Displaying items by tag: Coprocessing

Philippines: Holcim Philippines and Universal Robina Corporation (URC) have entered a tripartite agreement with the local government of Obando, Bulacan, to provide incentives for workers at the town's material recovery facility, based on the volume of refuse diverted. The material recovery facility in Obando has collected and sorted 785t of plastic waste for co-processing. Since 2021, URC and Holcim's waste management unit Geocycle has been processing plastic from URC's operations for co-processing. The plastics are converted into alternative fuels used to power the kiln at Holcim’s plant in Misamis Oriental.

Irwin Lee, URC president and CEO, said "This new agreement, with Obando as a key partner, aims to further drive community-based ‘waste’ diversion efforts. We hope to replicate it in other towns and cities to amplify the impact of what we set out to do three years ago."

Philippines: Republic Cement's resource recovery group, Ecoloop, has diverted 21.4 billion plastic sachets in 2023, equating to 110,000t of discarded materials utilised as alternative fuel in cement co-processing. This marks a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions per ton of cement, according to The Philippine Star newspaper.

Ecoloop director Angela Edralin-Valencia said "This achievement represents a significant amount of materials diverted from landfills and bodies of water, such as oceans and urban waterways and further underscores Republic Cement’s commitment to environmental stewardship and circular economy principles."

Mexico: Cemex Mexico plans to install hydrogen injection systems at four cement plants across Mexico. The producer will use the technology to increase alternative fuel (AF) substitution at the plants by 8 - 10%. A 40% reduction in Scope 3 purchased fuel emissions forms part of Cemex's 2020 -2030 CO₂ emissions reduction strategy. Through the decarbonisation and circular economy pillars of its Future in Action plan, the group aims to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said "Hydrogen is a key technology to accelerate the implementation of our climate action roadmap."

The El Financiero newspaper has reported that Cemex set a new group record AF substitution rate of 34% in September 2022. It uses hydrogen at all of its European cement plants and at one plant in the Dominican Republic.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim says it will double the use of waste derived fuels in production by 2030 from a baseline set in 2018. It made the announcement as it signed the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge, which commits it to net-zero carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 2050. It says it is the first building materials company to join the pledge.

The company has committed itself to a 20% reduction in its CO₂ intensity between 2018 and 2030. It says that over the period it will: “accelerate the use of low-carbon and carbon-neutral products such as ECOPact and Susteno, recycle 100Mt of waste and by-products for energy and raw materials, scale up the use of calcined clay and develop novel cements with new binders, reach net CO₂ emissions 475kg/t of cementitious material and open and operate its first net-zero CO₂ cement plant.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jan Jenisch said, “I believe in building a world that works for people and the planet. That’s why we are reinventing how the world builds today to make it greener with low-carbon and circular solutions. I am very excited to be working with SBTi, taking a rigorous science-based approach to shape our net zero roadmap and accelerating our efforts to substantially lower our CO₂ footprint. I will not stop pushing the boundaries to lead the way in green construction.”

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos is ready to start co-processing 400t/month of solid waste at its Rio Branco do Sul plant in Parana. The project has been approved by IAP, the state environmental institute, and is being run in conjunction with the local authorities, according to the Parana Portal. The initiative was started August 2018 with agreement between Votorantim Cimentos, Itambe and Supremo.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has won an award for its açaí stone co-processing project at its Primavera plant in Pará state. It won the atmosphere emissions category at the 14th Brazilian Environmental Awards organised by the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil. The plant processes 6500t/month of açaí berry stones and it plans to target 10,000t/month. The state of Pará produces around 0.5Mt/yr of açaí stone.

India: UltraTech Cement has signed an agreement with Southern Railways to co-process waste at its Ariyalur plant in Tamil Nadu. Waste to be used as fuel at the plant as part of the ten-year deal will include rexin, cushion, coir and thermocol, according to the Times of India newspaper. The first shipment of waste to the cement plant was transported in mid-July 2018.

China: China Resources Cement has completed a hazardous waste co-processing project in the Changjiang Li Autonomous County of Hainan. The unit started operation in early February 2018 and it has a processing capacity of 100t/day.

China: Huaxin Cement built three co-processing projects for its cement plants in 2016. It also signed contracts to build 10 new projects and six new projects were under construction. The cement producer said in its annual report that it had 25 co-processing projects operating or under construction with a capacity of 5Mt/yr. It added that its waste disposal per tonne of clinker production was ahead of its competitors in the sector. It noted that its had increased its usage of alternative fuels in the second half of the year following an increase in the cost of coal. Huaxin Cement, like other Chinese cement producers, has been actively enacting government-promoted supply side reforms following a poor market in 2015.

China: Dongwu Cement has struck an agreement with Suzhou Dongfang Jiujiu Industry to start a waste disposal company to supply alternative fuels for its kiln. The cement producer based in Wujiang City, Suzhou Prefecture and its partner will invest US$7.3m in the joint venture to start with, according to the ET Net News Agency. Dongwu Cement will own a 52% share in the company.

It will co-process urban sludge, organic waste and industrial solid waste. It will also collect, store and dispose of soil for soil remediation. It is expected the company will dispose of 50,000t/yr of industrial solid waste.

Dongwu Cement operates a 0.75Mt/yr cement plant with two grinding mills, giving it a cement production capacity of 1.64Mt/yr. It manufactures 42.5 and 32.5 class Ordinary Portland Cement.