Pakistan: Pioneer Cement has appointed Talha Saif as its company secretary. He succeeds Abdul Wehab in the role. The company also appointed Jan Mohammad as Head of Internal Audit. He replaces Jamal Uddin.

Türkiye: Cimpor Global Holdings has appointed Erol Tosun as Operational Technologies Unit Manager. He worked as Operational Technologies Chief for OYAK Çimento since 2019 and was the Information Technology Chief for OYAK Modern Beton from 2005 to 2019.

Other appointments at Cimpor Global Holdings include the move by Burak Demir to Industrial Digitalisation Unit Manager. He previously worked for OYAK Çimento since 2017 in a number of process roles. Prior to this he worked for Cementir in Türkiye.

Pınar Özmen Söylemez has been appointed as Data Analytics & Planning Unit Manager. She has worked for OYAK Çimento since 2017 first as a Performance Controller and then Industrial Program and Analysis Chief. Before this she worked for Votorantim Cimentos for two years.

Greece/Germany: Greece-based cement producer Titan Group and Germany-based Orcan Energy have entered a partnership to explore the development and deployment of Orcan’s innovative modular waste heat recovery (WHR) solutions across Titan’s international cement production base. Orcan’s solution converts cement process waste heat into electricity that it says can accelerate decarbonisation while reducing operational costs. As a first step, the partners will undertake an assessment of where Orcan Energy's WHR systems can be applied across Titan's facilities. The study will encompass a thorough pilot site evaluation, starting at several plants within the group. The initial focus will be on recovering waste heat from pre-heaters and clinker coolers.

Samir Cairae, Chief Technology Officer at Titan said “The collaboration with our waste heat recovery partner Orcan Energy has the potential to transform waste heat into zero-carbon clean energy, with a novel but well-proven modular approach."

Andreas Sichert, chief executive officer at Orcan Energy, said “We are thrilled to partner with Titan to use its vast and valuable waste heat resources. Our technology will help not only to reach the group’s extraordinary decarbonisation ambitions but also to significantly save electricity expenses. Our modular approach will allow Titan to flexibly respond to outside changes in uncertain times.”

Look out for an interview with Orcan Energy in the forthcoming November 2023 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Uzbekistan: Hengyuan Cement has held a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of its up-coming cement plant in the Kattakurgan district of Samarkand. The plant, a joint-venture between Chinese and Uzbek partners, will have a capacity of 3Mt/yr and cost US$350m to construct. Cement will be sold in the local market and, according to developers, exported to as far afield as the European Union.

At the opening ceremony, the Hokim of Samarkand region Erkinjon Turdimov and Chinese partners noted that cooperation between Uzbekistan and China has been developing steadily in recent years. The project will lead to 600 new direct jobs. The long-awaited cement plant was first announced in 2018, but has repeatedly been delayed, particularly by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Colombia: Data from DANE, the Colombian national statistics authority, shows that the country produced 1.22Mt of grey cement in July 2023, a 1.7% increase compared to July 2022. Of this, 1.05Mt was consumed domestically, a 6.5% fall year-on-year, with exports increasing to compensate. The July 2023 production figure is 9.2% higher than for the July 2019, the year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. DANE also recorded that Colombia produced 557,900m3 of ready-mix concrete in July 2023, a 3.1% decline compared to July 2022, when 575,800m3 was produced.

Spain: Cement consumption in Catalonia fell by 11% in August 2023, while production fell by 2.7%, and exports by 32.7%, according to regional cement association Ciment Català. During the 12 months, to 31 August 2023 consumption decreased by 2.9% to 2.24Mt, while production fell by 4.4% to 3.15Mt and exports fell by 3.7% to 1.74Mt. Ciment Català’s president, Salvador Fernández, attributed these declines to the poor economic situation in the autonomous region, a lack of investment and ‘the challenges of the decarbonisation process,’ according to Europa Press.

Ireland/US: CRH has completed the move of its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange. The group will retain a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange.

It said it had made the transition because “We believe a US primary listing will bring increased commercial, operational and acquisition opportunities for our business, further accelerating our successful integrated solutions strategy and delivering even higher levels of profitability, returns and cash for our shareholders.” It added that the North America market represents around 75% of the group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and that the US is expected to “be a key driver of future growth for CRH due to continued economic expansion, a growing population and significant construction needs.”

Albert Manifold, the chief executive officer of CRH, commented, “Today marks an important milestone in CRH’s development which will enable us to fully participate in the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead for our business”.

China: Taiwan Cement (TCC) commissioned a 107MWh energy storage project at its Yingde plant in Guangdong province in August 2023. Subsidiary NHOA Energy worked on the project that linked the battery storage capacity to a 42MW waste heat recovery (WHR) system and a 8MWp solar photovoltaic unit. It uses lithium iron phosphate batteries supplied by Ningde Times.

The company’s say that the project is one of the largest industrial microgrids in the world. It is intended to provide energy flexibility to the cement plant by using NHOA Energy’s proprietary energy management system to manage peaks in energy demand and acting as a backup for critical equipment to avoid damage caused by sudden blackouts.

The NHOA Energy storage project is expected to store about 46000MWh/yr of electricity and save just under US$3m/yr in electricity costs. The system will also support the Guangdong Provincial Government’s energy storage development policy and be eligible to associated subsidies of over US$350,000/yr.

Giuseppe Artizzu, the chief executive officer of NHOA Energy, said “NHOA Energy’s proprietary energy management system will optimise the generation and consumption profile of the industrial microgrid, while also supporting the regional grid towards its 100% green energy objective, taking the energy transition in the area one step forward in total accordance with NHOA Group’s and TCC’s shared mission of fostering a positive change for the future of our planet.”

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies (HGCT) has signed a partnership deal with Point.P. Under the terms of the agreement, HGCT’s clinker-free cement products will be distributed to Point.P’s ready-mixed concrete (RMC) and batching plants. Point.P is aiming to reduce its CO₂ emissions linked to the use of cement it uses in ready-mix concrete, concrete blocks and precast elements, by 35% by 2030.

Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann, co-founders of HGCT, said "We're delighted with this partnership with a major player like Point P. This is a major step forward for the marketing of our clinker-free low-carbon cements.”

France-based Saint-Gobain Building Distribution France, a subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain, is a distributor of building materials. Its main brands include Point.P, Cedeo, Asturienne, PUM, SFIC, La Plateforme du Bâtiment, Dispano, Panofrance, Clim+ and CDL Elec. It has a network of over 2000 sales outlets throughout France.

Bangladesh/India: The completion of an upgrade project to Chhatak Cement’s plant has been thrown into doubt due to uncertainty about securing limestone from India. The plant still needs to build a new 17km ropeway conveyor and this has been delayed due to failure to obtain permission on the Indian side of the border, according to the Daily Star newspaper. It is also facing problems procuring limestone in India due to on-going legal proceedings on environmental grounds between exporters in Meghalaya and the government. The Supreme Court of India granted permission for exports in 2022 but the case is still pending. In addition, plans to install a gas line from Sylhet to the plant has not started yet either.

The state-owned cement producer is run by the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). It originally announced in 2016 that it was spending over US$100m to build a new 1500t/day dry production line at the plant to replace an old wet production line. Although the old line originally had a production capacity of 233,000t/yr, it had fallen to around half of this. However, despite the construction of new silos and other equipment at the site, the unit has not been operational since early 2020. The new line was originally planned to start operation in 2020 but this was delayed until 2023. The BCIC has now proposed that completion of the project be extended to mid-2025.