Displaying items by tag: VICAT

It’s been a good week for carbon capture in cement production with new projects announced in France and Poland.

The first one is a carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) collaboration between Vicat and Hynamics, a subsidiary of energy-provider Groupe EDF. The Hynovi project will see an integrated unit for capturing CO₂ and producing methanol installed at Vicat’s Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant in 2025. It aims to capture 40% of the CO₂ from the kiln exhaust stack at the plant by using an oxy-fuel method and installing a 330MW electrolyser to split water into oxygen and hydrogen for different parts of the process. The CO₂ will then be combined with hydrogen to produce methanol with potential markets in transport, chemicals and construction. The setup is planning to manufacture over 0.2Mt/yr of methanol or about a quarter of France’s national requirement. The project was put forward under a call for proposals by the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) program. Pre-notification of its participation in the program has been received from the French government and it is currently being evaluated by the European Commission. Vicat’s decision to choose its Montalieu-Vercieu plant for this project is also interesting since it started using a CO₂ntainer system supplied by UK-based Carbon8 Systems there on an industrial scale in November 2020. This system uses captured CO₂ from the plant’s flue gas emissions to carbonate cement-plant dust and produce aggregate.

The second new project is a pilot carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot by HeidelbergCement at its Górażdże cement plant in Poland. This project is part of the wider Project ACCSESS, a consortium led by Sintef Energi in Norway that aims to cut carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) costs and to link CO₂-emitters from mainland Europe to storage fields in the North Sea. The cement plant part in Poland will test an enzyme-based capture method using waste heat at the plant. Another part of the project will look at how the captured CO₂ can then be transported to the Northern Lights storage facility in Norway including the regulatory aspects of cross-border CO₂ transport. ACCSESS started in May 2021 and is scheduled to end in April 2025. It has a budget of around Euro18m with Euro15m contributed by the European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 fund.

HeidelbergCement also says that the second stage of its LEILAC (Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement) project at the Hannover cement plant is part of ACCSESS, with both testing of the larger-scale Calix technology to capture CO₂ and the connected transport logistics and bureaucracy to actually get it to below the North Sea. That last point about Calix is timely given that US-based Carbon Direct purchased a 7% stake in Calix in mid-September 2021 for around US$18m. Whilst on the topic of carbon capture and HeidelbergCement don’t forget that the group’s first full-scale carbon capture unit at Norcem’s Brevik cement plant, using Aker Solution’s amine solvent capture technology, is scheduled for commissioning in September 2024. Another carbon capture unit is planned for Cementa’s Slite plant in 2030 but the proposed capture method has not been announced.

Other recent developments in carbon capture at cement plants include Aalborg Portland Cement’s plan to capture and store CO₂ as part of the Project Greensand consortium. The overall plan here is to explore the technical and commercial feasibility of sequestering CO₂ in depleted oil and gas reservoirs in the Danish North Sea, starting with the Nini West Field. The project is still securing funding though, with an Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program application to the Danish government pending. However, the Danish Parliament decided in December 2021 to set aside a special funding pool to support a CO₂ storage pilot project so this initiative seems to be making progress. If the application is successful, the consortium wants to start work by the end 2021 and then proceed with an offshore injection pilot from late 2022. How and when Aalborg Portland Cement fits in is mostly unknown but a 0.45Mt/yr capture unit at its Rørdal cement plant is tentatively planned for 2027. There’s also no information on the capture method although Aker Carbon Capture is also part of the Project Greensand consortium. Finally, also in September 2021, Chart Industries subsidiary Sustainable Energy Solutions announced that it had selected FLSmidth to help adapt and commercialise its Cryogenic Carbon Capture carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for the global cement industry.

All of this tells the cynics in the audience that a large international climate change meeting is coming up very soon. Most cement companies will likely want some good news to show off when the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) dominates the media agenda in November 2021. Other observations to point out include that none of the projects above are full-scale industrial carbon capture installations, most of them are consortiums of one sort of another and that they are all subsidised or want to be. While hydrogen and CO₂ networks get built this seems inevitable. Yet, we’re not at the stage where cement companies just order carbon capture units from a supplier, like they might a new clinker cooler or silo, without the need for long lists of partners. When this changes then carbon capture looks set to flourish.

On a final note, the UK is currently experiencing a shortage of commercially-used CO₂. The reasons for this have nothing to do with the cement industry. Yet consider the constant doom-and-gloom about record global CO₂ emissions and the sheer amount of effort going into reducing this by the projects mentioned above and others. Life has a sense of humour at times.

For a view on the CO₂ sequestration permitting process in the US look out for the an article by Ralph E Davis Associates, in the forthcoming October 2021 issue of Global Cement Magazine

France: Vicat’s Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant will host a carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation and methanol plant under a joint project by Vicat and Groupe EDF subsidiary Hynamics known as Hynovi. The project aims to achieve 40% carbon capture at the plant. A 330MW electrolyser will convert captured CO2 to methanol through oxycombustion. Commisioning of the entire system is scheduled for 2025. The partners said that Hynovi may subsequently be taken up by cement plants globally.

Egypt: France-based Vicat raised a case against the Egyptian government with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in late June 2021. It concerns its cement production business. Reporting by the Qatar-based New Arab newspaper alleges that the cement producer was forced to reduce its shares in its subsidiary Sinai Cement due to a law stopping foreign ownership of companies operating in the Sinai Peninsula on the basis of security grounds. It reports that Vicat has reduced its shares in its subsidiary to 42% from 56% previously.

Vicat confirmed in its financial report for 2020 that it was in the process of taking legal action locally on the matter of foreign ownership in the Sinai region. It added that an investment of around Euro35m in Sinai Cement had been delayed due to administrative approval time. In July 2021, Tamer Magdy, the country manager for Sinai Cement, told local press that Vicat was keen to continue investing in the market.

France: Vicat’s consolidated sales rose by 19.6% year-on-year to Euro1.56bn in the first half of 2021 from US$1.30bn in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 41% to Euro300m from Euro213m. Sales and earnings rose in all territories on an adjusted basis as markets recovered from a poor second quarter in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in India and France.

“Focused on its carbon footprint reduction targets, the group has accelerated the commercialisation of its low-carbon product lines, adapted to the global climate challenge,” said Guy Sidos, the group’s chairman and chief executive officer. The company added that the upgrade of its Ragland cement plant in the US is on track for expected commissioning in the first half of 2022 and that it is ramping up a new mill in Mali.

Egypt: Tamer Magdy, the country manager for Sinai Cement, says that parent company Vicat is keen to continuing to invest in the local market. He noted that noted that the France-based building materials producer is a long-term investor with confidence in the Egyptian economy and that it has no plans to leave, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper.

He praised the government’s decision in early July 2021 to introduce reduced cement production quotas. The group is also keen for the authorities to develop the Sinai region more, where its main market is based. Vicat has operated in Egypt since 2003 when it acquired Sinai Cement. However, Magdy also called on the government to provide subsidies for exports.

France: Denmark-based FLSmidth has won a contract to supply a 400t/day calcined clay production line to Vicat’s Xeuilley integrated cement plant. The order includes flash calciner technology, an environmental control system and alternative fuel (AF) firing, handling and storage equipment. The line will have a design capacity of up to 525t/day and is scheduled for commissioning in 2023. It will enable clinker substitution in cement of up to 40%, according to the supplier. It says that cement produced using calcined clay will have a 16% smaller carbon footprint than its clinker-based equivalent. The value of the contract is Euro26.8m.

Vicat deputy chief executive officer Eric Bourdon said, “EU regulations and increasing demand for more sustainable cement has accelerated the decision to introduce clay as an environmental alternative to clinker in our production. With clay readily available in the area and positive results from pilots at FLSmidth’s test facilities in Denmark, we feel confident about the technology and hope to be able to expand further in the future.”

Switzerland: France-based Vicat subsidiary Vigier Holding has agreed to sell precast concrete producer Creabeton Matériaux to Müller Steinag Holding. The group says that it will finalise the deal within the first half of 2021.

Creabeton Matériaux specialises in the prefabrication of concrete products. It has a workforce of nearly 380 employees and reported a turnover of Euro83m in 2020. Vigier Holding will retains its railway business including the construction of concrete sleepers.

France: Vicat recorded full-year consolidated sales of Euro2.81bn in 2020, up by 2% year-on-year from Euro2.74bn in 2019. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 6% to Euro557m from Euro526m. Consolidated net income rose by 8% to Euro172m from Euro160m.

The group said that organic sales were ‘strong,’ rising in all regions except in France, by 6% in total. It attributed the decline to a near-total shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March 2020, which lifted incrementally throughout the first half of the year. Vicat France’s cement business recovered ‘robustly’ in the second half of 2020, resulting in an operational sales increase of 3% for the year. Full stoppages of activity lasted for 33 days in India and for 30 days in Italy. Despite these challenges, business growth, cost-cutting and lower energy costs drove earnings growth, with ‘very sharp improvements’ recorded in the Americas and in Asia. Additionally, the ramp-up of a new grinding plant in Mali and production performance improvements in Senegal supported a ‘significant’ earnings increase in Africa.

Chair and chief executive officerGuy Sidos said, “Thanks to our employees’ tremendous efforts and commitment, the Vicat group strengthened its position amid the unprecedented current pandemic situation. Our resilience and flexibility allowed us to make organisational changes in order to reconcile our competing imperatives of keeping everyone safe and healthy, unlocking savings and making rapid adjustments, such as relocating our Paris head office to L’Isle d’Abeau in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Likewise, we made improvements to Vicat’s governance and stepped up our environmental and digital transformation programmes. Given the strength of our cash generation, we were able to resume key productivity investment programmes for the future. Despite the adversity we faced, our teams across all our various regions successfully delivered higher production efficiency levels and met market demand cost-effectively, paving the way for a solid increase in the Vicat group’s results.”

In 2021, the group plans to expand cement production and invest in new cement terminals in India and to continue with the upgrade of its Ragland cement plant in the US. It also says that it will ramp up projects aimed at meeting its carbon footprint reduction targets. The group expects its earnings to rise at constant scope and exchange rates over the full year.

US: France-based Vicat subsidiary National Cement Company of Alabama has completed the installation of a new 5000t/day clinker line at its Ragland, Alabama cement plant. The line has a raw meal capacity of 13,000t.

Vicat engineering senior vice president Jean-Claude Brocheton congratulated the installation team on the ‘major step’ and on completing the work ahead of schedule.

France: Vicat has joined US-based Schlumberger New Energy, clean energy specialist CEA, Vinci Construction and the Occitan Regional Agency of Energy and Climate (AREC) in a hydrogen production technology joint venture called Genvia. The partnership will establish a ‘gigafactory’ at which to develop high-temperature reversible solid oxide electrolyser technology. The gigafactory will be situated in Béziers, Occitan. Deployment will take place via CEA’s Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes site.

“We are very pleased to be working alongside such experienced and strong partners as we strive to develop technologies that enable decarbonisation,” said François Jacq, chairman of the CEA. “Together, building on a set of technologies developed by the CEA over the last decade, we have ambitious growth plans for a technology that we expect to be a game-changer in the production of clean hydrogen. This initiative demonstrates an alignment of environmental and economic growth ambitions that is important for France and Europe in support of the government's and the commission's recovery plan.”

The technology Genvia plans to use is intended to achieve a high system efficiency, resulting in less electricity use per kg of hydrogen produced. The venture says that the technology is the first of its kind that is fully reversible, giving it the flexibility to switch between electrolysis and fuel cell functions.