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Carbon capture for the US cement sector, January 2024
24 January 2024It has been a busy week for carbon capture in the cement sector with Global Cement covering five stories. However, increasingly, the topic has become a regular feature in the press as the industry bends to the demands of the carbon agenda. This week’s selection is notable because three of the stories cover North America.
Holcim US announced that it is working with Ohio State University and GTI Energy to design, build and test engineering-scale membrane carbon capture technology at the Holly Hill cement plant in South Carolina. The information builds on an earlier release from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) in late December 2023 about the project. It has a total budget of US$9m, with US$7m supplied by the DOE. It plans to build a 3t/day CO2 capture unit that uses a method intended to retain 95 - 99% of CO2 from cement kiln gas with a purity exceeding 95%. The new information at this stage is that GTI Energy is involved. Specifically, it will support the development of the pilot skid for site deployment.
The other two stories from North America are worth noting because they both concern commercial equipment or technology suppliers joining up to work together. First, 10 companies - Biomason, Blue Planet Systems, Brimstone, CarbonBuilt, Chement, Fortera, Minus Materials, Queens Carbon, Sublime Systems, and Terra CO2 - announced they were launching the Decarbonized Cement and Concrete Alliance (DC2). The group’s principal aim is to lobby the US government toward using new low-carbon cement and concrete products in public infrastructure. It also intends to look at advocacy and public sector engagement including expanded tax credits, development of standards for novel cements, consistent ecolabeling and accounting, and customer demand support. DC2 was formally launched in January 2024 but it follows previous work by the companies in the area. The other related story was a memorandum of understanding that Aker Carbon Capture and MAN Energy Solutions have also signed this week to jointly pursue opportunities related to carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and CO2 compression in the North American market. These two companies have worked on the full-scale CCUS unit at Norcem’s Brevik cement plant, which is due to be commissioned later in 2024. They are likely intending to capitalise on the publicity that is likely to be generated once it officially starts up.
Back in North America the DC2 Alliance noted in its press release the DOE’s release of its Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Low-Carbon Cement report in September 2023. Although it is similar to many other varied sector roadmaps, including the Portland Cement Association’s Road to Net Zero that was released in 2021, this document is well worth reading due to its details and local market context. The headline figure, for example, is that following a set of pathways to fully decarbonise the US cement industry would cost US$60 - 120bn by 2050. Doing so would involve reducing the clinker factor, improving energy efficiency, increased use of alternative fuels, using CCUS, using alternative feedstocks and adopting alternatives to traditional cement production methods.
Graph 1: US active cement kilns by capacity and age. Source: PCA survey data used in Department of Energy Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Low-Carbon Cement report.
One other interesting tidbit to consider from the report is an analysis of the age of the US cement sector’s kilns versus their production capacity as shown in Graph 1 above. The largest 10 kilns in the country account for 22% of the country’s total capacity and these were all built after 2000. Then, the next 44% of the national capacity comes from 38 kilns out of a total of 120 kilns at 98 cement plants. The report itself does not make this assertion but the implication is that retrofitting CCUS units at one third of the country’s clinker lines would capture the CO2 being emitted from two-thirds of the sector’s production capacity. This is not to say that this could actually work technically, logistically or economically. Yet seeing the scale of the challenge presented in this way is fascinating and one starts to have thoughts about how a retrofit roll-out of CCUS units might actually be approached.
Whether the cement sector adopts CCUS at scale remains to be seen but demonstration projects are definitely coming in both Europe and North America. The DOE report from September 2023 suggests that decarbonisation will cost a lot of money. No surprises there and, as ever, there is rather less detail on who will actually pay for this. One thing that might help here, that the DOE report mentions frequently, is the 45Q carbon capture tax credit scheme, which was introduced by the Trump administration in 2020. Regardless of the potential bill for consumers of cement though, the suppliers are clearly taking note of the investment potential as evidenced by all the non-cement plant CCUS news stories this week.
Göktuğ Aktaş appointed as Director - Africa, Mediterranean and West Asia at Heidelberg Materials
24 January 2024Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Göktuğ Aktaş as its Director - Africa, Mediterranean and West Asia. He previously worked as the Performance Manager (Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia) for the group from late 2018. Prior to this he worked for Türkiye-based Akçansa from 2011 in quality management roles becoming Country Production and Quality Manager (RMC & Aggregates) in 2017. Aktaş is a graduate in science and civil engineering from the Istanbul Technical University and the University of Buffalo in the US. He also holds an administration in business administration (MBA) qualification from Istanbul University.
Arda Aba appointed as Purchasing Group Manager at Çimsa
24 January 2024Türkiye: Çimsa has appointed Arda Aba as a Purchasing Group Manager. He has worked for the cement company in purchasing and investment roles since 2015. Before this he held a number of similar roles in the automotive industry with positions at Pimsa Adler and Ford Otosan. He holds a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Istanbul Technical University and Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi respectively.
Matthew Sutton appointed head of Charah Solutions
24 January 2024US: Charah Solutions has appointed Matthew Sutton as its chief executive officer (CEO). He will report to the company’s executive chair Curt Morgan.
Sutton holds over 30 years of management experience from various environmental, engineering and consulting companies. He worked as the president of CH2M’s environmental and nuclear management business, the CEO of global environmental services at AECOM and executive vice president of Arcadis Environmental. He also spent time as the Senior Vice President of ehsAI, an environmental, health and safety compliance machine learning start-up and, most recently, as president and CEO of Matrix Solutions, an environmental and engineering consulting company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.
Siam Cement Group raises sales in 2023
24 January 2024Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) reported sales of US$14bn in 2023, down by 12% year-on-year from 2022 levels. Nonetheless, its profit grew by 21% to US$726m, largely attributed to gains from fair value adjustments of investments in the first half of 2023. The group’s cement and construction products business incurred a loss due to local impairments of cement plant assets.
As of 31 December 2023, SCG's total assets amounted to US$22bn, down by 1.4% year-on-year from the end of 2022.
China: The Ministry of Environment and Ecology has enacted new requirements for ultra-low emissions clinker production in the Chinese cement industry. OPIS News Alerts has reported that 50% of clinker production capacity (850Mt/yr) must conform with the standard by 2025, rising to 80% by 2028. The standard encompasses the whole value chain, from raw materials production to transport of the finished product. The ministry expects the regulations, together with similar ones for the coking sector, to reduce domestic CO2 emissions by 10Mt/yr. In the cement sector, the new requirements will intersect with upcoming emissions trading scheme (ETS), which is expected to come online by 2025.
The Ministry of Environment and Ecology said “Oversupply and a persistent demand lull has resulted in declining profit and lower operating rates for the cement industry in China for the past three years. Setting up low emission standards and providing policy incentives for production with higher efficiency and lower environmental impact will help promote green transformation within the industry, while driving out inefficient capacities.”
Saudi Arabia: Sinoma Overseas Development has reported the successful construction of the first steel column for the kiln inlet of the new Line 3 at Yamama Cement’s Al Kharj cement plant in Northern Halal. The China-based supplier used a crawler crane to position the structural element, which is painted in its characteristic blue. In a post to LinkedIn, it said that the development ‘kicks off the steel construction and installation’ of the upcoming 12,500t/day (4.6Mt/yr) line.
Sinoma Overseas Development said “Meticulous preparations were made for the successful completion of the first installation as a landmark task in the project’s construction: civil engineers re-measured pre-embedded bolts multiple times, cleared pathways, and set the area ready for operation. Seamless coordination between commanders and operators, combined with whole-process supervision of managers, made the successful installation of the first steel column possible.” Looking forwards, it said “The project team, greatly inspired by the successful installation, will continue to face challenges head-on, chase for high quality while ensuring safety and make sure tasks are completed in due time for the safe and smooth operation of subsequent construction.”
Türkiye: Sinoma Overseas Development has won a contract to execute the first phase of a four-plant solar power project across three of LIMAK Cement Group’s cement plants in Türkiye. The contract covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of an initial 28.2MW-worth of new solar power capacity.
Sinoma Overseas Development said “This project opens a new chapter of our robust partnership built on many successful practices of cooperation on projects of cement EPC and supply services over the past decade, leading us into a new field of green energy. The deeper and wider cooperation between LIMAK and us reflects its recognition and trust in our company's ability to perform the contracts in the past, indicating another significant leap in exploiting the Turkish market, expanding localised operations, and transforming to providing green energy projects.” The supplier added “We will exert our utmost in project execution and client services to propel LIMAK’s strategic blueprint of energy saving and carbon reduction in its pursuit of a greener, more sustainable future.”
Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine investigates CRH’s acquisition of Buzzi Unicem's local business
24 January 2024Ukraine: The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has launched an investigation into Ireland-based CRH's acquisition of certain Central-Eastern European assets of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem. The assets in question include two Ukrainian cement plants. The AMCU will assess the potential impacts of the consolidation on the cement market in Ukraine. The parties concluded the deal in June 2023, and expected to conclude it in September 2024. The AMCU first rejected CRH's application to it in September 2023, but subsequently agreed to reopen its examination of the deal in October 2023.
Mexico: Cemex Ventures, the corporate venture capital and open innovation unit of Cemex, has published its fifth annual Top 50 Contech Startups list for 2024. The Top 50 lists the start-ups operating in the global construction technology sector that Cemex Ventures believes show the greatest disruptive potential. The unit evaluates start-ups across four strategic areas: green construction; enhanced productivity; construction supply chain; and future of construction.
In 2023, global construction technology investments totalled US$3.03bn, down by 44% year-on-year due to macroeconomic factors impacting funding. Investments in enhanced productivity accounted for 45% of the total, and investments in green construction for 24%.
Gonzalo Galindo, head of Cemex Ventures, said "Our investment analysts track investment data throughout the year and continually engage with global start-ups to target the most innovative solutions that are consistent with our mission to foster the construction industry revolution. Innovation requires a long-term approach and cannot be defined by a year alone, but our Top 50 Contech Startups list and report helps us track innovation through investment and technology adoption and gauge the health of the construction start-up ecosystem.”