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Displaying items by tag: CO2
Pelješac Bridge project uses Cemex's Vertua reduced-CO2 cement
21 October 2022Croatia: Cemex supplied 37,000t of cement for construction of the new Pelješac Bridge on the Dalmatian coast. Cemex says that the 2.4km-long bridge has connected Southern Croatia to the rest of the country, eliminating the need to cross in and out of Croatia over an international border when travelling by land. Almost all of the cement used in the project was Cemex's Vertua brand reduced-CO2 cement product.
Cemex's Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia president Sergio Menendez said “Cemex has been a proud contributor to the development of Croatia, and we are very pleased to participate in one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region. Our Vertua products are designed to meet society’s demand for resilient and long-lasting buildings and infrastructure, built with a lower carbon footprint.”
Seratech's carbon-neutral cement wins Obel Award 2022
10 October 2022UK: Denmark-based architecture fund Henrik Frode Obel Foundation has named Seratech as winner of its Obel Award 2022. The award recognises architectural contributions to global development. Seratech has developed an olivine-based composite cement produced using CO2 from flue emissions, which can sequester double the CO2 of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). When used as 40% of a blend with OPC, it is able to completely offset the emissions of concrete production.
Team member Barnaby Shanks said "The beauty of the idea is that you can just use it as normal concrete. There are other carbon-neutral materials, but they can be limiting because they can only be precast, cured in a lab in special conditions and shipped elsewhere. We want people to retain the freedom to use concrete the way that they are used to. We don’t want to limit people in any way because we’ll just lessen the amount of impact we can have."
Cemex UK purchases 10 reduced-CO2 tipper trucks
01 September 2022UK: Cemex has bought 10 Volvo 460 8x4 tipper trucks for use at its Angerstein Wharf aggregates depot in Greenwich. From there, the trucks will deliver sand and aggregates all around London. The trucks’ bodies are made of lightweight aluminium, and they conform to Euro 6 emissions standards. This corresponds to 80% NOx emissions reduction and 50% particulate emissions reduction compared to Euro 5 standards.
Cemex UK fleet engineering manager Nigel Ponton said “The addition of these new trucks to our fleet will enable us to better meet customer demand, safely and efficiently. Safety is the number one focus whenever we add new trucks to our operation and these Volvos tick every box in that respect.” Ponton continued “These trucks will all be working in busy streets across London so it’s imperative we provide our drivers with the best tools possible to do the job and help protect any vulnerable road users. Moreover, thanks to the improved fuel efficiencies and enhanced payload these new Volvos are the most sustainable vehicles we’ve ever had and will help decarbonise our delivery footprint.”
Lafarge Canada installs electric vehicle charging stations at batching plant in Vancouver
11 August 2022Canada: Lafarge Canada has installed its first electric vehicle charging stations at its Kent Avenue ready-mix concrete batching plant in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company’s Vancouver team built the four stations with US$39,200 in funding from Lafarge Canada and US$15,700 in funding from BC Hydro’s CleanBC Go Electric Vehicle charger rebate programme. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the company plans to establish 96 further stations at 30 sites in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It says that the electric vehicle charging network will enable it to eliminate 188t of CO2 emissions by 2028.
Lafarge Western Canada CEO Brad Kohl said "We are thrilled that Western Canada has opened the first electric vehicle charging stations to kick-start this exciting effort planned across our Canada operations to advance our goal of net-zero as part of our environmental commitments."
Holcim Argentina achieves 50% ECOPact concrete deliveries
05 August 2022Argentina: ECOPact reduced-CO2 concrete accounted for 50% of Holcim Argentina’s cement deliveries at the end of the first half of 2022, a higher share than in any other country apart from the UK. Holcim launched ECOPact concrete across its markets in June 2021. Holcim Argentina plans to execute new investments to further increase its distribution of the product.
The company’s head of concrete José Villacreses said “We have set ourselves even more challenging goals. We will be the undisputed ally for sustainable projects throughout Argentina. Whoever wants to measure their carbon footprint to offer sustainable construction will find in Holcim the necessary solution to be able to achieve the certifications that society demands today.”
Spain: CRH’s Catalonian ready-mix concrete subsidiary Beton Catalan has partnered with Grapheno Smart Materials in order to implement the latter’s graphene technology in its high-performance concrete products.
Beton Catalan’s quality director Alberto Arenillas said that the company’s high-performance concrete products require ‘a significant amount of CEM I cement,’ He said “By introducing the graphene additive, the nominal amounts of this cement can be reduced or changed to cement with a lower carbon footprint, improving its performance.” The company will sell the graphene-enriched concrete under its BeGreen reduced-CO2 products label.
Vietnam: Trung Hieu Development Corporation has secured a five-year contract to use Betolar’s alkali-activated slag and fly ash-based concrete additive Geoprime. Trung Hieu Development Corporation plans to source the materials for Geoprime from local industrial side streams. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the move will eliminate 80% of raw materials CO2 emissions across its 120,000t/yr-worth precast concrete production capacity.
Betolar's Head of Asia Juha Pinomaa said "Vietnam is the world's third largest cement producer and fourth largest cement consumer, with 85Mt/yr. We estimate that the Vietnamese market represents significant commercial potential for us in the coming years due to the huge potential for cement replacement.” He concluded “We can promote the local circular economy and accelerate Vietnam's sustainable development efforts by directly offering cement-free alternatives. The Vietnamese steel and energy industry generates large amounts of steel slag and fly ash as side streams, which can be used for Geoprime-based concrete."
Germany: HeidelbergCement has joined EPEA’s Heidelberg Circular City Building Material Registry pilot project. The initiative uses EMEA’s Urban Mining Screening digital registry, which is able to estimate the composition of buildings based on building data. HeidelbergCement says that it will enable it to source construction and demolition waste for circular economic use in building materials production. This will support its ReConcrete 360° recycled concrete CO2 reincorporation project, among other projects. The initiative will turn Heidelberg into Europe’s first Circular City.
“Full circular economy and sustainable construction are central elements of our climate strategy,” said HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten. “We are focusing on the life cycle assessment of our product concrete, including the processing of demolished concrete, and returning it to the construction cycle. By 2030, we want to offer circular alternatives for half of our concrete products.” Von Achten concluded “Together with the city of Heidelberg, also a pioneer in the area of climate protection, we want to use the Circular City project to demonstrate the enormous potential of concrete recycling for future urban construction.”
Indonesia: Finland-based Betolar has introduced its Geoprime reduced-CO2 concrete technology into the Indonesian market. Geoprime facilitates the production of reduced-CO2 concrete using industrial side streams.
Betolar head of Asia Juha Pinomaa said "The concrete industry is facing a pivotal moment in the global fight against climate change, and Indonesia is taking urgent action in changing the way cities are built. Betolar's Geoprime solution can unlock the construction industry's challenge to reduce their CO2 emissions. It's not surprising that we are seeing rapid growth, especially in South East Asia, where urbanisation is among the fastest in the world."
Spain: Cemex España has supplied concrete from its Vertua Plus range for the construction of an 81-home housing development in Madrid. The estate, called Torrejón Park, will be Spain’s first to be built entirely from Vertua reduced-CO2 cement. Cemex España says that the products used offer 50 – 70% lower CO2¬ emissions than ordinary concrete. Developer Neinor Homes will additionally recover over 80% of construction waste for recycling.