Global Cement News
Search Cement News
Lafarge Africa completes 20km road in Cross River State 22 March 2024
Nigeria: The governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu, has officially commissioned a 20km road built by Lafarge Africa. The road is being constructed at Mfamosing, Lafarge's operational base, and ends at Odukpani junction near Ayade’s Flyover. It was initiated in 2010 as a bypass to alleviate traffic congestion.
Governor Otu said “What you have done has taken this whole traffic completely out of town and straight to the road where they are actually looking to take things out of the state. I commend you and wish that other corporate bodies would emulate Lafarge.”
Alade Akinyemi, group managing director and CEO of Lafarge, informed the governor that the project was started in 2010, but was delayed due to challenges associated with geotechnical studies and the design. He said “The road will improve safety, drive economic growth, and enhance productivity due to reduction of man hour as a result of no traffic and congestion.”
UK: Capsol Technologies has been selected to conduct a study on its carbon capture technology at Aggregate Industries Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire. Owned by the Holcim Group, the company’s plant will undergo a feasibility study by Capsol Technologies for its CapsolEoP® carbon capture system. The potential for carbon capture at this plant is 600,000t/yr of CO₂. The CO₂ captured will be stored geologically through the nearby MNZ Cluster or HyNet North West.
CCO Johan Jungholm said “CapsolEoP® provides a cost-efficient carbon capture solution for cement, and our solution can be run on electricity alone without expensive heat integration or external steam supply. It offers flexibility in the optimisation of the designs, allowing for high capture rates, high reliability and low energy consumption."
The contract includes supplier input for the feasibility study, and further pre-FEED engineering if Capsol's technology is selected. The UK Government's Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) is funding the study, with Petrofac as Aggregate Industries engineer. This study is part of Peak Cluster's objective to reduce over 3Mt/yr of CO₂ from cement, lime, and refuse facilities by 2030. Capsol Technologies is focusing on the cement industry, which accounts for about 8% of global CO₂ emissions.
Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) has closed its Athi River plant for a US$3m upgrade to boost production capacity.
Oliver Kirubai, EAPCC's managing director, said "We are doing the second phase of our machines upgrade, which is basically targeting to increase our output. Our target is that by June 2026 we should be able to produce 1Mt/yr of cement." He added "Seven local contractors are spearheading the upgrade of this plant. They will work with us during the 25-day closure of this facility." The current production capacity of the plant is 310,000t/yr.
EAPCC recorded a loss of US$9.8m for the financial year ending June 2023, despite making a profit of US$4m in the previous year. This shift was due to increased costs elevating the firm's cost of sales to US$29.4m from US$29.9m, despite a 37% increase in revenues to US$21.9m from US$15.9 in the previous year.
Sustainable concrete project launched in Rome 21 March 2024
Italy: Scientists Gregory Chass and Kun Tian have developed a sustainable concrete from wet waste materials through their company Mesoscale Engineering Halcyon. This 'green concrete' concept was conceived in Garbatella and will first be tested on the district's pavements. The concrete, made by combining and recycling industrial CO₂ emissions with brine from saltworks, is part of the Clean Energy Transition Partnership. It is also central to the BUCK$$$ project, led by Kun, focusing on carbon capture and utilisation. This project, with €2.54m in funding, involves 13 partners from seven countries.
This innovative concrete arises from 'mineralised CO₂', which is similar to mollusc shells made of calcium carbonate, as well as materials derived from saltwork brine, desalination, and industrial wastewater. Both currently underused products are expected to become crucial in the cement and concrete industries, particularly in Italy.
Japan: Taiheiyo Cement will install a gas engine power system at its Fujiwara cement plant in Inabe-shi, Mie Prefecture. The system replaces the existing thermal power system at the plant, which uses petcoke. Construction is set to begin in 2025 and the facility will be operational by the end of 2026. The new system will reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 130,000t/yr.
President and representative director Masafumi Fushihara said "Taiheiyo Cement positions the reduction of CO₂ emissions from its cement production as an important growth strategy and will work to continue to achieve carbon neutrality through various countermeasures and the promotion of further energy conservation."