Displaying items by tag: Sustainability
France: The French cement association France Ciment has announced a new CO2 emissions reduction target of 50% across the cement industry between 2021 and 2030. The new target for 2050 will be 'virtual carbon neutrality.' The Les Echos newspaper has reported that the commitments replace previous reduction targets of 24% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. France Ciment says that its members are planning estimated investments of Euro5bn towards achieving the goals before 2040. These investments will cover areas including the deployment of carbon capture. Existing public and private investments in the industry's on-going projects to reduce CO2 emissions amount to Euro1.7bn - sufficient to eliminate 27% of emissions compared with the 2021 baseline.
France Ciment’s President Benoit Pillon noted the necessity of cement in construction, and called for 'decarbonisation as a whole: less clinker in cement, less cement in concrete and less concrete in construction.' He urged the implementation of policies to secure 'decarbonised and competitive electricity.'
Heidelberg Materials and Linde select BASF for separation of captured CO2 at Lengfurt cement plant
23 May 2023Germany: Chemicals company BASF has won a contract to supply its OASE Blue CO2 separation technology for use in the upcoming 70,000t/yr carbon capture installation at Heidelberg Material's Lengfurt cement plant in Bavaria. The Capture to Use (Cap2U) project, in partnership with fellow chemicals company Linde, aims to capture CO2 from the plant for use in the chemicals, food and beverages industries.
BASF head of gas treatment Andreas Northemann said “Our portfolio of OASE technologies makes a significant contribution to sustainability and is perfectly suited to help our customers achieve their sustainability targets. This carbon capture and use unit facility has the potential to become a show-case project in a hard-to-abate sector."
Canada: A study led by Douglas Geoffrey in Calgary, Alberta, has patented a method of producing cement from calcium carbonate precipitated in the carbonation of brine. The method mixes the mineral with magnesium oxide and cures it to form cement.
Geoffrey noted that the brine may derive from multiple industrial processes, including fossil fuel and potash production, geothermal power generation and desalination.
Uzbekistan: United Cement Group (UCG) has planted 3200 saplings in Navoi Region under the government's Green Land initiative. Uzbekistan Daily News has reported that the Green Land initiative seeks to plant 1bn new trees and shrubs across the country between 2022 and 2026.
UCG subsidiary Qizilqumsement's general director Sergey Melnikov said “UCG has been actively involved in the Green Land project in cooperation with local authorities, environmental organisations and residents of the region. Concern for the ecology of the territory where the production is located is a trend of the modern cement industry, which is fully consistent with our internal policy and high environmental and social responsibility." He added "All plants of the holding are being modernised with regard to green technologies.”
Europe: Holcim plans to deploy 1000 new electric trucks in its operations across Europe before 2030. The cement producer ordered the vehicles from Sweden-based Volvo. Both companies are founding members of the First Movers Coalition low-CO2 technology alliance. Holcim expects the initiative to reduce its annual CO2 emissions from road transport by 50%. It will take delivery of the first new trucks by the end of 2023.
Chair and CEO Jan Jenisch said “The net zero transition requires deep collaboration across value chains. We are excited to be partnering with Volvo to decarbonise our European operations’ logistics with electric fleets, advancing our goal to reach 30% of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks by 2030.”
Global Cement and Concrete Association prepares shortlist for Innovandi Open Challenge 2023
19 May 2023World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has received over 70 submissions to its Innovandi Open Challenge 2023, and is now preparing the shortlist of startups to present their pitches on 30 June 2023. The Innovandi Open Challenge seeks new disruptive technologies to help to achieve net zero cement and concrete production by 2050. Startups selected under the challenge will have the opportunity to partner with the GCCA and its members to further develop their products.
GCCA cement director and innovation lead Claude Loréa said “To receive more than 70 quality applications from start-ups for this year’s Innovandi Open Challenge is hugely encouraging, and shows what level of interest and work is being done to help drive climate action, with applications received from every region of the world." She concluded "Our vital industry needs products which are affordable, scalable and easily adopted. We look forward to sifting through the applications with our member companies and working with those who are selected.”
Update on Japan, May 2023
17 May 2023The two largest cement producers in Japan released their results for their 2023 financial years this week. Much like manufacturers elsewhere in the world they reported mounting sales revenues, but they also noted losses. Input prices such as coal rose in 2022 and these were passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. However, this was insufficient to stop them making a loss.
In the case of Taiheiyo Cement, its domestic sales volumes of cement remained stable at 13.4Mt in the year to 31 March 2023. It made a loss at home in Japan but still reported a profit in its overseas businesses, despite export volumes falling by 41% year-on-year to 2.44Mt. The group also noted delays at construction sites due to a lack of workers. Recent domestic developments for Taiheiyo include an agreement in October 2022 to buy the cement business of chemicals company Denka. Outside of Japan, in China, the group suspended the production and sale of cement from its Jiangnan-Onoda Cement subsidiary in February 2023 citing a 'tougher competitive environment,' although it justified this decision as part of its strategy to refocus on Southeast Asia. Then, in late April 2023, the company was forced to stop its proposed acquisition of the Tehachapi cement plant in the US due to an inability to obtain regulatory approval.
Sumitomo Osaka reported a similar situation, with cement sales volumes also down year-on-year. Again, cement price increases were unable to catch coal prices made worse by negative currency exchange effects. Having got the bad news out of the way, it then it took the opportunity to outline its medium term strategy to 2035. It said that becoming carbon neutral was the key to this. In its 2022 financial year cement accounted for around 70% of total sales. However, it is now aiming to reduce this to 65% by 2025 and 50% by 2035. If this sounds familiar this is because it is similar to what Holcim is doing with its growing light building materials division and its diversification away from the heavy building materials trio of cement, concrete and aggregates. Sumitomo Osaka plans to invest over US$3.5bn towards this goal by developing its presence in the semiconductors sector, building its business in Australia and starting new ventures in decarbonisation.
Of the other cement producers, Tokuyama Corporation said in late April 2023 that it was considering suspending operation of one of the three kilns at its 4.54Mt/yr Nanyo cement plant as part of measures to strengthen profitability. It reported a growing loss for the current financial year that it blamed on raw material and fuel costs. Mitsubishi Materials and Ube Industries formed their merged cement businesses in April 2022 known as Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation. Ube said, as part of its latest financial results, that, despite a gradual decrease in the domestic market, cement sales had remained stable but that the business was “heavily affected” by rising energy prices such as coal. It added that demand for cement and concrete remain strong in its overseas market in North America.
Graph 1: Sales and exports of cement in Japan from 2013 – 2022. Source: Japan Cement Association.
The Japanese cement market peaked in the 1990s. Domestic sales of cement in Japan have declined over the last decade, as can be seen in Graph 1 above, but at a slower rate. Exports rose to a peak of just under 12Mt in 2017 but have slipped a little since then. Data from the Japan Cement Association placed production at 53.2Mt in 2022 compared to 61.7Mt in 2013. This trend explains the move by the cement producers towards decarbonisation, offshoring, diversification and consolidation. The bump in fuel prices over the past year may have accelerated this process, as examples such as Taiheiyo Cement’s takeover of Denka and Sumitomo Osaka’s new business strategy suggest. The race continues to keep cement production profitable in a changing business environment.
France: Cemex France and Ecocem have signed a deal to collaborate on the development of reduced-CO2 concrete development at 10 Cemex France ready-mix concrete batching plants. The partnership will explore methods that include the use of supplementary cementitious materials in place of clinker. Cemex hopes that the collaboration will help to realise its goal of a 55% CO2 emissions reduction across its European operations by 2030.
Cemex Western Europe vice president materials and Cemex France president Michel Andre said “Cemex continues to reinforce its commitment to advancing the sustainability agenda with the announcement of this extended partnership with Ecocem. We know that if we are to achieve our global ambition of operating as a net-zero business by 2050 we must prioritise exploring innovation and new technologies with like-minded companies who share our dedication to leading the industry’s transition to a lower carbon and circular economy.”
Heidelberg Materials to invest Euro65m in Bussac-Forêt cement plant calcined clay upgrade
15 May 2023France: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials announced a planned Euro65m upgrade to its Bussac-Forêt cement plant in Charente-Maritime Department on 14 May 2023. The project will involve the installation of systems for the production of calcined clay cement. The producer says that this will enable the 0.8Mt/yr plant to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20%.
Chief sustainability officer Nicola Kimm said “In Bussac-Forêt, we are investing in a technology with great potential. It will allow us to significantly expand the range of low-carbon products. Using calcined clay as a clinker substitute is an important measure to reduce the carbon footprint of cement and concrete. In principle, a CO₂ reduction of up to 40% is possible when substituting cement clinker with calcined clay.”
Heidelberg Materials is already involved in the on-going pilot trial of a 400,000t/yr clay calcination plant in Ghana.
France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has commissioned its H2 plant, a 1000t/day clinker-free cement plant, adjacent to its existing H1 clinker-free cement plant in Bournezeau, Pays de la Loire. L'Usine Nouvelle News has reported that the new plant took 24 months to build and cost Euro22m. The main part of the plant consists of a 70m tower, where activated clay, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and gypsum are mixed to produce the cement. It is installed with solar panels capable of supplying 50% of its energy consumption. The producer says that its clinker-free cement has over 90% lower CO2 emissions than cement produced with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). It aims to sell 24,000t of the product throughout 2023.