Displaying items by tag: Government

Canada: Heidelberg Materials North America’s Edmonton cement plant in Alberta now co-processes 50% alternative fuels (AF) following an upgrade. Heidelberg Materials North America installed equipment and infrastructure for AF co-processing with the help of a US$1.71m grant from the Alberta Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction fund.

Slovenia: Parliament has voted in favour of legislation requiring limit values for the co-processing of waste, including as alternative fuel (AF) in cement production. The government will now define the limit values based on best available technology standards for incineration. Following the enactment, facilities which co-process waste will have four years in which to comply. Slovenia Times News has reported that the bill came about following campaigning by environmentalist group Eco Anhovo and allied non-governmental organisations. The groups protested against the way AF is used at Salonit Anhovo’s 1Mt/yr Anhovo cement plant in Nova Gorica Municipality.

Salonit Anhovo chair Tomaž Vuk said “To protect more than 800 direct and indirect jobs and the interests of us and our business partners, we will use all means to provide for further development and business operations.”

Spain: Cemex España plans to install a new tertiary mill in its Alicante cement plant’s refuse-derived fuel (RDF) line. The project, called Molentis, is scheduled for completion in early 2025 and will cost €6m. The Molentis upgrade will help the Alicante cement plant to raise its RDF substitution rate by 8%, according to the producer. This in turn will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 6700t/yr. The Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism granted €4.4m toward the project to Cemex España under its Innovation and Sustainability Plan.

Cemex España director of operations Benjamín Cabrera said "Molentis will enable us to advance towards climate neutrality and position the Alicante factory at the forefront of new technologies in the decarbonised industry."

Philippines: Holcim Philippines used 1Mt of alternative fuel (AF) in its cement production in 2023. This represents a 9% year-on-year rise from 2022 levels. Throughout the year, Holcim’s waste management subsidiary Geocycle raised its total number of local partners by 43%, to 50 city and municipal governments.

Holcim Philippines president and CEO Horia Adrian said "Our sustained effort to drive circularity in cement manufacturing is enabling us to more positively contribute to the country's progress." He added "Through our co-processing operations, we are significantly reducing our environmental footprint in producing important building materials for development structures while helping the country in managing wastes."

Spain: Cementos Portland Valderrivas' Alcalá de Guadaíra plant has secured environmental clearance to use more alternative raw materials and alternative fuels (AF) in its cement production.

The company said "This achievement is a further boost to our sustainable work practices, respecting the environment and contributing to combatting climate change."

Saudi Arabia: City Cement has announced that its waste management subsidiary Green Solutions for Environmental Services (GSES) has launched a new company to produce alternative fuel (AF) for local and overseas markets. The company is a joint venture in which GSES holds a 29% stake, with the majority stake held by Public Investment Fund subsidiary Tadweer Environmental Services. The joint venture has US$1.8m-worth of capital.

Canada: Lafarge Canada will receive a supply of 300t/yr of sewage sludge solids from Capital Regional District (CRD) to mix in topsoil used in rehabilitation at its former Cassidy aggregates quarry in British Columbia. The Victoria Times Colonist newspaper has reported that CRD had held a supply contract to provide sewage sludge solids to Lafarge Canada for use as alternative fuel (AF) at its Richmond cement plant. The cement plant suspended its operations for ‘most of 2022’ and throughout the first five months of 2023. British Columbian law requires sewage sludge solids to be used in beneficial applications.

The district council of CRD says that it expects the Richmond cement plant to resume receiving deliveries of its sewage sludge solids in mid-June 2023.

India: Shree cement has awarded the municipal authorities of Balodabazar-Bhatapara District, Chhattisgarh, a contract to supply 10t/day of cow dung to its Raipur cement plant. The Pioneer newspaper has reported that collection takes place across 16 villages within a 15km radius of the plant. The plant will use dung as alternative fuel (AF) in its cement production.

Jamaica: Cemex subsidiary Caribbean Cement has co-processed 1t of waste at its Rockfort cement plant under the National Environment and Planning Agency's Adopt-a-Beach programme. Since July 2022, the producer has also recovered 500kg of recyclable materials for processing by its partners. The Our Today newspaper has reported that the cement company has carried out three cleans of its adopted beach, Sirgany Beach, to date.

Finland: Kuusakoski is planning to spend over Euro4m towards building a new composite shredding and treatment plant at Hyvinkää. The investment includes the renovation of a building that currently exists at the Kuusakoski Hyvinkää site, as well as the construction of the new processing line. The new plant will consist of two shredders, several covered conveyors, a magnet and a dust control system. 35% of the spend will be financed by Business Finland from RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) funding. Commissioning is scheduled by the end of 2025.

Mikko Kuusilehto, the president and chief executive officer of Kuusakoski, said "Our investment brings the circular economy solution piloted in Germany to Finland. With it, we can provide the best industrial scale recycling process for composite materials locally." He added, "The demand for a recycling solution for composites is rising already, as the amount of composite waste will increase: wind turbines, airplanes, boats and other vehicles contain considerable and increasing amounts of composites."

The shredded composite material will be supplied to cement plants for use as an alternative fuel.