Germany: The Catch4Climate project has moved into the planning stage of its oxyfuel pilot plant at the Mergelstetten cement plant. The group, comprising Buzzi Unicem’s subsidiary Dyckerhoff, HeidelbergCement, Schwenk Zement and Vicat, signed a letter of intent with the state’s prime minister and transport minister in Stuttgart in mid-November 2020.

The consortium intends to build and operate its own demonstration plant on a semi-industrial scale, to use the oxyfuel process to capture CO₂. In the future, the captured CO₂ will be used to produce so-called ‘reFuels’, climate-neutral synthetic fuels such as kerosene for air traffic, with the help of renewable electrical energy.

The cement producers formed CI4C – Cement Innovation for Climate in late 2019. The aim of the Catch4Climate project is to create the basis for a large-scale application of CO₂ capture technologies in cement plants enabling the later use of CO₂ as a raw material in other processes such as a carbon capture and utilisation/storage.

Cameroon: Dangote Cement’s subsidiary in Cameroon estimates that it had a market share of 39% in the first nine months of 2020. It reckons the total cement market in the country was over 2.6Mt in the same period and that it sold around 1Mt, according to the Ecofin Agency. It said that the market was mainly driven by individual construction projects and public housing estates. In February 2020 the subsidiary of the Nigeria-based company said it planned to do better business in 2020 by focusing on the construction sites of stadiums, roads, hotels and other construction projects in preparation for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, postponed to 2022.

The cement producer operates a 1.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Douala, with a dedicated jetty for offloading clinker that opened in 2015.

Mozambique: China-based Sino Energy has signed a non-legally-binding memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong Construction Group in which it agreed to buy a 65% stake in a 0.4Mt/yr cement plant in Northern Pemba City, Cabo Delgado Province. Sino Energy will conduct due diligence and further negotiations on the proposed acquisition over the next four months. No value for the proposed purchase has been disclosed.

Sino Energy’s main business is manufacturing and selling of casual footwear, apparel and related accessories in mainland China. The company is also developing petrol station operations.

India: ACC plans to sell its National Limestone Company subsidiary to Ghadiya Group for around US$2.5m. National Limestone Company holds mining leases for limestone in the state of Rajasthan. Ghadiya Group operates in the construction and mining sector.