Displaying items by tag: circular economy

Spain: Heidelberg Materials and construction firm Viuda de Sainz plan to open a construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling and slag grinding plant in Güeñes, Basque Country. The plant, called Harri Green, will be situated in Heidelberg Materials' existing Zaramillo limestone quarry. It processing capacities will be 140,000t/yr CDW and 20,000t/yr steel slag, with which it will produce aggregates. The cost of the plant is Euro2m.

Middle East/North America: Climate tech start-up Partanna has announced plans for four new plants to produce its carbon negative binder. The plants will be located in the Bahamas, the US and the Gulf region.

Partanna said that the development demonstrates its growing momentum as a construction sector disruptor, offering a sustainable, cost-comparable alternative to cement for users of concrete.

Switzerland: Carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment developer and supplier Neustark says it plans to more than double the number of its CO₂ storage sites in Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK to 34 from 14. Neustark’s process turns mineralised captured CO₂ and existing mineral waste streams into useful limestone. Building materials producers lease Neustark’s storage sites to produce reduced-CO₂ alternatives such as recycled concrete. The sites currently have a total storage capacity of 5000t. Existing customers include Holcim.

Neustark CEO Johannes Tiefenthaler said “Neustark is scaling up rapidly, and we’re well on track to achieve our aim of permanently removing 1Mt of CO₂ by 2030. Our global goal is a series of reliable, region-specific CCS facilities that can be replicated anywhere, offering immediate sustainability benefits to local supply chains.”

Spain: Switzerland-based Holcim has acquired a majority stake in precast concrete systems producer Arterpref. Holcim says that Artepref’s smart design systems combined with its own range of low-carbon and circular solutions will help Spain’s fast-growing construction sector to build better with less.

Holcim’s Europe regional head Miljan Gutovic said “Fully in line with our strategy, this expands our range of innovative and sustainable solutions in high-growth markets.”

Czech Republic: Cemex Czech Republic has successfully commissioned its Prague-Libuš ready-mix concrete batching plant in Prague, following an upgrade. The upgraded plant can now process five types of cements and admixtures, including Cemex’s Vertua reduced-CO₂ concretes and recycled aggregates. Cemex Czech Republic has installed two recycled aggregates production plants at the site to process residual concrete.

Cemex’s vice president materials, Central Europe, Ruediger Kuhn said “Our plant in Libuš forms an important part of our operation in the Czech republic, thanks to its interesting location in the wider centre of the capital and in the immediate vicinity of the planned construction of the Prague Metro D line. We are therefore very pleased to have this site reopened following a considerable investment.” He added “The development at this site confirms Cemex’s determination to offer its customers superior quality products while also meeting its sustainability objectives, supporting the circular economy and reducing emissions wherever possible.”

UAE: Saint-Gobain Weber has installed a new system at its Abu Dhabi mortars plant to recover dust from its crusher and re-inject it into the plant’s raw materials stream. This is part of a package of upgrades to lower the Abu Dhabi plant’s consumption of virgin materials, which also reduced its generation of waste by 4380t/yr between 2019 and 2023. The L’Usine Nouvelle newspaper has reported that other investments included the electrification of the plant’s forklift fleet.

Saint-Gobain reduced its Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 14%, its non-recycled waste by 78% and its water footprint by 10% in the Middle East between 2017 and 2023.

Canada: Carbon-negative concrete producer CarbiCrete has signed a deal with Holcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada. Under the deal, Lafarge Canada will process steel slag at its St. Constant cement plant in Québec for use as an ingredient in CarbiCrete’s CO₂-cured cement-free concrete.

CarbiCrete partner Patio Drummond produces carbon-negative concrete blocks using CarbiCrete’s technology at its Drummondville concrete block plant in Québec. The company is on a drive to double the production of CarbiCrete blocks. It first partnered with CarbiCrete during trial production of its material in 2018.

Lafarge Canada vice-president of cement Andrew Stewart said “We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and leading the way in sustainable construction. Our partnership with CarbiCrete is a testament to our dedication to offering sustainable solutions and actively participating in the circular economy.”

CarbiCrete CEO Chris Stern said “Collaborating with Lafarge allows us to leverage long-established infrastructure and years of expertise in processing steel-related by-products. This enables us to make an immediate climate impact as we scale the deployment of our technology which reduces embodied carbon in concrete by both avoiding emissions and removing carbon through mineralisation.” Regarding the on-going scale-up of production at Patio Drummond’s Drummondville plant, Stern said “Increased production of our carbon-negative blocks brings us closer to our common goal of decarbonising production of the world’s most consumed man-made substance.”

Switzerland: Holcim has partnered with the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich’s Block Research Group, incremental3D and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group for the launch of Phoenix, a 3D-printed concrete bridge made using reduced-CO₂ circular technologies. The bridge employs Holcim’s ECOCycle recycled 3D-printing concrete and stands through compression, without reinforcement, reducing the volumes of materials used by 50% compared with conventional construction methods.

Holcim head of global research and development Edelio Bermejo said “I am thrilled to unveil Phoenix, a monument to sustainability and the result of a fruitful collaboration with our partners to meet a common goal: demonstrating that essential infrastructure can be designed and built in a way that is circular and low-carbon today. This project showcases the impact that innovation can have in Holcim’s mission to decarbonise building for a net-zero future.”

US: Georgia Power has awarded Eco Material Technologies a contract to start harvesting 600,000t/yr of pond ash from the site of its decommissioned Harllee Branch power plant in Milledgeville, Georgia. Eco Material Technologies will dry the ash and begin recycling it as replacement for cement in its concrete production from 2026. It expects to extract a total of 8Mt of pond ash from the site. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reports that Georgia Power intends to invest US$7.8bn to disposal of its ash deposits across the country over the next 60 years to around the early 2080s.

Eco Material Technologies’ chief executive officer Grant Quasha said that he hopes for the company’s work at the Harllee Branch site to serve as a ‘model for the rest of the country’ for the efficient recycling of stored coal ash.

Israel: Cemex’s circular construction subsidiary Regenera has commissioned a construction, demolition and excavation waste recycling plant in Tel Aviv. Cemex said that the plant has the capacity to recycle 500,000t/yr of construction, demolition and excavation waste. Cemex acquired the site following its acquisition of a 51% stake in construction, demolition and excavation waste recycling company SHTANG Recycle, which it integrated into Regenera in early 2023.

Cemex’s Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia regional president Sergio Menéndez said “This new facility in Tel Aviv marks a significant milestone in Cemex's commitment to circularity, which is of such importance to our global ambition of reaching net zero by 2050. We are proud to play a vital role in the growth of our Regenera business, turning building waste into recycled materials for a more sustainable future. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting our Israeli operation and opening the plant, and was inspired by the passion of my local colleagues for innovation and collaboration in pursuit of a better future.”