Displaying items by tag: low carbon cement

India: Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) India has entered talks with UK-based Xynteo and the Build Ahead coalition to scale up decarbonisation in India’s construction sector. The partners have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote low-carbon cement and concrete usage. This two-year collaboration will develop emission thresholds for cement and concrete as a basis for future policy on production and use of low-carbon materials. The initiative will also include joint governmental engagement and the sharing of research for low-carbon building materials.

Deepak Khetrapal, GCCA India co-chair and Orient Cement managing director, said "The reduction of clinker factor and the increasing use of supplementary cementitious materials in cement manufacturing is an important decarbonisation lever for the industry. Developing an India-specific definition for ‘low-carbon’ or ‘green’ cement and concrete is the need of the hour, and it is crucial for the development of a net zero CO₂ roadmap for the Indian cement and concrete industry."

UK: Heidelberg Materials UK has launched evoBuild, a global brand for low-carbon and circular cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates and asphalt products, in line with its parent company's sustainability strategy. According to the company, EvoBuild products either reduce CO₂ emissions by at least 30% or incorporate at least 30% recycled content.

This launch complements evoZero, the ‘world's first carbon-captured net-zero cement’, launched by Heidelberg Materials in November 2023. All eligible products from Heidelberg Materials UK will be integrated into the evoBuild portfolio ‘over the coming years.’

US: Terra CO₂ has received a US$52.6m federal grant from the US Department of Energy to support the construction of a new plant in Magna, Utah, that will produce up to 240,000t/yr of supplementary cementitious materials using mining waste from the nearby Kennecott copper mine. This method reportedly aims to cut CO₂ emissions by 70% per tonne of traditional cement replaced, according to the company’s CEO Bill Yearsley. The project is expected to create 61 jobs.

US: California-based climate technology startup Furno Materials has been awarded US$20m by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for a new ‘low-carbon’ cement production facility in Chicago. The facility will use recycled industrial byproducts to produce cement, with the aim to reduce carbon emissions ‘significantly’, according to the Chicago Business Journal. This investment is part of a broader DOE initiative that is funding 14 projects totalling US$428m, in order to address clean-energy supply chains and boost US manufacturing. The project is expected to create 80 jobs.

Indonesia: Suvo Strategic Minerals has reported successful laboratory tests in collaboration with Makassar State University (UNM) in Indonesia, transforming nickel slag into a ‘high-strength, low-cost and low-carbon’ cement, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The trials used slag from PT Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia's operations in South Sulawesi, achieving a compressive strength of 37.5MPa after seven days. The company is now looking to conduct further testing and will provide the results to PT Huadi, with the aim of forming a partnership for the commercialisation of low-carbon cement using nickel slag.

Aaron Bank, executive chair of Suvo Strategic Minerals, said “We are excited to have commenced this workstream in Indonesia testing the byproduct of one of the country’s largest mining companies, with our ultimate goal being to manufacture an environmentally-friendly and low-carbon alternative to Portland cement. Achieving up to 37.5MPa after only seven days is an outstanding first round trial result for the company and could provide an entry into a large industry.”

Vietnam: Fico Tay Ninh Cement has launched ‘green-labelled’ cement with CO₂ emissions between 350-600kg/t, 70% lower than traditional Portland cement, according to Tuoi Tre News. Director of Fico Tay Ninh Cement, Nguyen Cong Bao, said that the company has invested in automated production lines and research and development to produce this ‘eco-friendly’ cement, aiming to offer it at competitive prices due to cost-saving technologies.

In addition, SCG Concrete Roof Company has introduced its own ‘green’ cement to the local market, reducing carbon emissions by 20% during production compared to traditional Portland cement.

Ireland: New regulations effective from 1 September 2024 require all state-funded building projects in Ireland - including roads, schools, and hospitals - to use low-carbon cement. The directive prohibits the use of CEM I cement, mandating a minimum of 30% replacement of clinker with low-carbon alternatives for public projects.

UK: Material Evolution will launch the UK's ‘largest ultra-low carbon cement plant’ in Wrexham in October 2024, reports the Construction Enquirer. The new facility will produce 150,000t/yr of a cement that emits up to 85% less embodied CO₂ than Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), according to the company. Material Evolution is the driving force behind the €9m Mevocrete project, funded by government-led Innovate UK, and utilises byproducts from the steel industry. Business co-founder Liz Gilligan said that Material Evolution aims to remove one gigatonne of carbon by 2040, while replacing OPC as the ‘go-to’ product for UK construction. The company plans to replicate and scale its production across the UK and Europe.

Chief science officer at Material Evolution and co-lead of the ‘Mevocrete’ project, David Hughes, said "Cement is a binder and what we’re looking at here is creating a net zero embodied carbon cement which is inherently more durable, which means our houses, infrastructure and transport highways would be transformed on mass industry scale, really tapping into a local and national picture of a net zero environment.”

US: Fortera has raised US$85m in a funding round to increase its production of ‘low to zero-carbon’ cement, Bloomberg reports. New investors include Wollemi Capital, Saint-Gobain venture capital arm NOVA, Presidio Ventures and Alumni Ventures, alongside existing investors Khosla Ventures and Singapore state fund Temasek.

The startup, valued at US$355m, utilises a technology that captures CO₂ emissions from traditional cement production and converts them into a mineral form for low-carbon cement. Fortera's first industrial ‘green’ cement plant operates at CalPortland's facility in Redding, California.

South Korea: Ssangyong C&E has exported 30,000t of low-carbon limestone cement (Type IL) to the US, its first such shipment following three years of research and development, according to AJU News. The product reportedly has a reduced clinker content and maintains the same physical performance as general cement. The producer plans to export 200,000t to the US in 2024 and 600,000t in 2025.

A Ssangyong C&E official said "Currently, our country's national standards stipulate that mixed cement only uses slag, fly ash and pozzolan. In order to reduce carbon emissions in the future, conditions must be created where various types of eco-friendly cement, including limestone cement, can be used."