Displaying items by tag: Coprocessing

India: The Rural Development Department of Himachal Pradesh has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ambuja Cements to address the issue of non-recyclable plastic waste in the state. Under this partnership, Ambuja Cements will collaborate with the department to co-process non-recyclable plastic in its cement kilns. The initiative will cover the districts of Chamba, Kangra, Shimla and Solan, where 29 plastic waste management units have been established.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines and Universal Robina Corporation (URC) have entered a tripartite agreement with the local government of Obando, Bulacan, to provide incentives for workers at the town's material recovery facility, based on the volume of refuse diverted. The material recovery facility in Obando has collected and sorted 785t of plastic waste for co-processing. Since 2021, URC and Holcim's waste management unit Geocycle has been processing plastic from URC's operations for co-processing. The plastics are converted into alternative fuels used to power the kiln at Holcim’s plant in Misamis Oriental.

Irwin Lee, URC president and CEO, said "This new agreement, with Obando as a key partner, aims to further drive community-based ‘waste’ diversion efforts. We hope to replicate it in other towns and cities to amplify the impact of what we set out to do three years ago."

Bolivia: The Viacha cement plant, operated by Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce), has launched a pilot to co-process discarded electrical and electronic equipment into alternative fuels. This initiative, developed in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Water, involves the management of 133t of materials. The process includes converting discarded plastics with brominated flame retardants into energy for the plant.

CEO of Soboce, Francisco Shwortshik, said "Viacha has all the licenses and environmental authorisations for the co-processing of alternative fuels. Today we are witnessing a historic milestone for the industry, because it marks the beginning of the era of alternative fuels, as a sustainable environmental solution for the country."

Philippines: Republic Cement's resource recovery group, Ecoloop, has diverted 21.4 billion plastic sachets in 2023, equating to 110,000t of discarded materials utilised as alternative fuel in cement co-processing. This marks a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions per ton of cement, according to The Philippine Star newspaper.

Ecoloop director Angela Edralin-Valencia said "This achievement represents a significant amount of materials diverted from landfills and bodies of water, such as oceans and urban waterways and further underscores Republic Cement’s commitment to environmental stewardship and circular economy principles."

India: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has decided to continue its partnership with Dalmia Cement, allowing the company to receive an additional 70,000t of refuse derived fuel (RDF) from a temporary transit station at Gadakana. This decision comes as part of ongoing efforts to manage the substantial amount of RDF generated from daily waste processing, according to the New Indian Express.

An official from the civic body said "As the waste-handling site receives around 450t/day of garbage, we have agreed to allow Dalmia to take another 70,000t of waste. Previously, we had signed a contract with the company to send 70,000t of RDF to its Rajgangpur factory for co-processing within nine months. In the last six months, around 50,000t of waste has been sent."

India: Kerala has converted approximately 48,000t of non-recyclable waste into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use in cement plants, from the period of January - December 2023. The Department of Local Self-Government reported that 29,826t originated from the government sector and 18,205t from the private sector. The material was collected from households and shops, separated at collection facilities and sent to cement plants for co-processing. The local authorities managed the collection and separation of dry waste.

The state has ‘significantly’ invested in infrastructure for dry waste storage, with 167 resource recovery facilities, 1981 collection facilities, 20,904 mini collection facilities, and 57 storage warehouses over 45,522m². The Haritha Mithram mobile app has led to an increase in door-to-door waste collection and the volume of dry waste processed. The state has added 41 more warehouses so far in 2024 to manage the increased waste collection.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has secured a US$150m loan from the International Finance Corporation for an upgrade to its Salto de Pirapora cement plant in São Paulo. The producer aims to increase the alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate at the 4.8Mt/yr plant, and reduce its CO₂ emissions. It says that the loan is tied to sustainability performance indicators (SPIs), based on the reduction in the plant’s Scope 1 CO₂ emissions.

China: China Resources Cement’s profit was US$993m in 2021, down by 13% year-on-year from 2020 levels. Its cost of sales grew by 22% to US$3.81bn from US$3.12bn. The group noted that the average cost of coal increased by 54% in 2021. It also pointed out that infrastructure investment growth slowed down in 2021. The company increased its turnover for the year by 9.7% to US$5.62bn. Sales volumes of cement and clinker fell by 7% to 81.3Mt and 7% to 3.3Mt respectively. Concrete sales volumes grew by 11% to 14.8Mm³.

During 2021 the group started construction of a second clinker production line and two cement grinding lines at its plant in Wuxuan, Guangxi. Once the upgrades are completed the plant will have a total cement and clinker capacities of 2.4Mt/yr and 1.4Mt/yr respectively. The group also acquired a 51% stake in Hunan Liangtian Cement in January 2022 to enter into the market in Chenzhou, Hunan. This company has cement and clinker production capacities of 1.6Mt/yr and 2Mt/yr respectively. An ongoing upgrade will increase the cement production capacity of 2.1Mt/yr. In March 2022 it sold its 72% stake in Shanxi China Resources Fulong Cement to Tangshan Jidong Cement to enable it to leave the northern market.

China Resources Cement has also been growing its co-processing capabilities in 2021. At the end of the year it reported 10 co-processing projects with a total capacity of 1.7Mt/yr. The projects, mostly based in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, process municipal solid waste, urban sludge and industrial waste.

China: China Resources Cement’s turnover rose by 3% year-on-year to US$5.16bn in 2020 from US$5.02bn in 2019. Its profit attributable to shareholders was US$1.15bn, up by 4% year-on-year. Sales volumes of cement grew by 6% to 87.3Mt from 82.5Mt. Volumes increased in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou but decreased in Fujian, Hainan and Shanxi.

In February 2020 the cement producer completed the construction of one 1.4Mt/yr clinker production line and two cement grinding lines with a combined cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr in Anshun City, Guizhou. Also in 2020 the group commissioned one new concrete batching plant and shut down two others.

During the reporting year the Group co-processed 183,100t of municipal solid waste, 52,800t of urban sludge with an 80% moisture content and 6100t of hazardous industrial waste. It operates seven co-processing projects with four more either under trial operation or under construction. It also said that it had been following policies for carbon emissions with trial activities conducted in preparation for a future unification of national carbon market. Eight company plants in Guangdong and five in Fujian were reported as having settled their carbon credit quota for 2019.

Other operations of note include the start of Phase 1 of the group’s intelligent manufacturing pilot project at a unit in Tianyang in conjunction with Siemens. The group has also commenced trial operation of its in-house developed intelligent manufacturing system at a cement plant in Pingnan, Guangxi. The project interacts with system quality management systems and advanced kiln controls. The next step will be to use the quality management system at cement plants in Shangsi and Guigang, Guangxi. A so-called ‘lighthouse plant’ is also planned to work with environment, health and safety, operation, production, equipment, quality, mines and logistics at a cement plant in Fengkai County, Guangdong. The group’s platform for sharing auxiliary materials and spare parts was launched in Fujian in April 2020 and has since been rolled out to sites in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. Finally, the company’s ‘Smart Card’ logistics system has put into operation at cement plants in Fengkai, Huizhou, Luoding and Dongguan, Guangdong and has been operating at 25 cement production plants by the end of 2020.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has signed the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge, which commits it to net-zero carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 2050. Additionally, the company has committed itself to a 20% reduction in its CO₂ intensity between 2018 and 2030.

The company says that over the period it will: “accelerate the use of low-carbon and carbon-neutral products such as ECOPact and Susteno, recycle 100Mt of waste and by-products for energy and raw materials, scale up the use of calcined clay and develop novel cements with new binders, double waste-derived fuels in production to reach 37%, reach net CO₂ emissions 475kg/t of cementitious material and open and operate its first net-zero CO₂ cement plant.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jan Jenisch said, “I believe in building a world that works for people and the planet. That’s why we are reinventing how the world builds today to make it greener with low-carbon and circular solutions. I am very excited to be working with SBTi, taking a rigorous science-based approach to shape our net zero roadmap and accelerating our efforts to substantially lower our CO₂ footprint. I will not stop pushing the boundaries to lead the way in green construction.”