Displaying items by tag: supplementary cementitious materials

UK: Medcem, a subsidiary of Turkish conglomerate Eren Holding, and UK-based Peel Ports Group will begin construction of a new deep-water cement terminal at the former P&O site at Gladstone Dock, Liverpool. Construction is scheduled to start at the end of May 2025, according to Construction Management magazine.

The €41m project’s first phase will include four silos with a combined capacity of 45,000t for cement and supplementary cementitious materials. The 2.3-hectare site allows for future expansion and increased capacity in subsequent phases. Completion is expected by mid-2026.

Medcem business development and investments director Enver Celikbas said “This new terminal significantly strengthens our presence in the UK market, consolidating our position as the leading provider of low-carbon cement and cementitious materials in Europe. The logistical advantages of Liverpool allow us to enhance our ability to accommodate large vessels and product handling.”

Ghana: CBI Ghana and joint venture partner Heidelberg Materials have commissioned the ‘world’s largest’ calcined clay plant in Ghana, according to an announcement by the German producer. The plant has a capacity of 400,000t/yr of calcined clay and uses local raw materials to reduce reliance on imported clinker.

Hakan Gurdal, member of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials, said “Based on calcined clay technology, we can now extend our offering of innovative, high-quality cement products, while reducing CO₂ emissions and utilising the rich local resources. The project has created over 300 local jobs."

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has formed a strategic partnership with paper mill Norske Skog Golbey to integrate ash from paper residue incineration into its clinker-free cement. The partners have been collaborating since January 2024 and the first shipment of paper ash for large-scale use was sent in May 2025, after successful testing.

US: France-based Fives Group has launched new subsidiary Fives FCB USA in Alabama to supply the North American market with low clinker blended cement and supplementary cementitious material production equipment and services. Products being promoted include the FCB Horomill, the FCB TSV Classifier and the FCB Rhodax. The unit will share premises with Fives’ North American Construction Services company.

Deputy general manager Alain Cordonnier said “The opening of our subsidiary in the US marks a significant milestone for Fives FCB. We are excited to bring our innovative technologies and expertise to the US market, and we look forward to building strong partnerships with local industry leaders.”

US: Queens Carbon has secured US$10m in seed funding to scale up production of its novel cement and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). The start-up will build a 2000t/yr demonstration plant at strategic partner Buzzi Unicem USA's Stockertown, Pennsylvania, cement plant. The plant will demonstrate Queens Carbon’s low-energy Q-Reactor technology, which employs novel hydrothermal chemistry, with the help of steam and pressure, to combine standard cement feedstocks into carbon-neutral hydraulic cement and SCMs. The company’s flagship product, Q-SCM, is capable of replacing up to 50% of cement in concrete mixes. Queens Carbon says that it will now also begin preparations for its first full-scale commercial plant.

Buzzi Unicem USA was among investors in the seed funding round, led by Climate technologies investor Clean Energy Ventures, with participation from fellow venture capital firm Plug and Play.

Queens Carbon CEO Daniel Kopp said "With support from Clean Energy Ventures, Buzzi Unicem USA and the US Department of Energy, we're building next-generation technology and assembling the creative talent needed to drive industry revenues to move cement innovation forward and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions from cement production, all without a green premium."

Luigi Buzzi, Chief Technology Officer at Italy-based Buzzi, said "We know that achieving our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 demands forward-thinking solutions to enhance both our operations and our environmental performance.”

US: Eco Material Technologies has announced the opening of the Blissville Rail Terminal in Queens, New York. The new terminal will enable Eco Material to distribute approximately 50,000t/yr of fly ash from its national network to support local infrastructure projects in the New York metro area. The terminal will utilise rail transportation to deliver fly ash and cementitious materials, which the company says can replace up to 25% of carbon-intensive Portland cement in standard concrete mixes, with Eco Material's technologies reportedly allowing for up to 100% replacement in select applications.

"The opening of the Blissville Terminal is a major step in our efforts to expand access to low-carbon cement alternatives in all major metro areas, " said Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies. "By strengthening our presence in New York, we can better serve future infrastructure projects with innovative materials that reduce reliance on traditional Portland cement and imported steel slag.”

US: Carbon Upcycling Technologies has appointed Markus Kritzler as its Chief Revenue Officer.

Kritzler previously worked as Head of Group Strategy at LafargeHolcim in the mid 2010s. He later became the Director of Strategy, Marketing and Innovation at Holcim México. More recently he was the managing director of Ingenia Capital in Mexico. Kritzler holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México and a master of business administration from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Carbon Upcycling sells technology that enhances supplementary cementitious materials through methods such as capturing and utilising CO₂ emissions.

Ireland: Ecocem has secured €4m in research funding as part of the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Challenges 2024 in order to optimise electric arc furnace (EAF) slag for low-carbon cement production. The four-year programme is funded by Horizon Europe and will explore ways to enhance EAF slag reactivity and its suitability as a supplementary cementitious material without compromising cement durability. The project was submitted to the Pathfinder Challenge 2 call: “Towards Cement and Concrete as a Carbon Sink.”

Corporate development executive director Eoin Condren said “For many years, we have been pioneering the use of a range of slags and cementitious materials to create scalable and durable low-carbon cement. Thanks to this grant, we will continue our groundbreaking work as the steel industry transitions to new manufacturing processes, delivering a viable solution for a new generation of waste from steel.”

UK: LKAB Minerals and Forterra have partnered to produce recycled calcined clay from unwanted bricks as a traditional cement replacement, with production set to begin at LKAB’s Flixborough plant in Scunthorpe in June 2025. The material is made by crushing bricks sourced from Forterra’s Kings Dyke site in Peterborough.

LKAB Minerals UK managing director Steve Handscomb said “The traditional manufacturing and materials industries have to work harder than other less energy intensive industries, and need significant investments to upgrade equipment. We are committed to playing a role in the transition. In fact, we are already a significant producer of GGBS, and in our minerals division, 45% of the minerals we sell are from recycled sources or by-products.”

Greece: Ecocem has signed a partnership agreement with Titan Group to co-develop and deliver low-carbon cements using Ecocem’s ACT technology. The collaboration will initially target the Greek market, replacing a portion of clinker with locally sourced supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to reduce cement CO₂ emissions by up to 70%.

Group managing director Donal O’Riain said “Signing this co-development and technology transfer agreement with a partner of Titan Group’s size and calibre is a real demonstration of confidence in our ACT technology. This partnership has the potential to accelerate the use of a range of SCMs with ACT technology and deliver rapid and low-cost decarbonisation of the cement industry globally.”