Displaying items by tag: Recycling

Colombia: Cementos Argos has announced that its Green Bags initiative has seen the production of over 5 million bags from recycled paper, of which 808t was saved from going to waste. Cementos Argos supply chain manager David Restrepo that the initiative provides an alternative to ‘the felling of over 8000 trees and use of 64,000m³ of water, the equivalent of 26 Olympic swimming pools.’

US: Bulk Handling Systems (NHS) has appointed Matthias Erdmannsdoerfer as managing director of Max-AI. Prior to this new role, Erdmannsdoerfer worked for more than six years as the president of National Recovery Technologies (NRT), a developer of optical sorting technology and subsidiary of BHS. In his new role Erdmannsdoerfer will be responsible for the Max-AI product line including sales, business development and product and application development.

Launched by BHS in 2017, Max-AI technology powers robotic sorters, optical sorters and reporting systems, and will continue to be integrated into new and existing equipment throughout material recovery facilities (MRFs). Since its inception, more than 50 Max-AI AQC (Autonomous Quality Control) robotic sorters have been sold in quality control (QC) applications of both fibre and containers.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has set up a subsidiary, Granulados Reciclados de Colombia (Greco), to recycle construction material waste. The new company’s operations will be based at its Cota plant in Cundinamarca, according to La Republica newspaper. The operation is expected to process over 1Mt/yr of construction waste material. The company is a joint operation with local industrial conglomerate Fanalca and South Korean lighting equipment manufacturer Daeyang.

France: Fives Group has revealed its membership of the Centre for Technologies, Minerals and Recycled Materials of the Future, a new association that aims to develop industrial recycling of minerals for the construction and public works sectors. Fives’ Innovation Department and its subsidiary Fives FCB joined Team² to found the associate in May 2017.

The centre plans to set up a base to coordinate and test by-product valorisation, as well as the use of raw materials recovered from recycling, at a former cement plant owned by EQIOM group in Dannes, Pas-de-Calais. Fives contribution to the research will include its technologies in crushing, grinding, classifying and pyro processing in the minerals industry.

Egypt: Lafarge Egypt's total investments in the local cement market will hit US$3.2bn at the end of 2015, according to CEO Hussein Mansi.

Mansi said that Lafarge Egypt intends to expand in the local market with US$16.8m of new investments in a recycling project. The project is expected to start within six months of the required land being supplied by the government. In the near future, Lafarge Egypt will supply national projects currently being executed by the government such as the New Administrative Capital project and New Suez Canal projects.

Mansi said that Lafarge Egypt plans to increase its current market share, which is currently estimated at 14%.

UK: O'Donovan Waste Disposal is investing Euro20m in a new processing facility close to Alperton, west London.

The site will have a material reception and recycling facility that sorts and processes a myriad of construction and demolition waste into recoverable and reusable materials, such as graded aggregate. Around 50 jobs will be created across a range of operational roles, including drivers and waste handlers.

"We have been looking for a suitable site for many years and this is in an ideal location for us. There are so many large, long-term development projects in London that there is a real need for increased recycling infrastructure like this. Construction has already started and we hope to be fully operational in late spring," said Jacqueline O'Donovan, managing director at O'Donovan Waste Disposal.

Canada: A British Colombia programme that recycles Keurig coffee K-Cups into cement has been so successful that it may expand into Alberta. The Lafarge cement plant in Kamloops, British Colombia, Canada used about 1.4m K-Cups as ash in its cement in 2014 after teaming up with Van Houtte Coffee Services, which collects the used pods for recycling.

"I think we've been fairly successful here," said Eric Isenor, the Lafarge Kamlooops plant manager. "Van Houtte is happy with the programme so far and is looking to expand." He added that the company might start collecting the used pods in Alberta, Canada for recycling in British Colombia.

The single-serving coffee pods are not recyclable because they are a mixture of materials coffee grounds, a paper filter, plastic cup and foil top that cannot be efficiently separated. After collecting the used coffee pods, Van Houtte, a coffee service that delivers supplies to offices and retailers around Kamloops, brings them in large bins to the Lafarge cement plant for processing. The pods are dried out, shredded and heated to 2000°C to form ash, which is then used for cement production.

Canada: Pond Biofuels has set up a bioreactor pilot plant at St Marys cement plant in St Marys, Ontario. The raw smokestack gas from the cement plant is recycled to grow algae in a third-generation 25,000L bioreactor at the on-site pilot plant. The resulting algae can be used for bio-oil, food, fertiliser and sewage treatment.

The algae consume CO₂, NO_X and SO_X from the smokestack gas. Every 1kg of algae produced prevents 2kg of CO₂ from being emitted into the atmosphere. The St Marys Cement Plant produces 720,000t/yr of cement and 540,000t/yr of CO₂. Currently, Pond Biofuels only uses a small portion of the total CO₂ output.

"We consider ourselves a carbon recycling technology," said Steve Martin, founder of Pond Biofuels.

The algae thrive in light filled, CO₂-rich conditions, which are provided in the bioreactor. The light comes from custom-designed red LED lights that flash continuously. The rapid flashing fools the algae into thinking the days are very short, so it grows very fast. "The algae evolve quite quickly; we can get four, five, six generations of algae in a day," said Martin.

Proving the production of algae at commercial scale is important, but the other important part is finding a market for the algae. "Between 10 – 20% of it is oil that be used for producing biodiesel," said Martin. It could also be used a coal replacement, a soil amendment or even animal feed and it can be easily dried using waste heat from the cement plant.

UK: Cemex is planning to start building two new waste recycling plants in the UK later in 2012. As part of the project up to 30 new jobs operating a site in Rugby, Warwickshire will be created.

Cemex is working with recycling management company Sita UK to produce the alternative fuel, Climafuel, which is made out of domestic, commercial and industrial waste. It plans to build two new waste recycling plants, one in Birmingham and the other in Malpass Farm, next to its existing Rugby cement plant. Work is due to start later in 2012 with an opening date set for 2014. The Birmingham plant is due to start operation later in 2012 and it will also provide fuel for the Rugby Cemex plant.

Together, the two plants will be able to produce and supply up to 250,000t of Climafuel to Rugby which is currently permitted to use up to 65% Climafuel in its fuel mix. A current application to the Environment Agency could see this increase to 80%.

Dan Panormo, Cemex's renewable energy manager, said "With the fuel coming from within a 30 mile radius of the cement plant from Birmingham and subsequently from Malpass Farm, it guarantees the environmental credentials of this alternative fuel."