Displaying items by tag: Europe

Denmark: TotalEnergies, through its subsidiary TotalEnergies E&P Denmark, has signed a Farm-Down Agreement with CarbonVault, the Danish affiliate of German cement producer Schwenk, for the Bifrost carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. Under the deal, TotalEnergies will operate the project with a 45% interest, while CarbonVault will hold 35% and state-owned oil and gas company Nordsøfonden 20%. The Bifrost Project covers two offshore CO₂ storage licenses located about 200km west of the Danish coast and forms part of TotalEnergies’ broader North Sea CCS portfolio. Schwenk has identified Bifrost as its preferred solution for storing future emissions, aligning with its European decarbonisation strategy.

Arnaud Le Foll, senior vice president new business – carbon neutrality at TotalEnergies, said “We look forward to working with our new partner to ensure the successful deployment of the Bifrost Project, a cornerstone of Denmark’s national ambition to establish a European hub for CO₂ storage.”

Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Bulgaria: Zlatna Panega Cement, part of Greece-based Titan Group, has achieved a 65% rate of thermal substitution of fossil fuels with alternative fuels for four consecutive months. The company’s 5MW solar plant supplies between 11% and 13% of its energy needs.

General director Adamantios Francis said “We have achieved a historic success for our plant. With this, we prove that we are committed to sustainable development and are ready to lead the industry towards a greener future.”

Titan Group’s long-term strategy includes cutting energy consumption by 58% compared with 2020 levels and reducing direct net CO₂ emissions to 500kg/t of cement. At Zlatna Panega, CO₂ emissions in 2024 were 839kg/t of clinker, while electricity-related emissions fell by 38% year-on-year.

France: Ecocem has inaugurated a new €10m research and innovation centre to advance its low-carbon cement technologies and accelerate industry decarbonisation. The 3300m² facility will focus on developing scalable solutions to reduce reliance on clinker. It will build on Ecocem’s ACT technology, which the company says already enables up to 70% emission reductions, with the aim of providing the cement sector with a pathway to net zero by 2040.

Donal O’Riain, founder and global managing director of Ecocem, said “For 25 years, Ecocem has focused exclusively on low-carbon cement technologies. With ACT, our scalable low carbon cement technology close to commercial availability, the new centre will allow us to go further and faster. We will build on the 18Mt of CO₂ reductions already achieved and accelerate the development of solutions that can deliver net zero cement by 2040, 10 years ahead of schedule.”

Switzerland: Cement deliveries in the second quarter of 2025 reached 0.99Mt, an increase of 3% compared with the same period in 2024, according to Cemsuisse. The positive trend that began at the end of 2024 has reportedly continued, supported by low interest rates that have boosted construction activity.

The construction sector is expected to remain resilient over the coming quarters, allowing for positive forecasts for cement deliveries. Rail transport of cement, however, continued to decline, with just 35% of Swiss cement volumes shipped by train, down by 3% from the same quarter in 2024. This drop was attributed to the persistent deterioration of rail freight conditions. Meanwhile, low-clinker cements with reduced CO₂ emissions accounted for nearly 98% of all deliveries.

Romania: Minister of Economy Radu Miruta has asked the European Commission to consider restricting cement imports from outside the EU, following complaints from local producers about unfair competition. According to Miruta, cement imports from non-EU neighbours have increased sharply, because they benefit from exemptions on environmental standards and carbon certificate costs that EU producers must bear.

The minister has reportedly met with Denis Redonnet, Deputy Director-General of DG Trade at the European Commission, and an official request for the analysis of the imposition of a limit on the quantities of cement imported from non-EU countries will be sent to Brussels. Romanian cement producers argue that cheaper imports are eroding competitiveness and threatening domestic output. The European Commission has the power to investigate and, if necessary, introduce safeguards to protect EU industry from market distortions caused by imports.

France: Switzerland-based F. Scott Group is seeking public opinion on its plans to build a new cement plant, named Coastline West, at the multi-bulk terminal of the port of Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire, according to Ouest-France. The €55m project, covering 6.4 hectares, is now under public consultation until 15 October 2025. Raw materials such as limestone and slag will be shipped in by boat and transported by truck to the site, with traffic reportedly expected at around 13 trucks per day. The proposed facility will employ 35 people once operational.

Finished cement will be shipped by both truck and rail, with construction expected to take 18 months, requiring around 50 workers on-site during the building phase.

UK: Heidelberg Materials has reached a Final Investment Decision (FID) with the UK Government for its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at the Padeswood cement works in north Wales, clearing the way for construction to begin later in 2025.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks announced the decision today, which will enable Heidelberg Materials to produce net-zero cement by 2029. The project will capture around 0.8Mt/yr of CO₂, approximately 95% of emissions from the cement works, and transport them via pipeline for storage under Liverpool Bay as part of the HyNet North West project.

Simon Willis, CEO of Heidelberg Materials UK, said “Our constructive partnership with the UK Government has allowed us to reach this major milestone, which is fantastic news, not just for us, but for the industry as a whole. Our new facility at Padeswood will be a world-leader. It will allow us to produce evoZero carbon captured net zero cement, which will help the UK construction industry reach its decarbonisation aims.”

The project is expected to create 50 new jobs, and generate up to 500 more during construction. It is the UK’s first full-scale CCS project for cement and follows Heidelberg Materials’ recent success in Norway, where it launched the world’s first carbon capture facility at its Brevik cement plant in June 2025. Here, 50% of the plant’s emissions are being captured as part of the Norwegian government’s Longship programme.

The UK-based Mineral Products Association (MPA) has celebrated this step, with Dr Diana Casey, Executive Director for Energy and Climate Change, Cement and Lime, saying “The green light for the UK’s first carbon capture-enabled cement plant at Padeswood is a landmark step on the road to decarbonising our domestic cement industry – it will safeguard existing skilled jobs and create new opportunities too. Public investment in this project provides a strong vote of confidence in the technology and recognises the vital role cement plays in supporting economic growth while delivering on the transition to net zero. Decarbonising heavy industry is not only essential for meeting climate goals, but also for securing the future of communities across the country – today’s announcement delivers on both.”

Belarus: The country’s cement sector is intensifying efforts to use refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in cement production, according to the state information agency Belarus Telegraph Agency.

Belarusian Cement Company introduced an RDF processing line in 2021 at OAO Krasnoselskstroymaterialy in Grodno Oblast, enabling full incineration of RDF supplied by local waste-processing plants. Contracts are reportedly already in place with RDF suppliers for 25,000t of the fuel to be delivered by the end of 2025.

In September 2025, industrial trials of RDF made by Minsk-based Ekores will begin. If successful, shipments from the company could double from 15,000t to 30,000t, raising total RDF use to 40,000t in the final quarter of 2025.

Plans are also underway to expand RDF infrastructure in 2026, with a regional municipal waste management and RDF production complex under construction near Volkovysk.

Ireland/UK: Mannok has completed a critical kiln repair at its cement plant during a scheduled maintenance shutdown, replacing the heavy shell section and drive tyre at Kiln pier 2.

The work addressed cracking in the shell section and realigned the kiln tyre, which posed a risk of operational disruption or failure if left unattended.

The project was carried out in collaboration with FLSmidth as the main contractor, Portuguese specialists Simetrexial and Mannok’s in-house team. Automated gas-cutting equipment was used to remove the damaged shell section, and a 100t lift plan was executed with the aid of a 700t crane. The new section was positioned and secured using sub-arc welding. The project was completed in 27 days without delays or complications, according to the producer.

Spain: Cement consumption rose by 8% year-on-year to 10.5Mt in the first eight months of 2025, an increase of 0.8Mt compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from the Spanish Cement Manufacturers Association (Oficemen). Growth accelerated over the summer, with July and August 2025 registering double-digit increases of 12% and 13%, to reach 1.52Mt and 1.17Mt respectively. July 2025 marked the highest monthly consumption since September 2011. In total, an additional 0.29Mt were consumed in July and August 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

On a rolling annual basis, consumption reached 15.7Mt between September 2024 and August 2025, up by 9% year-on-year, equivalent to 1.31Mt more. Ricardo de Pablos, newly elected president of Oficemen, said “As we progressed before the summer, all indicators point to our performance this year being more positive than expected. In this context, in which sustainability and decarbonisation are major challenges, the improvement in our results, despite the difficulties the sector has experienced due to the impact of recent crises, contributes to continuing to advance toward our goal of net-zero emissions.”

Exports fell by 6% in the first eight months of 2025, totalling 3.06Mt, down by 0.18Mt from the same period in 2024. Oficemen noted a 20% decline in July 2025 exports that was only partially offset by 14% growth in August 2025. Imports continued to rise, up by 12% year-on-year to 1.11Mt of cement and clinker through August 2025, 0.12Mt more than in the same period in 2024.