September 2024
UltraTech Cement announces planned Maihar cement plant expansion 03 December 2021
India: UltraTech Cement plans to increase the production capacity at its Maihar cement plant by 50%. Denmark-based FLSmidth will carry out the expansion project, which also involves the installation of a new calciner and JetFlex burner, along with other pyroprocessing equipment. The supplier says that the upgrade will facilitate greater alternative fuel substitution at the plant in Madhya Pradesh.
FLSmidth’s cement president Carsten Riisberg Lund said “We are pleased to continue our long-lasting collaboration with UltraTech Cement. With the new upgrades to the pyro sections, installing MissionZero flagship offerings, such as the low-NOx calciner and JetFlex burner, UltraTech makes a significant investment in future-proofing its sustainable production.”
Canada: France-based Fives FCB has secured a contract to upgrade the grinding unit at Ciment Québec’s Saint Basile integrated plant in Quebec. The supplier will install two FCB Horomill grinding workshops with FCB TSV 5000 THF classifiers, FCB aerodecanters and flash dryers and Fives TGT process filters. It said that its mills met the customer’s specifications: namely zero water use; minimum power consumption; data processing; and full automation with rapid recipe change.
Ciments Québec president and chief executive officer Luc Papillon said “After a thorough technical review of the various technologies available today for cement grinding, we have selected the Horomill, being confident that it is the best adapted solution for our multiple cements portfolio and our quest to reduce our cement environmental footprint.”
China: Australia-based FCT Combustion has announced a formal alliance with air pollution control partner Enelco Environmental Technology (EET). Together the companies will target the Chinese cement, steel, glass and other markets. EET has become the exclusive China representative of FCT Combustion, with which it shares its capabilities and resources in the service of Chinese customers.
The two companies have set up a joint office in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. A workshop in Bengbu, Anhui province will support its work. FCT Combustion and EET also plan to launch local technical support, engineering and procurement teams for customers in China.
FCT Group chief executive officer Adriano Greco said “We have great respect for our growing customer base within China and believe that it is important to establish a locally based business unit so that we can deliver the best outcomes and customer experiences, providing customer service and engineering according to the local culture and language, as well as local procurement to offer the most cost-effective solution.”
Innovative Ash Solutions to establish 20,000t/yr ash processing plant in South Lanarkshire 02 December 2021
UK: Innovative Ash Solutions has received a Euro588m Scottish government grant to establish a 20,000t/yr ash processing plant in South Lanarkshire. The Herald newpaper has reported that the plant will process boiler ash, cyclone ash and incineration fly ash for use in local cement production. When commissioned in 2022, the plant will eliminate 6104t/yr of CO2 emissions, according to the operator. The government granted the funding under its Zero Waste Scotland circular economic investment scheme.
The company said “Using this new patented process, which diverts waste materials from landfill and avoids the use of virgin sand, creates a product which is cheaper and will reduce the environmental impact of cement production compared to the use of imported pulverised fuel ash.”
Innovative Ash Solutions is a joint venture of waste management company Levenseat and consultancy Organic Innovative Solutions.
LafargeHolcim US launches TerCem blended cement 02 December 2021
US: LafargeHolcim US has announced the launch of TerCem, a blended cement which offers 65% reduced CO2 emissions compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC), according to the company. LafargeHolcim US will produce TerCem at its Whitehall, Pennsylvania, cement plant. The product joins its ECOPlanet low-carbon cement range.
Senior vice president sales Patrick Cleary said "We are leading a market transformation and taking a step towards a net-zero future. Our cement organisation has invested heavily in broadening the industry's range of superior sustainable products designed to lower our carbon footprint with no compromise in quality and long-term durability."
Aerzen Rental launches new TVS2500 air compressor 02 December 2021
Germany: Aerzen Rental has added its new TVS2500 air compressor to its 10-bar range of air compressors. Parent company Aerzen said that it developed the TVS2500 to set the standard for power density, energy efficiency and quiet running. The compressor is designed for large material volumes. A frequency converter facilitates optimal pressure and volume flow control, while variable speed control also enables a gentle start with a low starting current. The device can be used in any existing power network. Efficient cooling inside the units further ensures a regular supply of compressed air at ambient temperatures of up to 45°C.
Holcim issues statement on on-going Lafarge Syria terror case 02 December 2021
France: Holcim has issued a statement after another day of the on-going criminal court case against Lafarge Syria on charges of financing a terror organisation, violating an embargo, endangering its employees and being complicit in crimes against humanity. Aljazeera News has reported that the company stands accused of paying US$15.3m to armed groups including ISIS, to which it allegedly also supplied cement. Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, Lafarge Syria had invested US$601m in its cement operations in the country. Holcim called the alleged crimes a ‘legacy issue’ for Lafarge Syria. Following the group’s discovery of the historic conduct in 2016, it engaged third-party investigators and shared their findings with the courts.
Chair Beat Hess said “All the alleged charges against Lafarge SA are in stark contrast with everything that Holcim stands for as a company. The described events concerning Lafarge SA were concealed from the Holcim Board at the time of the merger in 2015 and go completely against the values of our company.” He added “On behalf of the board of directors of Holcim, I would like to reiterate how extremely shocked and appalled we are by the alleged charges against Lafarge SA.”
CO2 emissions by the Chinese cement sector 01 December 2021
Holcim has announced today that it has concluded the sale of its 75% stake of its Zambian business to Huaxin Cement. Meanwhile, in Tanzania last week, Huaxin Cement officially commissioned a cement grinding line at its Tanzanian Maweni Limestone plant. China produces about half the world’s cement and some its producers are expanding overseas as domestic growth dwindles. These actions and others place increased scrutiny on sustainability issues for Chinese cement producers. Readers therefore may be interested to note the publication last week of a list of the 100 largest Chinese corporate emitters of CO2 in 2020.
The Chinese Cement Association (CCA) website carries some highlights on the work by from the cement sector’s perspective. China Venture Carbon and Caixin compiled the list of publicly listed companies using a mixture of freely available data such as sustainability reports, by adjusting public data or by making estimates. The companies covered released 4.42Bnt of CO2 in 2020 or 45% of the Chinese total. The 15 cement firms in the top 100 were responsible for 893Mt of CO2 or around 9% of the national total. This ratio is in keeping with the usual 5 – 10% share of global CO2 emissions attributed to cement production.
Graph 1: Global gross CO2 emissions by large cement companies in 2020. Source: China Venture Carbon/ Caixin, corporate sustainability reports. Note: Includes all reported direct and indirect emissions for all company business lines.
Many of the Chinese cement companies already release sustainability data each year so this data isn’t exactly new. Yet seeing it all in one place like this is illuminating. Unsurprisingly, on the cement side the ranking is a list of producers ordered roughly by production capacity. The world’s biggest cement producer CNBM is also the cement company that emits the most CO2. It released 255Mt of CO2 in 2020. If it were a country, for example, it would be around the 20th largest emitter in the world with a similar output to France or Thailand. In China CNBM is then followed by Anhui Conch, BBMG, Tangshan Jidong Cement and China Resources Cement (CRC).
Graph 1 above also includes the total gross CO2 emissions for other large cement producers outside of China in 2020 for comparison. These figures are estimates compiled from company sustainability reports and they attempt to cover all direct and indirect emissions across all business lines not just cement. Similar to the Chinese list, generally, the less CO2 a cement company emits on this graph the less cement it produces. It is also worth noting that 2020 was an unusual year given the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Generally this reduced global manufacturing output but there was wide regional variation.
The other interesting point to note from the China Venture Carbon-Caixin project is that they re-ranked their list by carbon emission intensity, measured as emissions as a proportion of revenue. This totally changes the ordering. Where before the 15 cement companies were fairly evenly spaced out amongst power generators, coal producers and petrochemical companies, now all of them are in the top 50. As the CCA notes in its commentary, “The emission intensity of electricity and cement is much higher than that of other industries. The top 30 companies in terms of carbon emission intensity are almost all power and cement companies.” Whilst most of these companies are probably safe for the time being, given their size, what this might mean for smaller Chinese cement companies with high emission intensity in light of the Chinese government’s energy efficiency drives might be seen as worrying.
Promoting gross CO2 emissions by cement producers is generally avoided by cement producers because it makes them look bad! It prompts an argument with the environmental lobby and doesn’t recognise the essential nature of cementitious building products to society. However, to their credit producers are publishing the data. The preferred metric for the non-Chinese multinationals is specific emissions per tonne of cement as this better shows the hard-work made to reduce emissions. However, this risks a credibility gap from the outside world, if specific emissions go down but total emissions keep rising each year. In the meantime though the more data the better from China and everywhere else.
Wiroat Rattanachaisit appointed as vice president of Siam Cement Group’s regional cement business 01 December 2021
Thailand: Siam Cement Group has appointed Wiroat Rattanachaisit as the Vice President of its Regional Cement Building Materials Business with effect from the start of 2022. He also becomes the Vice President of the group’s Housing Products and Solution Business. Rattanachaisit is currently a country director for the group’s cement business in Indonesia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and also attended the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
Jukka Pennanen appointed as head of Cross Wrap 01 December 2021
Finland: Cross Wrap has appointed Jukka Pennanen as its chief executive officer from the start of 2022. He succeeds Satu Kivelä in the post. She has held the position since 1994. Saalasti Group purchased 100% of Cross Wrap’s shares in February 2021.
Pennanen joined the baling and wrapping engineering company in October 2021 as a chief operating officer. Prior to this he has held a number of positions including running managing consultancy Luotsaaja for a decade. Earlier in his career he worked for Nokia for over 10 years in marketing and sales positions.