Displaying items by tag: Geocycle

Philippines: Holcim Philippines and its waste management subsidiary Geocycle have together inaugurated a waste processing plant and alternative fuels (AF) storage facility at the former’s Bulacan cement plant. The facilities consist of municipal solid waste (MSW) shredding equipment and a 5400m² warehouse. The installation is part of a US$2.41m investment by Holcim Philippines in the Bulacan plant, aimed at reducing its CO₂ footprint and increasing the circularity of its operations. The plant will produce its AF from MSW from the Boac municipality.

President and CEO Horia Adrian said “This initiative is part of our bigger commitment to make our operations more sustainable. These facilities will further reduce our carbon footprint and energy costs, while providing our partners with a safe and environmentally sound waste management option though our co-processing technology. We are excited to continue these projects to help us get closer to our long-term ambition of using 70% AF in cement production, instead of coal."

Costa Rica: Geocycle Costa Rica has commissioned a XR3000C type shredder supplied by Austria-based Untha. The unit will be used to process locally sorted municipal solid waste (MSW) and hazardous and non-hazardous Industrial Solid Waste (ISW) into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use at Holcim Costa Rica’s integrated cement plant.

“Having worked with Untha in other countries, the XR3000C was chosen for its flexibility, high-capacity and single step alternative fuel capabilities. We also knew it would be supported by a world-class engineering team,” said Geocycle’s general manager Wilkie Mora Bolanos.

Geocycle is the waste processing subsidiary of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim. There are currently over 20 Untha shredders in operation in Geocycle facilities worldwide.

Canada: Holcim subsidiaries Geocycle Canada and Lafarge Canada have signed a long-term partnership agreement with British Columbia’s Capital Regional District. Under the agreement, the district administration will supply Geocycle Canada with biosolids from treated wastewater. The waste management company will then process the waste into cement fuel at Lafarge Canada’s integrated cement plant at Richmond in British Columbia. The plant will process 6000t/yr of biosolids.

India: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim’s waste management subsidiary Geocycle has delivered a consignment of 10t of plastic waste from the River Jojari in Rajasthan to its processing plants at local cement plants run by ACC and Ambuja Cement. Geocycle has partnered with Rekart Innovations with the aim of clearing 150t of plastic waste from the river. The partnership will also undertake restoration of riverine habitats.

LafargeHolcim India chief executive officer Neeraj Akhoury said, "We are committed to building a sustainable future by adopting clean and green technologies. Geocycle India has been part of many initiatives and has helped both Ambuja and ACC cement to make use of waste from the different industrial sectors by getting closer to achieve the Net Zero Waste goal. Geocycle's vast co-processing infrastructure guarantees safe and environmentally friendly final treatment of the collected waste."

Nigeria: The Lagos State Waste Management Agency has praised the work of LafargeHolcim’s waste management subsidiary Geocycle following a tour of its plant in Ewekoro. Daniel Adedokun, the head of Geocycle - Lafarge Africa, said that the company is preparing to open additional processing units at the cement producer’s Ashaka and Mfamosing plant, according the Punch newspaper. In a statement Lafarge Africa said that Geocycle was Nigeria’s first full-fledged professional waste management service provider that collected waste and converted it to the energy required to convert it into an alternative fuel.

UAE: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Geocycle UAE has extended its reduction cell pot lining supply contract with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) by 10 years. Emirates News Agency has reported that during the contract’s previous term EGA supplied Geocycle UAE with 160,000t of spent pot lining for use in production at LafargeHolcim cement plants. The partners already plan to transport a further 40,000t of pot lining from aluminium production in 2021 and 2022, both to Geocycle and directly as pre-processed material to LafargeHolcim’s Fajairah cement plant. EGA began spent pot lining processing at its new Al Taweelah pot lining crushing facility in 2020.

Geocycle UAE general manager Medhat Ismail said, "At Geocycle UAE and LafargeHolcim, our vision of enabling a circular economy starts with the preservation of natural resources by substituting fossil fuels and raw materials with waste or by-products. We aim to bring society a step closer to a zero-waste future. To achieve this goal, we need progressive partners such as EGA."

Philippines: Holcim Philippines plans to invest US$2.5m on increasing its alternative fuels use until 2022. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim says it will spend the money on installing new equipment and improving storage and feeding facilities at its Bulacan cement plant in Barangay, Norzagaray. It also plans to support its Geocycle subsidiary in supplying higher amounts of post-consumer and municipal solid wastes.

“This investment ensures we can continue being a reliable partner in the country’s sustainable development, while also meeting our objectives of making our operations more efficient and respectful of nature,” said Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Stull. In 2020 the company co-processed close to 130,000t of qualified wastes from local governments, industry partners and agricultural processors in its plants in Luzon and Mindanao led by its Geocycle unit.

Argentina: LafargeHolcim waste management subsidiary Geocycle has begun shredding waste at its Córdoba co-processing plant using a new Untha XR3000C one-step shredder supplied by Austria-based Untha. The shredder will produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use at LafargeHolcim’s Córdoba cement plant. It is the 10th Untha shredder Geocycle has commissioned.

Director Mariano Bollo said, “Geocycle Argentina is no stranger to waste shredding for alternative fuel (AF) production. We previously used a dual-shaft machine manufactured by a competitor of Untha’s, but the capacity and reliability of our machine continued to cause us problems. Untha’s low speed, high torque drive means this is a powerful machine with impressive uptime, ease of maintenance and proven capabilities. This – combined with the shredder’s versatility – meant the business case to switch to an XR was strong. While we think carefully about every decision we make, to ensure each shredder we invest in has absolutely the right configuration for every single plant, we now run a number of Untha machines across our global group,” continued Mariano. “The whole life operating costs of this shredder are extremely low, which means we can consistently produce a profitable, environmentally-sound fuel. It therefore comes as little surprise that we’re looking to standardise the technology we use across our business. This has benefits when it comes to procuring and sharing spare and wear parts too. Working in collaboration with Untha’s local engineering specialists, Geocycle is now optimising the design and layout of the waste processing line to double throughputs in early 2021. This XR investment aligns with our global AF production strategy, which doesn’t just improve our cement manufacturing footprint worldwide – it transforms the environmental status of our local communities too.”

US: Geocycle has planted its first crop of perennial native grasses at its Dorchester, South Carolina site. The supplier says that it is trialling the crop as an alternative fuel and future biofuel for the US Southeast region. It sowed giant reed, miscane, miscanthus and switchgrass, which it praised for their ‘low establishment and upkeep costs’ and demonstrated yields of between 12t/acre and 20t/acre.

The company said, “The team is committed to actively participating in the communities’ and state’s bioenergy projects, which aim at developing the circular economy and help achieve net zero future.”

India: Geocycle India has launched a “transparent and auditable waste management service” in the form of plastic waste collection with support of Cleanhub. Following a successful pilot in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, Geocycle will now collect used plastic packaging from its customers. The company said that the material will be co-processed by Ambuja Cement at its integrated Bhatapara plant in Chhattisgarh. Between 1 April 2019 and 30 March 2020 Geocycle supplied 21,700t of plastic for use as fuel to cement producers. The company said, “This has created a co-dependent business model which is a win-win for all the stakeholders.”