Displaying items by tag: France

Brazil: France’s Vicat Group has completed its purchase of a 65% stake in Cimento Planalto (Ciplan). The transaction was structured through a reserved capital increase of Euro295m. Proceeds will be used to settle Ciplan's existing debt. Ciplan operates a 3.2Mt/yr integrated plant at Sobradinho in Bahia near to Brasilia. It also runs nine ready-mixed concrete plants and five aggregates quarries.

Egypt: France’s Vicat and its subsidiary Sinai Cement plan to invest Euro30m in the local market. Vicat Egypt’s chief executive officer (CEO), Tamer Magdy, said that the investment is intended to meet demand for cement, according to Mubasher. He added that the company would continue to invest in the Sinai Peninsula despite on-going security issues.

France: The SOLPART (Solar-Heated Reactors for Industrials Production of Reactive Particulates) project plans to test a pilot-scale version of its solar reactor from February 2019. The 50kW solar reactor will test a fluidised bed system at its PROMES (PROcédés, Materials and Solar Energy) testing site in Odeillo. The ultimate goal of the project is to test using a rotary kiln and a fluidised bed system to produce cement, lime, gypsum and other non-metallic products using only solar energy. The pilot scale reactor will test calcining limestone at a rate of 50kg/hr. Industrial partners involved with the project include Cemex.

US/Europe: US refractory manufacturer Plibrico has entered into a distribution partnership with the Pli Group Europe, a refractory distributor contractor based in Vienna, Austria. Under the new alliance, Pli Group Europe will provide full-service distribution of Plibrico’s Plico brand refractories in Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, with immediate effect.

“Adding Pli Group Europe to our ranks of Pli Partners allows Plibrico to reinforce its expertise, enhance its service offering and strengthen the value chain offered to customers throughout Europe,” said Brad Taylor, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Plibrico.

Belgium/France: LafargeHolcim has appointed François Petry as the chief executive officer (CEO) of LafargeHolcim France and Head of France - Belgium. He succeeds Bénédicte de Bonnechose, who has decided to leave the group.

Petry has been the managing director of Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim in the UK, since 2015. Prior to this he was the CEO of LafargeHolcim Romania since 2014 and the general manager for Aggregates in Holcim France since 2008. Before that, he held senior positions across the infrastructure, construction and waste industries in France.

He holds degree in Engineering from the École Nationale Superieure D’Arts et Metiers, ParisTech, as well as an executive MBA from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris.

France/Syria: A group of Yazidi women have applied to become ‘civil parties’ in a criminal case brought in France against Lafarge and several of its executives for complicity in crimes against humanity and financing a terrorist organisation. The women survived rape and slavery at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, according to the Agence France Presse. Lafarge allegedly made multi-million dollar payments to IS in order to continue operations at one of its cement plants in northern Syria in 2013. Lawyers on behalf of the Yazidi said that the case would allow the women, "to have their voices heard in a court of law."

Lafarge Syria is suspected of paying nearly Euro13m to IS and other militant groups to keep the Jalabiya plant running. Payments by the cement company were considered a ‘tax’ in exchange for which militants allowed free movement of the company's staff and goods inside the warzone, according to investigators.

Oman: Four French investors and technology suppliers, including Fives and Suez, have created a syndicate to develop business opportunities in the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm. The other partners are CMA CGM and EDF Renewables. The companies intend to assess various investment options in the area and develop them. In particular, the syndicate has an interest in a ‘global approach to cement factory ecosystems’ and related facilities including transport facilities, a solar power generation plant and the production of alternative fuels.

France: Ciments Calcia has launched Hop’ pour les Pros, a dissolvable cement bag product. Cement sold in the bags can be placed directly into a mixer to make ready-mix concrete. Its puported beneifts include reduce spillage, time savings and no packaging. CEM II 32.5 R cement will be used in the product manufactured at he company’s Bussac-Forêt cement plant in Charente-Maritime.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has inaugurated its pilot plant at Bournezeau, Vendée. The 50,000t/yr unit will manufacture cement products using metakaolin and blast-furnace slag, according to the L'Usine Nouvelle magazine. It says it will produce cement with reduced CO₂ emissions up to 250kg/t using a flash-calcined process down from 900kg/t in the normal clinker production process. The project had investment of Euro10m.

France: Bénédicte de Bonnechose, the president of the French cement industry union (SFIC), says that country’s cement market is expected to grow by 3% in 2018. She made the comments whilst unveiling local CO₂ reduction targets by 2050, according to the Agence France Presse. The local industry recorded growth of 4% in 2017. She described 2018 as a ‘positive recovery’ with sustained growth following a good first half.

SFIC forecasts that new low-clinker cement products will enter the market by mid-2020. These products include EMC II / CM, EMC VI and LC3 types of cement. These should reduce the CO₂ emissions related to current sold cement products by 35%. Other CO₂ capture initiatives including Oxyfuel, Leiliac and calcium looping cleanker technologies were also mentioned.