Displaying items by tag: Sand

UK: Innovative Ash Solutions has received a Euro588m Scottish government grant to establish a 20,000t/yr ash processing plant in South Lanarkshire. The Herald newpaper has reported that the plant will process boiler ash, cyclone ash and incineration fly ash for use in local cement production. When commissioned in 2022, the plant will eliminate 6104t/yr of CO₂ emissions, according to the operator. The government granted the funding under its Zero Waste Scotland circular economic investment scheme.

The company said “Using this new patented process, which diverts waste materials from landfill and avoids the use of virgin sand, creates a product which is cheaper and will reduce the environmental impact of cement production compared to the use of imported pulverised fuel ash.”

Innovative Ash Solutions is a joint venture of waste management company Levenseat and consultancy Organic Innovative Solutions.

Australia: AdBri and Barro Group have signed an agreement to acquire Metro Quarry Group’s sand operations. The business consists oftwo quarries, the Lang Lang quarry and the Nyora quarry, in Victoria. The quarries command a total of 50Mt of sand reserves. AdBri will pay US$21.6m to the companies’ joint venture for the purpose of the acquisition and to supplement the business’ working capital. The partners expect to conclude the deal in November 2021.

UK: Hanson has delivered 171,000t of cement to the site of the upcoming Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset. It has also delivered 1Mm³ of ready-mix concrete via the customer’s on-site batching plants, 5Mt of aggregates and 443,000t of sand. Its Port Talbot site in Neath Port Talbot has supplied 230,000t of Regen ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) for use in concrete production, reducing the product’s carbon footprint by a total of 200,000t compared with concrete produced using ordinary Portland cement (OPC) only.

Dominican Republic: Germany-based BHS-Sonthofen has supplied an RPM 1513 rotor impact mill to building materials producer Calizamar. The mill consists of a vertical shaft and will produce crushed sand of a consistent fineness and cubic particle shape. Calizamar produces and sells aggregates, natural stone, pre-cast concrete and paper bags.

Ghana: Nelplast Eco Ghana has launched a moulded block produced from a paste of 70% sand and 30% recycled plastics. Xinhua Hello Africa News has reported that the producer sells the blocks as a cement-free alternative building material for building walls, in conjunction with a concrete base and columns. The cost is US$11,000 per house. Nelplast Eco Ghana hopes that the product will ease Ghana’s 2m-unit housing shortage and prevent some of the 1Mt/yr plastic waste (over 95% nationally) going to landfill. It aims to expand its capacity from 1100t/yr in the near-term future.

Germany: Cemex Zement, part of Mexico-based Cemex, has bought a 400t/hr floating bucket chain dredger. The company plans to use the vessel in its aggregates operations on the River Elbe around Rogätz, Saxony-Anhalt. It includes a dewatering screening machine, a fine sand recovery system and a conveyor belt that transports the processed sands and gravels ashore. The dredger replaces an older 350t/hr model which has been in action since the mid-1990s. The company said that the purchase is in line with its strategy to enhance its vertically integrated positions near growing metropolises. Elbe operations supply aggregates to produce concrete for the Berlin market.

Central Europe vice president of materials Rüdiger Kuhn said "With this important investment, our company strengthens its position in the metropolitan market of Berlin and secures the long-term availability of valuable mineral raw materials for its customers."

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.

China: Huaxin Cement plans to invest US$184m in a green building materials joint venture called Huangshi Huaxin Green Building Materials. The group says that the other investors are Huangshi City Urban Development Investment Group and Yangxin County Mining Investment. The partners plan to invest a total of US$1.84bn to establish a 2Mt/yr lime plant, a 100Mt/yr artificial sand and gravel plant and a 2bn blocks/yr building materials plant. The new facilities are to be situated in Yangxin County, Hubei Province. The units will be built in phases from January 2021.

Bulgaria: The Bulgarian government has terminated Devnya Cement’s concessionary contract for the extraction of quartz sand for cement production from the Selski Nivi deposit. SeeNews has reported that the company requested the contract’s termination due to alterations to its production strategy in response to market conditions.

In 2018, Devnya Cement generated a revenue of Euro70.3m, which translated into Euro8.65m profit.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement has reassured the public about the quality and safety standards of its cement and other products. It follows fraud charges being issued to a former government official for supplying raw materials mixed with industrial waste to the cement producer, according to the Taipei Times. Taiwan Cement says it is conducting inspections on all raw materials, including taking random samples of the top and bottom layers of delivery trucks from suppliers.

Lai Chin-kun, a former Hualien County Council speaker, secured local government contracts for his family’s companies to dispose of industrial waste, including industrial byproducts and inorganic debris from electroplating, optoelectronics and display panel manufacturers and pulp paper processing companies. Another family company won a contract with Taiwan Cement in 2010 to supply limestone, clay, sand and other raw materials required for cement production.

Prosecutors allege that when supplying raw materials to Taiwan Cement, Lai instructed company drivers to fill the bottom half of the trucks with industrial waste and place natural materials, such as clay, sand and limestone, on the top half to fool inspectors. Lai reportedly made US$14.1m from the scheme from 2010 to 2015.