Displaying items by tag: circular economy

Philippines: Holcim Philippines recorded sales of US$490m during 2022, down by 1% year-on-year from US$499m. Sales rose by 9% year-on-year to US$266m during the second half of the year, 53% of the full-year figure. Throughout the year, the producer increased its alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate by 20% year-on-year and processed 1Mt of waste from industrial partners and local government bodies. Digitisation initiatives and alternative raw materials substitution helped the producer to reduce its specific CO₂ emissions by 7%. The Business Mirror newspaper has reported that the year also brought 'surging' energy and fuel costs for the producer.

President and CEO Horia Adrian said "In the face of extraordinary challenges, our company and people displayed tremendous resilience that enabled us to deliver positive financial performance and contribute to building progress in the country. Alongside a strong sales rebound in the second half and expansion of our customer base, we accelerated the decarbonisation of our operations."

India: Dalmia Cement has awarded a contract for the supply of fly ash and other industrial waste to Vedanta Aluminium. Under the deal, Vedanta Aluminium will supply fly ash for use at Dalmia Cement’s cement plants across Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya and Assam. It will deliver spent pot linings to the producer’s Rajgangpur cement plant in Odisha. The fly ash contract will remain in effect until 2028 and the pot lining contract until 2026.

Vedanta chief executive officer Sunil Gupta said “Strategic collaborations such as this will provide multiple benefits in terms of enhanced quality, sustainability and cost benefits to cement manufacturing, while helping us in gainful waste management. Our waste-to-wealth initiatives are designed to develop thriving value-chains for converting our by-products into resources for complementary industries.”

Germany: The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has validated Heidelberg Materials' new 2030 CO2 reduction targets. The targets have a base year of 2020 and conform to a 1.5°C climate change framework. Per tonne of cementitious material, the producer is now committed to reducing its Scope 1 CO2 emissions by 24%, its Scope 2 CO2 emissions by 65% and its Scope 3 emissions by 25%.

Heidelberg Materials' chief sustainability officer Nicola Kimm said “As reflected in our updated Sustainability Commitments 2030, climate action is a crucial element of Heidelberg Materials’ sustainability strategy. The SBTi validation shows that our sustainability agenda not only includes the most ambitious reduction target in the cement industry – but also a realistic, measurable plan in line with the 1.5°C scenario. We follow a clear, science-based approach, reducing our carbon footprint through the levers of product and process innovation and industrial-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage. By closing the carbon and material loops, we will lead the sustainable transformation of our sector.”

In 2019, Heidelberg Materials became the first cement company to secure SBTi validation for its emissions reduction commitments.

India: Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited (AWHCL) has won a US$124m contract for construction and demolition waste management services in Mumbai. Press Trust of India News has reported that the contract covers nine municipal subdivisions of the city and will last until 2044. AWHCL said that the contract will enable it to develop the circularity of cement and concrete within the local economy. It expects to commission 600t/day-worth of waste processing capacity by March 2023. The waste management company expects a recovery rate of 25% recyclable materials.

AWHCL chairman and managing director Jose Jacob said "This sub-segment of solid waste management provides tremendous growth opportunities given the number of infrastructure development projects underway, and the government's push to accelerate the economic growth with infrastructure being one of the important growth pillars."

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has secured a contract with Manila Water Company for the supply of biosolids from sewage processing for use as alternative fuel (AF). Cemex Philippines has already taken receipt of 10t of biosolids at its Antipolo cement plant in Luzon's Calabarzon Region.

Cemex Philippines’ sustainability and public affairs director Christer Gaudiano said “As pioneers of the use of biosolids as AF in the country, we have just signed what will now create the series of significant steps towards making circular economy a reality."

Sustainability initiatives form one arm of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum's Golden Arrow award for good management, which Cemex Philippines won for the second time on 9 February 2023.

Finland: Finnsementti and energy provider St1 have selected Norway-based Aker Carbon Capture to carry out a pre-engineering study for a planned carbon capture system at the cement producer's Lappeenranta cement plant in South Karelia. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that Aker Carbon Capture offers a 40,000t/yr carbon capture system, capable of producing 25,000t/yr of methanol for use as transport fuel. The project is scheduled to deliver commercial synthetic methanol by 2026.

The Lappeenranta cement plant carbon capture project recently received Euro35.4m in additional funding from the Finnish government, subject to European Commission approval.

Philippines: CRH subsidiary Republic Cement and its waste management subsidiary Ecoloop are seeking to establish partnerships with 'sustainability-minded' organisations. BusinessWorld News has reported that Republic Cement and Ecoloop process waste for 12 private companies and 30 local government units. Philippines law will require that large organisations recover 80% of their plastic packaging waste by 2030. For 2023, the minimum is 2023.

Ecoloop managing director Angela Edralin-Valencia said “Our goal is to make our cement a greener and more environmentally friendly product. Our ambition is to replace 50% of our fuel consumption with alternative fuel (AF)." She added "A lot of investments have to be put in place from our end to get to that number, but we are still reviewing our options.”

Mexico: Cemex has launched its global waste management subsidiary Regenera. Regenera will be involved in the reception, management, recycling and coprocessing three major waste streams: municipal and industrial waste, construction, demolition and excavation waste (CDEW) and industrial by-products. It will tie in with Cemex’s own cement sustainability initiatives, for instance in its supply of waste recovered from the River Nile to Cemex Egypt’s Assiut cement plant for co-processing as alternative fuel (AF).

Belgium: The EU Innovation Fund has awarded Euro4.5m to a consortium consisting of Lhoist, gas provider Fluxys Belgium, concrete products company Prefer and carbonation technology developer Orbix. The collaborators are working on a project called CO2ncrEAT. The project will carbonate steel sector by-products with captured CO₂ from Lhoist's Hermalle lime plant to produce alternative building materials. CO2ncrEAT will be the first project to employ Orbix's innovative technique for the purpose. Fluxys Belgium's pipeline technology will convey the Hermalle plant's emissions over a distance of 2km to a Prefer concrete blocks plant.

The consortium said that it will use 12,000t/yr of CO₂ to produce 100,000t/yr of reduced-CO₂ concrete blocks. The use of alternative raw materials in the blocks will further reduce their carbon footprint by 8000t/yr.

Lhoist Western Europe managing director Vincent Deleers said “The project fits perfectly with our willingness to actively develop CO₂ capture and sequestration technologies that are essential to the sustainability of our industry. We are delighted that our work on innovative solutions has been recognised by the European Innovation Fund and we look forward to working with our partners to bring CO2ncrEAT to the next level.”

Ecuador: Encapsulation in concrete served to destroy 110t of cocaine in Ecuador during the first nine months of 2022. The figure corresponds to 61% of cocaine seized by authorities during the period. Local press reported that the mixed slurry forms strong precast concrete elements, from which the cocaine is impossible to extract. Encapsulation accelerates destruction of the drug by a factor of 20 compared to incineration, with removal rates of up to 1500kg/hr.

Ecuadorian cocaine seizures at ports alone increased by 42% year-on-year throughout 2022, necessitating the operational improvements in disposal methods.