Argentina: Molins subsidiary Cementos Avellaneda has acquired a 70% stake in construction products company Prokrete Argentina. Protex's prior owners will remain as minority shareholders with board representation. Protex produces waterproofing products, sealants, additives, adhesives, coatings and industrial paints, and also owns assets in the mining, energy and heavy industry sectors.
Canada: ThyssenKrupp Calvion has signed two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with TKMS and US-based Heirloom Carbon Technologies to advance large-scale direct air capture (DAC) in Alberta. The collaborations will pair ThyssenKrupp Calvion’s calcination with Heirloom's limestone-based DAC method, alongside CO₂ purification and compression technologies from the wider ThyssenKrupp group. ThyssenKrupp Calvion will also develop a carbon capture calciner based on its Oxyfuel technology.
Heirloom head of commercialisation Max Scholten said "Canada's natural resource base, workforce and technical capacity are a compelling foundation for carbon removal research, development and large-scale deployment. The synergy of our partnership with ThyssenKrupp Calvion lays the foundation for investments that remove carbon, produce low-carbon fuels, create durable jobs, and cement Canada's place in a decarbonising global marketplace."
US: CO2-sequestering alternative cement developer CarbonCure and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Masic Lab have published a study establishing a new chemomechanical framework for CO2 mineralisation in cement. The study found that early-age CO2 injection fundamentally reroutes cement hydration by introducing a transient reactive silica gel phase. This phase templates a more homogeneous calcium-silicate-hydrate (CSH) microstructure and increases 24-hour compressive strength compared to reference samples.
The study concluded that mechanical gains in CO2-activated systems are not solely attributable to the pore-filling effect of nanocarbonates, but are ‘significantly’ driven by alteration of the hydration sequence. As such, the researchers advised that the optimisation CO2 utilisation technologies should focus on controlling the kinetics of silica gel generation and consumption as well as the degree of carbonate formation.
UK: Spirit Energy, part of Centrica, has announced the Morecambe Net Zero (MNZ) Peak Cluster development - the world’s largest cement decarbonisation project - has successfully entered the ‘Assess Phase’ of its permit application to store CO2 in the depleted North and South Morecambe fields in the east of the Irish Sea. It follows three years of ‘intense’ work from Spirit’s subsurface, wells, projects, health and safety, commercial and engineering teams, including new high resolution 3D seismic acquisition and advanced 3D seismic imaging of the Morecambe fields to conclusively demonstrate their suitability to store approximately 1Bnt of CO2.
Working with its Peak Cluster partners, MNZ Peak Cluster will transport 3Mt/yr of CO2 from three cement plants – Breedon’s Hope plant, Tarmac’s Tunstead plant, and Holcim UK’s Cauldon plant – as well as from a lime plant operated by Tarmac.
Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said "This takes us another step closer to delivering one of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects, protecting 13,000 jobs and contributing billions of pounds to the UK economy while cutting emissions at scale. By repurposing the Morecambe fields for carbon storage, we can put existing infrastructure to work again, helping secure the future of essential British industry while making real progress towards net zero.”
