Cement News tagged: Environmental
CAC applauds Ontario government for its commitment to low-carbon fuels
The Cement Association of Canada (CAC) congratulates Premier Wynne and Minister Murray for proposing new regulations to help Ontario's energy-intensive industries reduce their reliance on coal and their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By 2020, the CAC projects that this simple regulatory change will lead to an annual reduction of up to 400,000t of direct CO2 emissions in Ontario while also ...
Four Lehigh Hanson Cement Plants Earn EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Certification
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. announced that four of its Lehigh Cement plants have earned the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) prestigious Energy Star certification for 2014. The company’s cement manufacturing plants in Leeds, Ala, Union Bridge, Md, Glens Falls, NY, and Redding, Calif, all perform within the top 25 per cent of cement plants nationwide for energy efficiency and meet strict en...
Saudi: City Cement Co invest in alternative energy project
City Cement Co intends to invest SAR25m (US$6.7m) in an alternative energy project, the Saudi-based producer said in a bourse statement yesterday. The project, anticipated to be completed by the end of the first half of 2015, will be carried out by Chinese engineering company Sinoma. Without providing further details, City Cement said it will use own funds and/or Murabaha financing for the i...
Baticim Enerji signs loan agreement, Turkey
Turkish renewable energy producer Baticim Enerji Elektrik Uretim has signed a US$40m loan agreement with local lender Akbank, Baticim Enerji’s affiliate company Baticim Bati Anadolu Cimento Sanayii said. Baticim Enerji will use the 10-year loan to finance balance settlements for its Kovada I, Kovada II and Hasanlar hydropower plants (HPP), Baticim Bati Anadolu Cimento said in a bourse filing...
Holcim Indonesia develops Educational Forest
Holcim Indonesia, in collaboration with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, has jointly developed Holcim Educational Forest (HEF), a rehabilitated former quarry mining site covering 60ha of land in Cibadak, Sukabumi, West Java. Holcim started mining operations at the site in Cibadak in 1975. In 2011, the company began to convert the former Cibadak quarry area into a protected forest area to h...
Latin America: Cemex launches Crecimientos platform
Cemex has established its Crecimientos (“Growth”) platform which is designed to create new business models with high social and environmental impact in Latin American and Asian countries where the company is present. The main goal of this initiative is to support more than one million low-income people during the next two years by encouraging innovation, development, and promotion of social ...
Egypt: Italcementi to build wind park
Italcementi SpA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Egypt for the construction of a 120MW wind park in the coastal town of El-Zaafarana, where the government has agreed to allocate land. The company will invest some US$200m (EUR160.6m) in the plant, starting construction in the 2Q15, said Omar Mehanna, chairman of Italcementi’s Suez Cement Co, as cited by Ahr...
PPC signs waste tyre agreement
PPC has signed an agreement to source waste tyres from the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) for use at its De Hoek cement factory, South Africa. The country’s largest cement producer is also investigating the possibility of using waste tyres in some of its other plants, Azola Lowan, the executive for investor relations and strategy, told the Cape Times. ...
EU ETS: cement sector included on EU carbon leakage risk list
On 27 October, the European Commission adopted the list of sectors expected to be at risk of carbon leakage, which will be applicable for the period 2015-19. The list includes the cement industry, a fact welcomed by Cembureau, the European cement producers’ association. “The risk of carbon leakage has increased since 2009 as a direct result of the reduction in the competitiveness of the Europe...
Terra Cement signs joint venture agreement with Ore Mines International
Terra Cement Inc has signed joint venture agreement with Ore Mines International Pty Ltd in South Australia (OMI) to form a new company, under the name of Terra Cement Australia Pty Ltd (TCA). TCA will engage in the marketing of Terra’s proprietary process (patent pending) for producing sustainable cement using ash in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The joint venture will begin op...
Rembang project temporarily halted, Indonesia
Central Java Governor, Ganjar Pranowo, has said that Semen Gresik's cement plant project in Watuputih, Rembang, has been halted to respect the process of a citizen lawsuit at the Commercial Court in Semarang, Central Java. The lawsuit, filed by residents who rejected the exploration plan, wants to overturn the governor’s decision of 7 June 2012 reading the plant’s environmental permit. An i...
Michigan DEQ grants Lafarge new fuel approval, USA
State officials have approved a request from Lafarge to burn asphalt shingles and plastics at its plant near Alpena, Michigan, USA. The state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has approved the permit saying emissions shouldn't have health effects on residents, Alpena News reported yesterday. State environmental engineer Melissa Byrnes says tests at Lafarge showed burning the materia...
Semen Indonesia starts Tuban WHR plant construction
Semen Indonesia has commenced the construction of a 30.6MW power plant at its Tuban cement works to reduce the company’s electricity costs. Using heat from the cement production process, the waste heat recovery plant represents an investment of IDR638bn (US53m). The project is expected to be completed in 26 months’ time with the plant due to come online in 2H16. In 2013 Semen Indonesia s...
Taiwan: ITRI to receive award for its HECLOT carbon capture technology
Taiwan-based Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has introduced High Efficiency Calcium Looping Technology (HECLOT), a calcium looping technology developed to reduce carbon emissions from fossil power plants. HECLOT claims to be the first affordable and energy-efficient CO 2 capture solution, capable of achieving a capture rate of up to 90 per cent. ITRI will receive a 2014 R&D 10...
Concerns raised by South Korean imports of Japanese coal
Lee In-young, an opposition spokesman for the New Politics Alliance for Democracy party and member of the National Assembly's Environment Labour Committee, has raised concerns over radioactive-contaminated coal bought by South Korean cement firms. The Environment Ministry received data that between 2011 to 2013 Sangyong Cement Industrial, Tongyang Cement and Energy, Lafarge Halla Cement ...
Cembureau voices concern over EU GHG targets
On 23-24 October the European Council will decide on the 2030 climate and energy framework, including targets for GHG emissions reduction, renewables and energy efficiency. The targets are expected to impose a 43 per cent cut for ETS sectors, placing a significant additional burden on these sectors when compared with non-ETS sectors, which have a 30 per cent reduction target, according to C...