including Greece, southeastern Europe, Türkiye, Egypt, Brazil and the US. The agreement encompasses a variety of onsite and remote services such as inspections, audits, troubleshooting and training for diverse equipment types, including material handling and storage, mills, kilns, coolers and pollution control systems.

Vice President of Service at FLSmidth, Isabelle Balmir, said "Titan Group is one of the leading international cement companies. With this contract, we are excited to continue our long-standing partnership and collaboration towards efficiency and sustainability. As we have service expertise located across the world, we are well positioned to support their global footprint."

Switzerland: Holcim has appointed Jelena Stamenkovski as Lead of Clinker Decarbonisation.

Stamenkovski has worked for Holcim Group since 2008. She originally held senior production roles at Holcim’s subsidiary in Serbia. In 2015 she took up group process roles based in Switzerland, becoming the company’s Cement Industrial Operating System Manager from 2017 to 2021. She later became the Group Process Expert - Plants of Tomorrow – Decarbonisation in 2023. Prior to working for Holcim she worked at Titan Cement’s Skopje plant in North Macedonia.

Stamenkovski holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in process engineering from Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

Greece: Titan’s full-year 2023 report shows a 12% year-on-year rise in its sales to €2.55bn in 2023. Over 90% of sales derived from Europe and the US. Group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 63% to €540m, with ‘double-digit’ profitability growth across all markets. Titan’s cement volumes rose by 2% to 17.5Mt in Greece, with 'double digit' growth in Western Europe, 'historically high' volumes in Southeastern Europe and increased demand and export volumes in the Eastern Mediterranean. For 2024, its outlook is positive, due to its increased volumes and prices in the US and Europe, buoyed by scheduled completion of growth projects. In particular, the group noted the strength of the US economy and high anticipated infrastructure spending, population growth and pent-up housing demand there. It expanded two US cement terminals, in Florida and Virginia, in 2023.

Chair Marcel Cobuz said “This year’s remarkable performance showcases our relentless focus on executing our strategy, delivering above-market results while positioning for further growth. In 2023, we have strengthened our presence in our core growth markets, delivered efficiency improvements and broadened our solutions, serving the increased and evolving needs of our customers. As we celebrate these achievements, we continue our digitalisation and decarbonisation journey, building on our Green Growth Strategic Directions and delivering long-term sustainable value to all our stakeholders.”

Greece: Titan has endorsed the Antwerp Declaration, advocating for an European Union (EU) Industrial Deal complementing the EU Green Deal, to bolster the European economy's sustainable growth and competitiveness. Resulting from a summit in Antwerp, Belgium on 20 February 2024, the declaration has gained support from over 630 businesses across 20 sectors. It highlights the necessity of elevating competitiveness, ensuring a level playing field to counter unfair competition, and prioritising infrastructure development in energy, digital technologies, CCUS, and materials recycling.

Greece: Titan has launched a new, refreshed logo and branding to symbolise its commitment to sustainability and green growth. The logo features the familiar blue globe of the former Titan Cement Group emblem, now interspersed with bright green lines. The producer says that the new branding preserves its heritage, while signalling the modernity of its dynamic, forward-looking strategy. Titan’s new slogan, accompanying the visual identity, is ‘Building a better world together.’

Titan serves 25 markets, complementing its regular operations with over 100 current decarbonisation initiatives.

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.

Greece: Titan Cement International has published its preliminary results for 2023. The results indicate a 13% year-on-year rise in sales, to Euro2.54bn from Euro2.25bn in 2022. The unaudited figures show group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 61% to Euro535m from Euro331m. As a result, it expects to more than double its net profit to Euro265m. The company's net debt ended the year at Euro660m, down by 17% from Euro797m a year earlier.

Greece: Titan Cement Group has appeared on carbon disclosure organisation CDP's A List for corporate transparency and climate impact mitigation. The company achieved an A- for water security. Titan Cement Group says that the recognition aligns with its 2026 Green Growth strategy.

Titan Cement Group reduced its CO₂ emissions by 10% between 2020 and 2023. In 2023, it commenced construction of the 1.9Mt/yr IFESTOS carbon capture and storage project.