Displaying items by tag: development

India: Adani Group plans to invest US$100bn in capital expenditure across all of its operations between 2022 and 2032. Mint News has reported that the conglomerate will establish 45GW-worth of new hybrid renewable power plants under the plans. It will also build three new green hydrogen plants, with a combined capacity of 3Mt/yr. It plans to support the latter move with an investment of US$70bn in the establishment of an integrated hydrogen-based value chain.

US: National Cement Company of Alabama has reported that the new kiln line at its Ragland cement plant will reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 40%. Its energy consumption will also fall by 30% as a result of the upgrade. The new line includes a 78m-high homogenisation silo, vertical crusher, five-stage preheater and automated clay storage system. AF used in the kiln will include waste tyres, woodchip and sawdust. The new kiln will help in the Ragland cement plant’s transition to 100% Portland limestone cement (PLC) production by 2023, further diminishing its carbon footprint.

Vicat CEO Guy Sidos said "Our ambition is to use AF in all our cement plants around the world. In addition to eliminating fossil fuel energy and replacing it with recycled regional waste, our investments contribute directly to local development. We are proud of the modernisation and transformation of our Ragland site, which was our very first acquisition outside France in 1974."

Philippines: Cemex subsidiary Solid Cement is installing a new US$356m, 1.5Mt/yr line at its Antipolo cement plant. When operational in April 2024, the line will increase the plant’s capacity by 79% to 3.4Mt/yr. Over the first four months of the project since March 2022, Solid Cement invested US$197m in silos and mechanical installation. The new 1.5Mt/yr line will use Low Temperature Clinker technology to reduce its CO₂ emissions, and will also recycle waste hot gases for raw materials drying.

Solid Cement is building the plant using 6000t of its own Vertua reduced-CO2 cement, which it says will further reduce its net carbon footprint by 564t.

Philippines president and CEO Luis Franco said “We will maintain our active role in supporting the development of this nation, as we have done in the past 25 years.”

India: Kesoram Industries has announced plans to raise its installed cement production capacity to 15Mt/yr. The expansion constitutes an increase of 36% from its presently installed 11Mt/yr-worth of capacity.

Zimbabwe: Fossil Mines plans to keep Lafarge Zimbabwe publicly traded and to recapitalise it through investments after it completes its acquisition of the company. The Insider newspaper has reported that this will lead to an increase in the company’s cement production.

Zimbabwe consumed 1.4Mt of cement in 2021, of which 560,000t (40%) was imported. Switzerland-based Holcim agreed to sell its 76% stake in national number two producer Lafarge Zimbabwe to Fossil Mines earlier in June 2022.

India: Shree Digvijay Cement plans to more than double the capacity of its Digvijaygram cement plant in Gujarat’s Jamnagar District to 3Mt/yr from 1.2Mt/yr. Projects Today News has reported that the project will begin by mid-2023, and will also include the establishment of a waste heat recovery (WHR) plant.

Nigeria: BUA Cement has donated a solar motorised borehole and medicines worth US$59,600 to eight host communities in Wamakko, Sokoto State. The company says that the efforts are aimed at alleviating the effects of local water scarcity and medicinal supply issues.

India: Jindal Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government of Chhattisgarh for the establishment of its planned Raigarh cement plant. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the plant will have an integrated capacity of 2.5Mt/yr, in addition to a further 2.5Mt/yr in clinker capacity. It will also operate a 12MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant.

India: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has entrusted Ambuja Cement Foundation with responsibility for a new watershed development project in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi District. The work will support local farmers in increasing their production and productivity. It will be the 10^th such project that Ambuja Cement Foundation has executed.

Director and CEO Pearl Tiwari said “Ambuja Cement Foundation has a long-standing relationship with NABARD, and we have been working together on watershed development in Himachal Pradesh for the past 14 years. With this new project, we are once again working to empower farmers of another district in the hilly region.”

US: The US Department of Energy has granted Solidia Technologies US$2.1m in funding for the development and testing of carbonation methods for its Solidia Cement. Solidia will research synthetic supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) production methods using direct CO₂ capture and utilisation.

CEO Russell Hill said “We are proud to partner with the US Department of Energy to continue innovating and ultimately deliver on our mission to provide commercially viable decarbonisation technologies and sustainable solutions for the global construction and building materials industries. The funding will advance our carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies and synthetic SCMs that can be easily integrated into Portland cement-based concrete formulations, offering manufacturers a solution that is sustainable environmentally and economically.”