Displaying items by tag: Canada

US: Canada-based CEMSI Specialties, a subsidiary of Kontrol Technologies, has received an order for an emission analyser product from an unnamed global cement company. The analyser will provide real-time analysis of continuous emissions from the plant. The contract also includes ongoing annual preventative maintenance. Delivery and installation is scheduled for late 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. No value for the order has been disclosed.

Canada: Lafarge Canada’s Brookfield plant in Nova Scotia has switched to Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) production. The unit will now manufacture the company’s OneCem PLC product. It is the cement producer’s third plant to transition to PLC production in 2022 following the Bath plant in Ontario and the Richmond plant in British Colombia.

Andrew Stewart, the Vice President of Cement at Lafarge Canada (East), said, “We have been steadily moving the needle forward when it comes to cement decarbonisation and we will continue to honour our commitment in progressing our greener portfolio in Eastern Canada over the coming years.”

Canada: Chevron New Energies (CNE), a division of Chevron USA, is the lead investor in Svante’s Series E fundraising round, which raised US$318m. The capital will be used to accelerate the manufacture of Svante’s carbon capture technology. Other fundraising round participants include existing shareholders Temasek, OGCI Climate Investments, Delek US and Hesta AG, and new investors, 3M Ventures, Full Circle Capital, GE Vernova, the Japan Energy Fund, Liberty Media, M&G Catalyst, Samsung Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures and United Airlines Ventures.

Chevron Technology Ventures made an initial investment in Svante in 2014. In 2020, Chevron launched a project to pilot Svante’s technology to capture CO₂ from post combustion of natural gas. The project has received funding from the US Department of Energy. In collaboration with Svante and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the technology will be tested at Chevron’s Kern River facility in San Joaquin Valley, California, with start-up scheduled for December 2022.

Svante was founded in 2007 and it has developed carbon capture and removal technology using structured adsorbent beds, known as filters. The latest funding will support Svante’s commercial-scale filter manufacturing facility in Vancouver. Trials using Svante’s technology in the cement sector have been run at Lafarge Canada’s Richmond cement plant in British Colombia and Holcim US’s Florence cement plant in Colorado.

Canada: The government and the Cement Association of Canada have published the ‘Roadmap to Net-Zero Carbon Concrete by 2050.’ The document details how cement and concrete producers and legislators could achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions from the cement and concrete sector by 2050. The joint government-industry working group next plans to release an action plan explaining how the sector will reduce its CO₂ emissions by up to 40% by 2030 and a plan for research and development required to meet the 2050 target. The country’s cement and concrete industry says it has committed to reducing over 15Mt of greenhouse gases cumulatively by 2030 and achieving net-zero by 2050.

“Decarbonising concrete is a necessity, and Canada’s cement and concrete industry has demonstrated that it is up to the task. This roadmap demonstrates our industry’s leadership in CO₂ emissions reduction and positions us to achieve our goal of net-zero cement by 2050,” said Marie Glenn, chair of the Cement Association of Canada. Association president and chief executive officer Adam Auer added, “While we are steadfast in our commitment to reduce our emissions by 15MT cumulatively by 2030 and reach true net-zero by 2050, we know we can’t do it alone. Together in collaboration with government we will continue to support the innovation and investment needed on our path to delivering net-zero concrete, while at the same time preserving its properties as a durable, resilient, versatile, and cost-effective material.”

Canada: Investment bank BDC Capital has invested US$3.7m in concrete testing technologies supplier Giatec. BDC Capital hopes that the investment will further the development of CO₂-reducing technology and AI-based concrete testing.

Giatec CEO Pouria Ghods said "The BDC Capital investment will propel Giatec's expansion into international markets and accelerate our innovation in CO₂-reducing technology, moving the concrete industry towards carbon neutrality. BDC has a long history of supporting emerging Canadian cleantech firms in their growth through exports, research and development. We at Giatec are looking forward to working with BDC in our mission to revolutionise the concrete industry and to create yet another success story for the BDC cleantech practice.”

Canada: The Quebec Ministry of the Environment has ordered St Mary’s Cement’s integrated plant at Port-Daniel-Gascons to reduce its dust and other emissions to government-mandated levels. The notification follows an incident that occurred over the summer of 2020 and has reoccurred since on occasion. The order requires, amongst other measures, that the subsidiary of Brazil-based Votorantim allow an independent expert recognised by the department to carry out an assessment of air filtration equipment at the plant and propose ways to improve the situation.

US: Total US cement shipments grew by 4% to 52.4Mt in the first half of 2022 from 50.4Mt in the same period in 2021. Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows that local shipments and imports rose by 3.5% to 44.1Mt and 7% to 8.31Mt respectively. The largest sources of imports of cement and clinker were Turkey at 4.57Mt, Canada at 2.19Mt, Mexico at 1.28Mt, Greece at 1.23Mt and Vietnam at 0.94Mt. The largest cement producing states in the reporting period, in descending order, were Texas, California and Missouri.

Canada: Lehigh Cement has initiated the administrative process to begin the use of alternative fuels (AF) in cement production at its Picton cement plant in Ontario. Under the company’s plans, the plant will substitute 200t/day of AF for coal and petcoke at the plant. Possible AF sources include excess seed from farm feed production in Ontario. The Picton cement plant previously reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 20% through assorted sustainability initiatives.

Picton plant manager Carsten Schraeder said that the move will support Canada’s 2030 emission reduction plan, and also take pressure off landfill sites.

Ireland: Strong sales revenue and earnings growth from CRH’s America Materials and Building Products divisions have driven its performance in the first half of 2022. The group’s total revenue rose by 14% year-on-year to US$15bn in the first half of 2022 from US$13.2bn in the same period in 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 21% to US$2.21bn from US$1.82bn. Its sales revenue of cement, lime and cement products grew by 5% to US$2.47bn.

The group’s America Materials division reported an increase in sales revenue and EBITDA of 17% to US$5.55bn and 12% to US$820m respectively. Cement sales in the region grew by 15% although lower activity was noted in Canada. The group’s Europe Materials division reported an increase in sales revenue and EBITDA of 5% to US$5.43bn and 4% to US$609m respectively. However the company said that before sales and earnings in the region grew by 14% on a like-for-like basis. The group’s Building Products division - which supplies architectural products, infrastructure products and construction accessories – performed particularly well compared to the other sectors.

Albert Manifold, the chief executive officer of CRH, said “CRH has delivered another strong performance with further growth in sales, EBITDA and margin despite a challenging and volatile cost environment. This performance reflects the continued execution of our integrated and sustainable solutions strategy.”

Mexico: Cemex’s North American logistics subsidiary Cemex Servicios Logísticos has changed its name to Alliera. Alliera will continue its 15-year tradition of operating as an independent third-party logistics company, serving customers across various industries.

Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said “For Alliera, Cemex’s strategic priorities are ensuring our collaborators’ health and safety, sustainability and innovation. Within this package of priorities, we always seek growth, as we do now with Alliera, which is part of Urbanisation Solutions, our most recently created business branch.”