Displaying items by tag: Research
Dalmia Cement takes steps towards carbon capture
25 September 2019Dalmia Cement threw down the gauntlet this week with the announcement of a large-scale carbon capture unit (CCU) at one of its plants in Tamil Nadu, India. An agreement has been signed with UK-based Carbon Clean Solutions Limited (CCSL) to use its technology in building a 0.5Mt/yr CCU. The partnership will explore how CO2 from the plant can be used, including direct sales to other industries and using the CO2 as a precursor in manufacturing chemicals. No exact completion date or budget has been disclosed.
The move is a serious declaration of intent from the Indian cement producer towards its aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Dalmia has been pushing its sustainability ‘journey’ for several years now hitting targets such as reaching 6Mt of alternative raw materials usage in its 2018 financial year and reaching a clinker factor of 63% at the same time. In an article in the November 2018 issue of Global Cement Magazine it said it had achieved CO2 emissions of 526kg/t from its cement production compared to 578kg/t from other Indian members of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI). In its eastern operations it had gone further to reach 400kg/t.
Using CCU is the next step to this progression but Dalmia’s approach is not without its caveats. Firstly, despite the size of the proposed project it is still being described as a ‘large-scale demonstration.’ Secondly, the destination of all that captured CO2, as mentioned above, is still being considered. CCSL uses a post-combustion capture method that captures flue gas CO2 and then combines the use of a proprietary solvent with a heat integration step. Where the capture CO2 goes is vital because if it can’t be sold or utilised in some other way then it needs to be stored, putting up the price. Technology provider CCSL reckons that its CDRMax process has a CO2 capture price tag of US$40/t but it is unclear whether this includes utilisation sales of CO2 or not.
The process is along similar lines to the Skyonic SkyMine (see Global Cement Magazine, May 2015) CCU that was completed in 2015 at the Capitol Cement plant in San Antonio, Texas in the US. However, that post-combustion capture project was aiming for 75,000t/yr of CO2. Dalmia and CCSL’s attempt is six times greater.
Meanwhile, Cembureau, the European cement association, joined a group of industrial organisations in lobbying the European Union (EU) on the Horizon Europe programme. It wants the budget to be raised to at least Euro120m with at least 60% to be dedicated to the ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ pillar. This is relevant in a discussion on industrial CO2 emissions reduction because the scheme has been supporting various European cement industry projects, including HeidelbergCement’s work with the Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium and Calix at its Lixhe plant in Belgium and its pilots in Norway. As these projects and others reach industrial scale testing they need this money.
These recent developments provide hope for the future of the cement industry. Producers and their associations are engaging with the climate change agenda and taking action. Legislators and governments need to work with the cement sector to speed up this process and ensure that the industry is able to cut its CO2 emissions while continuing to manufacture the materials necessary to build things. Projects like this latest from Dalmia Cement are overdue, but are very encouraging.
Repsol Sinopec Brazil, Ouro Negro and PUC-Rio develop cement quality-check tech for oil wells
05 September 2019Brazil: Repsol Sinopec Brazil, Ouro Negro and the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Centre of Science and Technology at Rio de Janiero’s Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio) are working together on a through tubing logging profile tool to assess cement quality in lined wells. Arbolas has reported that, where current technologies allow only for observation of anomalies located directly around the tool, the sought-after solution will facilitate detailed recording of the integrity of the adjacent layer. Ouro Negro Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eduardo Costa has described the proposal to incorporate its TTilt technology into the Wellrobot, yielding continuous data feedback and thus reducing well interventions. The companies say that the prospect of reliable seal integrity testing for plugging and abandonment operations on fluid-bearing formations is of enormous economic and environmental import to numerous industries.
Japan Coal Energy Center, GreenOre Clean Tech and others sign deal on CO2 capture and utilisation project in Wyoming
22 July 2019US: The Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL), GreenOre Clean Tech, Columbia University and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to test carbon utilisation and recycling technology. GreenOre Clean Tech, using technology under license from Columbia University, will use testing space at the Integrated Test Center (ITC) near the Dry Fork Station coal-fired power station in Gillette, Wyoming. Calcium carbonate produced through CO2 mineralisation could then potentially be used for aggregates, concrete production or in paper production. The test will be funded by JCOAL with additional support from project partners.
The State of Wyoming and JCOAL have been working together since 2016, when they signed an initial MOU committing to cooperation in coal research and development of technologies and coal trade. JCOAL operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and is supported by more than 120 member coal-related businesses, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Nippon Steel and Toshiba. Kawasaki is scheduled to test its solid sorbent capture technology at the ITC beginning in 2021.
US: Researchers from CalPortland have published a peer-reviewed study looking at the absorption or carbonation of CO2 by buildings, pavements and structures made from concrete. The authors argue that this negative effect on CO2 emissions is not being considered in global, national and regional greenhouse gas accounting methods. The paper calls for focused studies on CO2 uptake in concrete within the context of its overall Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
“It is time to further examine the value of concrete in the built environment as a significant carbon sink,” said Allen Hamblen, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CalPortland. “To do so accurately, we must specifically look at the net effects of CO2 sequestration in concrete and evaluate all structures over their lifetime within a circular economy.”
The study looks at previous attempts to quantify the effect of concrete carbonation, notably using work by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (SERI) that examined data from several European countries to develop practical models to gauge the extent of CO2 uptake by concrete globally in the built environment. Different models estimated that 15 - 20% of CO2 emissions from clinker production were reabsorbed over the lifetime of concrete structures.
China: Researchers from the Xinjiang Communications Construction Group have developed a new type of cement-based concrete that uses soil as well as wind-blown sand. The new concrete also uses construction waste and steel slag, according to the Xinhua News Agency. It is intended to lower construction costs and times with applications in infrastructure projects.
US: Illinois State University has been awarded a US$15,000 grant by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to research the use of recycled glass as a substitute for Ordinary Portland Cement and fly ash in controlled low-strength material (CLSM). CLSM, also called flowable fill, is a cement-based construction material commonly used for backfilling trenches or other excavations, as well as soil-stabilisation. It can be produced at any ready-mix concrete plant by mixing cement, fly ash, sand and water in the correct proportions.
Project lead Pranshoo Solanki said that preliminary results are promising, and show that required flow and strength can be met by replacing cement and fly ash with recycled glass powder.
The EPA grant is for phase one of the recycled glass project for research at the laboratory scale. Funding for phase two will then be sought to test the product in real-world trials.
China: Germany’s Wacker Group has opened a new competence centre for cement and concrete applications in Shanghai. The laboratory will develop silicone based products and solutions which are able to improve the performance of cement and concrete and to make these materials more sustainable. Special focus is on silicone admixtures and performance enhancers.
“As a regional innovation platform focusing on cement and concrete, the new lab will cooperate with leading Chinese universities, research institutions and the industry. Its goal is to develop innovative products and solutions which support the sustainable development of the Chinese construction materials industry,” said Paul Lindblad, president of Wacker Greater China.
At its new competence centre in Shanghai, Wacker will be able to investigate how silicone chemistry can protect cement and concrete against environmental influences and, at the same time, improve the durability of these materials.
Portugal: Researchers at the Department of Materials Engineering and Ceramics at the University of Aveiro have developed a so-called ‘eco-cement’ that uses waste cellulose and clay. The cement type uses waste from the pulp industry such as ash and lime grains. This makes up 70% of its composition with the remaining 30% being metakaolin clay. The cement can be manufactured at room temperature reducing its energy consumption massively compared to Ordinary Portland Cement. The research team includes Manfredi Saeli, Rui Novais, Paula Seabra and João Labrincha.
Aggregate Industries, Innovatium and the University of Birmingham work on liquid air energy storage system
05 February 2019UK: A consortium comprising Aggregate Industries, Innovatium and the University of Birmingham has gained funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to test a liquid air energy storage (LAES) energy efficiency technology under the government’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA) programme. The IEEA programme, administered by the Carbon Trust on behalf of BEIS, will provide nearly Euro0.4m towards delivering a new compressed air system utilising LAES technology from initial laboratory testing to full operation at Aggregate Industries’ Bardon Hill quarry in Leicestershire.
PRISMA (Peak Reduction by Integrated Storage and Management of Air) by Innovatium is a LAES technology that stores energy in liquid air form to provide compressed air, allowing inefficient partially loaded, variable-demand compressors to be turned off, thus improving the total system efficiency by up to 57%. The PRISMA system will bring together a latent energy cold storage tank, filled with a phase change material (PCM) to store thermal energy, and a number of other off-the-shelf components to form a system that will work with Aggregate Industries’ existing compressed air network. The research group says that the integration of the equipment and components in an industrial setting, for the provision of compressed air, has never been attempted before.
“The project will help to address the ‘energy trilemma’ of managing energy efficiency, energy cost and energy security by: significantly improving the energy efficiency of our compressed air system; managing electricity costs by running the compressors out-of-hours, when electricity is cheaper; and helping to smooth and reduce the peak electrical demand on site. We are therefore very excited to be the first industrial partner to install the PRISMA system at our Bardon Hill quarry in Leicestershire,” said Richard Eaton, Energy Manager at Aggregate Industries.
The 24-month project will involve the development of the PCM at the University of Birmingham’s School of Chemical Engineering as well as the design, manufacture and assembly of multiple system components by Innovatium before installation of the system at Bardon Hill. The PRISMA Project has currently only been deployed in a simulated environment. Following successful delivery of the project, this scalable technology has multi-sectoral applications for compressed air systems both in the UK and globally. In the UK, the compressed air market is estimated at 1.3GW of installed electrical capacity across around 4500 sites and over 55,000 individual compressor units.
Sweden: HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Cementa has completed a feasibility study into electrifying its cement plant at Slite in Gotland as part of its Cemzero project. A report from the first phase of the project has been submitted to the Swedish Energy Agency.
The study found that using electricity to supply heat during the clinker production process is possible using plasma technology, although this needs to be tested on a larger scale. Using an electrified process was found to be competitive compared to other options for achieving high reductions in carbon emission. The production cost of cement would be doubled approximately but the research suggested that this might only mean a small percentage increase to the end cost of a building or an infrastructure project. Finally, the study reported that any future electrification of the Slite plant would work well with a planned expansion to wind turbine generation at the site. It would improve the energy balance and reduce the maximum power surplus that might occur.
Cementa and energy company Vatenfall will now look at how to build a pilot plant.