Displaying items by tag: Italy
Domicem orders new production line from Sinoma Construction
06 October 2021Dominican Republic: Domicem has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with China-based Sinoma Construction for a 3500t/day clinker production line at its Palenque plant. The scope of the project includes a production line, from raw material feeding to the clinker warehouse and the transformation of the cement mill workshop, according to Digital Cement. The Chinese engineering company previously built the first production line at the site. Domicem’s parent company Colacem said in March 2021 that it was preparing to invest US120m towards doubling the production capacity of the Palenque plant.
Federbeton publishes cement industry decarbonisation strategy
22 September 2021Italy: The Italian cement association Federbeton has launched its comprehensive plan for cement industry decarbonisation in line with the EU’s European Green Deal target of a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The strategy entails Euro4.2bn of total new investments andEuro1.4m/yr of extra operating costs across the industry. This will cover the adoption of transition technologies and the large-scale application of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The association says that while some such actions, such as alternative fuel (AF) substitution,are immediately available, others require further development. The sector’s primary fuel is petcoke, mainly imported from the Gulf of Mexico. As such, Federbeton has identified the 100% replacement of all fossil fuels with ‘low-carbon impact’ alternatives as a means of reducing the industry’s carbon footprint by 12% achievable in the short term. Renewable green hydrogen use can cut a further 3% of CO2 emissions, an energy transition to renewable sources can cut 5%, clinker factor reduction can cut 10%, alternative raw materials in clinker can cut 6%, CCS can cut 43%, supply chain and logistics changes can cut 16% and the optimisation of construction can cut the remaining 5%.
President Roberto Callieri said “The cement and concrete supply chain wants to be one of the protagonists of the ecological transition.” He added “Only with adequate and immediate support tools will it be possible to prevent the impoverishment of the industrial fabric, preserve the competitiveness of the supply chain and prevent relocation. Last but not least, a new environmental culture must be shared, based on dialogue and no longer on the preconceived opposition to any choice of industry.”
Colacem to stop cement grinding at Maddaloni plant
22 September 2021Italy: Colacem plans to stop grinding cement at its Maddaloni Plant in Campania from the start of October 2021. The unit will be converted into a sales and logistics site, according to the Il Mattino newspaper. The cement producer purchased the Maddaloni plant from Italcementi in mid-2018 as part of the measures required by the Italian Competition Authority when Italcementi acquired Cementir. The kiln at the plant was later shut down in early 2019.
US: Italy-based Bedeschi has been awarded a new order for the supply of two BED RNSH 1800/6 type apron feeders for Lehigh Cement’s integrated Mitchell plant in Indiana. The new feeders will be able to process up to 1300t/hr of crushed limestone and they will be placed in the primary and secondary crushing area to replace the old existing machines. They feature super duty design with CAT type chains and a Bedeschi super duty belt. As part of the installation Bedeschi has used a three dimensional survey to define the exact room availability in the existing plant. The new feeders will join three others at the plant that were already ordered as part of an upgrade programme for clay crushing and additive dosing. No value for the order has been disclosed.
Lehigh Cement, a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement, resumed work on its US$600m upgrade project at the Mitchell plant in February 2021. Work on the upgrade was suspended in early 2020.
Buzzi Unicem reports sales growth as Italian market recovers
04 August 2021Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales grew by 5.8% year-on-year to Euro1.61bn in the first half of 2021 from Euro1.52bn in the same period of 2020. Its sales volumes of cement and clinker rose by 10.9% to 14.8Mt from 13.4Mt. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 12.3% to Euro352m from Euro314m. The group reported cement sales volumes growth in all territories with the exception of Poland, and Germany to a lesser extent. It also noted growth in ready-mixed concrete sales volumes of 7% to 5.8Mm3 with development in Italy, Poland and Ukraine more than compensating for ‘unfavourable’ changes in the US, Germany and the Czech Republic.
Turkey leads Cementir’s performance in first half of 2021
03 August 2021Italy: Cementir’s revenue rose by 16.5% year-on-year to Euro665m in the first half of 2021 from Euro570m in the same period in 2020. Its cement and ready-mixed concrete sales volumes grew by 18.7% to 5.46Mt and 31.4% to 2.52Mm3 respectively. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 36.6% to Euro134m from Euro 97.8m. The cement producer noted strong cement sales volumes performance in Turkey, Belgium and Denmark and good concrete sales volumes also in Turkey.
“Despite the first half 2020 [when] results were affected by the lockdown due to Covid-19, during 2021 all the markets in which we operate are showing signs of vivacity and in particular Turkey is recovering significantly," said chairman and chief executive officer Francesco Caltagirone Jr.
Low carbon cements go global
28 July 2021Holcim has started to unify its low carbon cement product range this week with the launch of its ECOPlanet label globally. The products are already available in Germany, Romania, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, France and Italy. The plan is to extend this to 15 countries by the end of 2021 and then to double its ‘market presence’ by the end of 2022.
The headline news is that the range will include what Holcim says is the world’s first cement product with 20% recycled construction and demolition waste. This appears to be an improvement on the group’s Susteno cement products that use fine fractions from concrete and demolition waste. This product is currently sold in Switzerland where it is advertised as saving 10% of CO2 emissions compared to a standard cement product. Both Holcim and HeidelbergCement already sell concrete products that use the coarse waste from building demolition. Other than this, Holcim says that the range will also include cements that contain calcined clay. In June 2021 subsidiary Lafarge France announced that it would produce a cement product under the ECOPlanet banner using kaolin clay with its proprietary ProximA Tech process at its integrated La Malle cement plant in Bouc-Bel-Air.
We will have to wait and see how far Holcim goes in standardisng the range between different countries. Yet, judging from what the countries that are already selling ECOPlanet are doing, it looks like it will be a variety of blended cements. At present, for example, Holcim Germany offers four products in the ECOPlanet range. These are all slag cements, with three having effective CO2 reductions of up to 70% and the fourth, ECOPlanet Zero, reaching 100% through a carbon offsetting scheme in conjunction with MoorFutures. Holcim Italy also launched a product in the range called ECOPlanet Prime using calcined clay in June 2021.
Incidentally, LafargeHolcim US announced a research project this week with the US Army about using demolition waste. It’s going to start working with the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center and Geocycle to look at how construction and demolition materials from military installations can be used for energy recovery and mineral recycling. Group resources at Geocycle’s Holly Hill Research Center in South Carolina, US and Holcim’s Global Innovation Center in Lyon, France will be used in the scheme.
Other low carbon cement products are available of course. Holcim is far from alone in launching low CO2 cement and concrete products. Yet the use of worldwide brand names is different. Cemex is doing something similar with the global rollout of its Vertua concrete products. It first launched Vertua in France in 2018 before going global in 2020. Holcim started to launch ECOPact Concrete in 2019. Now, Holcim has gone further by doing the same thing with cement. Given how localised cement and concrete products are, it will be instructive to see how global branding for low carbon cementitious products helps these companies. For instance, who is the target audience? It could be eco-minded self-build customers or project specifiers or government departments or industry lobbyists. Or perhaps it is simply another marketing channel to reinforce the sector’s sustainable offerings.
The other point worth considering is when will the multinational cement producers start selling sustainable cements and concretes in less rich parts of the world? While Holcim was playing with blended cements and marketing this week, Dangote Cement said that it was ready to start commissioning its new 6Mt/yr integrated plant at Okpella, Edo State in Nigeria. Another 5Mt/yr plant is also on the way in the country from Madugu Cement. It has just signed a contract for China-based Sinoma International Engineering Company to build it. When Holcim and the other cement companies start selling low carbon cements in places like Nigeria then the rise of these products will be complete.
Italy: Taiwan-based Taiwan Cement has successfully acquired a 60% stake in battery and hydrogen power systems supplier Engie EPS for Euro132m. The building materials producer is attempting to become a global supplier in the sector.
Colacem considering Spoleto cement plant closure
17 June 2021Italy: Colacem is contemplating shutting down its Spoleto cement plant in Sant’Angelo, Mercole. The La Nazione newspaper has reported that a closure would result in the loss of 25 jobs. The producer acquired the integrated plant from Cemitaly in April 2019 and first suspended production later that month.
Huaxin Cement targets East Africa
16 June 2021The latest piece of China-based Huaxin Cement’s global ambitions slotted into place this week with the news that it is preparing to buy plants in Zambia and Malawi. Its board of directors has approved plans to spend US$150m towards acquiring a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia and US$10m on a 100% stake in Lafarge Cement Malawi. The move will gain it two integrated plants with a combined production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr in Zambia, and a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant in Malawi.
This latest proposed acquisition represents the next step for Huaxin Cement in Africa following its purchase of African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement in mid-2020. The company has also been busy along the more traditional Belt and Road Initiative land routes in Asia. It started up the kiln at its new 2Mt/yr Jizzakh cement plant in mid-2020. Elsewhere in Central Asia it runs two plants in Tajikistan and one plant in Kyrgyzstan via various indirectly-owned subsidiaries. While in South Asia it runs a plant in Nepal and in South-East Asia it runs one in Cambodia. If the plans in Zambia and Malawi pay off then it will give the Chinese producer a growing presence in East Africa, with plants in three countries.
The China Cement Association ranked Huaxin Cement as the country’s fifth largest clinker producer in 2021 with an integrated capacity base of just under 63Mt/yr. Domestically, the company operates 57 cement plants and most of these are based in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region. In 2020 it reported cement and clinker sales of 76Mt, a small decrease from 2019. Its operating income fell by 6.6% year-on-year to US$4.58bn and profit dropped by 12% to US$1.2bn. This performance was blamed on the emergence of Covid-19 at the start of 2020 and then floods later in the year.
Compared to the other larger Chinese cement producers, Huaxin Cement roughly appears to be holding rank with its overseas expansions. The leaders, CNBM and Anhui Conch, hold subsidiaries with plants in South-East and Central Asia and CNBM’s engineering wing, Sinoma, has a far bigger reach, building plants all over the place. Information has been scarce since mid-2020 on the long heralded 7Mt/yr plant in Tanzania due to be built by Sinoma and local subsidiary Hengya Cement. At that time local residents in Mtimbwani, Mkinga District were reportedly being compensated for their land. Other than this, one of the other big players internationally is Taiwan Cement. In 2018 it invested around US$1.1bn for a 40% stake in Turkey-based Oyak Cement. As well as a presence in Turkey this also gave it a share of plants in Portugal in 2019 when Oyak completed its acquisition of Cimpor.
Elsewhere this week, carrying some of the themes above with expansion in Central Asia, two new integrated cement plant projects were announced in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan respectively. Meanwhile, Italcementi said it will invest Euro5.0m to restart clinker production at its Trentino cement plant in Sarche di Madruzzo, Italy. The unit has been operating as a grinding plant since 2015. This might be viewed as an unexpected decision considering the high local CO2 price but it shows some level of confidence in the local market by Italcementi and its parent company, HeidelbergCement. The next step will be when or if a European producer decides to build a brand new integrated plant in Italy or elsewhere.