Global Cement News

Thailand: Switzerland-based Maerz has commissioned a new 150t/day lime kiln at Bangkok CaO’s plant at Saraburi. The kiln is the third Parallel Flow Regenerative (PFR) unit that Maerz has supplied to the site following previous installations in 1996 and 2008. All the kilns at the plant use waste oil as a fuel.

Russia: Eurocement has changed its name to Cemros. The rebranding exercise followed an internal staff competition to come up with a new name followed by a vote from a shortlist. The new name is intended to invoke the words ‘cement’ and ‘Russia.’ It was suggested by Evgeny Lukanovsky, Alexey Lotarev and Igor Efimov.

Eurocement was acquired by Smikom in 2021 for around US$2.2bn following an auction held by Sberbank.

US: Leilac has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with US-based Heirloom to use Leilac’s kiln technology in Heirloom’s direct air capture (DAC) process. The MOU outlines the key terms for a licence and collaboration agreement.

Daniel Rennie, the chief executive officer of Leilac, said “Leilac is delighted to be partnering with Heirloom. Our partnership will apply Leilac’s core technology for cement and lime decarbonisation to address the global challenge of excess atmospheric CO₂.” He added “Heirloom uses low-cost and abundant limestone, which Leilac’s technology is specifically designed for. Both technologies are modular, easily scalable and can be renewably powered.”

Heirloom is developing a method of using limestone to remove atmospheric CO₂ in a DAC process. The proposed DAC method using both Leilac and Heirloom technology will heat limestone in a Leilac kiln to release CO₂ that can then be captured and sequestered. The lime that the kiln produces will then be reformed back into limestone directly capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere in an accelerated process. This limestone will then be feed back into the kiln restarting the process. The partners also suggest powering the kiln from renewable electricity sources to further increase the net reduction of CO₂ emissions from the process. No cost for the combined process or who would pay for it has been revealed so far.

Leilac is a subsidiary of Australia-based Calix that has been testing its indirectly heated calcination technology with the cement and lime industry since the mid-2010s. An industrial scale application of the process at Heidelberg Material’s Hanover cement plant in Germany is expected to be ready to start testing by the end of 2023. Additional projects have been announced in Australia with Adbri and Boral.

US: Holcim subsidiary Geocycle has signed a multi-year contract with Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities to market fly ash produced by the power generation companies. Geocycle and Holcim will use to up to around 225,000t/yr of fly ash to produce blended cement products.

Sophie Wu, Head of Geocycle North America, said “In line with Geocycle’s commitment and passion for recycling and achieving a net zero future, we are honoured to partner with Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities to develop creative and efficient solutions that contribute to the circular economy.” She added, “Together we’ll be able develop blended cementitious materials, reduce CO₂ levels and further encourage carbon neutral construction.”

US: Kosmos Cement has ordered a mobile ship unloader from Sweden-based Bruks Siwertell for use at its terminal in Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The product is designed to discharge vessels up to 5000dwt and has a continuous rated cement handling capacity of 300t/hr. Delivery is planned for the spring of 2023.