Displaying items by tag: Lithuania

Lithuania: Capsol Technologies has commenced its first CapsolGo demonstration campaign at the Akmenės Cementas plant in Lithuania, owned by Schwenk, to evaluate its carbon capture technology.

Schwenk plans to test Capsol’s technology at two cement plants, with a combined CO₂ capture potential of 1.5Mt/yr. Following the demonstration campaign at the Akmenės plant in Lithuania, the CapsolGo unit will be transferred to Schwenk’s Brocēni cement plant in Latvia, where a feasibility study was conducted in 2024.

Lithuania: Recycling company Ekobāze is set to construct a plastic byproducts and solid recovered fuel (SRF) processing complex in the Akmenė Free Economic Zone. The project is valued at about €12m and received €10m in EU financing, according to BNS News. It will create 60 new jobs. The complex will supply SRF to Akmenės Cementas, the sole cement producer in Lithuania, utilising post-consumer plastic unsuitable for recycling in its production processes. Ekobāze will process other plastic into pellets. Construction will begin at the end of 2025, with production starting in early 2027.

Lithuania: Ignitis has signed a 4-year power purchase agreement with Lithuanian cement producer Akmenės Cementas to supply electricity from the Mažeikiai wind farm, starting in 2026. The wind farm features 14 wind turbines with a capacity of 63MW and began operations in 2023.

CEO of Akmenės Cementas Artūras Zaremba said "We are excited about this partnership as it allows us to use green energy in the cement industry. This cooperation is an important step towards our commitment to achieve long-term sustainability and reduce our carbon footprint. By integrating renewable energy sources into our activities and planned projects that will contribute to the EU’s Green Deal objectives, we are strengthening our environmental efforts and creating sustainable and innovative solutions.

Latvia/Lithuania: Capsol Technologies has won a contract to carry out two CapsolGo carbon capture demonstration campaigns at the Brocēni cement plant in Latvia and the Akmenės Cementas cement plant in Lithuania. Both plants are owned by Germany’s Schwenk Zement. Following a feasibility study earlier in 2024, the demonstrations will run from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025 and will showcase the CapsolEoP capture technology.

Philipp Staggat, chief product officer of Capsol Technologies, said "CapsolEoP offers lower energy consumption with higher CO₂ concentration than competitive technologies, and the capture cost for cement owners is reduced further as it doesn't require external steam supply. We are looking forward to demonstrating our technology on Schwenk's cement plants.”

CEO of Akmenės Cementas, Arturas Zaremba added "In collaboration with our clients and stakeholders, we are dedicated to addressing these challenges. The implementation of CapsolEoP technology at our Latvian and Lithuanian plants is a testament to our commitment, marking a significant stride towards the goal of capturing over 1.5Mt/yr of CO₂.”

Lithuania: Akmenės Cementas has completed a €30m upgrade to its Akmenės cement plant. BNS News has reported that the upgrade will enable the plant to raise its alternative fuels (AF) substitution rate to 90%. The work included the construction of supporting infrastructure, including a storage facility. The Lithuanian Environmental Project Management Agency granted the project €4.3m under its Climate Change Programme.

Akmenės Cementas sold 1.1Mt of cement in 2023, 74% of it on the local Lithuanian market, with the remainder exported to other EU markets.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas has benefitted from a European Union (EU) ban on cement exports from Belarus in response to the Russian-led invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The subsidiary of Germany-based Schwenk Zement reported a profit of Euro16m in 2022, according to the Baltic News Service. This is its first recorded profit since 2013. Artūras Zaremba, the head of Akmenes Cementas, added that higher cement prices, further borrowing from its parent company and fixed electricity prices also helped it make a profit.

The company’s income grew by 53% year-on-year to Euro134m in 2022 from Euro87.5m in 2021. Its cement sales volumes increased by 6% to 1.5Mt and cement production rose by 8% to 1.1Mt. Around 1.1Mt of cement was sold domestically with the remainder exported to other countries within the EU. Cement sales are expected to fall in 2023 due to changes in the local market.

Lithuania: Arturas Zaremba, the head of Akmenes Cementas, has warned that government proposals to increase the import tax on coal in 2024 and the abolition of subsidies for the fuel will affect the company. The country’s parliament is also proposing scaling the import tax based on a CO₂ scale, according to the Baltic Business Daily newspaper. Zaremba said that the cement producer uses 130,000t/yr of coal. However, it is currently investing Euro22m on an upgrade to its Akmenes integrated plant to allow it to switch to using a higher proportion of solid-recovered fuel. It currently has a 10% alternative fuels substitution rate using dried sewage sludge and tyres.

Zaremba said "There will be some impact because we will still have some of that coal left, but not as much as we would have had without the investment. I have not followed how much they plan to increase the excise duty, but we need to look into how much that would be in the financial terms. Any increase has an impact."

Russia: Kaliningrad region is redirecting cement deliveries to the region to sea transport following the implementation of trade sanctions by neighbouring Lithuania. The first consignment of cement redirected from the railroad, on the Kholmogory dry-cargo carrier, is scheduled to be transported on the Bronka - Kaliningrad shipping route by the end of June 2022, according to Interfax. The Ursa Major cargo ship will also be used on the Ust-Luga - Baltiisk shipping route. Additional ships will be used to increase transport capacity to supply the Russian enclave.

Deputy head of the regional government Alexander Rolbinov said, "Now, with the support of the Russian Transport Ministry, the logistics of supplying the region with essential cargos are changing. In particular, we are fully redirecting cement deliveries to sea transport. We have already worked out with Eurocement the required amount of material for the construction industry, which will be packed in 'big bags' and shipped by the fleet. The situation is under the constant control of the governor."

The Kaliningrad region needs about 600,000t/yr of cement. Previously cement was transported by rail through the European Union (EU). However, EU economic sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine started being implemented directly by Lithuania from 18 June 2022. The Russian government has threatened Lithuania with retaliatory sanctions.

Sweden: Cementa plans to restrict its exports to the Baltic countries and Denmark. Finwire News has reported that the subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement is enacting the measure in order to focus its cement supply on its Swedish customers.

Lithuania: The Lithuanian Competition Council has permitted Germany-based Schwenk Zement to increase its stake in Akmenes Cement to 97% from 47%. The markets authority also granted permission for Schwenk Zement’s 75% acquisition of limestone and clay producer Kalcitas and 100% acquisitions of building materials suppliers Cemeka and Lanku Bokstai.