Global Cement News

Canada: Lehigh Hanson has launched of EcoCem Plus at its Edmonton cement plant in Alberta. The product is a blended Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) made using inter-grinding clinker, fly ash, limestone and gypsum. It is available in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The subsidiary of Germany-based HeildebergCement says it provides strength and durability while reducing the carbon footprint of concrete.

“The motivation behind the EcoCem brand of products is to reduce the embodied carbon of cement and concrete,” said Shawn McMillan, Vice President, Cement for Lehigh Hanson’s Canada Region. “The introduction of EcoCem Plus to the Prairie market builds on our commitment to providing environmentally responsible types of cement that deliver excellent performance while dramatically reducing CO2 emissions.”

Lehigh Cement has also published product and plant-specific environmental product declarations (EPD) for all of its cement products produced at its Edmonton plant.

Kenya: The Court of Appeal has stopped directors and accounting officers at the East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) from being sent to jail due to the company’s failure to pay contract workers about US$12m as agreed in a collective bargaining agreement. The judges noted that the cement producer had already paid US$0.8m as a gesture of goodwill, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Members of the Kenya Chemical & Allied Workers union brought the legal case against the EAPCC accusing it of paying them less than permanent staff.

Canada: Svante has raised US$75m in an investment round. The financing was led by Temasek and includes strategic investors Chart Industries, Carbon Direct and Export Development Canada (EDC). Existing investors OGCI Climate Investments, BDC Cleantech Practice, Chevron Technology Ventures, The Roda Group and Chrysalix Venture Capital also participated in the round.

The investment gives the company will allow the company to advance a number of initiatives over the next three years, including work to support several commercial scale carbon capture facilities to address hard-to-abate emissions from industrial operations such as cement manufacturing, blue hydrogen production and natural gas boilers. Svante has now attracted more than US$150m in funding since it was founded in 2007 to develop and commercialise its solid sorbent technology.

“Lowering the capital cost of the capture of the CO₂ emitted in industrial production is critical to the world’s net-zero carbon goals required to stabilize the climate. Leaders from industry, financial sectors and government agree on the enormity of the challenge and the critical need to deploy carbon capture and carbon removal solutions at Gigatons scale. The carbon pulled from earth as fossil fuel needs to go back into the earth in safe CO₂ storage,” said Claude Letourneau, President CEO of Svante.

Mexico: The Mexican Association of the Ready-Mix Concrete Industry (AMIC) has joined the National Cement Chamber (CANACEM). Jaime Rocha Font, president of CANACEM, said that the inclusion of AMIC would better reflect the cement and concrete sector and aid its work with regulators, according to the El Sol de Mexico newspaper. AMIC was created in 1958 and brings together 42 ready-mix concrete production companies that operate 410 concrete plants and represent 70% of local concrete production.

Oman: Switzerland-based ABB has completed a digital systems overhaul at Oman Cement Company’s (OCC) Muscat cement plant. The supplier says that by integrating the plant’s three production lines with its ABB Ability System 800xA product it will optimise performance across the lines, boosting operational efficiency, increasing availability, lowering costs and driving sustainability. It says that it has also replaced older controllers in their final lifecycle phase with AC800M models. Teams from OCC and ABB collaborated to complete the engineering, supply, installation and commissioning of the ABB systems.

OCC head of instrumentation and control Bashar Al Farsi said, “Cement production is a core industry for Oman, serving and enabling a self-sufficient construction industry. With the long-term support of ABB we have added to this strength and look forward to continued success, now with the latest digital control system across our three process lines. We have already identified time and cost savings, and will drive towards greater efficiencies and sustainability targets as we aim to be the number one cement manufacturing company in the Sultanate.”

OCC has been a customer of ABB since 1978.