Displaying items by tag: Indonesia

One unusual thing about coverage of cement in the media is the way that discussions often centre precisely on its absence – that is, on alternatives to cement. These alternatives boast unique chemistries and performance characteristics, but are all produced without Portland cement clinker. They are generally called ‘alternative cements,’ perhaps because ‘cement-free cement’ does not have such a commercially viable ring to it. This contradictory tendency reached a new high in the past week, with developments in alternative cement across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Together, they hint at a more diverse future for the ‘cement’ industry than the one we know today.

Asia

In Indonesia, Suvo Strategic Minerals has concluded tests with Makassar State University of a novel nickel-slag-based cement. Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia supplied raw materials, and tests showed a seven-day compressive strength of 37.5MPa. Suvo Strategic Minerals says that a partnership with Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia for commercial production is a likely next step.

Europe

Cement producer Mannok and minerals company Boliden partnered with the South Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM) research centre in Ireland to launch a project to develop supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) from shale on 7 October 2024. The project will additionally investigate CO₂-curing of cement paste backfill for use in mines. Irish state-owned global commerce agency Enterprise Ireland has contributed €700,000 in funding.

UK-based SCM developer Karbonite expects to launch trial production of its olivine-based SCM with a concrete company in 2025. The start-up launched Karbonite Group Holding BV, with offices in the Netherlands, to facilitate this new phase. Karbonite’s SCM is activated at 750 – 850°C and sequesters CO₂ in the activation process, resulting in over 56% lower CO₂ emissions than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Managing director Rajeev Sood told Global Cement that talks are already underway for subsequent expansions into the UAE and India.

Back in the UK, contractor John Sisk & Son has received €597,000 from national innovation agency Innovate UK. John Sisk & Son is testing fellow Ireland-based company Ecocem’s <25% clinker cement technology in concrete for use in its on-going construction of the Wembley Park mixed development in London.

At the same time, Innovate UK granted a further €3.23m to other companies for concrete decarbonisation. Recipients included a calcined clay being developed by Cemcor, an SCM being developed from electric arc furnace byproducts by Cocoon, a geopolymer cement technology being developed by EFC Green Concrete Technology UK and an initiative to develop alternative cement from recycled concrete fines at the Materials Processing Institute in Middlesbrough. Also included was the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, which is working on the London stretch of the upcoming HS2 railway. The joint venture, along with partners including cement producer Tarmac and construction chemicals company Sika UK, will test low-kaolinite London clay as a raw material with which to produce calcined clay as a cement substitute in concrete structures in HS2’s rail tunnels.

Middle East

Talks are underway between UK-based calcined clay producer Next Generation SCM and City Cement subsidiary Nizak Mining Company over the possible launch of a joint venture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The joint venture would build a 350,000t/yr reduced-CO₂ concrete plant, which would use alternative cement based on Next Generation SCM’s calcined clay.

North America

Texas-based SCM developer Solidia Technologies recently patented its carbonatable calcium silicate-based alternative cement, which sequesters CO₂ as it cures.

Meanwhile, C-Crete Technologies made its first commercial pour of its granite-based cement-free concrete in New York, US. C-Crete Technologies says that the product offers cost and performance parity with conventional cement, with net zero CO₂ emissions. Its raw material is globally more abundant than the limestone used as a raw material for clinker. Other abundantly available feedstocks successfully deployed within C-Crete Technologies’ repertoire include basalt and zeolite.

Across New York State, in Binghamton, KLAW Industries has succeeded in replacing 20% of concrete’s cement content with its powdered glass-based SCM, Pantheon. KLAW Industries has delivered samples to local municipalities and the New York State Department of Transportation. Its success expands the discussion of possible circular cement ingredients from the industrial sphere into post-consumer resources.

In Calgary, Canada, a novel SCM has drawn attention from one of the major cement incumbents: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. It invested in local construction and demolition materials (CDM)-based SCM developer EnviCore on 9 October 2024. The companies plan to build a pilot plant at an existing Heidelberg Materials CDM recycling centre.

Conclusion

Alternative cement developers are still finding the words to talk about their products. They may be more than ‘supplementary’ up to the point of entirely supplanting 100% of clinker. Product webpages offer ‘hydraulic binder,’ ‘pozzolan’ and even ‘cement.’ As alternative ‘cements’ are developed, they build on the work of pioneers like Joseph Aspdin and Louis Vicat. Start-ups and their backers are now reaching commercial offerings, on a similar-but-different footing to cement itself. None of these novel materials positions itself as the sole, last-minute ‘super sub’ in the construction sector’s confrontation with climate change. Rather, they are a package of solutions which can combine into a net zero-emissions heavy building materials offering, hopefully before 2050.

Related to this is the need for ‘technology neutral’ standards, as championed this week by the Alliance for Low-Carbon Cement and Concrete (ALCCC), along with 23 other European industry associations, civil society organisations and think tanks. The term may sound new, but the concept is critical to the eventual uptake of alternative cements: standards, the ALCCC says, should be purely performance-based. They ought not attempt to define what technology, for example cement clinker, makes a suitable building material. According to the ALCCC, Europe’s building materials standards are not technology neutral, but instead ‘gatekeep’ market access, to the benefit of conventional cement and the exclusion of ‘proven and scalable low-carbon products.’

At the same time, cement itself is changing. Market research from USD Analytics showed an anticipated 5% composite annual growth rate in blended cement sales between 2024 and 2032, more than doubling throughout the period from US$253bn to US$369bn. If you can’t beat it, blend with it!

For a further discussion of alternative cement and binders in Europe, see Global Cement’s interview with ALCCC co-ordinator Joren Verschaeve in the forthcoming November issue of Global Cement Magazine on 17 October 2024.

Indonesia: Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa has acquired a 20% stake in Amita Prakarsa Hijau, a company that specialises in the recycling of industrial and municipal refuse and biomass-derived materials into alternative fuel for the cement industry. The deal is valued at US$120,000 and was completed on 8 October 2024.

Indonesia: Suvo Strategic Minerals has reported successful laboratory tests in collaboration with Makassar State University (UNM) in Indonesia, transforming nickel slag into a ‘high-strength, low-cost and low-carbon’ cement, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The trials used slag from PT Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia's operations in South Sulawesi, achieving a compressive strength of 37.5MPa after seven days. The company is now looking to conduct further testing and will provide the results to PT Huadi, with the aim of forming a partnership for the commercialisation of low-carbon cement using nickel slag.

Aaron Bank, executive chair of Suvo Strategic Minerals, said “We are excited to have commenced this workstream in Indonesia testing the byproduct of one of the country’s largest mining companies, with our ultimate goal being to manufacture an environmentally-friendly and low-carbon alternative to Portland cement. Achieving up to 37.5MPa after only seven days is an outstanding first round trial result for the company and could provide an entry into a large industry.”

The Indonesian government emphasised its intention this week to use ‘green’ cement in the construction of its new capital city Nusantara in Borneo. However, this begs the question: what exactly is ‘green’ cement?

In this case, Mohammad Zainal Fatah, the secretary general of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, told state media that his department was “seeking to encourage the supply of domestic-industry-based material resources and construction equipment, which can support sustainable infrastructure development principles." The ministry is working with state-owned cement producers such as Semen Indonesia (SIG) to ensure the provision of sustainable cement and related products. SIG was selected as a supplier for the project in late 2022 and, as of February 2024, has reportedly provided 400,000t of cement from its plants at Balikpapan and Samarinda.

This is admirable stuff. However, the timing of the announcement is curious given that both the head and deputy head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority resigned this week forcing the government to reassure investors that the project was still on. Cue some swift discussion about ‘green’ cement! Previously it was hoped that the first phase of the US$34bn project could be inaugurated on the country’s independence day in August 2024 with civil servants scheduled to start relocating to the site in the autumn.

SIG sells a number of ‘green’ blended cement products and some of these have received Green Label Cement certification from the Green Product Council Indonesia. The group says that these products have contributed up to a 38% drop in CO₂ emissions compared to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). This compares to the group’s clinker factor reduction rate of 69% and its Scope 1 emissions intensity reduction of 17% to 585kg/CO₂/t of cement in 2023 compared to 2010 levels.

Along similar lines, the Alliance for Low-Carbon Cement & Concrete (ALCCC) in Belgium also announced this week that it had released a new policy roadmap aimed at achieving net zero emissions by 2040. Amongst its recommendations were a focus on the standards for cement and concrete to promote low-carbon products and encouragement to create lead markets to develop demand for them.

Crucially, the ALCCC uses low-carbon cement in place of ‘green’ cement and this makes its definition clearer. ‘Green’ cement is a marketing term intended to associate cement with environmentalism. Yet there is no accepted definition describing how these products are more sustainable than, say, OPC. For example, a so-called ‘green’ cement could use 100% clinker manufactured with no CO₂ emissions-abatement, but it might be sustainable in other ways such as saving water. For the purposes of this article we’ll assume that ‘green’ cement means a low-carbon one. To further add to the confusion, ‘green’ concrete can be made using OPC in various ways but that’s beyond the scope of this piece. Clearly the world could do with some universal definitions.

US-based research and consulting company Global Efficiency Intelligence came to the same conclusion when it published its ‘What are Green Cement and Concrete?’ report in December 2023. It decided that - despite there being plenty of standards, protocols, and initiatives - there is no general agreement on the definition of ‘green’ cement or concrete. Its emissions intensity for cement summary table can be viewed below. It demonstrates the massive range of emissions intensity between the various standards. It is worth noting here that the description the Indonesian government may have been using for ‘green’ cement could already meet SIG’s Scope 1 emissions intensity reduction for its cement in 2023 depending on the standard being used.

Table 1: Emissions intensity definition for cement as stated by standards, protocols, initiatives, and policies with stated numerical quantity targets. Source: Global Efficiency Intelligence.

Part of the problem here is that there is a language gap between the simple definition of a cement that is less CO₂ emissions-intensive than OPC and the technical definitions used in the specifications and standards. Simply describing a cement product as ‘green’ can potentially cover anything that is slightly better than OPC down to a bona-fide net-zero product. Added to this is pressure from the manufacturers of new and existing cement products that use less or no OPC for regulators to move to performance-based standards to replace existing prescriptive standards, because it makes it easier for their products to be used. For more on this issue see Global Cement Weekly #606. Cement associations such as Cembureau and the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) have also called in their respective net zero roadmaps for changes to the standards system to promote low-carbon cement and concrete products.

The answer to what is ‘green’ cement is whatever the promoters want it to be. So, it might be helpful if the use of the word ‘green’ were banned in connection to any marketing activity related to cement products. Everyone could then adopt some kind of universal grading system using simpler language. One approach might be to copy the colour-coding scheme used by hydrogen to describe how it is made. One could use yellow for limestone blends, silver for slag, orange for clay, black for OPC made with carbon capture and so on… but not green! Another route might be to mandate the use of the carbon labels that some cement producers have used for at least a decade. Or something like the alphabet energy rating system used in the UK and EU for electrical appliances could be used. It’s too much to hope for a global system but simpler systems in the main markets would make it much easier to determine what exactly is ‘green’ cement.

Peter Edwards, Editor of Global Cement Magazine, discusses ‘sustainable’ cement in The Last Word in the June 2023 issue

Indonesia: The Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) has forecast the volume of cement to be used in the construction of the upcoming new capital city, Nusantara, as 1Mt/yr. This corresponds to 1.5% of the current domestic demand of 65.6Mt/yr. The Jakarta Post newspaper has reported that ASI members plan to supply reduced-CO₂ cement for the Nusantara project, to help it realise its aims as a ‘green city.’

In 2022 – 2024, the construction of Nusantara is expected to use 1.94Mt of cement. Research from the Bandung Institute of Technology previously forecast in 2022 that the Nusantara project would raise Indonesia’s cement demand by 33% to 84Mt/yr for 20 years from the start of its construction.

Indonesia: The Ministry of Industry is preparing a comprehensive roadmap for decarbonising the cement industry, due for initial implementation by the end of 2025. Newsbase Daily News has reported that that the roadmap includes targets for CO₂ emissions reduction, alternative fuels substitution and energy efficiency. It will also focus on developing new technologies and implementing supportive policies for the transition. The ministry noted that the Indonesian cement industry is already working to reduce its carbon footprint through multiple initiatives.

Indonesia: The local government will begin using 'green' cement supplied by state-owned PT Semen Indonesia (SIG) in a bid to ensure sustainable construction in the new capital of Nusantara. This initiative will be a partnership to provide 'green' cement and cement-based products between SIG and PT Bina Karya, a state-owned company carrying out property development in Nusantara. Through 'green' cement production, the company has reportedly recorded a reduction in carbon emissions of up to 38% per tonne of cement so far.

SIG was chosen to supply materials for infrastructure development needs in Nusantara in December 2022. As of February 2024, the company has supplied 0.4Mt of cement from its production facilities in Balikpapan and Samarinda, near Nusantara.

PUPR Ministry’s secretary general, Mohammad Zainal Fatah, said "The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is seeking to encourage the supply of domestic industry-based material resources and construction equipment, which can support sustainable infrastructure development principles. SIG has the advantage of extensive production and distribution networks that are able to meet development needs in all regions in Indonesia.”

Indonesia: PT Kobexindo Cement has entered an agreement to construct a new cement plant in South Aceh, despite a national moratorium on such developments. The project, under China-based Hongshi Holding Group subsidiary Zhejiang Hongshi Cement, plans a US$621m investment for a facility with a 6Mt/yr capacity, according to the Jakarta Post.

The Indonesian central government's moratorium, aimed at curbing oversupply in the cement market, prohibits new cement plants except in specified eastern regions. This edict arose as national cement production significantly exceeded demand, according to the Indonesia Cement Association (ASI).

ASI president Lilik Unggul Raharjo said that the move by South Aceh regency not only violated the ban but also threatened the viability of three state-owned cement companies in Sumatra. Raharjo said "These companies are guaranteed to go out of business. The Industry Ministry will conduct a technical verification of foreign direct investment in the cement industry before the permit is issued.”

Indonesia: The Jakarta administration has commenced the construction of the Rorotan refuse derived fuel (RDF) plant on a 7.8-hectare site in North Jakarta, aiming to process 2,500t/day of waste. The US$75m project is funded from the 2024 regional budget and is expected to be completed by December 2024 and start operations in early 2025. The city of Jakarta produces nearly 8,000t/day of waste, the majority of which goes to the Bantar Gebang landfill in West Java. The facility will convert 35-40% of the waste processed into about 875t/day of alternative fuels.

The Rorotan facility is the second RDF plant initiated by the Jakarta administration, following the Bantar Gebang facility, which began operations in 2023. This new facility marks a shift from the planned waste-to-energy incinerator in Sunter, which was cancelled due to high costs and bureaucratic delays.

Acting Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono said "This technology is still a very small part of our larger efforts to address the city's waste problem."

Head of the Jakarta Environment Agency Asep Kuswanto said "The RDF can become another source of revenue for the city, as we can sell the alternative fuel from the facility to industry."

Indonesia: Siam Cement Group (SCG) subsidiary PT Semen Jawa used 24,000t of alternative raw materials in its cement production during the first quarter of 2024. These circular materials included bottom ash, fly ash and slag. This corresponds to 3% of its total raw material usage. Meanwhile, the producer co-processed 15,000t of alternative fuel (AF) during the quarter, representing a 20% AF substitution rate.

SCG Indonesia director Warit Jintanawan said that the developments "Not only enhance production efficiency, but also significantly reduces our carbon footprint. This is a testament to SCG's commitment to supporting Indonesia's climate goals, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32%, aligned with Enhanced National Determined Contributions."