Displaying items by tag: agriculture

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has inaugurated its first unit in Brazil for Viter, its agricultural inputs business, and Verdera, its sustainable waste management business. Located in Itaperuçu, the unit comprises a new Verdera waste crushing plant and an agricultural limestone production line for Viter. This initiative is part of a US$785m investment programme.

Verdera's Itaperuçu facility has a capacity of 48,000t/yr, tripling its previous capability, and is equipped with technology for sustainable waste treatment. The waste processed at the plant will be converted into clean energy for cement production at Votorantim's plant in Rio Branco do Sul, using co-processing technology developed by Votorantim in Brazil in 1991. Viter's new line will increase agricultural limestone production in Paraná. The Itaperuçu plant, along with the existing Rio Branco do Sul unit, brings Viter's total capacity to 1.5Mt/yr of agricultural limestone in Paraná. The new plant features filters for emission control and utilises biomass as a renewable energy source.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement plans to launch a fleet of 100 trucks to convey alternative fuel (AF) to its Ibese cement plant. The Daily Independent newspaper has reported that the producer expects the fleet to increase the plant’s supply of AF by 50%. The vehicles will collect waste biomass from local communities. Dangote Cement has also donated 100,000 100kg bags to facilitate collections.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement plans to upgrade its Ibese cement plant in order to use biofuels in its cement production. The Nigerian Guardian newspaper has reported that the plant will receive a pneumatic feeding system for the kiln of its Line 2. Dangote Cement plans to use palm kernel shells, rice husks, coconut shells and sugarcane bagasse, along with sawdust. The producer says that this will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 5.2% and help to divert local agricultural waste from incineration.

Project head Sumaila Muhammed said “We carried out alternative fuel resource mapping within our host communities. We decided to collect these wastes and convert them into valuable energy resources as smokeless, renewable biofuel."

Canada: Lehigh Cement has initiated the administrative process to begin the use of alternative fuels (AF) in cement production at its Picton cement plant in Ontario. Under the company’s plans, the plant will substitute 200t/day of AF for coal and petcoke at the plant. Possible AF sources include excess seed from farm feed production in Ontario. The Picton cement plant previously reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 20% through assorted sustainability initiatives.

Picton plant manager Carsten Schraeder said that the move will support Canada’s 2030 emission reduction plan, and also take pressure off landfill sites.

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.”