Displaying items by tag: EU

Kenya: The Daily Nation newspaper has reported the value of contracts of various concrete pole suppliers to utilities provider Kenya Power. Bett Company, a subsidiary of China-based Zhai Yan Quan and Yang Yi, holds contracts worth US$1.49m, Line Enterprises holds contracts worth US$1.35m and Rai Cement holds contracts worth US$920,000.

Kenya Power is in the process of expanding its power supply network using concrete poles, with financial backing from the EU, European Investment Bank, French Development Agency and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Europe: The European Commission (EC), in coordination with the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the Turkish Competition Authority, launched unannounced antitrust inspections of additives and admixtures producers in ‘several’ countries. The EC said that the inspections form a preliminary step in an investigation of suspected anticompetitive practices.

Australia: Alternative cement and concrete producers have welcomed a new Australian civil engineering standard that allows builders to use reduced-CO₂ geopolymer concrete in infrastructure projects. Wagners, which produces Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC), said that the revision has removed one if its key barriers to wider market acceptance. EFC replaces 100% of cement with supplementary cementitious materials, including ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and pulverised fly ash, by virtue of its binder technology. Wagners previously supplied EFC for the London Power Tunnels project in the UK, based on local technical approval-based building codes. The producer now expects a new standard like the Australian one to follow in the EU.

Belgium: The EU Innovation Fund has awarded Euro4.5m to a consortium consisting of Prefer, gas provider Fluxys Belgium, lime producer Lhoist and carbonation technology developer Orbix. The collaborators are working on a project called CO2ncrEAT. The project will carbonate steel sector by-products with captured CO₂ from Lhoist's Hermalle lime plant to produce alternative building materials. CO2ncrEAT will be the first project to employ Orbix's innovative technique for the purpose. Fluxys Belgium's pipeline technology will convey the Hermalle plant's emissions over a distance of 2km to a Prefer concrete blocks plant.

The consortium said that it will use 12,000t/yr of CO₂ to produce 100,000t/yr of reduced-CO₂ concrete blocks. The use of alternative raw materials in the blocks will further reduce their carbon footprint by 8000t/yr.

Prefer managing director Raphaël Grimont said “As market leader, we must ensure the sustainability of our business by offering innovative and eco-friendly products to our customers. With the CO2ncrEAT project, our building materials will be produced through a sustainable and efficient process and based on local, circular raw materials. The Prefer masonry block of tomorrow will retain all the advantages of the traditional block, with the difference that it will benefit from a negative carbon footprint. We are proud to develop this exceptional project together with key industrial partners, while benefitting from the trust of the European, Belgian and Walloon authorities.”