Spain: Brazilian-based Votorantim Cimentos’ subsidiary Cemento Cosmos has received authorisation for the combustion of tyres to fuel the kilns at its 1.6Mt/yr Toral de los Vados plant in León. Diario del León has reported that the government of Castile and León will complete bureaucratic procedures finalising the permit before 25 December 2019.

US: NuCycle Energy, which processes post-industrial materials, primarily packaging, into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for cement kilns has started work on an upgrade aimed at expanding its Plant City plant’s capacity to 90,000t/yr. WasteAge has reported that Cemex USA, whose South-Eastern operations are supplied with substitute fuel by NuCycle, is considering an expansion to its relationship with NuCycle Energy. “We are exploring replicating this successful experience at the rest of our cement kilns, nationwide,” said Cemex USA corporate fuels manager Eduardo Pons.

Norway: The resource management solutions provider Geminor has acquired its competitor Rekom. The latter has outstanding contracts for the management of 0.1Mt/yr of waste, which represent a 20% increase in Geminor’s current workload, the company has stated. It adds Rekom’s logistics and processing facilities in Norway to its own across Scandinavia and in Germany, Poland and the UK. Kjetil Vikingstad, Geminor CEO, said the acquisition, which was not strategically planned, was nonetheless in keeping with the company’s Nordics growth strategy, giving it ‘a company volume which makes it an attractive alternative to municipal companies and recycling facilities for materials recycling and especially for energy recovery.’

Spain: Germany’s HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary FYM is now burning over 50% refuse-derived fuel (RDF) mixes in the kilns at its 1.6Mt/yr integrated Málaga plant in Andalucía. Sur has reported that the RDF consists of car parts, including tyres, and pomace from olive oil production.