Displaying items by tag: supplementary cementitious materials

UK: The UK government has committed to investments worth Euro22.8bn in early deployments of carbon capture technology. It will announce a shortlist of new projects for deployment later in March 2022.

The government said "This unprecedented level of funding for the sector will unlock private investment and job creation across the UK, particularly on the east coast and in the North West of England and North Wales. It will also kick-start the delivery of subsequent phases of this new sustainable industry in the UK."

Ireland-based Ecocem responded to the budget with a call for funding for more short-term areas besides carbon capture. It said these will be essential in order for the UK cement and concrete industry to reach its 45% decarbonisation target by 2030. The slag-based cement products company called for funding for low-clinker technologies which have already been developed and can be rolled out at scale before 2030, until carbon capture becomes a 'scalable, viable option.'

Canada: Progressive Planet has secured a contract to supply its PozGlass recycled glass-based supplementary cementitious material (SCM) to Lafarge Canada. The cement producer says that it will test the commercial viability of all PozGlass produced at Progressive Planet's Kamloops pilot plant in British Columbia, once the plant commences PozGlass production in 2024.

Australia: Germany-based Christian Pfeiffer has received an order for a grinding circuit comprising a 16.3m-long ball mill and a QDK T 250-Z type separator from Hallett Construction Materials. The circuit will have a capacity of 84t/hr, according to the supplier. Hallett Construction Materials plans to use the equipment at its upcoming Port Augusta slag cement grinding plant. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in January 2024.

Hallett Construction Materials chief executive officer Kane Salisbury said, “For us, the sustainability of the plant is the highest priority. That’s why we manufacture cement containing 100% slag.” Salisbury added “The Christian Pfeiffer process experts convinced us that the ball mill, in combination with a high efficiency separator, is the best system to serve our requirements.”

Peru: Unacem Perú plans to 'significantly increase' its cement production capacity 'in the medium-term future.' Prior to that, the producer will invest US$130m in capital expenditure during 2023, double what it invested in 2022. The investments will go towards slightly expanding the producer's capacity from 8.3Mt/yr and increasing alternative raw materials use in its cement production, including pozzolan and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). Additionally, it will open its new Manchay limestone quarry in Pachacámac in early 2023.

Unacem said that it increased its cement sales 'unexpectedly' during 2022. It operated at 85 - 90% capacity utilisation, and continued to export clinker.

Australia: First Graphene has partnered with Suvo Strategic Minerals to develop graphene-enhanced metakaolin for use in cement and concrete production. Metakaolin is a pozzolanic material derived from kaolinite clay. The partners believe that the technology has commercial potential to improve concrete performance and reduce CO₂ emissions.

Italy: Holcim announced its acquisition of Nicem, Italy's ground calcium carbonate market leader. The group said that it plans to use Nicem's ground calcium carbonate as raw material in production of its ECOPact and ECOPlanet reduced-CO₂ cement and concrete range.

Holcim's Europe regional head Miljan Gutovic said “Nicem complements our existing operations perfectly and allows us to further leverage our expertise in green formulation, opening a new source of alternative materials to decarbonise our ready-mix concrete. I look forward to welcoming the employees of Nicem to the Holcim family, whose valuable expertise will help us accelerate green growth.”

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has revised its Scope 1 CO₂ emissions reduction goal down to 475kg/t of cementitious product by 2030, from 520kg/t previously. The new target is 8.7% lower than the previous one, which it set in November 2020. Votorantim Cimentos previously reduced its emissions per tonne by 20% between 1990 and 2021. The group's targeted reduction from a 2018 base year now equates to 25%. The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) validated the ambitious target on 1 December 2022.

Votorantim Cimentos expects to achieve its aim through increased alternative fuel (AF) co-processing, substitution of supplementary cementitious materials, improved efficiency and use of renewable power and the development of new technologies, including carbon capture.

The group's global sustainability, institutional relations, product development and engineering director Álvaro Lorenz said “The fight against the negative effects of climate change is at the heart of our strategy and reflects our focus on competitiveness and on creating a positive legacy. The most competitive businesses will be those with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. After all, the environmental crisis is also an economic and social crisis. The validation of our new target by SBTi reinforces our commitment and continuous efforts toward the net-zero agenda.”

Ireland: Ecocem has announced the launch of ACT, an alternative materials-based cement ingredient capable of reducing the CO₂ emissions of cement production by 70%. The developer says that any existing cement plant can produce ACT at comparatively low cost. The technology is globally scalable, and Ecocem expects to achieve full commercial availability across its Benelux, France, Ireland and UK markets by 2025.

Ecocem managing director Donal O’Riain said “We are eager to work closely with the cement industry and with policymakers to support the scaling and development of a new generation of low-carbon cements. Current policy priorities on decarbonising cement have now been overtaken by technology. Fully effective deployment of ACT requires policymakers to provide effective support well beyond their traditional emphasis on CCUS as the core cement decarbonisation technology.”

Ecocem's investors include France-based building products company Saint-Gobain and US-based Breakthrough Energy Investments.

New Zealand: Holcim New Zealand says that it has received a mill for use in its upcoming Auckland cement replacement products import and distribution facility. The company opted for a Christian Pfeiffer ball mill for the project.

Holcim New Zealand says that alternative materials imported via the Auckland facility will eliminate 100,000t/yr of cement from New Zealand's 1.6Mt/yr consumption. The company expects that this will cut 78,000t/yr of CO₂ emissions.

In Australia and New Zealand, four producers operate a total of six integrated cement plants, with another 13 grinding plants situated in Australia. This relatively small regional cement industry has been on a decades-long trajectory towards ever-greater sustainability – hastened by some notable developments in recent weeks.

Oceania is among the regions most exposed to the impacts of climate change. In Australia, which ranked 16th on the GermanWatch Global Climate Risk Index 2021, destructive changes are already playing out in diverse ways.¹ Boral reported 'significant disruption' to its operations in New South Wales and southeast Queensland due to wet weather earlier in 2022. This time, the operational impact was US$17.1m; in future, such events are expected to come more often and at a higher cost.

Both the Australian cement industry and the sole New Zealand cement producer, Golden Bay Cement, have strategies aimed at restricting climate change to below the 2° scenario. Golden Bay Cement, which reduced its total CO₂ emissions by 12% over the four-year period between its 2018 and 2022 financial years, aims to achieve a 30% reduction by 2030 from the same baseline. The Australian Cement Industry Federation (CIF)'s 2050 net zero cement and concrete production roadmap consists of the following pathways: alternative cements – 7%; green hydrogen and alternative fuels substitution – 6%; carbon capture – 33%; renewable energy, transport and construction innovations – 35% and alternative concretes – 13%, with the remaining 6% accounted for by the recarbonation of set concrete.

Australia produces 5.2Mt/yr of clinker, with specific CO₂ emissions of 791kg/t of clinker, 4% below the global average of 824kg/t.² Calcination generates 55% of cement’s CO₂ emissions in the country, and fuel combustion 26%. Of the remainder, electricity (comprising 21% renewables) accounted for 12%, and distribution 7%. Australian cement production has a clinker factor of 84%, which the industry aims to reduce to 70% by 2030 and 60% by 2050. In New Zealand, Golden Bay Cement's main cement, EverSure general-purpose cement, generates CO₂ at 732kg/t of product.³ It has a clinker factor of 91%, and also contains 4% gypsum and 5% added limestone.

Alternative raw materials

Currently, Australian cement grinding mills process 3.3Mt/yr of fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). In Southern Australia, Hallett Group plans to commission its upcoming US$13.4m Port Augusta slag cement grinding plant in 2023. The plant will use local GGBFS from refineries in nearby Port Pirie and Whyalla, and fly ash from the site of the former Port Augusta power plant, as well as being 100% renewably powered. Upon commissioning, the facility will eliminate regional CO₂ emissions of 300,000t/yr, subsequently rising to 1Mt/yr following planned expansions. Elsewhere, an Australian importer holds an exclusive licencing agreement for UK-based Innovative Ash Solutions' novel air pollution control residue (APCR)-based supplementary cementitious material, an alternative to pulverised fly ash (PFA), while Australian Graphene producer First Graphene is involved in a UK project to develop reduced-CO₂ graphene-enhanced cement.

Golden Bay Cement is investigating the introduction of New Zealand's abundant volcanic ash in its cement production.

Fuels and more

Alternative fuel (AF) substitution in Australian cement production surpassed 18% in 2020, and is set to rise to 30% by 2030 and 50% by 2050, or 60% including 10% green hydrogen. In its recent report on Australian cement industry decarbonisation, the German Cement Works Association (VDZ) noted the difficulty that Australia's cement plants face in competing against landfill sites for waste streams. It described current policy as inadequate to incentivise AF use.

Cement producer Adbri is among eight members of an all-Australian consortium currently building a green hydrogen plant at AGL Energy’s Torrens Island gas-fired power plant in South Australia.

Across the Tasman Sea, Golden Bay Cement expects to attain a 60% AF substitution rate through on-going developments in its use of waste tyres and construction wood waste at its Portland cement plant in Northland. The producer will launch its new EcoSure reduced-CO₂ (699kg/t) general-purpose cement in November 2022. In developing EcoSure cement, it co-processed 80,000t of waste, including 3m waste tyres. The company says that this has helped in its efforts to manage its costs amid high coal prices.

Carbon capture

As the largest single contributor in Australia's cement decarbonisation pathway, carbon capture is now beginning to realise its potential. Boral and carbon capture specialist Calix are due to complete a feasibility study for a commercial-scale carbon capture pilot at the Berrima, New South Wales, cement plant in June 2023.

At Cement Australia's Gladstone, Queensland, cement plant, carbon capture is set to combine with green hydrocarbon production in a US$150m circular carbon methanol production facility supplied by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company. From its commissioning in mid-2028, the installation will use the Gladstone plant's captured CO₂ emissions and locally sourced green hydrogen to produce 100,000t/yr of methanol.

More Australian cement plant carbon capture installations may be in the offing. Heidelberg Materials, joint parent company of Cement Australia, obtained an indefinite global licence to Calix's LEILAC technology on 28 October 2022. The Germany-based group said that the method offers effective capture with minimal operational impact.

Cement Australia said “The Gladstone region is the ideal location for growing a diverse green hydrogen sector, with abundant renewable energy sources, existing infrastructure, including port facilities, and a highly skilled workforce." It added "The green hydrogen economy is a priority for the Queensland government under the Queensland Hydrogen Industry Strategy.”

Logistics

Australian and New Zealand cement facilities' remoteness makes logistics an important area of CO₂ emissions reduction. In Australia, cement production uses a 60:40 mix of Australian and imported clinker, while imported cement accounts for 5 – 10% of local cement sales of 11.7Mt/yr.

Fremantle Ports recently broke ground on construction of its US$35.1m Kwinana, Western Australia, clinker terminal. It will supply clinker to grinding plants in the state from its commissioning in 2024. Besides increasing the speed and safety of cement production, the state government said that the facility presents 'very significant environmental benefits.'

Conclusion

Antipodean cement production is undergoing a sustainability transformation, characterised by international collaboration and alliances across industries. The current structure of industrial and energy policy makes it an uphill journey, but for Australia and New Zealand's innovating cement industries, clear goals are in sight and ever nearer within reach.

References

1. Eckstein, Künzel and Schäfer, 'Global Climate Risk Index 2021,' 25 January 2021, https://www.germanwatch.org/en/19777

2. VDZ, 'Decarbonisation Pathways for the Australian Cement and Concrete Sector,' November 2021, https://cement.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Full_Report_Decarbonisation_Pathways_web_single_page.pdf

3. Golden Bay Cement, 'Environmental Product Declaration,' 12 May 2019, https://www.goldenbay.co.nz/assets/Uploads/d310c4f72a/GoldenBayCement_EPD_2019_HighRes.pdf