Displaying items by tag: Japan

Japan: Asahi Concrete Works raised its sales by 1% year-on-year from US$21.4m in the first half of 2023 to US$21.6m in the first half of 2024. This helped its net profit to grow by 22%, from US$1.50m to US$1.83m.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement says it is progressing with its C4S project to develop a novel concrete imbued with CO₂ from direct air capture (DAC). The project is a collaboration with the University of Tokyo, with support from the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO). Taiheiyo Cement says that concrete developed by the partnership aids faster CO₂ capture via DAC, increasing strength, confirmed seismic resistance and carbon neutrality per full life-cycle assessment.

Taiheiyo Cement says that the eventual certification of DAC-carbonated concrete will play a significant role in the decarbonisation of the Japanese construction sector.

Japan: Vertex Corporation subsidiary Kitaseki Concrete plans to transfer its secondary concrete product manufacturing operations from Annaka in Gunma Prefecture to Matsuzaka Kosan in Mie Prefecture. Nikkei News has reported that the move aims to increase efficiency and raise competitiveness in response to the evolving industry environment.

Japan: Sumitomo Mitsui Construction has successfully switched its Notogawa precast concrete products plant to 100% renewably-powered production. Nikkei News has reported that the company has switched the plant’s boilers to green hydrogen. These were previously the source of 60% of the plant’s emissions. The plant has also switched to using electricity entirely from renewable sources.

Sumitomo Mitsui Construction says it is working to make each of its precast plants carbon neutral.

Japan: A team at the University of Tokyo has developed cement-free alternative concrete from ultra-fine sand and fly ash. NHK has reported that the process uses recyclable alcohols and has lower CO₂ emissions compared to concrete production using ordinary Portland cement. Research with industrial partners into possible construction sector applications is underway. Partnerships with Japanese ready-mixed concrete producers are reportedly also under discussion.

Further information is available from Yuzo Tobisaka, an independent Japanese consultant in the cement and ready-mixed concrete industry, at yuzo.tobisaka@gmail.com.