Global Cement News

Saudi Arabia: Arabian Cement says it is considering how it can complete work on the construction of new cement mills at its integrated Rabigh plant. The announcement follows a statement from the cement producer reporting that contractor China National Building Materials Company (CNBM) said that it was unable to complete the project due to the necessity of “involving a third party.” The project has suffered repeated delays, such as Covid-19-related travel bans, and dates back to at least 2015.

Belgium: Holcim and TotalEnergies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work towards the full decarbonisation of the Obourg cement plant. Various energies and technologies will be assessed for the capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS) of around 1.3Mt/yr of CO₂ emitted by the unit. The project will include working towards building an oxyfuel switchable kiln as part of an upgrade project at the plant and the transportation and use of the captured CO₂ by TotalEnergies for a synthetic fuel producing scheme and/or deposit in geological storage in the North Sea.

TotalEnergies will also assess the development of renewable projects to power a new electrolyser, which would generate the green hydrogen needed to produce synthetic fuels. This new renewable energy production capacity would also power Holcim’s new oxyfuel kiln. Finally, the oxygen emitted by the electrolyser would be used to fuel the new kiln.

Bart Daneels, the chief executive officer of Holcim Belgium said “Cement industry decarbonisation is extremely challenging because of the process's inevitable CO₂ emissions, which put us firmly in the hard-to-abate sector. CCUS is vital for Obourg to become the first net carbon neutral clinker plant in northwest Europe. We are very happy to work with TotalEnergies to accelerate the development of these CCUS solutions for GO4ZERO. By joining the first movers, we want to set the standards for future clinker manufacturing plants.”

Finland: Energy provider St1 plans to establish a 25,000t/yr renewably powered synthetic methanol plant at Finnsementti's Lappeenranta cement plant in South Karelia. St1 hopes to develop a replicable and scalable synthetic methanol production concept at the site. When commissioned in 2026, the installation will create 20 jobs and produce synthetic methanol for use in maritime and road transport. The Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has granted Euro35.4m-worth of funding to the project.

France: SaintGobain and Ireland-based Ecocem have announced a partnership to bring low carbon cement products to market. Designed to reduce CO₂ emissions from cement, mortar and concrete, these products are intended to support the acceleration of the construction industry’s transition to a low-carbon economy. A research and development cooperation between Ecocem and Chryso, Saint-Gobain’s construction chemicals subsidiary, is planned to accelerate the development of high-performance admixtures to enable low-carbon cements. This partnership will also cover Saint-Gobain’s mortar business Weber in Western Europe and the distribution and concrete manufacturing activities of POINT.P in France.

Donal O’Riain, the chief executive officer of Ecocem, said “The potential exists today to reduce cement industry emissions dramatically by 2030 and to align with the targets set by the Paris Accord. Ecocem’s new generation of scalable low-carbon cement technologies can deliver on this potential. Our deep partnership with SaintGobain will support our efforts to scale these technologies and demonstrate to the world how we can decarbonise the cement, concrete and mortar industries.”

Ecocem is producer of slag-based cement products with operations in Ireland, the UK, France and the Netherlands. Saint-Gobain holds a 25% stake in Ecocem and describes itself as a significant investor in the company for nearly 15 years.

US: Heliogen is among recipients of a total US$24m in US Department of Energy funding for solar thermal power projects. The department granted it US$4.1m-worth of funding for a project in which it will calcine limestone at 950°C using the heat of the Sun. Heliogen hopes to apply the methods it is developing to prevent the direct emissions of cement production.