Displaying items by tag: US

US: LafargeHolcim subsidiary LafargeHolcim US has adopted Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) to designate products’ Global Warming Potential (GWP) for easy consumer use, with third-party verification from ASTM International or the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA). Aggregates and construction materials chief executive officer (CEO) Jay Moreau said, “The growth in sustainable construction is driving demand for low-carbon building products that can transparently demonstrate a decrease in our environmental footprint. These new EPDs also push us to continue innovating as we consider the next generation of building materials.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos says that 70% of its total cement orders between 1 January 2020 and 9 July 2020 were placed online via its Argos One automated booking, order management and delivery monitoring platform. The platform handled 81% of orders of cement in the Dominican Republic, 39% in the US, 34% in Honduras and 19% in Panama. The company said, “Argos One has become even more relevant in the current context and will continue to evolve in function to continue its purpose of providing extraordinary solutions to clients.”

US: Mexico-based Cemex has announced its investment in Arqlite, a producer of aggregates from waste plastic. Arqlite won the Cemex Ventures Global Construction Startup Competition in 2019. Other investors in the company, which began its research and development process in Argentina in 2016, include Kamay Ventures and Chris Graff.

The Cemex Ventures Global Construction Startup Competition 2020 remains open to applicants until 26 July 2020.

US: Air Products has shared details of a partnership with ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions subsidiary ThyssenKrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers (TUCE). Under the partnership, Air Products will build and operate water electrolysis plants for hydrogen production using TUCE’s equipment, engineering and technical services. TUCE chief executive officer (CEO) Denis Krude said, “We are set to supply one 1GW of water electrolysis plants per year, and we are prepared to ramp up the capacity in this rapidly evolving market.” The engineering company has to date realised a total rating of 10GW across 600 electrochemical plants for customers globally.

US: Vicat subsidiary National Cement has received a fine of US$148,000 from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) for exceeding mercury emissions regulations over a 123-day period between May 2019 and February 2020 at its integrated Ragland plant in Alabama. The Daily Home newspaper has reported that unexpectedly high mercury levels in coal and other raw materials burned as fuel during that time caused the breach, which the company immediately reported to ADEM.

National Cement president Spencer Weitman said, “The issue took several months to fix.” Multiple upgrades and operational changes solved the issue, including installation of a US$400,000 mercury absorption carbon injection system. ADEM said, “National Cement did not economically benefit from the emissions violations.”

In January 2020 National Cement began work on construction of a new US$250m kiln line, due for completion in 2022.

Canada/US: Lehigh Cement says that it has adopted the latest North American Product Category Rules (PCR) across its entire product range.

Lehigh Hanson Canada regional cement sales and logistics vice president Shawn McMillan said, “We have made it one of our top priorities to benchmark and lower our CO₂ emissions with ambitious targets. Much like food nutrition labels highlight calorific values, our plant and product-specific environmental product declarations (EPD) communicate the environmental impact through global warming potential (GWP) for cement in a simple and easy-to-understand manner. We intend to use the added product transparency to more effectively gain adoption for our lower carbon products. We have several research projects and studies on-going to continue to optimise the carbon impacts from cement and concrete.”

US: Cemex has announced that its De Zavala and Tyler cement terminals, both in Texas, have received the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star certification for energy efficiency. The De Zavala terminal reduced its energy intensity by 53% between June 2015 and June 2020, while the Tyler terminal reduced its intensity by 39% over the same period, both exceeding their five-year targets of a 10% reduction.

US: Bruks Siwertell has launched a new branding, including a brand new logo. Group chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Jonsson said, “Our new appearance is part of a recognition process. It shows customers that Bruks and Siwertell products are part of the same family, and enables the instant association of our equipment with the ability to add value to operations, generate profitability and offer an impressive return on investment for their owners.” He added, “We have grown our business significantly over the last few years and this is a natural stage in our transformation process: a new look to show the market that we are bigger than our individual brands.”

Mexico: Elementia has appointed Jaime Rocha Font as its new chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 2 September 2020. He succeeds Fernando Ruiz Jacques, who will focus on, “new business and development opportunities.” Rocha and Ruiz will work together over the transition process.

Rocha is currently the CEO of Elementia’s Cement Division, including Cementos Fortaleza in Mexico and Costa Rica, as well as Giant Cement Holding in the US. He holds 29 years of experience in the cement industry, and prior to Elementia he held a number of senior positions at Holcim. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from Universidad Católica de Chile and an MBA and postgraduate studies from the IMD in Switzerland, the Free University of Brussels in Belgium and IPADE in Mexico.

France: Vicat says that group business activity increased month-on-month between April and May 2020. In a special update on business in the context of the coronavirus, the company said that the outbreak’s impacts varied across the 12 countries in which it operates, all of which locked down due to the pandemic.

In France, the level of business is “slightly lower” than in May 2019 following a steady recovery from a “strong slowdown in mid-March 2020.” Macroeconomic and competition issues continue in Egypt and Turkey, not however due to the coronavirus outbreak, while volumes and prices have generally increased in Switzerland, the US, Brazil and Western Africa, except in Senegal, where the government has cancelled infrastructure projects. Following the pan-Indian lockdown between 24 March 2020 and 17 April 2020, business in India has resumed, albeit at a “level significantly below that of the same period of 2019.”

The group says that it is planning cost-cutting measures and has postponed a planned US price rise to late 2020.