Displaying items by tag: CO2

Turkey: OYAK Cement has detailed its progress towards net zero CO₂ cement production in its Integrated Report 2021. The report's focus is sustainability and digitalisation. Under itsCement 4.0 CO₂ emissions reduction initiative, OYAK Cement has proceeded with efficiency improvements at its cement plants.

OYAK Cement is committed to net zero CO₂ cement production by 2050 and reductions in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global climate change to 1.5°C by 2030.The producer is collaborating withthe Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to realise its emission reduction goals.

Canada/US: Holcim North America has invested in Blue Planet to support the development and commercialisation of its mineralisation technology. Blue Planet’s process sequesters CO₂ with building waste feedstock such as recycled concrete, cement kiln dust (CKD) and slag to produce new aggregate products. Each tonne of Blue Planet’s aggregate can mineralize up to 440kg of captured CO₂. Lafarge Canada, Holcim US, and Blue Planet will start a multi-year collaboration to help identify potential to use the mineralisation technology to further lower the carbon footprint of the companies’ cement, aggregates and concrete operations, with the potential to expand to other operations in the Holcim Group around the world.

“This is an important step for us in North America. Our vision is to transform our St Constant Plant in Montreal into a carbon campus that ultimately advances commercialisation of mineralisation technologies, including Blue Planet’s products,” said David Redfern, president and chief executive officer, Lafarge Canada. “We look forward to advancing our Net Zero strategy by leveraging mineralization technology that allows us to use the CO₂ from our own cement plants to produce carbon neutral or carbon negative sand and gravel products.”

Signapore: Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore) have successfully used bacteria to combine two abundant waste streams into clinker-free biocement. NDTV news has reported that the scientists developed the material from by combining calcium ions with urea in a mixture of industrial carbide sludge and urine. The process takes place at room temperature, reducing CO₂ emissions while also offering waste management benefits.

The NTU Singapore team is presently testing the biocement on artificial beaches. It will subsequently investigate other possible large-scale applications around Singapore.

US: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) hosted chief executive officers (CEO)from across the global cement industry at its CEO Gathering in Atlanta, Georgia, on 9 June 2022. The event explored the best ways for the sector to progress towards net zero CO₂ emissions. Speakers included: UN special advisor on climate Selwin Hart, US Department of Energy assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management in the Brad Crabtree, architecture firm Gensler CEO Diane Hoskins, Chair of Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) executive chair Bjorn Otto and climate economist Gernot Wagner.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “To achieve net zero and enable the delivery of the sustainable built environment of the future, there needs to be ongoing engagement and deeper collaboration between our industry and government in the years ahead. Targeted government policy will be vital to removing barriers and to expediting our industry’s decarbonisation plans.”

Canada: Progressive Planet Solutions has successfully produced a new supplementary cementitious material (SCM) called PozDE from diatomaceous earth. The company says that it developed PozDE using calcium bentonite-containing diatomaceous earth from the Red Lake mine in Kamloops, British Colombia. The SCM’s seven-day and 28-day strength activity index (SAI) values are 101% and 120% those of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) respectively, while its water demand is lower at 98%.

Chief operating officer Ian Grant said “It is uncommon to see SCMs exceed the 7-day strength of the control Portland, so we are excited to see better strength while indicating lower water demand."

Europe: The European cement association Cembureau has expressed its disappointment in the outcome of European Parliament votes on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The parliament voted against an amended proposal to introduce a carbon border tax and to phase out ETS allowances from 2028 to 2034, against a previous proposal of 2025 – 2030. Groups including The Greens – European Free Alliance voted against the proposed legislation as they believed it did not go far enough.

Cembureau chief executive officer Koen Coppenholle said “The EU cement industry needs a strong CBAM to support our decarbonisation efforts and fight carbon leakage. Both draft European Parliament texts on ETS and CBAM contain significant improvements on some key issues – such as CBAM’s watertightness or industrial innovation – which are essential to support our transition to carbon neutrality.” Coppenholle continued “We encourage MEPs to resume negotiations as soon as possible and reach a reasonable compromise on the remaining divisive issues, thereby providing a predictable regulatory framework for the industry.”

US: Prometheus Materials has successfully developed cement-free blocks from a material produced by biomineralising cyanobacteria. Dezeen News has reported that the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has approved the materials for construction applications.

Director Wil V Srubar III said "Coral reefs, shells and even the limestone we use to produce cement today show us that nature has already figured out how to bind minerals together in a strong, clever and efficient way. By working with nature to use existing microalgae to bind minerals and other materials together to create new types of sustainable biocomposite building materials, we can eliminate most, if not all, of the carbon emissions associated with traditional concrete-based building materials."

India: UltraTech Cement has entered into a collaboration with Finland-based Coolbrook to implement the latter’s roto dynamic heater (RDH) electric kiln technology in Indian cement plants. RDH technology uses renewable power to heat kilns to up to 1700°C.

UltraTech Cement managing director Kailash Jhanwar said “UltraTech is a forerunner in utilising renewable energy in its manufacturing operations. We are constantly looking at opportunities to improve process efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our operations.” Jhanwar concluded “We believe that our collaboration with Coolbrook will help to further accelerate the decarbonisation of our operations.”

Coolbrook executive chair Ilpo Kuokkanen said “India is one of the most important potential markets for Coolbrook, as we want to make a global impact on CO₂ emission reductions. Cooperation with India’s largest cement producer UltraTech is a significant step in our strategy to decarbonise heavy industry processes globally. UltraTech is also an excellent addition to our comprehensive and responsive partnership ecosystem spanning across leading industrial actors, academic institutions, and the public sector.”

Belgium/France: Ciments Calcia plans to transition 60% of its truck transport of cement in Belgium and France to rail. The company says that the shift will eliminate 5% of its CO₂ emissions. 400 rail cars currently distribute cement from Ciments Calcia’s 10 production sites. The producer said that the planned increase became possible due to logistics solutions developer Everysens’ transport digitisation software.

UK: The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has granted Carbon Clean Euro701,000 under its Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Innovation 2.0 programme. Carbon Clean says that it will partner with energy engineering company Doosan Babcock and Newcastle University to develop carbon capture systems which apply non-aqueous solvent (NAS) and rotating packed bed (RPB) technology together for the first time. The partners seek to overcome the challenges of scale and cost in order to advance the widespread deployment of CCUS systems.

The CCUS Innovation 2.0 programme is part of the UK government’s Euro1.17bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio scheme.