Displaying items by tag: Sweden

Sweden: Bruks Siwertell has received an order for a 10 000 S mobile ship unloader for an undisclosed client. The customer owner will use the unloader as part of a rental ship unloading service, operating across multiple port locations. The order is scheduled for commissioning in spring 2025. It will be delivered fully assembled ready for operation. Jörgen Ojeda, Sales Director, Mobile Unloaders, Bruks Siwertell added that the client had previously used an Siwertell 15 000 S mobile ship unloader for nearly two decades.

Sweden: NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers has placed an order for Climeon’s organic rankine cycle (ORC) waste heat recovery technology, HeatPower 300, to be installed on a new methanol dual-fuel cement carrier. The HeatPower 300 unit will generate up to 300kW of electricity on board the carrier by harnessing residual heat from the engine cooling water and exhaust gases to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Sweden: SaltX Technology has secured a new grant from the Swedish Energy Agency for its project ‘Demonstration of new electric kiln technology at industrial scale to enable emission-free cement production.’ This funding follows previous support for testing and optimising electric quicklime production at its test and research facility in Hofors, Sweden. The grant aims to adapt and test SaltX's technology specifically for cement production, awarded under the pilot and demonstration program. It constitutes partial funding for the work that is planned to begin in March 2025 at the company's test and research facility.

Acting CEO of SaltX, Lina Jorheden, said "It is very encouraging that the Swedish Energy Agency supports us in our work to commercialise SaltX's electrification technology for the cement industry. The grant is an important component in the upcoming industrialisation phase."

Sweden: Heidelberg Materials' Slite CCS project in Gotland has received new funding. The Just Transition Fund has provided approximately €6.1m to support project preparation from 2024 to 2026, aiming for operational readiness by 2030. The project targets the creation of a fully decarbonised plant with the capacity to capture 1.8Mt/yr of CO₂, potentially reducing Sweden's total emissions by 4%.

Sweden: Peab has entered a product delivery agreement with Stockholm-based start-up CemVision, starting from 14 May 2024. CemVision has developed a cement that reportedly reduces CO₂ emissions by over 95% compared to traditional cement, by replacing limestone and fossil fuels with refined industrial waste and renewable energy. Over the next few years, Peab will use CemVision's ultra-low carbon cement for various projects, including infrastructure, water treatment, foundation work and prefabricated concrete.

Oscar Hållén, CEO of CemVision, said “We are thrilled to be able to deliver our product to Peab. We see that green cement has become crucial for entire industries to be able to meet their climate commitments. The demand is already enormous and all forecasts indicate that it will only increase.”

Sweden: Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a method to simplify the construction of textile-reinforced concrete structures, a move that is expected to lead to more environmentally friendly infrastructure like bridges, tunnels, and buildings. The new technique addresses the high carbon footprint of cement.

This innovation, involving carbon fibre textiles as a replacement for steel reinforcement, enables lighter structures with reduced cement usage, thereby lowering the overall carbon impact. Karin Lundgren, Professor of Concrete Structures at Chalmers Department of Architecture said "A great deal of the concrete we use today has the function to act as a protective layer to prevent the steel reinforcement from corroding. If we can use textile reinforcement instead, we can reduce cement consumption and also use less concrete, thus reducing the climate impact."

The research is detailed in a paper titled 'Textile reinforced concrete members subjected to tension, bending, and in-plane loads: Experimental study and numerical analyses', which was published in the Construction and Building Materials journal. The study, a collaborative effort between Chalmers University and Gdansk University of Technology in Poland, is supported by the Swedish Research Council.

Sweden: Umeå University is part of the ELECTRA project, a €20m EU initiative aimed at advancing green transition in cement and lime production through electrified processes. This project, involving global industry leaders, is funded under the Horizon Europe initiative and led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

The Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umeå University has collaborated with the Swedish quicklime and cement industry since 2007. Matias Eriksson, director of the Centre for Sustainable Cement and Quicklime Production at Umeå University, said “This is an important project. It is the first Horizon Europe project we are participating in," He continued "We are pleased with the confidence the European Commission, heavy materials industry and other research performers show in our work. ELECTRA can play an important role in the industry's green transition, first and foremost in Sweden and the rest of Europe. But because the technology and the industry are global, the effects can be extensive."

Sweden: Alternative cement producer Cemvision has concluded its seed funding round, the largest in the green cement sector to date, according to the company. Participants included BackingMinds, Polar Structure and Zacua Ventures. The fund raised €10m, which the company says will contribute to its short-term growth. Cemvision announced its first commercial supply contract for its Re-ment alternative cement in December 2023.

CEO Oscar Hållén said “This investment will accelerate our near-future operations, right before we make the next jump, which is not too far away. Having met and retained interest from venture capitalists worldwide, we concluded some of the very best ones were right around the corner, and we are delighted to have them doubling down on Cemvision. Furthermore, Zacua Ventures’ global understanding of the green transition of the built environment is the most impressive we’ve ever come across.”

Switzerland/Sweden: ABB and Sweden-based Salt X have agreed to develop Electric Arc Calcination (EAC) technology, with ABB also becoming a Salt X minority shareholder. This partnership aims to decarbonise cement production and similar industries by replacing fossil fuel-based heating with renewable energy and CO₂ capture during calcination. ABB will enhance the EAC with control and electrical systems, contributing to the technology's commercialisation.

Salt X CEO Carl-Johan Linér said "This strengthens us as a company and enables us to progress with our growth plans. With ABB and our other partners, we can significantly improve our capability to take a leading role in the electrification wave sweeping through the industrial sector.”

ABB's Global Growth Industries Business Line Manager Michael Marti said, "Our collaboration with Salt X marks a significant milestone in this journey. The technology benefits are two-fold; replacing the use of fossil fuels through renewable electricity in the calcination process and enabling cost efficient capture of the carbon emissions at the same time. It will be a highly effective way of curbing lime production emissions.”

Denmark: Norway-based Geminor has appointed Per Mernelius as Country Manager for Geminor Denmark. He succeeds Kasper Thomsen in the position, who was recently appointed as the Operations Director for Geminor Group. Mernelius is currently the Country Manager for Sweden and he will add the new responsibilities to this role. Initially, he will be in charge of the Danish market for 12 months, pending the appointment of a new country manager in Denmark.

Mernelius commented “Denmark and Sweden are our two biggest downstream markets, with nearly 1Mt of imported refuse-derived fuel/solid recovered fuel in 2023. As such, many similarities open up for synergies in the coming year. An important factor is logistics, and how we can coordinate the two markets for more efficient operations. Our ambition is to grow further and to cater for the existing over-capacity within energy recovery in Scandinavia.”

Mernelius has worked for Geminor since 2016. Before this he worked for Sweden-based energy supplier Jönköping Energi. He is a graduate of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.