UAE: Pioneer Cement had signed a deal with Emirates RDF to use refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at its plant in Ras Al-Khaimah. The subsidiary of Oman’s Raysut Cement says it will be one of the first cement plants in the region to use waste fuel to meet the government’s sustainability vision, according to the Al Riyadh newspaper.

Emirates RDF operates a plant at Umm Al Quwain. It is a US$40m joint venture developed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme co-financed by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment signing a concession agreement with its shareholders which include the UAE-based contractor, BESIX, Ajman-based Tech Group and Finland-based Griffin Refineries. Emirates RDF will process household waste from Ajman and Umm Al Quwain in the Northern Emirates. Trial RDF production at Emirates RDF is scheduled to start in the summer of 2019 and full production is planned for early 2020.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has won an award for its açaí stone co-processing project at its Primavera plant in Pará state. It won the atmosphere emissions category at the 14th Brazilian Environmental Awards organised by the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil. The plant processes 6500t/month of açaí berry stones and it plans to target 10,000t/month. The state of Pará produces around 0.5Mt/yr of açaí stone.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement’s plant at Walvis Bay has had an alternative fuels substitution rate of 40% for the last six months of 2018. Local recycling company Rent-A-Drum said that it has been supplying waste fuels to the plant, according to the Namibia Economist newspaper. As well as fuels from domestic waste the plant is using wood chips and charcoal dust in its kiln.

China: Guangzhou Zhujiang Cement has completed a dry sludge co-processing project at its plant in Shenxian, Baiyun in Guangdong. The plant can process 300t/day of the dry sludge. CNBM Sinoma’s subsidiary Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute (TCDRI) was the main contractor on the initiative. The project was agreed in early 2016, built in 2017 and then tested from late 2017.