Displaying items by tag: Plant

Serbia: The economy ministry will provide Lafarge Srbija, part of the Holcim Group, with a €10.6m subsidy to help finance the construction of a new cement plant in Belgrade’s Obrenovac municipality, according to SeeNews. The government initially announced the cement producer’s plans to build a new plant in August 2024. Lafarge reportedly plans to invest €112m in the project by the end of 2027. The company will hire 51 additional full-time workers by the end of 2026, bringing total employment to 320, which it will maintain for at least five years after completion. The subsidy, equivalent to 9.5% of total investment, will be paid in three tranches between 2026 and 2028.

The Obrenovac plant will produce cement using ash from nearby thermal power plants operated by state-owned Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS). In February 2025, EPS signed a 10-year agreement to supply 20Mt of ash from the Nikola Tesla B power plant to a consortium of Lafarge Srbija and Elixir Group. Lafarge Srbija also acquired the Jazovnik stone quarry in Vladimirci, 30km from the new site, to establish a complete logistics chain for the complex. The producer operates an existing cement plant in Beocin.

Egypt: The government will issue two new cement plant licences before the end of 2025 to stabilise domestic prices and boost capacity to meet growing regional demand, according to Zawya news. The plan follows a recent meeting between cement producers and industry minister Kamel El-Wazir.

An unnamed official said “The two permits are expected to be released before the end of 2025, as each licence will include its own production line.”

The two plants will reportedly add 1.5-2Mt/yr to Egypt’s cement output. National demand is projected to rise to 52Mt by the end of 2025, up from 47Mt in 2024.

This week we covered Capitol Aggregates’ order of an alternative fuels (AF) system from ATS Walter USA. The story is notable because it is an AF project for a cement plant in the US. Thermal substitution rates (TSR) of AF in the US have typically been lower than in the European Union (EU), but this could be changing.

The order was confirmed publicly at the end of September 2025. The subsidiary of ATS Group will supply a solid AF metering and conveying system to the integrated plant in San Antonio, Texas. The system will include a moving floor receiving station, chain belt conveyors, a screen and a separator, dosing equipment, an air-supported belt conveyor and an injection system. ATS Walter says that, by the end of 2026, it will have supplied four AF projects in North America. As an aside, Capitol Aggregates also mentioned in the press release that it “...views sustainability as essential to long-term success.” This sentiment is backed up by the fact that the plant built an early commercial carbon capture unit in the 2010s!

Data from the American Cement Association (ACA) revealed that the AF TSR in the US reached 16% in 2023 from 14.6% in 2022. This compares to a 58% rate in the EU in 2022. It is also worth noting that, in the US the share of gas in the cement industry energy mix rose from 25% to 31%. The ACA attributed this change to a falling price of gas. It added that the coal and petroleum share of the fuel mix fell to its lowest level since 1974. The point here is that the energy mix used by cement plants changes over time regardless of sustainability trends.

Research by LEK Consulting estimated that 60 of the 87 cement plants in the US had a TSR of below 20% in 2023. 39 of these were believed to have a TSR of under 5%. It summarised that hazardous waste and tyre-derived fuels have tended to predominate in the US compared to refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in the EU and elsewhere. LEK went on to say that its research suggested that a quarter of cement plants in the US were likely to install an AF feeding system in 2024 or 2025. This is likely to be the highest rate of AF uptake in the US cement sector to date.

The ACA reckons in its sustainability roadmap that with the right policies and regulations the country’s AF TSR could reach as high as 50%. Its policy suggestions include: reduce permitting barriers to use of so-called non-hazardous secondary materials (NHSM) fuels in industrial manufacturing; treating waste-to-industrial energy as valid recycling use; building robust recycling infrastructure and markets that incentivise the use of non-recycled material streams as industrial AF; community education and support for use of low carbon AF; and increasing the use of NHSMs to divert these materials from landfills. This can be mostly summarised as supporting the uptake of RDF through better permitting and building up the infrastructure and markets for it. LEK also identified the same issue. It called for the adoption of landfill reduction targets or zero-landfill policies by commercial and industrial waste generators. However, LEK believes that, even if this were done, current sources of high-quality RDF in the US would not be able to increase the TSR to even 20%.

News from Capitol Aggregates and others about AF projects in the US are encouraging. If LEK’s research is indicative then a step change in the TSR in the country’s cement sector is already underway. The beauty of AF usage is that it can both potentially cut fuel costs and reduce CO₂ emissions. It won’t be easy as new supply chains for refuse byproducts are built and utilised. Yet, as the ACA is advocating, it is possible and worthwhile.

The 1st CemFuels Asia Conference will take place in Bangkok in February 2026 and the 19th Global CemFuels Conference will take place in September 2026 in Geneva

Libya: Hungary-based company Rotary International has proposed building a new cement plant in Libya as part of the country’s infrastructure reconstruction programme. The project was presented during talks in Tripoli between the company and Mustafa Al-Samou, undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, according to Zawya news. The ministry said in a statement that the facility will use ‘environmentally friendly’ technologies to boost local cement production, meet domestic demand and reduce reliance on imports. The talks also covered broader cooperation and investment opportunities in the building materials sector to expand industrial activity and attract foreign expertise and capital.

US: Çimsa has started production at its new grey cement grinding facility in Houston through its subsidiary Cimsa Americas Cement Manufacturing and Sales Corporation, according to Yatirimlar news. The plant has an annual capacity of 600,000t/yr and commanded an investment of US$82m, reportedly making Çimsa the first and only Turkish cement producer with grey cement production operations in the US.

The company, which already operates a 300,000t/yr white cement grinding plant in the country, said the new facility strengthens its position in the US market by adding grey cement production capacity.

CEO Umut Zenar said “Our goal in doing so was to transform Çimsa into a global building materials company with both geographical production diversity and a differentiated product range. During this process, we strengthened our existing operations while continuing our path with international acquisitions and new investments. With the acquisition of the Bunol factory in Valencia, Spain, which we completed in 2021, we became the world's second largest producer in the white cement market. Then, with the Mannok investment we completed in 2024, we strengthened our presence, especially in Ireland and the UK, and accelerated our transformation with the new products we added to our portfolio. Today, we are happy to launch our new investment in the USA. We have been present in the US market for a long time through exports. This new investment, which we have implemented within our US-based company, is a turning point for us. We are no longer a brand that only exports to the USA, but also a player with on-site production power. In this way, we gain logistical advantages and offer much more to our customers. We will be able to provide fast and efficient service. We also aim to increase our sales volume and strengthen our market position with our local manufacturing capabilities in the US. It will also contribute to increasing the share of our foreign currency-based revenues.”

UAE: Asian Paints has announced that its subsidiary, Asian White Inc. FZE, has begun commercial production at its new white cement manufacturing facility in Fujairah. The plant, has an initial capacity of 265,000t/yr, and marks Asian Paints’ entry into the white cement market as part of its broader diversification and international growth strategy. It previously announced its proposed entry into the white cement market back in 2022.

Côte d’Ivoire: Dangote Cement Côte d’Ivoire has officially inaugurated its new 3Mt/yr cement plant in Attingué PK24, around 30km from Abidjan. The US$176m investment is reportedly expected to generate over 1000 direct jobs. The 50-hectare facility is located strategically to reduce logistics costs, and will serve major urban areas more efficiently, helping to stabilise cement prices and improve availability, according to La Nouvelle Tribune.

Construction began 10 years ago, and Dangote Cement now plans a gradual production ramp-up.

Kazakhstan: Construction has begun on a US$222m cement plant in the Alginsky district of the Aktobe region, developed in partnership with West China Cement. The facility will have a production capacity of 2Mt/yr and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. Around 1000 workers are reportedly engaged in site preparation, including laying utility lines and building a dormitory for personnel. Once operational, the plant will create approximately 500 permanent jobs, according to Kazakhstan Newsline.

Regional governor Askhat Shakharov, during a visit to the site, said that the project will play a key role in boosting the region’s industrial capacity and strengthening cooperation with China. “The implementation of this project will help reduce dependence on cement imports and supply the domestic market with building materials. The main thing is to conduct the construction according to the schedule and in compliance with all technological requirements,” he said.

Heidelberg Materials announced this week that it had received the funding clearance to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit at its Padeswood cement plant in Cymru (also known as Wales). Construction on the project will start later in 2025 with net zero cement production expected in 2029. The upgrade will be the group’s first full-scale carbon capture facility. It will capture around 0.8Mt/yr of CO₂ at the site or around 95% of the CO₂ emissions from the process. As the captured emissions will also include biogenic CO₂ from biomass fuels - including domestic food, wood and paper wastes - cement produced at the plant could potentially be net negative.

Just like Heidelberg Material’s first large-scale CCS project at the Brevik cement plant in Norway, the work at Padeswood is part of a larger government-backed decarbonisation cluster. In this case it’s the HyNet North West project. Captured CO₂ from Padeswood will be transported via an underground pipeline for storage under the seabed in Liverpool Bay. The wider cluster will also produce, transport and store hydrogen. A waste-to-energy company Encyclis also announced this week that it had also agreed terms with the government for its Protos CCS project.

It is worth noting the differences between Heidelberg Material’s first two large-scale CCS projects. Padeswood, like Brevik, will use an amine-based carbon capture system but the technology is likely to be provided by a different supplier. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Worley were awarded the contract for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase of the project in 2024 with the intention of using MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process. The funding model is also different for Padeswood. In Norway the original estimate was that over three-quarters of the carbon capture unit would be paid for using state aid and over two-thirds of the funding for the transport and storage of CO₂ would come from the government. Large sums of government grant funding could be seen entering Heidelberg Materials’ balance sheet in 2024 for example. By contrast, Heidelberg Materials says it has agreed a ‘contract for difference’ (CFD) with the UK government. Under the terms of this contract the cement company will provide the upfront investment to build the project and will also be responsible for any additional costs over the agreed contract price. The CFD will likely track the carbon price in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

The wider picture is that the UK government allocated just under €25bn in late 2024 towards two decarbonisation clusters with the funding to be made available over 25 years. However, the completion date for the Padeswood CCS of 2029 is, coincidentally, the latest year by which the next UK parliamentary election could be held. The incumbent Labour party is currently behind in the polls to the populist Reform UK party. The deputy leader of the latter said that his party would cut all "net stupid zero" policies if they entered government. It is likely that the arrangement between Heidelberg Materials and the UK government is legally binding for decades to come with provision for all sorts of eventualities. Yet readers may recall the decision by the second Trump administration in the US to cancel funding for various carbon capture projects including at least one cement project. There is also opposition from various groups in the UK to carbon capture generally and from some groups to HyNet specifically. HyNot, for example, applied for a judicial review in August 2025 challenging the government’s decision to allow Italy-based Eni to store carbon dioxide in Liverpool Bay.

Another issue is that UK cement production dropped to 7.3Mt in 2024, the lowest level since 1950. The impending carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), due in 2027, should help local producers fight off imports but if the market stays down then the production base may need to be rationalised. A cement plant with a new CCS unit linked to the government’s flagship decarbonisation cluster doesn’t seem an obvious choice for closure anytime soon though.

From here it’s all about building new carbon capture projects at different cement plants in different locations with different technologies and so on to determine what works and what doesn’t. A major part of this phase is deciding what kind of government involvement fits and trying it out over the coming years. To end, a CCS project in the north of the UK is poignant given that the Industrial Revolution started here in the late 18th Century. ‘Pob lwc’ (good luck) to all concerned!

UK: Holcim UK has appointed Jan-Willem Verkaik as the Project Director for its carbon capture project at its cement plant at Cauldon in Staffordshire.

Verkaik holds over 30 years’ project management experience, having overseen the planning and execution of gas developments in countries including Brunei, Iraq, Norway, Russia and the UAE. Much of his career has been spent working for Shell and related companies. He worked for Brunei Shell Petroleum on offshore projects from 2007 to 2013. He later held positions with Shell and joint-venture Basrah Gas Company. He is a graduate in mechanical engineering from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.