Displaying items by tag: CO2

France: Lafarge France has announced a total planned investment of Euro46m in upgrades to its 1.6Mt/yr Saint-Pierre-la-Cour, Mayenne, cement plant and its 1.2Mt/yr La Malle, Bouches-du-Rhone, cement plant. The Holcim subsidiary will invest Euro40m to convert the Saint-Pierre-la-Cour plant to low carbon cement production. Meanwhile, it will invest Euro6m in the La Malle plant’s conversion to ultra-low carbon cement production. The L’Usine Nouvelle newspaper has reported that the transitions will complement the company’s strategy of over 25% EcoPact reduced-CO₂ ready-mix concrete sales by 2025.

New Zealand: Holcim Australia and New Zealand plans to establish a new low carbon cement import and distribution facility next to its existing cement terminal at Ports of Auckland. The company says that the facility will have the capacity to replace 100,000t/yr of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) used in New Zealand. In 2021, the country consumed 1.6Mt of cement, generating 1.3Mt of CO₂ emissions.

CEO George Agriogiannis said “I’m pleased Holcim Australia and New Zealand is progressing to the building phase of a facility that will import and distribute low carbon cement replacement products. Once operational, the site will enable the reduction of carbon emissions via a cement replacement which can be used for applications such as infrastructure, commercial and residential projects.” He concluded “This initiative is a positive step toward the New Zealand government’s Zero Carbon ambitions and Holcim’s Net Zero climate pledge.”

EU: European Union (EU) member state governments have agreed to establish a carbon border adjustment mechanism on imports of polluting goods, including cement, from outside of the EU. Besides preventing carbon leakage, the member states hope that the mechanism will encourage EU partners to establish carbon pricing policies and combat climate change within the framework of the European Emissions Trading System (ETS).

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded its Energy Star certification to cement plants belonging to two Titan America subsidiaries. Titan Florida’s Pennsuco, Florida, cement plant has secured its 14th consecutive Energy Star, while Roanoke Cement’s Troutville, Virginia, cement has secured its 15th consecutive Energy Star.

Other cement plants to receive Energy Stars in 2022 included two Argos USA plants (Calera, Alabama, and Harleyville, South Carolina), two GCC plants (Pueblo, Colorado, and Rapid City, South Dakota), Buzzi Unicem’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant and three plants in Arizona: CalPortland’s Rillito plant, Drake Cement’s Paulden plant and Salt River Materials Group’s Clarkdale plant.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has launched ISO14044-compliant full-lifecycle Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its ready-mix concrete range. The company says that the EPDs will help designers and builders to inform their materials selection processes. The Redacción newspaper has reported that data from five cement plants contributed to the declarations.

Concrete and aggregates director Manuel Sirtori congratulated the team for "demonstrating leadership by promoting transparency and reducing emissions in the construction industry."

Spain: A consortium consisting of Cemex España, energy suppliers Enagás and Redexis, renewable power and infrastructure company Acciona and 30 other partners has commissioned Europe’s first solar power-to-green hydrogen plant at the site of Cemex España’s Lloseta cement plant on Majorca. The EU contributed Euro10m to the approximately Euro50m project. Euro3.75 million came from the Balearic Islands Autonomous Community government and Euro2.5m from the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) of the Ministry of the Ecological Transition. The project will generate 300t/yr of hydrogen, eradicating 20,700t/yr of CO₂. The hydrogen will primarily fuel city buses in Palma, as well as air conditioning units in public and private buildings there.

China: Geely will include electric cement truck battery pack change facilities in its roll out of 5000 vehicle battery change stations across China. Carscoops News has reported that the stations will be able to remove vehicles’ 3.2t, 280kWh battery packs in five minutes and fully recharge them in an hour. Cement truck drivers will be able to access the service via a simple QR code scan.

Indonesia: Entsorga has dispatched two Spider bridge cranes and two Pelican feeding and dosing systems for the construction of two new solid recovered fuel (SRF) storage, feeding and dosing systems at Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa’s 11.9Mt/yr Citeureup cement plant in Bogor Regency. The systems will have a total capacity of 50t/hr. An advanced supervision system will monitor and control their 24-hour operation. The Italy-based supplier says that both lines are highly automated and will reduce both CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption.

CEO Francesco Galanzino “The systems will help the cement plant to maintain its 2030 sustainability commitments, in line with the policies of HeidelbergCement who is a real first mover in the path toward sustainability. Such project it is a very important step in a Country where environmental policies are in their early stage.”

Saudi Arabia: Al Kifah Ready-Mix & Blocks (KRB) has announced the upcoming launch of its ConGreen reduced-CO₂ concrete products range at the Big 5 Saudi construction summit on 28 – 31 March 2022. ConGreen concretes replace clinker with lower-carbon materials such as pozzolan and use Canada-based Carbon Cure Technologies’ embedded recycled CO₂ technology to reduce its carbon footprint by up to 30% compared to conventional ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concretes. In addition to this, KRB says that ConGreen concretes also provide improved workability and pumpability properties, as well as being highly durable, with high passing and finishability. They have very low rapid chloride permeability (RCP), water absorption and water permeability properties and low heat of hydration.

General Manager Nigel Harries said “We are committed to driving energy efficiency and addressing the global emission challenges. We aim to help build a better community and environment-friendly facilities by producing high-quality concrete, such as ConGreen, that has a reduced environmental impact and is characterised by its high performance, durability and sustainability, with a low carbon footprint as compared with standard concrete.”

Spain: HeidelbergCement is starting the Neuclicem carbon capture use and storage (CCUS) project at its integrated Arrigorriaga plant near Bilbao. Local electricity company Volbas and the Tecnalia Research & Innovation centre are participating in the initiative. The project intends to look at a process based on the mineralisation of alkaline waste, such as residual construction waste or steel slag, by accelerated carbonation using CO₂ from the flue gas at the plant. The resulting materials will then be used as additives in cement production or to reduce the use of clinker. The scheme will study its viability of the process on an industrial scale.

The Neuclicem project has an estimated duration of 14 months. Its results are intended to prepare the way for scaling up to a subsequent industrial prototype. The project is partially financed by Ihobe, an environmental management division of the regional Basque government.