Displaying items by tag: plant

Germany: Mexico-based Cemex says that Sweden-based Volvo Trucks has supplied it with the world’s first fully electric and zero-emission heavy concrete mixer truck at a joint event in Berlin. The Volvo FMX electric truck can be used a full day’s work with a single top-up charge. It will start operating at the Berlin Spandau ready-mix concrete plant in Berlin in February 2023. The two companies signed a deal in 2021 to work together on electromobility solutions on mobile construction equipment and trucks, productivity solutions and uptime services.

Cemex’s chief executive officer Fernando A González said “Our partnership with Volvo has tremendous potential to contribute to the decarbonisation of our business. Rolling out our first fully electric ready-mix truck is a strong progress in that direction.”

Cemex and Volvo Group are founding members of the First Movers Coalition, a collaboration between the World Economic Forum and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, for companies to make purchasing commitments that create market demand for low-carbon technologies.

Volvo Trucks’ portfolio of electric trucks ranges from 16 – 44t and covers a range of applications from city distribution, refuse handling, urban construction transports to regional haulage. Volvo Trucks is a market leader in heavy electric trucks in Europe and the US. The company’s target is that half of its total truck sales will be electric by 2030.

Bolivia: Construction of an upcoming 237,000m³/yr precast concrete plant in Uru Uru, Cercado Province, commenced on 13 December 2022. The plant will cost US$2.22m and have the capacity to produce 23,000 concrete paving blocks per day.

Germany: Dyckerhoff’s Dillingen ready-mixed concrete plant is the company’s first unit to be awarded the R module of the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The unit has been using recycled aggregates in the standardised proportions and types since August 2021 and now customers and clients can have the certified sustainable concrete counted as part of building certifications. The recycled aggregate used in the Dillingen plant comes from a recycling company in the immediate vicinity, so there are no transport costs, which, in addition to the aspect of resource conservation, also contributes to the avoidance of transport-related CO₂ emissions.

Canada: 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."

US: Switzerland-based Sika is starting up production at a new concrete admixtures plant at Stafford in Virginia that opened earlier in 2022. The 3950m² facility has a production capacity of 50,000t/yr and two mixers with a capacity greater than 27,000l each. The unit is intended to serve markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions along with the company’s existing concrete admixtures plant at Fairless Hills in Philadelphia.

Christoph Ganz, Regional Manager Americas said "This investment allows us to significantly expand our production capacity while creating the best possible conditions for continued growth in the North American market. Our concrete admixtures satisfy the construction sector’s most demanding requirements and make it possible to produce higher-performance, resource-saving concrete. Sika admixtures enable the realisation of critical infrastructure projects, are used in state-of-the-art high-rise construction, and help increase sustainability in megacities."

France: Eqiom’s demolition waste recycling plant Gennevilliers in Paris has processed 10,000t of material since it opened in January 2022. The site has a target of 50,000t/yr in its first year of operation. Sand, gravel and larger aggregate fractions are screened from the concrete in a ratio of 40%, 20% and 40% respectively, according to Le Moniteur. The gravel is used at a nearby concrete plant whilst the sand and aggregate is used mostly in road construction.