Displaying items by tag: mortar

Spain: Cemex España has announced plans to invest Euro4m in upgrades to its Buñol, Valencia, Muel, Zaragoza, Raspeig, Alicante and Rubí, Barcelona mortar plants. The upgrades will increase production capacity, safety and efficiency and improve product quality. The company said that the promotion of its range of over 160 special mortars is a main focus of the investment.

Cemex Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia regional president Sergio Menéndez said “We recognise the growing demand for innovative mortar solutions for new and existing buildings to reduce carbon emissions in our cities and support the EU Renewal Wave. Our wide range of mortars for dry silos, in bags and ready to use, is reinforced by expert solutions for paving streets, plastered walls, tunnel solutions, plasters and special sands.”

The group is also investing in upgrades to production and packaging systems in its mortar segment in Poland and the UK.

China: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim has announced the formation of green building solutions partnership with Southeast University (SEU) in Nanjing for research into concretes and mortars for use in 3D printing in construction. The company says that the partnership is a step towards achieving its aim of becoming a “full 3D printing solutions provider.”

Head of research and development Edelio Bermejosaid, “Our global network of academic partners is critical in helping us think outside the box. We need the brightest minds to help us lead the next frontier of building solutions.”

Zimbabwe: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has reported a profit of US$178m in 2019, up by 4.8% year-on-year from US$170m in 2018. Inflation-adjusted sales rose doubled to US$919m from US$449m. Cement volumes remained level at 323,000t. The company said that it, “recorded its best financial performance in over five years. The construction of a US$2m dry mortar mixing plant was completed and installation of the equipment on site is set to be completed in the second half of 2020.”

Spain: LafargeHolcim España has announced the launch of a range of mortars specially suited to use in 3D printing. EN News has reported that the range, called Tector 3D build, includes cement and natural hydraulic lime mortars. The company says that the products can sustain pressures of up to 90MPa for high-speed application. It is collaborating with construction companies to apply the products to 3D printing in large residential and energy infrastructure projects

Zimbabwe: Work has begun on a 43,000t/yr dry mortar production line at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe’s 0.5Mt/yr Manresa plant in Harare. The plant, supplied by Turkey-based Varlik Industries, will increase the company’s mortar production capacity by 710% to 50,000t/yr from 7000t/yr. Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe chair Kumbirai Katsande said “The expansion project is three-pronged and will include doubling of cement capacity and tripling agricultural lime capacity as well as automation of the dry mortars plant.”

France: Hoffman Green Cement Technologies, a pioneer in low-carbon cement production, has announced the publication of its Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) in the INIES database, France’s national reference database for environmental and health performance in the construction sector.

The LCI published by Hoffmann Green summarises all incoming and outgoing flows of raw materials and energy resources used to manufacture its H-UKR and H-EVA cements to allow an assessment of the environmental impacts. They will serve as input data for the software that carries out the life cycle analysis of a construction product, often comprising several materials.

H-UKR is a binder that is based on alkali-activated blast furnace slag, which is sold into the precast concrete, ready-mix concrete and bagged cement markets. H-EVA is a high ettringite binder that is used in the mortar, coatings, road binder and ready-mixed concrete markets.

Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann, the company’s founder’s stated, "The publication of the LCI of our cements is a first in France and is part of our determined ambition to decarbonise the construction sector and be fully transparent vis-à-vis all our stakeholders. It also illustrates our commitment in the face of the climate change emergency and the need to reconcile cement and the environment.”

Spain: The National Association of Mortar Manufacturers (AFAM) and the Association of Mortar Manufacturers and SATE (Anfapa) have announced their unification as a single organisation under the name of Anfapa. Alimarket has reported that the body will serve the interests of over 40 members and associates as ‘the qualified voice of an important subsector of the construction industry, giving it a broader and unanimous front.’

Germany/Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has reportedly placed a bid for BASF Construction Chemicals, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. The cement producer has reached the second round of the bidding processing, along with companies including Bain Capital, Cinven and Standard Industries. The auction of the subsidiary of BASF that produces admixtures, mortars and grouts is expected to reach as much as Euro3bn. LafargeHolcim chief executive officer (CEO Jan Jenisch said in May 2019 that the company is considering at least 10 bolt-on assets purchases for 2019.