Displaying items by tag: Investment

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."

France: Lafarge France has ignited the new kiln at its Martres-Tolosane cement plant following a Euro120m upgrade. Local press has reported that the upgrade replaced the plant’s existing kilns and preheater tower with entirely new equipment. The new kiln has tripled the plant’s capacity, to 2.1Mt/yr from 0.7Mt/yr. Meanwhile, the new preheater tower will help to reduce the plant’s electricity consumption by over 20%. As a result of the upgrade, the Martres-Tolosane plant can now support an alternative fuels (AF) substitution rate of 60%, compared to 20% beforehand. Lafarge France aims to carry out further work to reach 85% AF substitution at the plant by 2027. Other planned projects include the installation of a carbon capture system.

Lafarge France CEO François Petry said “We are going to create a research and innovation centre here dedicated to the capture of CO₂, with the ambition of ultimately making the Martres-Tolosane plant net zero carbon.”

Bulgaria: Titan Cement subsidiary Zlatna Panega Cement plans to invest Euro11m in sustainability-enhancing upgrades to its Zlatnopanegki cement plant in Lovech Province. The work centres around a Euro7m alternative fuels (AF) upgrade, to raise the plant’s AF substitution rate to 70% from 50% in 2022. Besides this, the producer will also invest Euro4m in the construction of a solar power plant at the facility. The solar power plant is scheduled for commissioning in March 2024. General manager Adamantios Frantzis said that the plant will subsequently move on to its ‘next big project,’ consisting of a Euro35 – 50m upgrade, in 2026 – 2028.

Zlatna Panega Cement invested Euro5.7m in capital expenditure throughout 2022, more than double its investments of Euro2.6m in 2021. It is committed to interim CO₂ reduction targets of 5000t/yr (Scope 1) and 3000t/yr (Scope 2 and 3), and net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050.

Peru: Grupo Gloria subsidiary Cemento Yura plans to transition its Yura cement plant from using coal to alternative fuels (AF) in its cement production. Additionally, the producer will build a 30MW solar power plant at the site. The Gestión newspaper has reported the total value of the upgrades as US$50m. Both projects are scheduled for commissioning in mid-2025.

In the 2023 financial year, which ended on 30 June 2023, Peruvian cement despatches fell by 8% to 12.6Mt.

US: Vicat subsidiary National Cement Company of Alabama inaugurated its new US$300m production line at its Ragland cement plant on 21 July 2022. Local press has reported that the line includes a new rotary kiln, equipped for alternative fuel (AF) use.

President Spencer Weitman said “This puts us into the next 40 or 50 years. And it’s prolonged the life of the plant to move us forward into the next entry hopefully.”

Egypt: Cemex has signed a three-year cooperation protocol with VeryNile. Local press has reported that VeryNile is in the process of expanding its waste collection capacity. Through the partnership, the cement producer will provide finance for VeryNile's waste collection equipment purchases and cover its operating costs.

Germany: Zement- und Kalkwerke Otterbein plans to invest Euro10m in upgrades to its Otterbein cement plant to increase the sustainability of cement production there. The new equipment will include a hot gas filter SCR catalytic converter system. The producer says that this will install the facility as one of the lowest-CO₂ cement plants in the world. Local press has reported that, after commissioning the new system, the company plans to increase its approved substitution of biomass as fuel to 100% from 60%.

UK: Netherlands-based N+P has acquired the Crayford Material Recycling Facility (MRF) in South-East London from Viridor for an undisclosed sum. The facility processes 330,000t/yr of dry mixed recyclables from Greater London, the South and South-East of the UK. It employs 260 people.

This is the third acquisition by N+P since it started a strategic partnership with commodities trading company Mercuria in April 2021 and more are planned. N+P has invested Euro90m in the UK in 2021 and it plans to invest the same amount in 2022. This is part of the company’s overall Euro239m investment between 2021 and 2022. The key driver of this expansion is to accelerate the production of N+P’s alternative fuel product Subcoal. N+P plans to increase throughput at Crayford to 500,000t/yr and it wants to add 13 alternative fuel production plants to its operations in Europe by 2026, producing over 5Mt/yr of alternative fuels per year.

“N+P’s rationale for acquiring the London location is driven by the company’s desire to expand production in locations throughout the UK and diversify its activities. Ultimately, having both an alternative fuel production location as well as a MRF operation at the same location optimises the complete value chain for waste. N+P believes the non-recyclable waste fraction can play a significant role in the transition to cleaner future proof energy sources,” said Stijn Jennissen, the chief commercial officer at N+P.

Honduras: Cementos Argos is investing US$23m on various projects including increasing its alternative fuels substitution rate. The cement producer is targeting a 12% refuse-derived fuel (RDF) substitution rate by 2030, the equivalent of 5500t/yr. If reached, this will reduce the company’s carbon footprint in the country by 14%. The company says it has also co-processed 1.5m waste tyres in Honduras. It has now signed a partnership agreement with Fundesur and Fundación Herco for the collection and delivery of 5,000 tires/month in Choluteca for co-processing.

Other projects Cementos Argos is working on include increasing the production capacity of its Piedras Azules cement plant and increasing the plant’s use of solar energy.

France: Germany-based ThyssenKrupp has won a contract for the installation of a new 4000t/day clinker line at Ciments Calcia’s Airvault cement plant in Poitou-Charentes. The supplier expects the new line to double the plant’s clinker capacity while also reducing its CO₂ emissions. It is intended to replace the two existing lines at the site.

ThyssenKrupp will supply a 1200t/hr double-shaft hammer crusher, a longitudinal blending bed, a 370t/hr Quadropol QMR² 45/23 type vertical roller mill and a 10,000t tangential blending silo to process raw materials for the line. A single-string, five-stage Dopol type cyclone preheater with integral calciner will be supplied that is suitable to use with alternative fuels, with the possibility of conversion to oxyfuel in future. ThyssenKrupp plans to preassemble the preheater, reducing anticipated construction time ‘by several months.’ The plant also includes a Polytrack clinker cooler, a solid recovered fuel (SRF) preparation line and dedusting systems. Commissioning is scheduled for mid-2024.

No value for the project has been disclosed by Ciments Calcia or ThyssenKrupp. However, Ciments Calcia previously announced a proposed investment of Euro300m in January 2021.