Displaying items by tag: Research

Austria/Australia: Refractory producer RHI Magnesita and Calix say they have started a memorandum of understanding to develop a flash calciner for use in the production of refractory materials, to enable CO₂ separation for either utilisation or storage. The companies have agreed to run studies up to and including basic front-end engineering and design for a commercial-scale demonstration facility at an RHI Magnesita site.

RHI Magnesita and Calix started discussing a collaboration in early 2019. The application of Calix's technology to refractory products has been the subject of pilot scale test work during 2020, with larger scale test work currently underway.

Luis Bittencourt, chief technology officer of RHI Magnesita said, "We are pleased to be working with Calix on this project, which is a key part of the research and development programme on CO₂ emissions reduction that we are carrying out over the next five years. Together with our partners at Calix, we are seeking to develop new technologies for the capture, storage and utilisation of CO₂ that would otherwise be emitted during the refractory production process." Phil Hodgson, the managing director of Calix added that the company was also looking at strategic opportunities in its magnesium oxide businesses.

India: Researchers at the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology in Nagpur, Maharashtra, have shown in laboratory studies that an enzyme called urease found in watermelon seeds can strengthen cementitious materials and repair cracks in concrete. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the study found around a 22% increase in compressive strength, a 19% reduction in water absorption and improvements in durability. It is hoped that the food industry waste product could potentially be used to replace chemical admixtures commonly used in concrete production. Field studies are now set to follow.

Study leader associate professor Madhuwanti Latkar said, “Watermelon seeds are magic beans when it comes to importing strength to cementitious materials.”

Germany: Two studies looking at how to prepare investments for the conversion to an oxyfuel process have been completed at Hocim’s Germany’s Lägerdorf cement plant. The projects were running with technology partners ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and Linde. Project Oxyfuel100, part of the Westküste100 initiative, was finalised in mid-April 2021. In addition to the oxyfuel process, the technical and economic feasibility of the downstream CO₂ extraction, processing and forwarding was examined. The results of the feasibility study were reported as being “extremely positive.”

Australia: Calix has joined as a partner of the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre (HILT CRC). The initiative brings together heavy industry players, government and research and aims to boost the capability of Australian companies to remain globally competitive by capitalising on existing mineral and renewable energy resources to become international producers and exporters of low-carbon products. HILT CRC has secured US$29m from the government. This joins funding of US$158m in direct and in-kind contributions from its partners over the last decade.

“It is a chance for us to demonstrate the technology developed for CO₂ mitigation in the production of cement and lime through our European LEILAC-1 and 2 projects in an Australian setting, as well as explore other more sustainable applications for our technology in heavy industry, backed by this impressive team of researchers and industrial participants," said Calix’s managing director Phil Hodgson.

As part of the HILT CRC, Calix will continue to develop its technology for the reduction of carbon emissions from lime and cement production, and also use its Calix Flash Calciner (CFC) technology to develop other more processing applications such as for bauxite processing for the aluminium industry and production of calcined clay from kaolinite for use in new lower carbon cements.

HILT CRC’s core industrial partners include Adbri, Alcoa, Boral, Fortescue, Grange Resources, Liberty, Roy Hill and South32. The initiative has its headquarters in Adelaide and it plans to establish hubs in heavy industry regions of Gladstone, the Pilbara, Northern Tasmania, South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf, Western Australia's Kwinana and South West regions, the Southern Highlands of Nnew South Wales and Portland in Victoria.

UK: The UK government has announced Euro58.2m-worth of funding to support infrastructure spending, targeting innovation and technology projects. This will include a scoping study into developing a CO₂ storage testbed that will look at carbon capture and storage on an industrial scale. Other projects include a new radio telescope network, laboratories and Euro18.8m-worth of new digital research infrastructure. The government says that the new infrastructure aims to provide ‘strategic direction’ in the use of science and technology to overcome societal challenges and increase global prosperity. It said that the upgrade will secure the UK’s position as a ‘science superpower’ globally.

Switzerland/US: LafargeHolcim and GE Renewable Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to research new ways to recycle of used wind turbines. The partners are seeking to use the shredded blades to produce low-CO₂ building materials. LafargeHolcim said that undertaking builds on the work of its subsidiary Geocycle, which previously began using GE’s waste wind turbine blades to produce alternative fuel (AF) for cement production. The cement producer called recycling the ‘key next step’ in line with the Circular Economy Action Plan of the European Union’s European Green Deal.

Czech Republic: Mexico-based Cemex plans to install a 2MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant using supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) at its Prachovice cement plant. The unit is intended to provide up to 8% of the plant’s electricity requirements.

The producer is part of a consortium studying new sCO₂ WHR systems. The EU Horizon 2020 Industrial Heat to Power fund awarded Euro14m in financial backing to the consortium. The project is intended to demonstrate a cheaper and more flexible method of waste heat valorisation compared to the steam or organic rankine cycle approaches conventionally used in WHR.

Plant director Karol Czubara said, “The new sCO₂ technology has a smaller footprint and higher operational flexibility than conventional power plant cycles, which produce power from turbines using water or steam.”

Sweden: Researchers at the department of architecture and civil engineering at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg in Västra Götaland county are developing a technology to enable concrete to store energy in the manner of a rechargeable battery. The team has proposed a design based on cement mixed with short carbon fibres. The concrete is then fitted with a metal-coated carbon fibre mesh that forms the battery’s anode and cathode. The team says that a future product based on the technology would enable solar-powered roads and buildings to store their own energy. Additionally, the introduction of sensors to the system would enable full and constant monitoring of the condition of the structure.

Chief researcher Emma Zhang said, “Results from earlier studies investigating concrete battery technology showed very low performance, so we realised we had to think out of the box, to come up with another way to produce the electrode. This particular idea that we have developed – which is also rechargeable – has never been explored before. Now we have proof of concept at lab scale.”

Japan: Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed a new method for producing cement-free concrete from sand. The method reacts sand with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, according to ChemEurope. When dehydrated, this produces tetraalkoxysilate. The research team then reintroduced water, and thus allowed the reactants to move back and forth between tetraalkoxysilate and sand. In this way, the sand particles progressively bonded together. The resulting concrete is reportedly more resilient to chemical, temperature and humidity changes than concrete produced from Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).

In the report of the findings, researcher Ahmad Farahani wrote that various sources of sand tested suitable for use, including silica sand, glass beads and simulated moon sand. This gives the method the advantage that it is non-specific to raw materials or locations, and can be integrated into waste management.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has expanded its Innovandi innovation programme with the addition of a new Open Challenge innovation accelerator programme. The Open Challenge programme will bring together start-ups and leading cement and concrete producers to innovate for CO₂ emissions reduction in the cement industry. Its aim is carbon neutral concrete production by 2050.

GCCA chief executive officer Dinah McLeod said “The GCCA is delighted to be expanding Innovandi to encompass both the Research Network and the upcoming Open Challenge. By connecting innovative start-ups with cement and concrete producers we can help accelerate the development of solutions that address the emissions reduction challenges our industry faces.”