Displaying items by tag: Cemex
A short look at low carbon cement and concrete
01 April 2020Cement and concrete products with sustainability credentials have increased in recent years as societies start to demand decarbonisation. In spite of the recent drop in the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) price, there has been a trend in recent years in the construction industry towards offerings with better environmental credentials. Indeed, this week’s position paper from Cembureau on a carbon border mechanism concerns directly the growth of these kinds of products within Europe. Typically, the higher profile projects have been slag cement or concrete implementations such as Hanson’s use of its Regen cement substitute in a London sewer project or David Ball Group’s Cemfree concrete in a road project also in the UK. In this short review we’ll take a selective look at a few of the so-called low carbon cement and concrete products currently available.
Table 1: Some examples of methods to reduce embodied CO2 in cement and concrete. Note - the product examples are selective. In some cases many other products are available.
Material | Type | Method | Product examples |
Cement | SCM cement | Lower clinker factor | Many products |
Cement | Limestone calcined clay cement | Lower clinker factor | LC3, FutureCem, Polysius activated clay, H-EVA |
Cement | Calcium silicate cement | Reduced process emissions | Solidia, Celitement |
Cement | Recycled concrete fines | Reduced lifecycle emissions | Susteno |
Cement | Geopolymer cement | Reduced process emissions | Vertua |
Cement | Calcium sulphoaluminate cements | Reduced process emissions | Many products |
Concrete | CO2 curing/mineralisation | Uses CO2 and reduces water usage | Solidia, CarbonCure Technologies |
Concrete | Recycled concrete coarse | Reduced lifecycle emissions | Evopact, EcoCrete, FastCarb |
Concrete | SCM concrete | Uses less or no cement | Cemfree, Carbicrete, Regen |
Concrete | Uses less cement in mix | Uses less cement | |
Concrete | Admixtures | Uses less cement | |
Concrete | Locally sourced aggregate / better supply chain logistics | Reduced transport emissions | |
Concrete | Geopolymer concrete | Uses no cement | E-Crete |
Concrete | Graphene concrete | Uses less cement | Concrene |
Concrete | Carbon offsetting | Separate offsetting scheme | Vertua |
Looking at cement first, the easiest way for many producers to bring a lower carbon product to market has been to promote cements made using secondary cementitious materials (SCM) such as granulated blast furnace slag or fly ash. These types of cements have a long history, typically in specialist applications and/or in relation to ease of supply. For example, cement producers in eastern India often manufacture slag cements owing to the number of local steel plants. However, cement producers have more recently started to publicise their environmental credentials as they reduce the clinker factor of the final product. Alongside this though, in Europe especially, a number of so-called low carbon cement producers have appeared on the scene such as EcoCem and Hoffman Green Technologies. These newer producers tend to offer SCM cement products or other low carbon ones built around a grinding model. It is likely that their businesses have benefitted from tightening EU environmental legislation. How far cement producers can pivot to SCM cement products is contentious given that slag and fly ash are finite byproducts of other industries that are also under pressure to decarbonise. Although it should be noted that other SCMs such as pozzolans exist.
As will be seen below a few of the methods to reduce embodied CO2 in cement and concrete can be used in both materials. SCMs are no exception and hold a long history in concrete usage. As mentioned above David Ball Group sells Cemfree a concrete product that contains no cement. Harsco Environmental, a minerals management company, invested US$3m into Carbicrete, a technology start-up working on a cement-free concrete, in late 2019.
Limestone calcined clay cements are the next set of products that are starting to make an appearance through the work of the Swiss-government backed LC3 project, more commercial offerings like FutureCem from Cementir and H-EVA from Hoffman Green Technologies and today’s announcement about ThyssenKrupp’s plans to fit the Kribi cement plant in Cameroon with its Polysius activated clay system. They too, like SCM cements, reduce the clinker factor of the cement. The downside is that, as in the name, the clay element needs to be calcined requiring capital investment, although LC3 make a strong case in their literature about how fast these costs can be recouped in a variety of scenarios.
Calcium silicate cements offer reduced process emissions by decreasing the lime content of the clinker lowering the amount of CO2 released and bringing down the temperature required in the kiln to make the clinker. Solidia offers its calcium silicate cement as part of a two-part system with a CO2 cured concrete. In the US LafargeHolcim used Solidia’s product in a commercial project in mid-2019 at a New Jersey paver and block plant. Solidia’s second core technology is using CO2 to cure concrete and reducing water usage. They are not alone here as Canada’s CarbonCure Technologies uses CO2 in a similar way with their technology. In their case they focus more on CO2 mineralisation. In Germany, Schwenk Zement backed the Celitement project, which developed a hydraulic calcium hydro silicate based product that does not use CO2 curing. Celitement has since become part of Schwenk Zement.
Solidia isn’t the only company looking at two complementary technologies along the cement-concrete production chain. A number of companies are looking at recycling concrete and demolition waste. Generally this splits into coarse waste that is used as an aggregate substitute in concrete and fine waste that is used to make cement. LafargeHolcim has Evopact for the coarse waste and Susteno for the fine. HeidelbergCement has EcoCrete for the coarse and is researching the use of fines. Closing the loop for heavy building material producers definitely seems like the way to go at the moment and this view is reinforced by the involvement of the two largest multinational producers.
Of the rest of the other low carbon cement methods detailed in table 1 these cover other non-Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) such as geopolymer and calcium sulphoaluminate cements. The former are a type of alkali activated binder and generally lack common standards. The latter are similar to slag cements in that they are established specialist products with lower CO2 emissions than OPC.
With concrete when trying to make a low carbon product the first choice is whether to choose a low-carbon cement as the binder or even not to use cement at all in the case of Regen or Cemfree. From here the next step is to simply use less cement in a concrete mixture. There are a number of ways to do this from optimising aggregate gradation, following performance specifications more closely, using strength tests like maturity methods and generally adhering to quality control protocols better to deliver more consistency. Read the Mineral Production Association (MPA) publication Specifying Sustainable Concrete for more detail on this. Using concrete admixtures can also help make concrete more sustainable by improving quality and performance at construction sites through the use of plasticisers and accelerators, by decreasing embodied carbon through the use of water reducers and by improving the whole life performance of concretes. The use of locally-sourced aggregates is also worth noting here since it can reduce associated transport CO2 emissions.
More novel methods of reducing embodied CO2 emissions in concrete include the use of geopolymer concrete in the case of Zeobond Group’s E-Crete or adding graphene as Concrene does. Like geopolymer cements, geopolymer concretes are relatively new and lack common standards. Products like Concrene, meanwhile, remain currently at the startup level. Finally, if all else fails, offsetting the CO2 released by a cement or concrete product is always an option. This is what Cemex has done with its Vertua Ultra Zero product. The first 70% reduction in embodied CO2 is gained through the use of geopolymer cement. Then the remaining 30% reduction is achieved through a carbon offsetting scheme via a carbon neutral certification verified by the Carbon Trust.
As can be seen, a variety of methods exist for cement and concrete producers to reduce the embodied CO2 of their products and call them ‘low-carbon.’ For the moment most remain in the ‘novelty section’ but as legislators promote and specifiers look for sustainable construction they continue to become more mainstream. What has been interesting to note from this short study is that some companies are looking at multiple solutions along the production and supply chain whilst others are concentrating on single ones. The companies looking at multiple methods range from the biggest building material producers like LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement to smaller newer ones like Solidia and Hoffman Green Technologies. Also of note is that many of these products have existed already in various forms for a long time like SCM cements and concretes or the many ways concretes can be made more sustainable through much simpler ways such as changing aggregate sourcing or working more efficiently. In many cases once markets receive sufficient stimulus it seems likely that low carbon cement and concrete products will proliferate.
Global Cement is researching a market report on low carbon cement and concrete. If readers have any comments to make please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mexico: Cemex has added responsibility for the Philippines, Israel, Egypt and the UAE to Sergio Mauricio Menendez Medina with his appointment as the president of Cemex Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA). He will continue to remain the president for Cemex in Europe
Jesus Vicente Gonzalez Herrera, current president for Cemex in South, Central America and the Caribbean (SCAC), will also oversee Cemex’s Global Trading activities, in addition to his current responsibilities.
Cemex reports on sustainability steps taken in 2019
27 March 2020Mexico: Cemex has shared its 2019 sustainability achievements in an integrated report entitled ‘Innovating for a Better World,’ which analyses the company’s strategic vision, operational performance and corporate governance against its commitment to drive innovation in the cement sector. Throughout the year, the company introduced its new Climate Action strategy to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% by 2030 and established an ambition to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete by 2050. It achieved an alternative fuel substitution rate of 28%, its highest since 2014, bringing its net specific CO2 emissions per tonne of cementitious product to 624kg.
Cemex’s net income was US$179m in 2019, down by 69% year-on-year from US$570m in 2018. Its sales declined by 8%, to US$4.3bn from US$4.7bn
Cemex shuts up shop in Panama and Colombia
26 March 2020Colombia/Panama: Mexico-based Cemex has announced the suspension of production at all of its plants in Panama and those of its Colombian subsidiary Cemex Latam Holdings from 25 March 2020. It said it ‘may resume certain activities on or before 13 April 2020,’ according to Noticias Financieras News. The NAFTA 2.0 newspaper has included Cemex on a list of Mexico’s companies most exposed due to a large European presence to the impacts of the coronavirus there. Europe is the second-largest market for Cemex’s products, generating 24% of its revenue in 2019.
Mexico & Thailand: Cemex and Siam Cement have made changes to upcoming shareholder meetings in relation to the coronavirus outbreak. Mexico’s Cemex intends to reduce attendance at its general shareholders meeting in late March 2020 and introduce hygiene protocols. Thailand’s Siam Cement has postponed indefinitely its annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled for early April 2020. Its board of directors plan to set a new date when the “situation is resolved.”
Eagle Materials finalises Kosmos Cement acquisition
09 March 2020US: Mexico-based Cemex has confirmed that its 75% subsidiary Kosmos Cement, which it holds jointly with a subsidiary of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem, has completed the sale of its 1.7Mt/yr integrated Louisville plant to Eagle Materials for US$665m. Cemex says that it will receive US$499m in proceeds from the sale.
Mexico: Cemex has worked with AES Mexico, the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN), the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) through the General Wildlife Direction, and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) to successfully reintroduce 19 American bison specimens (Bison bison) in El Carmen Nature Reserve, in Coahuila, to establish the second conservation herd of this species in Mexico.
“For almost two decades, we have carried out different alliances with companies and conservation organisations to protect and increase biodiversity in El Carmen. Examples of this include the reintroduction of the American bison, the bighorn sheep, and the pronghorn, as well as the increase in the populations of desert mule deer, white-tailed deer, and black bear,” said Vicente Saisó, director of sustainability at Cemex.
El Carmen Nature Reserve is a private cross-border conservation area in Mexico and the US that contains five different ecosystems and habitats to diverse species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians over more than 140,000 hectares.
The American bison is the largest land mammal in North America and was present in the plains of Canada, the US and Mexico. In Mexico, American bison lived in the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Durango; however, it the species was depleted in the second half of the 19th century. Currently, it is a species that is in danger of extinction in Mexico.
Prior to this collaboration, the only herd of bison considered genetically pure was at Rancho El Uno, owned by FMCN, located within the Janos Biosphere Reserve, Chihuahua. 19 specimens from this herd were moved to El Carmen, located in Maderas del Carmen Flora and Fauna Protection Area by a team of wildlife management specialists. The plan to reintroduce the American bison in El Carmen Nature Reserve was launched in April of 2019, and it will continue until 2021 with the translocation of additional specimens.
Cemex launches Climate Action strategy
20 February 2020Mexico: Cemex has announced a new Climate Action strategy, which outlines the company’s vision to advance towards a carbon-neutral economy and to address society’s increasing demands more efficiently. The company states that it believes climate change to be one of the biggest challenges of our time and support collective action.
It says that it has already reduced its net specific CO2 emissions by more than 22% compared to its 1990 baseline. It has now defined a more ambitious target of a 35% reduction of net specific CO2 emissions by 2030. This new goal is aligned with the Science-Based Targets methodology, a requirement that is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. To complement this strategy with a longer-term vision, Cemex is also establishing a new ambition to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete by 2050.
“Climate change has been a priority for Cemex for many years,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, Cemex CEO. “Our efforts have brought significant progress to date, but we must do more. This is why we have defined a more ambitious strategy to reduce CO2 emissions by 2030 and to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete by 2050.”
To fulfil this strategy, Cemex has a laid out a CO2 roadmap to accelerate the roll-out of proven technologies across its facilities, including investing in energy efficiency, using alternative fuels, expanding the use of renewable energy, and increasing the substitution of clinker with alternative cementitious materials. It says its aim of net-zero CO2 concrete will require open innovation that requires strategic partnerships and cross-industry collaboration in the development of breakthrough technologies like CO2 capture, storage and utilisation, novel clinkers with low heat consumption, alternative decarbonated raw materials, carbonation of concrete waste for use as recycled aggregates, and the promotion of circular economy models that transform waste into fuel.
Cemex earnings for 2019 hit in North America
13 February 2020Mexico: Cemex’s operating earnings have fallen in Mexico and the US. Its net sales fell by 3% year-on-year to US$13.1bn in 2019 from US$13.5m in 2018. Its cement sales volumes dropped by 7% to 62.8Mt from 67.2Mt. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 11% to US$2.38bn from US$2.69bn.
“In a very challenging year with weaker macroeconomic and market conditions prevailing in several of our operations, we were able to limit the downside to our EBITDA and free-cash-flow generation through the decisive and proactive initiatives under our ‘A Stronger Cemex’ program,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, chief executive officer of Cemex. He added that the group was ‘cautiously optimistic’ about its outlook for 2020, with market improvements expected in Mexico and the US.
By region, sales and earnings fell in Mexico due to decline in public and private investment. In the US sales grew, but earnings fell, in a market beset by bad weather, weak residential performance and competition in Florida. Sales and earnings grew in Europe on a like-for-like basis driven by infrastructure demand. Elsewhere sales and earnings fell, although a stronger market was noted in Colombia.
Wärtsilä extends operation and maintenance deal with Cemex Colombia
13 February 2020Colombia: Finland’s Wärtsilä has signed a further four-year extension to its operation and maintenance (O&M) agreement with Cemex Colombia. The original agreement was started in 1998 and it has now been extended to the end of 2023. Cemex’s integrated Caracolito cement plant uses a 26MW power plant operating on five Wärtsilä 18-cylinder 34SG engines in V-configuration running on natural gas. Wärtsilä employs 15 personnel in the running of the power plant, all of whom were hired locally.