Displaying items by tag: Alternative Fuels

Philippines: Holcim Philippines and Universal Robina Corporation (URC) have entered a tripartite agreement with the local government of Obando, Bulacan, to provide incentives for workers at the town's material recovery facility, based on the volume of refuse diverted. The material recovery facility in Obando has collected and sorted 785t of plastic waste for co-processing. Since 2021, URC and Holcim's waste management unit Geocycle has been processing plastic from URC's operations for co-processing. The plastics are converted into alternative fuels used to power the kiln at Holcim’s plant in Misamis Oriental.

Irwin Lee, URC president and CEO, said "This new agreement, with Obando as a key partner, aims to further drive community-based ‘waste’ diversion efforts. We hope to replicate it in other towns and cities to amplify the impact of what we set out to do three years ago."

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.

Canada: Lafarge Canada, a subsidiary of Holcim, has inaugurated a new low-carbon fuel facility at its Exshaw cement plant, in a joint effort with Geocycle Canada. The US$28m facility is supported by a US$7.4m contribution from Emissions Reduction Alberta through the government’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction fund. It will reduce natural gas consumption by up to 50% for one of the plant’s kilns by substituting it with alternative fuels (AF) sourced from construction and demolition materials, primarily wood. Geocycle will process the materials into AF. This initiative is expected to divert up to 120,000t/yr of discarded materials from landfill, reducing CO₂ emissions by approximately 30,000t/yr.

President and CEO of Lafarge Canada (West), Brad Kohl, said "Our commitment to building a sustainable future is at the core of everything we do. The low-carbon fuel project is a prime example of how innovation and collaboration can drive positive change, lowering our environmental footprint through the use of discarded biomass materials while closing the material loop to conserve natural resources.”

Egypt: Cemex Egypt has inaugurated new decarbonisation equipment at the Assiut cement plant, aligning with its ‘Future in Action’ sustainability strategy. The technology repurposes residual material into energy, incorporating high-efficiency separators and improvements to the calciner process, reducing CO₂ emissions by approximately 32kg/t of cement produced, totalling a reduction of 290,000t/yr.

President of Cemex Egypt & UAE, Yago Castro, said “The inauguration of the decarbonisation equipment at the Assiut plant is a testament to our ongoing efforts to create a more sustainable future for our communities and the planet. At Cemex, we are committed to leading climate action in the industry, using the highest alternative fuels substitution rate in the cement industry in Egypt.”

Georgia: Hunnewell Cement, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement Georgia, has launched a new project to use tyres as an alternative fuel at its Kaspi cement plant, with support from the Georgian government. The project has a budget of US$2.1m, and is expected to create additional job opportunities. It marks a shift from the use of coal and natural gas at the plant, to ‘significantly’ reduce environmental impact and contribute to sustainable development.

Economy minister Levan Davitashvili said "Our goal is to minimise environmental pollution from ‘waste’ while promoting economic development and creating added value.”

Energy has been the theme for a couple of cement news stories of note from Egypt this week. The first concerns the government’s impending plan to centralise distribution of mazut (heavy fuel oil) to cement plants to help them cope with ongoing power shortages. Earlier in the week Cemex signed a deal with the Assiut Governorate to operate a second municipal solid refuse processing unit in the country. The company’s first Regenera facility, in Mahala, started operations in May 2024. Another story from mid-September 2024, along the same theme, covered the inauguration of an 18MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit at Heidelberg Materials Egypt's Helwan Cement plant.

The wider story is that the country has faced so-called load shedding, or power rationing, since mid-2023 due to falling gas production, rising energy demand and negative currency exchange effects making it harder to buy fuel imports. The power cuts were extended in duration in July 2024 due to a heat wave. The government then said in late September 2024 that it is making investments to prevent domestic power cuts in 2025.

The cement stories mentioned above show some of the ways cement companies cut their energy costs. Two potential ways of doing this are to increase the use of alternative fuels (AF), such as municipal solid waste, or to install a WHR unit. Titan Cement, for example, reported AF thermal substitution rates of above 40% in Alexandria and above 30% in Beni Suef in the first half of 2024. The local press hasn’t reported power shortages amongst the country’s cement producers, but the plans to control the distribution of mazut suggest that either ‘something’ has happened or the government is trying to avoid ‘something.’ Readers may recall that producers have periodically faced step changes in power supplies over the years. In the mid-2010s, for example, lots of plants switched from heavy fuel oil and gas to coal. The energy price fluctuations following the start of the Russia - Ukraine war in 2022 then saw the price of coal rise.

However, what the foreign-owned producers have complained about in the first half of 2024 is the declining exchange rate of the Egyptian Pound. Cementir, Cemex and Titan Cement all noted this. However, Titan reckoned that International Monetary Fund and European Union investment had actually eased the economic situation in the first half of the year leading to an increase in the number of large construction projects.

One effect of the currency problems upon the cement market has been a focus on exports. At the start of September 2024 the Federation of Egyptian Industries said that national cement consumption in 2024 was expected to drop by 4% year-on-year to 45Mt. However, exports were projected to rise to 15Mt. The first and second most popular destinations so far in 2024 have been the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Yet, exports to Libya, the third biggest external market, may have had the biggest effect. These have been blamed for creating a shortage of trucks that was causing delays to the local construction sector. The round-journey from Egypt to Libya can take up to 12 days. This has left building sites bereft of raw material deliveries because all the trucks are elsewhere! Vicat acknowledged the growing importance of imports for its business in Egypt in its half-year report for 2024. It said that ‘sluggish’ domestic market conditions “were more than offset by growth in cement and clinker volumes for export to the Mediterranean and Africa regions.”

The wider picture of the cement sector in Egypt remains one of overcapacity with integrated capacity estimated above 70Mt/yr. The government introduced cement production quotas in mid-2021 and this stabilised prices (and profits). The recent state of the local economy may have strained this, but the latest round of external investment appears to have buoyed things for now. Although the effects of the Israeli military action in Lebanon may have unforeseen consequences upon neighbouring markets. In the meantime, cutting energy costs and growing exports offer two ways for producers to raise their profits.

Egypt: Cemex has signed an agreement with Assiut Governorate to operate its second Regenera facility in Egypt. This facility processes about 7,000t/month of municipal solid refuse, treating it to generate alternative fuels before compost production, thereby ensuring minimal residual materials go to landfill. The Assiut agreement follows the first Regenera facility in Mahala, which began operations in May 2024. Cemex has invested over US$2.5m in an alternative fuel dryer at the Assiut plant.

US: Colorado-based energy company NovoHydrogen plans to establish a hydrogen production facility at the Ash Grove Cement plant near Durkee, Oregon. Funded by the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the plant aims to start producing hydrogen fuel by 2028, according to CEO and founder Matt McMonagle. The hydrogen produced would be stored at the plant to be used to fuel trucks and other vehicles on-site, as well as potentially being used to power the plant. The construction of the plant will reportedly create 50 jobs.

Phillip Teintze, manager at the Durkee plant, said "The Ash Grove Cement Durkee plant is active in many opportunities to decarbonise our industry. Solutions for low carbon cement manufacturing are significantly challenging in terms of processes and expense. The Durkee plant is excited to see the development of NovoHydrogen’s efforts with the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. As hydrogen becomes environmentally and economically viable, we believe our facility could act as a distribution site, and potentially utilise hydrogen as a fuel to displace traditional fossil fuels.”

Egypt: Cemex has won a place on Fortune's 2024 Change the World list for its sustainable business practices. This recognition, the fourth for Cemex, highlights its collaboration with VeryNile to clean the Nile River and develop sustainable solutions for discarded materials. Supported by the Ministry of the Environment, VeryNile focuses on removing inorganic matter from the Nile, upcycling plastics, and converting non-recyclable materials into alternative fuel for Cemex's Assiut cement plant. This initiative not only reduces pollution but also improves water quality for the local community and provides alternative employment for 150 local fishermen and women affected by contamination of the Nile.

CEO of Cemex Fernando González said "We are once again honoured by Fortune's recognition of our sustainable business model, which aligns environmental conservation with social empowerment. The VeryNile initiative exemplifies how companies can collaborate with NGOs and society to change the world for the better."

Bolivia: The Viacha cement plant, operated by Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce), has launched a pilot to co-process discarded electrical and electronic equipment into alternative fuels. This initiative, developed in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Water, involves the management of 133t of materials. The process includes converting discarded plastics with brominated flame retardants into energy for the plant.

CEO of Soboce, Francisco Shwortshik, said "Viacha has all the licenses and environmental authorisations for the co-processing of alternative fuels. Today we are witnessing a historic milestone for the industry, because it marks the beginning of the era of alternative fuels, as a sustainable environmental solution for the country."