Global Cement News

Brazil: Companhia Nacional de Cimento (CNC), part of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem’s 50% subsidiary BCPAR, has acquired CRH Brasil following approval by the Brazilian antitrust authority (CADE). The deal was originally agreed for US$218m although changes in the financial positions of the acquired companies changed this. Buzzi Unicem supplied CNC with US$242m to support the deal.

CRH Brasil’s assets included three integrated cement plants and two grinding plants in the south-east of the country. The company sold approximately 2.8Mt of cement in 2020.

US/Canada: XPrize has named CarbonBuilt and CarbonCure Technologies as the winners of carbon capture and storage (CCS) design prizes worth US$20.0m. The competition ran at two power plants in Wyoming, US and Alberta, Canada. CarbonBuilt won the contest at the Wyoming plant with a concrete-curing based system. The concrete produced has a lower carbon footprint than conventionally produced concrete, according to XPrize. CarbonCure Technologies won the Alberta contest with a design based on carbonating the water used in washing cement trucks. This reportedly formed a concrete-strengthening slurry.

XPrize has partnered with Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation to launch a second round of CCS design prizes worth a total US$100m.

India: The board of directors of Sagar Cements is considering merging its wholly-owned subsidiary Sagar Cement (R) (SCR) into the company. A meeting has been scheduled for the company’s board of directors to consider the matter in late April 2021. SCRL, formerly BMM Cements, operates the 1.0Mt/yr Yadiki Mandalam cement plant in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.

Vietnam: The Provincial Department of Trade and Industry (PDTI) of the northern province of Quang Ninh has announced a second-quarter cement production target of 879,000t in 2021. Viet Nam News has reported that the figure represents a significant increase as part of a local plan to increase gross regional domestic product (GRDP) by 10% in 2021. In the second quarter of the year, the PDTI is targeting US$2.1bn-worth of private investment in the provincial economy.

US: A research team at Washington State University has developed admixtures using chitin derived from seashells. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News has reported that the substance enhances concrete’s performance when substituted for some of the cement content. The lower clinker factor may also decrease net emissions. Work has shown that lower volumes of the supplementary material are required compared to existing admixtures.