Displaying items by tag: Spain

Spain: Cemex España will install a carbon capture system at its Alicante cement plant in Valencia, as part of its efforts to make the unit a 'benchmark pioneer low-CO₂' cement plant. The producer holds a contract with ET Fuels for the supply of 45,000t/yr of CO₂ captured at the facility for methanol production.

Chief executive officer Fernando González said “Our goal of reaching net-zero CO₂ emissions is achievable and will be driven by collaboration and innovation. Our decarbonisation roadmap includes reducing emissions to the lowest possible level through proven levers such as clinker substitution and alternative fuels. New levers, such as rapidly developing CCUS initiatives, must effectively tackle the remaining CO₂ emissions to hit our ambitious 2050 objectives.”

Spain: Holcim España has appointed José María Gómez as the director of its Jerez cement plant near Cadiz. Gómez previously worked as the Head of Production at the Montcada i Reixac cement plant near Barcelona. He holds over 15 years of experience with the company, including in Malaysia. He is a graduate in environmental sciences from the University of Castilla-La Mancha.

Spain: Brazilian cement producer Votorantim Cimentos has reached an agreement with Spanish renewable energy Acciona Energia to purchase a further 19% of the electricity it will need for its cement production activities in Spain until 2033. Alongside a previous contract for 6% of its electricity needs, from 2024 to 2033, this brings the proportion of renewable energy supplied by Acciona Energia to 25% of Votorantim Cimentos’ needs from the start of 2024.

Spain: Cement consumption fell by 1% year-on-year to 14.9Mt in 2022 from 14.8Mt in 2021. The Spanish cement association Oficemen blamed the slight decline on bad weather in December 2022. It also noted that the consumption volume in 2022 was the second highest in the last decade. Overall, Oficemen said that the market experienced a strong start in 2022 but energy costs and inflation, partly linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, started to slow down sales from May 2022.

Cement exports fell by 16.8% to 5.62Mt from 6.75Mt. Imports decreased by 5.4% to 1.35Mt from 1.43Mt. Oficemen has linked the fall in exports to high domestic energy and CO2 emission costs since 2019.

Bangladesh: The European Union (EU) and Spanish ambassadors and Swiss chargé d'affaires to Bangladesh have formally requested that Bangladeshi authorities lift all restrictions on LafargeHolcim Bangladesh's sale of crushed limestone in the country. The Financial Express newspaper has reported that Bangladeshi court previously ruled in favour of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh's right to sell its crushed limestone 'on the open market' on 5 January 2022. Limestone Importers and Suppliers Group had challenged the legal status of such sales, given that the raw limestone used in LafargeHolcim Bangladesh's produces its crushed limestone production is imported from India.

The Bangladesh government granted LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim, a temporary licence to resume its crushed limestone operations on 27 March 2022. This resulted in protests by local limestone producers.

Spain: Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) has appointed Jaime Rocha Font as its chief executive officer (CEO). He succeeds Pedro Carranza Andressen in the post, according to Alimarket-Construcción. Rocha Font is currently the CEO of Mexico-based Elementia and he will continue to hold this position. Elementia owns a controlling share of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), the parent company of CPV.

Rocha Font has been the head of Elementia since 2020. Prior to this he was the head of Elementia’s cement division, including subsidiaries Cementos Fortaleza and Giant Cement in the US, from 2015. He also held the position of president of the National Cement Chamber of Mexico between 2019 and 2022. Earlier in his career he spent over 20 years working for Holcim from 1992. He holds a degree in civil engineering from the Universidad Pontificia Católica de Chile and a master's degree in international economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles amongst other qualifications.

Spain: Votorantim España plans to invest Euro15m in an upgrade to improve the efficiency of its subsidiary Cementos Cosmos' Toral de los Vados cement plant in Léon. The project will reduce the plant's power consumption by 7%, while increasing its clinker production by 11% to 3100t/day. Cementos Cosmos expects to commission the newly upgraded plant before the end of 2023. ALIMKC News has reported that the local authority has altered the plant's environmental authorisation accordingly.

Spain: Cyprus-registered Grit Cement, a 3910t-capacity cement carrier, struck a berthed chemicals tanker in harbour in the autonomous city of Ceuta on 9 January 2023, sustaining damage. FleetMon News has reported that the vessel was coming into port from Carboneras, Alméria. It has since disembarked on its return journey to Carboneras.

Spain: Mexico-based Cemex and its venture capital subsidiary Cemex Ventures have invested in Waste to Energy Advanced Solutions (WtEnergy), an energy startup company that has developed a process to transform solid waste into synthesis gas (Syngas) for industrial purposes.

WtEnergy converts biomass and non-recyclable waste into Syngas, which can be used in the short-term as a fossil fuel alternative or be upgraded in the medium- and long-term to gases such as biomethane or pure hydrogen. Cemex intends to incorporate this energy source into its clinker and cement manufacturing process, looking to further reduce the carbon footprint of its operations. Cemex aims to increase its fossil fuel substitution rate by 20% by 2030.

Gonzalo Galindo, the president of Cemex Ventures, said, “This investment aligns with our strategy to find innovative clean fuel and energy sources for the cement industry.” He added, “We have outlined an ambitious rollout strategy across multiple operations, starting with Spain and other European countries before expanding to other international markets.”

Spain: FCC subsidiary Cementos Portland Valderrivas has completed its acquisition of global investment company KKR's Andalusian business, including its subsidiary Surgyps. Surgyps operates an 800,000t/yr grinding plant in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz. The business filed for bankruptcy in 2010, but continued to operate the plant under a government concession, lasting until 2031.

The El Economista newspaper has reported that Cementos Portland Valderrivas said "With this operation, the group complements its position in Andalusia by taking a decisive step in our commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of cement."

The group controls six integrated cement plants across Spain, with a total capacity of 9.9Mt/yr.