Displaying items by tag: Sustainability

Germany: The World Economic Forum and US State Department have welcomed HeidelbergCement as the newest member of the First Movers Coalition. Founded in 2021, the coalition brings together companies across multiple industrial sectors to coordinate the creation of demand for emerging reduced-CO₂ production technologies. As part of its membership, HeidelbergCement commits to purchasing zero-emission vehicles for 30% of new heavy-duty truck purchases and 100% of medium-duty truck purchases by 2030.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said “I welcome HeidelbergCement to the First Movers Coalition, and its commitment to purchasing zero-emissions trucking solutions that the world must focus on scaling up over this critical decade. The First Movers Coalition is a critical pillar of the world's efforts to advance breakthrough zero emissions technologies to decarbonise many of the largest sectors of the global economy and to put us on a track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”

Mexico: Cemex and Coolbrook have signed a memorandum of understanding to test technology to electrify the cement kiln heating process. Coolbrook says that its Roto Dynamic Heater (RDH) technology can heat a cement kiln to 1700°C using electrical power. If generated from renewable sources this could potentially remove around 45% of the carbon emissions in cement production that normally arise from the use of fossil fuels. The companies expect the technology to be ready for commercial use at an industrial scale in 2024. They will jointly evaluate the best production site to test and develop this technology.

Ilpo Kuokkanen, the executive chair of Coolbrook, said "Coolbrook has set a target to build a comprehensive ecosystem around its revolutionary technology and to test its use in as many industrial processes as fast as possible. Together with Cemex, we can bring the technology to cement production and achieve significant emission reductions in one of the most energy and CO₂-intensive industrial processes.”

Finland-based Coolbrook is a technology and engineering company that is developing processes to replace the burning of fossil fuels in major industrial sectors. Its RDH has potential applications in cement, steel and chemical production process. Its Roto Dynamic Reactor (RDR) is intended to eliminate CO₂ emissions from the steam cracking process used in the production of plastic.

Austria: The Austrian Cement Industry Association (VÖZ) has launched a roadmap for carbon neutrality by 2050. The initiative follows the 5C approach of Clinker, Cement, Concrete, Construction and Carbonation as prompted by the European Cement Association, Cembureau. Selected targets from the document include reducing the sector’s average clinker factor to 52% by 2040 from 70% in 2020, using carbon-neutral electricity from 2030 and meeting a recycling rate for concrete and demolition waste of 25% in 2050 from 10% in 2022. Sebastian Spaun, the managing director of VÖZ, highlighted the ‘Carbon2ProductAustria’ (C₂PAT) initiative as a key project where capture CO₂ from Lafarge Zementwerke’s Mannersdorf cement plant will be used with hydrogen to produce synthetic fuels, plastics or other chemicals.

Germany: The Ministry for Economy and Climate Protection has presented HeidelbergCement with its German Climate and Environment Innovation Prize (IKU) for its ReConcrete-360° concrete recycling process. The process retrieves hardened cement paste from waste demolition concrete for use in place of limestone in clinker and cement production. The recycled material can also bind CO₂ to act as a carbon sink.

Global research and development Wolfgang Dienemann said “With ReConcrete-360°, we have succeeded in developing a limestone substitute from demolished concrete that also allows us to use the carbon-containing exhaust gases from cement production. A small revolution with a big impact: In Germany alone, the CO₂ savings potential of this process is 10Mt/yr. The IKU award underlines that we can be proud of our pioneering innovation.”

India: Holcim has agreed to sell its Indian business to industry, energy and ports conglomerate Adani Group for US$6.37bn. The assets consist of a 63% stake in Ambuja Cement, which in turn owns 50% of ACC, and a 4.5% direct stake in ACC.

ACC and Ambuja Cement employ 10,700 people and operate 31 cement plants in India. The deal will make Adani Group India’s second-largest cement producer.

Chair Gautam Adani said "With Holcim's global leadership in sustainability, we are acquiring some of the most efficient building materials operations in India, powered with clean technologies like heat recovery systems. We recognise that Ambuja and ACC operations are energy intensive and therefore, when combined with our renewable power generation capabilities, we gain a big head start in the decarbonisation journey that is a must for Indian industry."

Holcim says that its focus is now on expanding its solutions and products business. Reuters News has reported that the group plans to put the proceeds of the assets’ sale towards lower-carbon acquisitions. Its Indian operations contributed 26% of group CO₂ emissions.

Chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said "We will always make cement, but we will decarbonise cement.” He added “We are happy to build up other segments like building solutions and products."

UK: Hanson has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shell to work together to explore opportunities that help the construction industry’s transition to net zero emissions.

Under the agreement the companies plan to explore: using hydrogen for transport and industrial processes; using capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) in cement production; looking at lower carbon fuels and electric vehicles; digital innovations in energy production, consumption and efficiency; improving bitumen and asphalt technology; and renewable energy sources such as solar installations and batteries to replace diesel generators. In addition, the companies say they will consider the possibility of collaborating in future business opportunities or new business models, which will create value and scope for further decarbonisation.

Hanson’s chief executive officer Simon Willis said, “We are already working together on several initiatives to decarbonise asphalt with bitumen materials and innovations which promote long life, increased use of recycled materials, low carbon products and the circular economy.” He added that “Hanson and Shell have a long-established working relationship and are committed to sharing knowledge and resources to jointly work on projects that will facilitate our transition to net zero emissions.”

China: Huaxin Cement says it has been approved for a US$5.8m preferential carbon emission reduction loan. It is the first such finance arrangement in the local cement sector. The People's Bank of China established a carbon emission reduction support tool in November 2021 to guide financial institutions to increase green and low-carbon credit support. Huaxin Cement’s Huangshi subsidiary put together its application based around a waste heat recovery project. It then worked with the Bank of Communications and the People's Bank of China. The cement producer says that its other subsidiaries are now working on similar applications.

Vietnam: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions Vietnam (TISV) and the Vietnam Institute of Building Materials (VIBM) have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between both parties on the research and application of new technologies towards reducing the CO₂ emissions of cement production. At the signing ceremony, Lukas Schoeneck, the chief executive officer of TISV confirmed his commitment to collaborate with VIBM, under the guidance of the Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh. The parties now plan to identify a lighthouse project that will use alternative fuels in response to an increase in the global price of coal.

Pham Van Bac, Head of the Building Material Division at the Ministry of Construction, said that Vietnam is implementing the a strategy for the development of building materials for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050. The plan for the cement industry is to limit the use of natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy while promoting the maximum use of waste streams from industries and domestic sources as raw materials in cement production.

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has named its first six startups to receive backing under the inaugural Innovandi Open Challenge. The startups have partnered with GCCA members to help increase cement’s sustainability towards achieving net zero CO₂ concrete production by 2050. This will lead to the formation of six consortia to further test, develop and deploy their new technologies.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) startups CarbonOrO, MOF Technologies and Saipem, all based in Europe, are among the participants. GCCA members are currently involved in dozens of pilot projects and aim to have 10 industrial-scale carbon capture plants installed by 2030. Other startups Carbon Upcycling Technologies and Fortera, from Canada and the US respectively, use captured CO₂ to produce low-carbon cement and cementitious materials, while UK-based Coomtech has developed a low-cost drying technology using turbulent air.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “It’s a proud moment to see the industry coming together to support such innovative start-ups on their journey. Our member companies were greatly impressed by their ambition to be a key part of the climate solution. The programme is another big step forward towards unlocking innovation to help us achieve our net zero goal.” He continued “As the need for resilient and sustainable communities to support a growing global population becomes more pressing , cement and concrete will be essential to providing the infrastructure and buildings that society needs. Achieving net zero concrete relies on a number of different groups playing their part, and as an industry we’re looking outwards as well as inwards, to see how start-ups like these can support our goals.”

Mexico: Cemex intends for its Vertua products to account for over half of all of its cement and concrete sales by 2025. The Vertua range was launched in 2020 and its cement and concrete products accounted for 34% and 31% of total sales respectively in the first quarter of 2022. Vertua products have a CO₂ reduction of at least 25% compared to traditional cements. For concrete the CO₂ reduction ranges from 30% up to a full net-zero option.

References for Vertua concrete include La Marseillaise, a skyscraper in Marseille, the HS2 high-speed railway in London, the Querétaro-Irapuato highway in Mexico, the San Diego State University stadium in California and the Pereira shopping centre in Colombia. Vertua cement and concrete products have been launched in Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Spain, the US, the UK and the UAE.