3rd Global FutureCem Conference on cement industry decarbonisation
16 - 17 November 2022 - Brussels, Belgium
The 3rd Global FutureCem Conference and exhibition on cement industry decarbonisation took place in Brussels on 16-17 November 2022, attracting delegates from 19 countries. The event was highly praised by attendees for the quality of presentations, for the open and collegiate atmosphere and for the fantastic networking opportunities throughout the event, with one delegate saying 'You did a perfect job, the conference was perfect, the atmosphere was nice and friendly.' For a cement industry conference, a notably high proportion of the delegates were female (pictured above). The event will be repeated in November 2023.
Register your interest in the 4th Global FutureCem Conference and Exhibition 2023.
The conference was opened by Global Cement’s Robert McCaffrey, who gave delegates his unique views on the likely future development trends of some of the world’s largest cement-producing companies, and why and how they are evolving away from their origins in cement and into becoming lower-CO2 building materials producers.
Loïc Pottier of Fives spoke about his company’s technology to reduce CO2 from cement and clinker production, including the use of calcination of clay, use of the Horomill, and use of alternative fuels. Loïc stated that the Horomill has the lowest specific energy requirement of any grinding system, offering better strength at lower Blaine and allowing clinker ratios to be improved, compared to vertical roller mills and ball mills. Loïc mentioned the FCB Preca-Max, which is a pre-combustor for coarse alternative fuels. Fives’ clay calcination process includes a separate colour control step to avoid ‘red cement.’ The Rhodax vertical cone crusher can be used to simplify the crushing process for not only limestone but also for recycling of concrete, while enabling the recovery of a significant proportion of hydrated cement paste, either as a concrete additive or as a pre-decarbonated clinker raw material.
Nesilhan Ergüvan of Çimsa Çimento next spoke about her company’s approach to sustainability. The company has eight integrated plants around the world, and is expecting to publish a Science-based Target commitment in 2023. Çimsa’s key steps towards low CO2 include use of alternative fuels and raw materials, energy management and use of renewable energy, the use of the pre-decarbonised raw materials, clinker optimisation and sustainable products, CCUS, and low emission logistics alternatives.
Dirk Schlemper of INFORM next spoke about how logistics optimisation can be both good for the bottom line and can reduce emissions. Operations Research, machine learning and algorithms are used to calculate optimised routes for truck fleets in order to minimise empty truck kilometres or other KPIs. Loads per truck per day can typically be increased by 7 - 21%.
Speaking next was Koen Coppenholle, chief executive of Cembureau, the European Cement Association, representing all EU members except Malta, and also including non-EU countries such as UK and Türkiye. Koen pointed out that climate targets are increasingly being enshrined in law, while customers are increasingly insisting on ‘green’ solutions. The EU is now facing an energy crisis, not just in pricing but even in availability. Renewable energy supply into Europe is at a rate of around 14% but is required to mount to around 40% by 2030, “practically tomorrow” as Koen put it. The EU’s electricity demand is expected to double by 2050, and “all of it is expected to come from renewable sources.” Koen showed the familiar Cembureau ‘wheel’ of cement industry decarbonisation, including all of the measures that can be taken, including alternative fuels, clinker optimisation, CCUS, and cement paste recarbonation. Koen pointed out that carbon emissions reductions should be considered over the entire product chain, so including concrete products (and recycling). Research projects are ongoing to identify storage sites and pipelines for CCUS, but Koen pointed out that action on the ground is perhaps lagging intentions at the moment. Access to the underground sequestration facilities on reasonable economic grounds is not yet assured. The EU Commission has suggested that there should be a phase-out of the use of industrial CO2 for the product of synthetic fuels by 2035, on account of it not being climate neutral, but Koen pointed out that this sends a signal to the market to not invest in facilities on account of the short life of such projects. He forecast an intensified fight for biomass in the future. The number of construction projects may reduce in the EU in the coming period, but the renovation rate needs to double in the near future, meaning that there will still be be strong demand for cement, concrete and other building materials. Reducing the clinker factor, and greater use of novel binders will be more important in the future. Decarbonisation requires a very substantial investment and a viable business case. He finally concluded that the CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) will not impact importers if they produce CO2 at the average level of EU producers.
Daniel Rennie of Calix next spoke about LEILAC technology, for indirect heating and calcination. The process was proven at the natural-gas-fired pilot plant at Lixhe, visited during the FutureCem conference in 2019, which is capable of capturing 25,000t/yr of CO2 and which is the largest cement industry carbon capture facility outside of China. The LEILAC 2 project at Heidelberg Materials’ Hanover plant will consist of four Leilac units, integrated into the plant’s gas system for added efficiency, while also using alternative fuels at the same time. The plant will process about 20% of the cement plant’s raw meal, and will capture in the region of 100,000t/yr of CO2. The expected electricity consumption for carbon capture is around 1GJ/t. Hydrogen and electricity are potential options for heating the units in the future. The plant is ‘agnostic’ about how the CO2 is subsequently captured.
Jean-Philippe Vacher of Fortera Europe gave the last presentation of the day and pointed out that already-identified technical solutions will not be sufficient to bring the cement industry to net zero by 2050. Fortera’s technology is based on the production of vaterite, a reactive form of calcium carbonate, while avoiding CO2 emissions entirely. Limestone is decarbonised at 900°C and the emitted CO2 is used for remineralisation. Fortera can be used with SCMs, with alumina-based pozzolans and can replace limestone in LC3 blends. A 15% admixture of Fortera can closely match the strength performance of OPC. Fortera can also be used as a stand-alone binder, and has also been used in the production of fibre cement boards for interior use. The first commercial plant, with annual capacity of 15,000t/yr, will be commissioned in early 2023 at the Redding Cement Plant in California.
Delegates enjoyed a unique and memorable networking dinner after the first day of the conference.
Second day
On the second day of the conference, Stefano Zampaletta of Cementir Holding spoke about the company’s FUTURECEM ‘green’ cement, which has a CO2 emission of as low as 70% compared to OPC. The product was launched in Denmark in 2021 and in 2022 France and Benelux, and has been designed for use in a wide variety of applications. Cementir made a collaboration with Sika to show that with the right admixtures, the product can be effectively used for all applications. Colour was an issue, and strenuous efforts have been made to match the colour of the product to cements already on the markets. The product has successfully been used in Troldekt cement-wood acoustic panels and in 3D concrete printing. The producer has found that the variety of national regulations has slowed the rollout and take-up of the product. Next developments include reducing further the clinker content of the product down towards 50%.
Leif Hunsbedt of Eramet, Norway, next spoke on silicomanganese slag, or Silica Green Stone, SiGS. SiGS is an oxide slag from silicon manganese production, comparable to natural rock but with higher manganese content, and which has pozzolanic properties. At present, the product is air-cooled, which produces green glassy particles with 90% amorphous phase. Water-cooled granulated SiGS has nearly 100% amorphous phase and is grey-coloured. SiGS has been tested as an additive in cement or as a cement substitute in concrete. Strength development compared to OPC is only slightly retarded at 30% substitution, while cement substitution at up to 40% in concrete is considered possible. Eramet Norway produces 300,000t/yr of SiGS each year and is open to offers for its use.
In a session on CCUS, Yosra Briki of Vicat Cement spoke about the regulatory challenges for CCUS in Europe. Vicat has committed to carbon neutrality throughout its value chain by 2050. The first full scale clay calcination project in the EU, Argilor, will take place at Vicat's plant in Xeuilley, France. In parallel, Vicat in partnership with Heidelberg Materials, Dyckerhoff/Buzzi and Schwenck Cement has commenced the oxyfuel technology project named ‘CI4C’ at Schwenck Cement in Germany. Despite the technological projects that are underway to reduce CO2 production from cement and clinker, around 42% of the current emissions will remain unabated and the current plan is for these to be captured and either used or sequestered. Yosra reminded the audience that CO2 can be regarded as a valuable feedstock for a variety of chemicals and e-fuels - and when used their emissions can often subsequently be captured again. In the Hynovi project, 300,000t/yr of Vicat’s emissions from the Montalieu plant could be captured and transformed into e-methanol, further avoiding around 200,000t of CO2 from 'grey' methanol. However, whereas emissions reduced by CCS are recognised by the EU ETS, CCU is not. Yosra encouraged policy makers to support CCU to fulfill its role. Furthermore, the use of captured CO2 for the production of synthesized fuels is likely to be phased out by 2035 in the EU, and a variety of organisations are currently lobbying to change that situation.
Aravind Dhakshinamoorthy of Bellona spoke about CCUS policy development in the EU. He mentioned Northern Lights, Porthos and CCS4SEE, which are regional hub projects incorporating capture, transport and storage solutions. A variety of EU regulatory approaches (CO2 storage directive, the EU ETS, CBAM, TEN-E/TEN-T and ReFuelEU) are slowly creating a Europe-wide legal framework for CCUS. The EU is further set to release a ‘CCUS strategic vision’ in early 2023: moving CO2 across national boundaries continues to require legal clarity, and the application of the EU ETS including to smaller emitters and the lack of coherence in EU policies are still issues that need to be addressed.
Martin Rödén of Captimise next gave some ideas on how to reduce the cost of CCUS. Martin pointed out that underground sequestration is permanent, including the possibility of mineralisation of CO2, locking in emissions forever. He advocated that intensive research should be undertaken in order to find the most appropriate technological approaches for each user to capture their emissions at the lowest possible cost. Transportation may be 50% of the cost of the project, but pipelines will usually be the lowest cost options. “In the cement industry you are going to be in CCUS forever,” so an investment can be amortised over a long period. Forecast full chain costs of CCUS, excluding storage (another Euro20/t), range from Euro80 - 120/t, depending on a range of technological variables.
Markus Lintl of Orcan next stated that waste heat is the world’s largest unused source of energy potential, saving costs and avoiding emissions. He said that if you have a use for the heat, then use it as heat, but otherwise, by all means, use it to produce electricity. Orcan has over 600 autonomous organic Rankin-cycle closed-unit waste heat recovery modules in operation around the world, in a variety of industries. The modules have the same dimensions as a 40 foot container, and are easily transportable. Water and heat are the inputs and electricity is the output, with one day of maintenance per year. A cement plant can typically generate up 25% of its electricity needs from its waste process heat.
Siavash Barkhordar of French company Enertime gave the penultimate presentation at the event, looking at technical and financial solutions for WHR. In contrast with the preceding presentation, Siavash concentrated on bespoke solutions, tailored to specific sites. The recent very steep rises in electricity prices throughout Europe, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has rejuvenated interest in WHR in Europe, due to shorter project payback times. Enertime has a financial solution which does not require capital expenditure from the cement producer: the user only supplies heat energy and receives discounted electricity from the equipment supplier in return.
The final presentation was given by well-known cement industry participant Dirk Schmidt of KIMA Process Control, looking at grinding mill optimisation (using SmartFill), process control (autonomous mill operation using MillMaster), measurement of gas flow and temperature using acoustic sensors, and kiln shell cooling using the company’s KilnControl equipment.
Farewells and prizes
After an audience vote, Yosra Briki of Vicat was awarded third prize in the best presentation awards, with Dirk Schmidt of KIMA Process Control second. First prize was awarded to Martin Rödén of Captimise for his interesting paper on reducing the costs of CCUS.
The conference was compact in terms of time, allowing many delegates to attend in a span of just two days in total, while attendees highly praised the event for its exceptional networking possibilities.
When asked 'What did you like best,' the delgates answered:
Hearing the cement producers about their goals, problems, strategies ...
Networking, presentations
Tightness of the agenda and scope of agenda plus face to face
Good variation in participant backgrounds allowed for interesting discussions.
The participants
"Forced" networking, so that we can really have new connections.
Well organized
Excellent discussions!
Presentations and the People I met
Speed dating session was refreshing
Such was the popularity of the event that the 4th Global FutureCem Conference and Exhibition will take place in December 2023, again in Brussels.
