Displaying items by tag: GCW694

Northern-Ireland based cement producer Cemcor said this week that it has completed trials of a calcined clay cement product called CalcinX. The company started its trials in 2023 and it has been supported by Queen’s University Belfast and funding from Innovate UK. Work with commercial partners has involved precast concrete paving manufacturer Tobermore producing paviours made from 50% CalcinX as a CEM II replacement and Moore Concrete has also manufactured precast units using 50% CalcinX as a CEM I replacement. So far over 3000t of CalcinX has been produced in a number of industrial-scale trials.

David Millar, the managing director of Cemcor, mentioned his company’s plans for calcined clay in June 2022 when he was interviewed by Global Cement Magazine. The company that became Cemcor bought the Cookstown cement plant and a few other assets from Holcim at the start of 2022. It then changed its name to Cemcor in November 2022. At the time of the interview the company was looking to “...develop new value-added products, including low-CO₂ options. This will allow us to use the same amount of clinker to produce more cement.” Millar couldn’t give away too many details at the time, however calcined clay was cited specifically. It was also noted that the company had the right material in its quarry and that it was already working with partners on it.

Amongst all the other decarbonisation options available for cement plants, a slow trickle of calcined clay projects keep being announced. In January 2025, for example, thyssenkrupp Polysius said it had secured a front-end engineering design contract from Circlua for the construction of the world’s largest activated clay plant in Brazil. This project in Para state will have a capacity of 3000t/day, will use renewable energy sources and will “improve the CO₂ footprint in cement production.” CBMI Construction also officially launched a flash calcination clay project in Tangshan, Hebei province in China. In December 2024, Vicat signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to develop the Lebec Net Zero (LNZ) project at its Lebec cement plant in California. This includes plans to produce calcined clay-based cement. Earlier in the autumn of 2024 Portugal-based Cimpor said it was preparing to convert a kiln at its Souselas plant to produce calcined clays, AVIC International Beijing and KHD said that they had secured a deal to build a 900t/day clay calcination plant for Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) in Burkina Faso, and Holcim Česko said it was going to construct a calcined clay processing line at the Čížkovice cement plant in the Czech Republic.

One news story that stuck out in the autumn was the progress of a collaboration between Aumund and Holcim towards developing an electric linear calcination conveyor (eLCC). The two companies started work on the project in 2020 intending to look at the electrical calcination of clay using an Aumund pan conveyor. Initial tests of the eLCC reportedly demonstrated efficient thermal activation of clay through a combination of radiant heat and material circulation. The eLCC system is fully enclosed, insulated, has a compact design and can operate using electrical-powered renewable sources. The first industrial plant utilising this technology is scheduled for construction in 2025. Calcined clay technology and products by other industrial suppliers are available. The work by Aumund and its competitors show they are watching this market closely.

OneStone Consulting’s Joe Harder has found that only 14 clay calcination plants were operational worldwide in 2023 with a production capacity of just under 3.5Mt/yr. These are based in Latin America, Europe and Africa. In an article previewing a market report in the February 2025 issue of Global Cement Magazine, Harder predicts that by 2035 there will be 79 clay calcination plants with a capacity of just under 21Mt/yr. A steady growth of over 20 new plants annually is also expected subsequently from 2035 to 2050 as cement producers seek cost-effective ways to reduce their clinker factor. He identified installation costs, a lack of knowledge about clay-based cements, trouble obtaining mining rights and policy issues amongst other issues as holding back the use of clay calcination.

The current expectation is that calcined clay usage in the cement industry will be a minority option. Yet the size of global cement production can make a production share of, say, 3 - 8% a viable option for both cement manufacturers and equipment suppliers. The adoption of new cement products and standards can also take a long time and this clouds predictions of how far clay can go in the cement industry. At this point in the calcined clay story it is time to keep track of the new projects being set up.

Joe Harder will present a talk entitled ‘Calcined clay market trends by 2035’ at the Global FutureCem Conference taking place in Istanbul in early February 2025

Canada: St Marys Cement has appointed Ali Firat as the Director, Operations at its Bowmanville cement plant in Ontario.

Firat previously worked as the Plant Manager at Traçim Çiment’s at Vize, Kirklareli in Türkiye. Before this he was a Production Manager for OYAK Cement. Earlier in his career he spent about 15 years working for Traçim Çiment and Ladik Cement in a variety of production roles. He is a graduate of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and holds a master of business administration (MBA) from Bahcesehir University in Istanbul.

France: Ecocem will build its first production facility dedicated to ACT, its low-carbon cement technology, at its Dunkirk site. The new site will be operational by 2026 with an initial capacity of 300,000t/yr of ACT.

The expansion will increase the plant's total production capacity to beyond 1Mt/yr and strengthen Ecocem’s operations in northern France, Paris and export markets. The first half of 2025 will see the installation of the key component of the facility, the mill, which will produce the required fillers, as well as expansion of blending and storage facilities. ACT is expected to be delivered to the market in the second half of 2026.

The total investment for the expansion is €50m, funded through a ‘green loan’ from the EthiFinance agency and supported by the French government and local authorities. France 2030's ‘Première Usine’ initiative also awarded a €3.6m grant, with additional grants from the Hauts-de-France Region and Dunkirk Urban Community.

Ecocem will partner with limestone supplier CB Green for the commercial production and delivery of ACT at the Dunkirk site.

US: Titan Cement has announced that its subsidiary, Titan America, has launched its initial public offering (IPO) of 24 million common shares, comprising 9 million new shares to be issued and 15 million existing shares to be sold. The IPO is expected to price between US$15-18 per share.

Following completion, Titan Cement will retain 160,362,465 shares, representing 87% ownership of Titan America.

Afghanistan: The Jabal al-Saraj cement plant project in Parwan province has completed 90% of initial exploration work, along with the drilling of 18 deep wells for mineral sampling, according to Tolo news.

The facility has been contracted between the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum and a Qatari firm, and is valued at US$220m.

Mohammad Idris Anwari, the governor of Parwan, said "The contracting company has completed 90% of the exploration work within six months, ahead of schedule. We are hopeful that the remaining construction and technical work will be completed within two years."

The plant will initially produce 3000t/day (0.96Mt/yr) of cement, rising to 9000t/day (2.9Mt/yr) in later phases. The project will reportedly create 5000 jobs.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has obtained third-party verification for an environmental product declaration (EPD) for the Type VII cement produced at its Cartagena plant.

Tomás Restrepo, vice president of Cementos Argos, said "This certificate validates our efforts to reduce environmental impacts, optimise resources and offer a high-quality material that responds to the needs of each of our clients' projects.”

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Heidelberg Materials has agreed to divest its 91% stake in Cimenterie de Lukala, a cement producer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to WIH Cement Developing Company. The transaction comprises an integrated cement plant in Lukala, near the capital of Kinshasa. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Completion is expected in 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.

Qatar: Qatar National Cement has reported a net profit of US$44m for 2024, down from US$56.3m in 2023, while sales revenue declined to US$109m from US$126m.The company maintained profitability despite reduced demand for its core products due to cost optimisation and operational improvements.

The firm reportedly plans to implement refuse derived fuel at its Umm Bab facility in 2025, following technical consultations.

Canada: Cement exports declined by 2% year-on-year to 4.4Mt in 2024, according to a report by IndexBox. In terms of value, exports reached US$534m in 2024.

The US remained the sole export destination, accounting for 100% of total exports, according to the report. Portland cement represented 85% of total shipments at 3.7Mt.

India: A committee has identified environmental compliance failures at the Adani-owned ACC cement plant in Barmana, Bilaspur district, according to The Indian Express.

The inspection conducted revealed inadequate dust emission controls, missing three-layer tree plantation and deficient truck-tyre washing systems at the plant. Only one kiln was operational at 40% capacity during the visit, as the plant is undergoing maintenance from 3 January to 8 February 2025. Therefore, the committee has requested an additional eight weeks to submit its report, so that it may conduct a more thorough investigation once the plant is operating at full capacity.

The Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board has previously imposed a US$149,000 fine on the plant in April 2022 for air quality breaches and untreated water discharge, with at least seven complaints lodged against the plant by local residents over the last three years.