Displaying items by tag: alumina

US: Oakland, California-based cleantech startup Brimstone has received a US Department of Energy grant worth up to US$189m to establish a plant with a capacity of 80,000t/yr of ‘green’ cement and 20,000t/yr of smelter-grade alumina, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The grant will be paid out in instalments and requires matching funds from new investments, loans and other sources.

The US$378m facility, which is still in the site selection phase, will be located near an existing quarry in order to mine calcium silicate rocks.

CEO Cody Finke said “We’re exclusively looking at brownfield sites. The goal is to build our own plant while utilising existing quarries to ensure a sustainable and economically viable operation.”

Brimstone plans to begin pilot operations in 2025 and aims to have the plant fully operational by the end of the decade. The company is currently testing its decarbonised cement with potential customers from its Oakland research and development facility.

India: Kiran Global Chems has launched Geocement, an environmentally-friendly branded cement. The company claims that the product is stronger than Ordinary Portland Cement and that it does not require water for mixing or curing, according to local media.

Geocement is made from Geopowder and Geobinder, other products also made by Kiran Global Chems. Geopowder uses industrial by-products such as fly ash, rice husk ash, slag, activated clay and alumina. At construction sites it can be mixed with the company's proprietary Geobinder liquid and aggregates to make concrete. The company claims that Geocement does not require water curing and attains maximum strength within seven hours. Kiran Global Chems has also launched Geocrete, a Geocement concrete made with its powder and binder for various industrial applications.

"We have started distributing this to the bulk customers, such as builders and now we are launching the brand for retail. We are planning to sell it through e-commerce," said M S Jain, chairman of Kiran Global Chems. The price of Geocement will be slightly higher than normal cement, but it promises lower finished building cost and less construction time and labour. The company intends to target southern Indian states in 2016.

Kiran Global is also preparing a US$29m expansion programme to set up 12 Geobinder units, 12 Geopowder plants, two precast concrete units and four grinding units across the country. The expansion, is intended to cut logistics cost, will result in 4Mt of capacity with a potential turnover of up to US$300m by the 2018 – 2019 financial year. The company has an in-house research and development centre, accredited by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, and has been conducting geopolymer research in collaboration with leading research institutes.