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Saint-Gobain acquires Drymix in Egypt
Written by Global Concrete staff
04 July 2023
Egypt: France-based Saint-Gobain has obtained outright ownership of mortars producer United Paints and Chemicals (Drymix). Saint-Gobain paid US$25m for the acquisition, according to Business News Africa. Drymix operates the 240,000t/yr ‘6th of October City’ mortar plant in Giza Governorate.
Saint-Gobain operates two other building materials plants in Egypt, in Alexandria and Monufia Governorates.
Lafarge France supplies 100% recycled concrete for housing project
Written by Global Concrete staff
03 July 2023
France: Lafarge France is participating in a 76-unit housing development project called Recygénie, at Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine. Lafarge France will supply the project with 100% recycled concrete for use in facades, interior walls and roof slabs. It produced 2000t of 100% recycled 'clinker' at its Altkirch cement plant in Haut-Rhin during a suspension of ordinary clinker production in 2022. It has produced 1600m3 of recycled concrete to date. The concrete won the New Materials Prize at L'Usine Nouvelle's Sustainable Industry Awards 2023.
The Recygénie housing project is due for delivery in late 2024.
Holcim Philippines to supply cement for Sungshin Cement's ready-mix batching plants
Written by Global Concrete staff
03 July 2023
Philippines: Holcim Philippines and Sungshin Cement have signed a memorandum of understanding whereby Holcim Philippines will be priority supplier of cement for use in Sungshin Cement's ready-mix concrete operations in the Philippines, InPR News has reported. South Korea-based Sungshin Cement is anticipating growing demand from infrastructure projects, partly due to a US$3bn development loan agreement between the government of the Philippines and South Korea.
Master Builders Solutions to supply 11,000t of concrete admixtures for Fehmarnbelt Tunnel project
Written by Global Concrete staff
03 July 2023
Denmark/Germany: US-based Master Builders Solutions has won a contract to supply admixtures for use in the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel project. The project will build a 17.6km immersed tunnel between the islands of Fehmarn in Germany and Lolland in Denmark. It will directly connect Germany via a double-track railway and four-lane motorway to eastern Denmark and the Scandinavian Peninsula beyond. This will reduce rail travel time between Hamburg in Germany and Copenhagen in Denmark by 35% to 3 hours 15 minutes. The tunnel will consist of 79 standard 217m-long precast elements, and a further ten 85.7m-long service elements. The latter include a subfloor sections in addition to the tunnel's four tubes. Master Builders Solutions says that it will supply 11,000t of admixture to produce a total 3Mm3 of concrete required for the project. The supplier said that its admixtures will help concrete to meet specifications in line with the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel's projected 120-year lifespan. Master Builders Solutions has collaborated with contractor FLC to develop a new MasterEase superplasticiser for use in the project.
Master Builders Solutions Denmark technical manager Jens Qvist said "This has been an incredibly exciting process, requiring very close collaboration with both our own European colleagues and FLC’s Danish and international concrete experts."
Global Cement and Concrete Association announces Innovandi Open Challenge 2023 shortlist
Written by Global Concrete staff
30 June 2023
World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has named the 15 anticipated deliverers of low-CO2 cement and concrete production shortlisted for participation in its second Innovandi Open Challenge. The association chose the start-ups based on their potential to deliver CO2 emissions reduction in the global cement and concrete sector in line with its Concrete Future 2050 Net Zero Roadmap. The applicants are presenting their pitches to GCCA members on 30 June 2023. All those accepted will gain access to members' plants, labs, networks and expertise. The following start-ups made the Innovandi Open Challenge 2023 shortlist:
Arrakis Materials | US | Carbon negative materials for concrete |
Chement | US | Room temperature cement production |
EcoAdmix Global | UK | Nanotechnology ('HDT') for concrete |
EcoLocked | Germany | Biocarbon-based admixtures |
EnviCore | Canada | Low temperature supplementary cementitious material production |
Enzymatic | US | Carbon negative enzymatic concrete corrosion inhibition and recycling |
Louis Structures | US | Municipal solid waste-based lightweight aggregates |
MEP - SeaMix | US | Basalt fibre and graphene-based admixture |
Nano Crete | US | Graphene-enhanced CO2 sequestration |
Nanospan India | India | Graphene-based admixture |
NeoCrete | New Zealand | Nano-activator for natural pozzolans |
Queens Carbon | US | ~500°C cementitious materials production |
The Cool Corporation | UK | Carbon negative carbon nanotube-based additive for concrete |
Ultra High Materials | US | Clinkerless cement |
Versarien Graphene | UK | Graphene-based admixture ('Cementene') |
GCCA cement director and innovation lead Claude Loréa said “We received more than 70 quality applications, so drawing up a shortlist was challenging." Loréa continued "Our essential industry needs something easily scalable and affordable. Those start-ups on the list demonstrated the most potential, and we look forward to hearing more about their ideas. But we’ll also be keeping in touch with other start-ups who didn’t make this year’s shortlist, with future projects in mind.”