Displaying items by tag: Sustainability
Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has made progress in reducing its carbon footprint, reporting embodied CO₂ emissions of 556kg/t of cement produced in 2023, a 4% year-on-year decrease. The company aims to reach a target of 475kg of CO₂/t by 2030, aligning with the Science Based Target initiative standards.
The company's decarbonisation strategy involves four stages: co-processing, which involves substituting fossil fuel with biomass and waste; use of cementitious materials to replace clinker; enhancing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy; and developing new technologies and materials, including carbon capture. In 2023, Votorantim Cimentos achieved a 31% global thermal substitution rate through co-processing, an increase from 26.5% in 2022, with a goal of reaching 53% by 2030. The clinker factor was reduced to 72.8% in 2023 from 73.9% in 2022. This reduction means a decrease in emissions, with a target clinker factor of 68% set for 2030. Additionally, 35.1% of the electricity consumed by Votorantim Cimentos in 2023 came from renewable sources, an increase from 22.9% in 2022, with an aim of 45% by 2030.
Álvaro Lorenz, global director of sustainability, institutional relations, product development, engineering, and energy at Votorantim Cimentos, said "The most competitive and sustainable companies will be those with the lowest emissions. In all countries where we operate, we are committed to advancing in our decarbonisation journey, in line with our goal of producing carbon-neutral concrete by 2050."
Votorantim Cimentos’ environmental efforts were recognised with an A score by CDP and a Top-Rated Industry company distinction by Sustainalytics in the Latin American building materials sector. The company also announced a US$989m investment to further reduce its CO₂ emissions. This includes a project at Salto de Pirapora to increase thermal substitution, with expected completion by 2028. Votorantim Cimentos has also started constructing a solar energy complex in Paracatu, with an estimated capacity of 470MWp.
US: A research team from Lehigh University has won a three-year, US$2m grant from the Department of Energy's industrial efficiency and decarbonisation office for a project on concrete decarbonisation. The team, including Carlos Romero, director of Lehigh's Energy Research Centre, aims to develop a sustainable concrete binder using calcined clay, reducing emissions associated with Ordinary Portland Cement production. The project collaborates with Buzzi Unicem USA and focuses on processing and testing calcined clay to mimic the properties of conventional cement.
Lehigh's team will explore various low-grade calcined clays, supplied by Buzzi, testing their compressive strength and durability. The goal is to halve the CO₂ emissions of traditional concrete mixes.
Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Shamim Pakzad said "I am excited about the expansion of the research portfolio of CEE departments into this area of greener cement, which opens many opportunities for future research and implementation in industry."
Decarbonising the cement sector in the US, March 2024
27 March 2024The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced a US$1.6bn investment in the cement sector this week. The funding was part of a total of US$6bn for 33 projects in over 20 states to decarbonise energy-intensive industries also including chemicals and refining, iron and steel, aluminium and metals, food and beverages, glass, process heat applications and pulp and paper. The DOE was keen to link the money to “the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.” Politics is never far away it seems! The projects are part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program, managed by DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED).
Company | State | Funding | Scale | Method |
Heidelberg Materials US | Indiana | US$500m | Full | CCS |
National Cement | California | US$500m | Full | Alternative fuels, calcined clay, CCS |
Summit Materials | Georgia, Maryland, Texas | US$216m | Demonstration | Calcined clay |
Brimstone Energy | TBD | US$189m | Commercial | Raw material substitution |
Sublime Systems | Massachusetts | US$87m | Commercial | Raw material substitution |
Roanoke Cement | Virginia | US$62m | Demonstration | Calcined clay |
Table 1: Summary of US Department of Energy funding announced on March 2024 to decarbonise cement and concrete production
Table 1 above shows the main approaches each of the projects aim to use. The two most expensive ones involve carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) at Heidelberg Materials US’ Mitchell cement plant in Indiana and National Cement’s Lebec plant in California respectively. In a complimentary press release Chris Ward, the CEO of Heidelberg Materials North America, said “This substantial federal funding investment will help create the first full-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage on a cement plant in the US.” The proposed CCS unit at the plant will capture around 2Mt/yr of CO2 from 2030. If Ward’s forecast is accurate (and no one beats them to it), then Heidelberg Materials will likely have set up the first full-scale CCS units at cement plants in both North America and Europe. This will be a significant achievement. The National Cement project, by contrast, is a mixed bag of approaches to decarbonising cement production that follows the multi-lever approach advocated for in many of the industry net-zero roadmaps. It intends to use agricultural by-products such as pistachio shells, as alternatives fuels to lower the fuel-based emissions, calcined clay to lower the clinker factor and CCS to capture the remaining 950,000t/yr of CO2 emissions.
The other projects either involve using calcined clay or substituting limestone with calcium silicate. The Summit Materials proposal is noteworthy because it aims to build four clay calcination units in locations in Maryland, Georgia and Texas. None of these appear to be near Summit’s (or Cementos Argos’) cement plants. This suggests that the company may be intending to use calcined clay in ready-mixed concrete production. The Roanoke Cement Company calcined clay project will be baseEuropead at its cement plant in Troutville, Virginia.
The remaining two grant recipients, Brimstone and Sublime Systems, will both test the companies’ different methods of manufacturing cement by using calcium silicate instead of limestone. Brimstone’s method produces ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). The company said in July 2023 that its OPC met the ASTM C150 standards. However, the company has released less information about its actual process. Sublime Systems’ uses an electrolysis approach to create its ASTM C1157-compliant cement. It calls this ‘ambient temperature electrochemical calcination.’
Investment on the same scale of the DOE has also been happening in Europe. In July 2023, for example, the European Commission announced an investment of Euro3.6bn in clean tech projects to be funded from the proceeds of the European Union emissions trading scheme (ETS). This was the third call for large-scale projects following previous announcements of recipients in 2021 and 2022. Euro1.6bn of the third call funding went towards cement and refining projects including five cement and lime projects in Belgium, Croatia, Germany and Greece. The money granted for each of these schemes was in the region of Euro115 - 235m.
Both the US and Europe are throwing serious finance at the cement industry to try and kickstart the various pathways towards net zero. They are also doing it in different ways, with the US aiming to boost its economy by onshoring sustainable industry, and Europe hoping to fund its approach via carbon taxation. Government-driven decarbonisation investment for cement in other large countries and regions around the world appears to be lagging behind the US and Europe but these may spring up as net zero targets are set, roadmaps drawn up and government policy formulated. These places could also benefit from watching what works and does not work elsewhere first. Back in the US and Europe the next tricky part of this process will be bridging the gap between government subsidy and commercial viability.
Caribbean Cement Company to expand production
27 March 2024Jamaica: Caribbean Cement Company's first phase of its expansion project is set for completion in 2025. The expansion will increase cement production by 30%.
Managing director Jorge Martinez said "When completed, this project will further reduce our CO₂ emissions and deliver increased output from 2600 to 2850t/day of clinker to meet the increased local demand for cement. We will also have the capacity to explore options for exporting to other countries within the Caribbean community. These exports will benefit Jamaica’s economy through foreign currency income."
The US$40m plant expansion in Rockfort, Kingston is financed by the company, with 150 workers already on the project. The expansion was announced in 2022 and aims to strengthen Jamaica's cement industry, reduce import reliance and support the regional construction sector. It will also support parent company Cemex's sustainability targets, including CO₂ emission reduction and optimisation of heat consumption in cement production, as part of its Future in Action programme.
Sweden: Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a method to simplify the construction of textile-reinforced concrete structures, a move that is expected to lead to more environmentally friendly infrastructure like bridges, tunnels, and buildings. The new technique addresses the high carbon footprint of cement.
This innovation, involving carbon fibre textiles as a replacement for steel reinforcement, enables lighter structures with reduced cement usage, thereby lowering the overall carbon impact. Karin Lundgren, Professor of Concrete Structures at Chalmers Department of Architecture said "A great deal of the concrete we use today has the function to act as a protective layer to prevent the steel reinforcement from corroding. If we can use textile reinforcement instead, we can reduce cement consumption and also use less concrete, thus reducing the climate impact."
The research is detailed in a paper titled 'Textile reinforced concrete members subjected to tension, bending, and in-plane loads: Experimental study and numerical analyses', which was published in the Construction and Building Materials journal. The study, a collaborative effort between Chalmers University and Gdansk University of Technology in Poland, is supported by the Swedish Research Council.
Yura to establish solar photovoltaic plant in Arequipa
22 March 2024Peru: Grupo Gloria subsidiary Yura plans to build a solar power plant in Yura, Arequipa. The plant will have a peak power of 31MWp and a nominal power of 27MW. The installation involves a 1.3km-long, 30kV transmission line. Gestión News has reported that the project is intended to reduce the costs associated with the company’s cement production.
Sweden: Umeå University is part of the ELECTRA project, a €20m EU initiative aimed at advancing green transition in cement and lime production through electrified processes. This project, involving global industry leaders, is funded under the Horizon Europe initiative and led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umeå University has collaborated with the Swedish quicklime and cement industry since 2007. Matias Eriksson, director of the Centre for Sustainable Cement and Quicklime Production at Umeå University, said “This is an important project. It is the first Horizon Europe project we are participating in," He continued "We are pleased with the confidence the European Commission, heavy materials industry and other research performers show in our work. ELECTRA can play an important role in the industry's green transition, first and foremost in Sweden and the rest of Europe. But because the technology and the industry are global, the effects can be extensive."
Cemvision concludes seed funding round
22 March 2024Sweden: Alternative cement producer Cemvision has concluded its seed funding round, the largest in the green cement sector to date, according to the company. Participants included BackingMinds, Polar Structure and Zacua Ventures. The fund raised €10m, which the company says will contribute to its short-term growth. Cemvision announced its first commercial supply contract for its Re-ment alternative cement in December 2023.
CEO Oscar Hållén said “This investment will accelerate our near-future operations, right before we make the next jump, which is not too far away. Having met and retained interest from venture capitalists worldwide, we concluded some of the very best ones were right around the corner, and we are delighted to have them doubling down on Cemvision. Furthermore, Zacua Ventures’ global understanding of the green transition of the built environment is the most impressive we’ve ever come across.”
Sustainable concrete project launched in Rome
21 March 2024Italy: 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.
Furno Materials secures US$6.5m in seed funding
20 March 2024US: Furno Materials completed an oversubscribed US$6.5m seed funding round on 13 March 2023. Subsequently, the start-up unveiled plans for its Furno Brick carbon-neutral modular cement plant, which can use a variety of gaseous fuels. The plant scales on demand, drastically reducing the barrier to entry for local or small-scale cement production.
Furno CEO Gurinder Nagra said “At Furno, we have the ability to produce ordinary Portland cement now, to adapt to a range of gas-based fuels and materials innovations as they emerge and to meet demand where it exists, while still abiding by a shifting regulatory landscape. Our mission is to go the distance by innovating at the heart of cement production and operating as a complement to other technological developments in the cement space. Our cement far exceeds ASTM International standards, a bare-minimum quality threshold. While most companies tout meeting these standards and stop there, we have continued to refine our process and are on target to surpass the even higher commercial requirements set by significantly-sized customers eager for our solution.”