Displaying items by tag: CO2

Greece: Titan Cement group has accelerated its efforts towards sustainability with new environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets. The targets include an updated CO₂ emissions reduction target of 35% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, zero workplace fatalities and a cement industry top-three lost time injury frequency rate, increased female leadership participation and 70% supplier sustainability in line with the producer’s own ESG standards by 2025. It also set a water consumption target of 280L/t of cementitious material produced and 50% certified Zero Waste to landfill production by 2025.

Chief sustainability officer Leonidas Canellopoulos said, “We are building on our strong track record on sustainability and aspire to increase our positive impact on people, society, and the environment. We are committing to ambitious targets that aim to generate more value for all our stakeholders and set the foundations for sustainable growth in a carbon-neutral and digitalised world.”

Germany: ThyssenKrupp says that the four cement producer members of Cement Innovation for Climate (CI4C) are preparing to launch an industrial-scale trial of its Polysius Pure Oxyfuel carbon capture and storage (CCS) process. The renewably-powered process produces ‘refuel’ synthetic fuels such as kerosene for aviation.

Senior Proposal Manager Markus Sauer said,“CI4C and ThyssenKrupp are currently investigating the use of our polysius pure oxyfuel technology in a demonstration plant. Working with our long-standing customers, we would be delighted if we could demonstrate the efficiency of our technology for the first time on an industrial scale. By using this technology, the cement industry could significantly reduce its process-related CO₂ emissions and thus make an important contribution to climate protection.”

UK: Germany-based HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson has received the green light for its planned carbon capture and storage (CCS) study at its Padeswood cement plant in Flintshire after its partner, the HyNet North West consortium received Euro84m in funding. The study will support a design basis and cost estimate for a carbon capture unit at the cement plant and a connection to the planned HyNet North West CO₂ transport and storage system. Euro46m of the funding came from consortium partners while Euro38m came from a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge grant.

Hanson chief executive officer Simon Willis said, “Today’s funding announcement is fantastic news for everyone involved in HyNet North West. Cutting CO₂ emissions is a key priority for us, and we are excited to be one of the first UK cement producers working on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as part of this collaborative project.” He added, “We’ve taken big steps towards reducing carbon emissions and have set ourselves an ambitious target of achieving a 50% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030, based on 1990 levels, and net zero carbon concrete by 2050. CCS at cement plants is a key part of our roadmap to net zero.”

India: The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) has validated UltraTech Cement’s CO₂ emissions reduction targets. The validation confirms that the company’s targets are in line with a 2°C temperature rise scenario under the Paris Agreement. The targets consist of a 27% reduction in Scope 1 CO₂ emissions between 2017 and 2032 and a 69% reduction in Scope 2 CO₂ emissions between 2017 and 2032. This corresponds to a 462kg/t net CO₂ reduction for the producer’s cement.

Managing director Kailash Jhanwar said, “A changing climate scenario poses significant challenges for the built environment sector. It equally provides valuable opportunities to develop sustainable products and services. By committing to science-based targets, UltraTech Cement has once again demonstrated leadership in paving the way for the sector to help build sustainable infrastructure.”

US: Lehigh Hanson has signed a collaboration agreement with materials technology company Fortera. Under the agreement, the companies will establish a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system at the producer’s 0.8Mt/yr integrated Redding Cement plant in Shasta district, California. The system will produce a cementitious material for use in concrete production. The material will be the first of its kind to be produced at a cement plant.

"This collaboration with Lehigh Hanson will prove the commercial scalability, the quality of the final product, and the competitive economics of the Fortera process," said Ryan Gilliam, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fortera. He added that the Fortera process (ReCarb) has been designed to utilise the existing cement infrastructure, from the quarry to the kiln, but with less CO₂ emissions, lower energy, and lower processing temperatures, leading to 60% lower CO₂ emissions per tonne of product.

Switzerland: Sika has developed ReCO2ver, a process which produces limestone, sand and gravel from the combination of concrete and CO₂ with an additive developed by the supplier. The process enables demolition companies to completely recycle used concrete, while storing captured CO₂ at a rate of 60kg/t of crushed concrete. The materials produced can be used as aggregates to make concrete of comparable strength to an all-new product.

Chief executive officer Paul Schuler said, "The five largest European Union countries alone generate roughly 300Mt/yr of old concrete. With complete recycling of these materials, up to 15Mt/yr of CO₂ emissions can be stored. We are convinced that our new process has the potential to benefit both our customers and the environment."

UK: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson has partnered with the Hynet North West consortium for a study on carbon capture and storage (CCS) solution at its Padeswood, Flintshire, cement plant. The consortium is planning to implement carbon capture and storage installations at industrial facilities across Flintshire, Wrexham, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire. It says that when active the network will constitute the world’s first low carbon industrial cluster, with a total reduction of 10Mt/yr of emissions by CCS. The Padeswood plant would account for 800,000t/yr of this total.

Hanson group chief executive officer Simon Willis said, “Our involvement in the HyNet North West project is the latest example of our commitment to cutting CO₂ emissions. CCS at our cement plants will be a key part of our roadmap to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. The first step would be for us to carry out a feasibility study - this would give us a clear design basis and cost estimate for a capture plant and connection to the planned HyNet North West CO₂ network and storage system.”

The HyNet North West project also includes production, storage and distribution of low carbon hydrogen, which will help to decarbonise other industries whose CO₂ emissions primarily come from fossil fuels. The project, led by Progressive Energy, is being developed by a consortium of regionally located partners including Cadent, CF Fertilisers, Eni UK, Essar, INOVYN and the University of Chester as well as Hanson.

Europe: Cemex commissioned seven new bolt-on investments across Europe in January 2021. The company says that all of the investments are aligned to its key priorities of climate action, sustainable construction and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) growth. They include advances in fossil fuel reduction, lower CO₂ footprint products, circular economy investments and products that demonstrate life cycle CO₂ and energy consumption advantages for buildings. It made various changes at its cement plants, for example the installation of a new alternative fuel (AF) system in the Czech Republic. In France and the UK, it made circular economy and recycling improvements, and shifted to lower-CO₂ cement production in Croatia and lightweight concrete production in Spain. Additionally, it made efficiency upgrades to sites in Spain and the UK.

Europe, Middle East and Africa regional president Sergio Menendez said, “We have made a strong start to our 2021 ambitions to both grow our business and improve our climate impact. In 2020, we achieved our ambition of a 35% reduction in our CO₂ emissions compared to our 1990 baseline in Europe. We are also the first company in our sector to align our Europe operations to the EU aspiration to reduce CO₂ emissions by at least 55% by 2030. These investments represent further advances towards this 2030 target, as well as to deliver net zero CO₂ concrete globally by 2050.”

India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC has launched its ECOPact range of reduced-CO₂ concrete products in Hyderabad and Mumbai. A full nationwide rollout will follow in February and March 2021.

Managing director Sridhar Balakrishnan said, "The innovative manufacturing process of the ECOPact range reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 100% and further enhances our sustainable products offerings for the construction industry.”

UK: SigmaRoc has launched Greenbloc, a cement-free concrete block. The product reduces emissions by 77% compared to concrete blocks produced with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), corresponding to a reduction of 1.1kg/block.

Chief executive officer Max Vermorken said, "Our Greenbloc range and brand is the brainchild of our innovation and technical teams. It addresses a key challenge in the building products industry - the embodied CO₂ in one of the most widely used building materials: the concrete block. Greenbloc is only the start of a range of sustainable alternatives to our product offering as we invest, improve, integrate and innovate."