Displaying items by tag: CO2

Canada: Lafarge Canada has converted its Richmond, British Colombia, cement plant to 100% OneCem Portland limestone cement (PLC) production. OneCem cement’s CO₂ emissions per tonne are 13% below the Canadian PLC average. The Richmond plant has supplied OneCem cement to the Western Canada and US Pacific Northwest customers since 2011. Since that time, it has eliminated 1.18Mt of CO₂ emissions, according to the producer.

President and CEO Brad Kohl said "Collaborating with local government and stakeholders was key to ensuring OneCem PLC’s uptake in the market, and conversion away from traditional high-intensity cement products. As industry leaders, we want to facilitate access to low carbon cements across Canada, and starting with Richmond is a big step towards making that happen."

Ghana: FLSmidth has secured a contract for the supply of a clay calcination plant at CBI Ghana's 0.6Mt/yr Tema grinding plant in Accra. The supplier says that it will also install a complete grinding station to more than double the plant's production capacity. FLSmidth says that the entire project will reduce the Tema facility's CO₂ footprint by 20%. When commissioned, the new clay calcination plant will be the largest in the world, according to the supplier.

CBI Ghana chief executive officer Frédéric Albrecht said “Ghana is the perfect location for using clay as an environmentally friendly alternative to clinker. West Africa is traditionally a clinker and cement-importing region due to the lack of suitable limestone reserves. Developing countries with their young populations and a growing need for infrastructure and housing represent the future in cement consumption. Calcined clay cements are the most sustainable alternative to traditional clinker-based cement."

Germany: ThyssenKrupp Uhde, Holcim and the Technische Universität Berlin have started a joint project to investigate the use of a novel amine scrubbing technology for carbon capture. The goal is to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions from existing cement plants and at the same time utilise the captured CO₂ for other applications. This includes the development of new mass transfer process equipment that is more efficient and resilient to contaminations. The project is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

The equipment is being tested using exhaust gas at Holcim’s Beckum plant. Various possibilities for using the captured CO₂ are also being examined, such as manufacturing methanol or sustainable fuels. The aim is develop a technology that can be retrofitted at existing cement plants.

Ralph Kleinschmidt, head of technology, innovation and sustainability at ThyssenKrupp Uhde said, "Amine scrubbing is already commonly used to recover CO₂ from process gases or exhaust gases. Now, we are developing the technology further and optimising it for the cement industry. Additional applications for capturing CO₂ direct at source, such as in waste incineration plants, are also possible."Arne Stecher, head of decarbonisation at Holcim Germany added that the company is testing different processes to find the best carbon capture technology.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has released its interim carbon neutral goals to 2030. The group intends to reduce its CO₂ emission intensity across the entire supply chain by 20% or more compared to 2000. Total domestic CO₂ emissions should be decreased by at least 40% compared to 2000. The company intends to invest US$820m towards these goals. Ultimately the cement producer wants to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Mexico: Cemex has published its 2021 Integrated Report. Under the report’s Climate Action section, Cemex recorded a 4.7% year-on-year decrease in its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material. Alternative fuel (AF) substitution rose to 29%, while its products’ average clinker factor fell to 75%. It was the first company to complete a global roll-out of its reduced-CO₂ cement and concrete range (Vertua). It established Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)-verified well below 2°C 2030 climate action goals and joined the UN’s Race to Zero and the Business Ambition for 1.5°C coalition. It also became a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s First Movers Coalition for zero-carbon economic development.

The year also brought major Sustainability and Circular Economy milestones, including managing 57 times the volume of waste it sent to landfill, positively impacting 25m lives through its Social Impact Strategy and processing 61% of global sales through its Cemex Go digital sales platform. For the second consecutive year, its Net Promotor Score was 68, ‘substantially above’ the construction and engineering industry average.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies recorded sales of Euro2.38m in 2021, more than four times its 2020 figure of Euro504m. The company’s losses before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (LBITDA) declined by 27% to Euro5.23m from Euro4.13m, while its net loss fell by 9.1% to Euro5.56m from Euro6.12m.

The producer confirmed its global sales target of Euro130m and EBITDA margin target of 40% by 2026, by which time it expects to have achieved sales of 550,000t/yr of its clinker-free cement in France. This would correspond to 3% of the domestic cement market. By 2026, it aims to operate four plants abroad.

Austria/Germany: RHI Magnesita and Horn & Co. Group have announced the consolidation of their recycling activities in Europe under Horn & Co. RHIM Minerals Recovery. The new subsidiary aims to increase the production, use and offering of secondary raw materials for the European refractory industry. The partners say that this will place the new entity at the forefront of the circular economy for customers in cement and other process industries. At the onset, Horn & Co. RHIM Minerals Recovery will process more than 150,000t/yr of secondary raw materials.

RHI Magnesita says that it can save 1.8t of CO2 for every tonne of recycled material used in its refractory production. It now expects to achieve its goal of 10% recycled materials ahead of its previously stipulated target date of 2025. It said that this marks an important step towards achieving a 15% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2025.

CEO Stefan Borgas said “By increasing our focus in this key area, we will make a significant contribution to global climate protection. We will conserve natural resources while at the same time expanding our business.” He added “With the combination of the recycling activities, RHI Magnesita and Horn & Co. Group become the driving force of circular economy in the refractory industry. Going forward, refractory users will benefit from increasing circular economy solutions included in our full line service contracts and customers of Horn & Co. RHIM Minerals Recovery will be able to source sustainable and high-quality raw materials.”

Finland: Betolar has signed a letter of intent with Australia-based RISAB and the Vanadium Recovery Project to research the use of steel slag from which vanadium has been extracted in concrete production. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the company says that, through it Geoprime alkali-activated additive technology, the new slag source could replace 10% of the cement used in concrete production in Finland.

CEO Matti Löppönen said "We see a huge opportunity for Betolar here. If successful, we would be able to offer our customers a specific, currently unused slag of the steel industry to replace cement in concrete. Our customers already have experience in utilising other types of slag in the production of concrete using Geoprime. Utilising new side streams will expand the reach of our solution as planned.”

Betolar launched Geoprime in September 2021. It is currently developing a recipe-optimising artificial intelligence (AI) and data platform to bring together concrete producers and suppliers of slag, ash and other materials.

France: The Scientific and Technical Center for Building (CSTB) has certified Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies’ clinkerless H-UKR alkali-activated slag cement for structural use in buildings of all types. BusinessWire News has reported that the certification confirms the product’s safety, sustainability, lifespan and performance in conformity with Eurocode 2 and Eurocode 8 design standards.

Co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said “In the midst of ongoing frenetic communication regarding carbon neutrality, Hoffmann Green Cement is as usual endeavouring to back its announcements with verified and evaluated elements. The granting of these evaluations further objectifies the quality of our cement, notably with the awarding of a lifespan of 100 years. In this regard, we would like to thank the CSTB’s teams for drafting this unprecedented technical appraisal and our own teams who are working tirelessly on seeking innovative decarbonised solutions to preserve tomorrow’s world.”

UK: Concrete admixture producer Oscrete UK has appointed Matthew Gabriel to the role of new product development and sustainability manager. The company says that the appointment strengthens its commitment to sustainable construction.

Gabriel said “With the environment at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and customers looking to increase their use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), my priority is to develop products and processes which support our customers’ own route towards low carbon concrete.” He continued “Finding cost effective green solutions without impacting performance is key to the future of the construction sector. We are now looking to develop products that can help our customers to use or increase the use of products with a lower eCO₂, hence the creation of a role dedicated entirely to this arena.”