Displaying items by tag: UK
Commissioning to start at new UK SRF facility
12 February 2015UK: SITA UK has completed the construction of its Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) manufacturing plant at Malpass Farm in Rugby, Warwickshire. The plant will undergo a series of commissioning tests over the next few months before starting full-scale production of Climafuel SRF. This will be used to power the kiln at the adjacent Cemex UK Rugby cement plant.
The residual waste material arriving at the site will primarily be collected from commercial and industrial businesses across the region that would otherwise go to landfill. Once received on site any metals, plastics and paper will be extracted for recycling. Similarly, materials with a high chlorine content, which could damage the kiln, will also be extracted. Any residual waste material that is removed from the production process will be processed into refuse derived fuel (RDF) for use in waste-to-energy applications.
To produce the SRF, the remaining material is sifted, shredded and blended while being continuously analysed using infrared technology. This allows the plant operators to ensure that the fuel, which has a confetti-like consistency after processing, has the precise chemical composition and calorific value required by Cemex UK.
SITA UK's Head of Alternative Fuels, Andy Hill, said, "The residual waste material that will be delivered to this facility would have gone to landfill but, instead, we are going to take out anything that can be recycled and then turn what's left into a replacement fuel."
"We have been producing this fuel very successfully at our sister plant at Landor Street in Birmingham for the past couple of years, but this new facility implements the latest technology and will substantially increase our production capacity," continued Hill. "Between the two plants, we'll be producing around 250,000t/yr of Climafuel."
SITA UK is currently also investing in new SRF manufacturing facilities at the Port of Tilbury in Essex, which are currently under construction. SITA UK currently supplies SRF to CEMEX UK and to CEMEX Latvia.
CRH wins the race to the LafargeHolcim gold
04 February 2015CRH has made good on its intentions. This week it stumped up Euro6.5bn to buy assets from Lafarge and Holcim in four continents. The move follows preparation since at least May 2014 when the Irish building materials group announced a divestment programme. In October 2014 it announced that it would sell its brickwork division.
CRH is finding the cash through a mix of existing cash, debt and equity placing. Interestingly, back in 2012 an Irish stockbroking analyst who was interviewed reckoned that the company could spend up to Euro3.5bn on acquisitions whilst remaining within its banking agreements. Throw in the recent sales and planned divestments and the planned acquisition from LafargeHolcim doesn't seem like too much of a stretch for CRH.
If completed, the purchase will see CRH take on 24 cement plants with a production capacity of 36Mt/yr. As a back of the envelope calculation suggests the sale price of Euro6.5bn isn't far off the occasionally used price of US$200/t for western cement production. The deal also includes aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt assets.
The purchase marks a change in CRH's buying strategy both in terms of scale and distribution. Much of CRH's previous acquisitions have been minority shareholdings that make it difficult to accurately report the company's position in the cement industry. For example, in our Top 100 Report CRH was reported to have a production capacity of 6.49Mt/yr for majority shareholdings with another 19.9Mt/yr for minority shareholdings. The new cement capacity being purchased blows this away because it more than doubles CRH's total capacity and it appears to be all majority owned. CRH thinks that this will propel it to become the world's third biggest building materials manufacturer after LafargeHolcim and Saint-Gobain, leapfrogging Cemex and HeidelbergCement in the process. Strangely there is no mention of the huge Chinese players in the top five manufacturers in CRH's acquisition presentation.
CRH has avoided buying plants in southern Europe but it is relying on the slowly improving growing UK market, where CRH will pick up four plants, to balance the risk. Elsewhere in Europe, the three Holcim plants in France have been suffering from continued low construction rates in that country and the two Lafarge cement plants in Romania are unlikely to have recovered from a production fall in 2013. Outside of Europe growth has been poor in Quebec in 2013 and 2014, where CRH is buying two plants from Holcim. Both Lafarge and Holcim have also seen a slowdown in Brazil. However, the Philippines does seem like a better bet for CRH, with solid cement volumes growth seen by Lafarge in 2013 and the first three quarters of 2014.
With CRH now looking like a company that wants to produce cement rather than one that owns parts of companies that produce cement, all eyes are on the construction markets. 14 of the 24 cement plants CRH are buying are in Europe. Buying at the bottom of a sustained production slump makes sense because the asking price will be low. However, has the bottom been reached yet?
KKR expresses interest in Lafarge Tarmac sale with CRH
26 January 2015UK: An American private equity firm, KKR, is in talks to buy a stake in one of Britain's biggest building materials companies. KKR is understood to have teamed up with CRH. Together, they will bid for Euro6bn of assets put up for sale by Holcim and Lafarge.
CRH is in a strong position to win the race for the LafargeHolcim assets, although it is likely to be hit by regional competition issues if it is successful. As a result, it is said to have held discussions with KKR about an agreement that would see the private equity firm take control of some divisions of Holcim and Lafarge to assuage regulatory concerns.
Insiders have said that KKR has shown particular interest in the British assets of LafargeHolcim, which include Lafarge Tarmac, allegedly worth Euro2.27bn.
Lafarge Tarmac sells land for new Euro2.56bn theme park
13 January 2015UK: Lafarge Tarmac has agreed to sell land that once housed the UK's largest cement plant to allow the construction of a Euro2.56bn theme park.
The 1.37km2 Swanscombe Peninsula site in Kent has been earmarked as the home for the proposed London Paramount Entertainment Resort after developer London Resort Holding Company agreed a deal to buy the land. The sale follows an announcement in May 2014 that the resort would be designated a 'nationally significant' project.
"We take a long-term view of our landholdings from mineral extraction to development and restoration; creating jobs, supporting communities and continuing responsible environmental stewardship," said Lafarge Tarmac chief executive Cyrille Ragoucy. "We are proud to be part of this exciting project. This is a fitting legacy for land which has been owned by Lafarge Tarmac for over 140 years."
The sale is expected to go through once planning permission for the scheme is granted. London Resort Holding has already held two stages of public consultation, involving more than 4000 local people. Two more stages are planned ahead of a submission to the Planning Inspectorate in Autumn 2015.
"With this agreement in place, the vision for Kent as the home of a nationally-significant, multi-billion pound entertainment resort employing thousands of people is moving closer to becoming a reality," said David Testa, executive director of London Resort Holding. "It further underlies our commitment to delivering the project and is welcome news as we continue to consultant and engagement with the local Dartford and Gravesham communities living near the site and more widely with our interested parties."
CRH reports Euro190m in 2014 acquisition and investment spending
09 January 2015Ireland: CRH has revealed a 2014 acquisition and investment spend of Euro190m, reflecting the completion of 21 transactions. On the divestment front, the group completed 16 transactions and realised total disposal proceeds of Euro350m.
"In August 2014 we announced a multi-year Euro1.5 – 2.0bn divestment programme; the proceeds of Euro350m generated in 2014 demonstrate that this programme is well underway," said Albert Manifold, CRH chief executive. "With a refined portfolio focus, the group is now well-positioned to pursue acquisitions that are in line with our long-term growth strategy. The 21 transactions completed during 2014 primarily comprise bolt-on acquisitions for our existing operations in the Americas, together with the expansion of our builders merchanting network in Europe."
The disposal of CRH's 50% equity stake in Denizli Çimento, its only involvement in Turkey, was the largest single divestment in 2014, realising proceeds of Euro170m.
Hope announces Euro17.8m expansion upgrades at cement plant
07 January 2015UK: Hope Construction Materials is investing Euro17.8m to boost production at its Hope Works cement plant. The upgrades include a completed 20,000t clinker store, a system to increase the plant's capacity to use waste-derived fuels and an internal upgrade of the plant's chimney, improvements to the way the raw materials are fed into the twin kilns and maintenance and refurbishment of a large section of one of the kilns.
"The installation of the new kiln shell section is a spectacular piece of engineering involving several teams and very careful planning. We are delighted with the way that this individual project has evolved and look forward to seeing the others progress to schedule... We are very excited to be involved in the largest investment programme on site for many years," said Hope Works Operations Manager Ed Cavanagh.
The announcement comes on Hope Construction Materials' second birthday. Hope has owned and operated the 85 year old cement plant since January 2013.
US/UK: HeidelbergCement has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with an American affiliate of Lone Star Funds to sell its North American and UK building products business for an aggregate purchase price of US$1.4bn. HeidelbergCement said that up to US$100m will be payable in 2016, depending on the performance of the business in 2015. The deal excludes HeidelbergCement's Western Canada business. HeidelbergCement expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2015.
The sale of Hanson Building Products is consistent with HeidelbergCement's strategy of focusing on processing and refining raw materials for its core products of cement and aggregates and further downstream activities, according to a HeidelbergCement spokesperson. HeidelbergCement will retain its Hanson units in the cement, crushed stone, sand and asphalt businesses in the UK.
UK: Production has restarted at the Cemex UK South Ferriby cement plant following flooding in December 2013. One of the two cement kilns has been commissioned and is producing clinker.
"Rebuilding the plant in 12 months has been no mean feat and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. The refurbished plant will allow us to continue our heritage of producing quality cement, sustainably, safely and efficiently, now and for many years to come," said Philip Baynes-Clarke, plant director. "South Ferriby plant had grown organically through the site for the last 80 years, the flood gave us the opportunity to rebuild it in a logical way to today's standards with tomorrow's production in mind."
The flood cut off the 11,000 volt electric supply and destroyed 30 switch rooms and two substations. Today over 6.4km of high voltage cable has been laid to create a new infrastructure of cables to supply the various operations throughout the site. These cables lead to one electrical substation, which houses modern electrical switchgear. In addition 30 switchrooms have been rebuilt along with the vast majority of the site's electrical systems. Other efficiencies such as LED lighting have been built in to the systems to provide savings in electricity.
With the failure of the electric supply when the flood hit, one of the kilns stopped in mid-production with hot material still in it. This caused the kiln shell to bend due to the high thermal load. Subsequently a 22m section of the 65m long kiln was replaced. All elements of the cement production process are now controlled from a centralised computer. This new control system replaces five control rooms, which are all marked for demolition in the coming months.
UK/Portugal: N+P Group, a Netherlands-based waste processing firm, has landed a contract to supply 0.7Mt of solid recovered fuel (SRF) from UK recycling companies to cement plants operated by the Portuguese companies Secil and Cimpor. This follows N+P's first shipment of SRF from Grimsby, Lincolnshire to Portugal earlier in 2014. A 'minor part' of the contract will be satisfied by using waste from France and Italy.
Chairman Karel Jennissen said, "In recent years we have invested millions in developing the UK market to provide end users of our SRF sustainable supply concept. We put a lot of effort towards optimising quality levels of SRF in the UK market and have invested in the development of sustainable logistics chains. Now N+P has several port sites at strategic locations and the possibility to use a large number of sea containers."
N+P signs solid recovered fuels deal with Secil and Cimpor
03 December 2014Portugal: N+P International has announced the signing of a five year contract for the supply of solid recovered fuels (SRF) into a number of cement plants belonging to the Portuguese cement companies Secil and Cimpor. The contract was signed by Gestão Ambiental e Valorização Energética, a subsidiary company of Secil, Cimpor and SGVR, responsible for sourcing and supply of alternative fuels and raw materials into the Portuguese cement industry.
"In the past years we have invested millions to develop UK market, to provide end users of our SRF sustainable supply concept. We have put a lot of effort in optimising quality levels of SRF in the UK market, as well as investing in the development of sustainable logistic chains. Now N+P has several port sites at strategic locations and the possibility to use a large number of sea containers," said Karel Jennissen, chairman of N+P.
By signing the contract N+P has committed to supply over 700,000t of SRF in the next five years. The majority of the SRF is already sourced and contracted by companies in the UK recycling market. A minor part of the volume will be sourced in Italy and France.