Italy: Vecoplan has announced the inauguration of its new Ferraro service and sales office in Emilia-Romagna. The supplier says that the facility has sufficient space for it to work on entire machines. In the future, it will also offer welding services for special components, including rotors.
Vecoplan's services head Jochen Pfeil said “The new warehouse will enable us to increase the availability of our machines and plants."
Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has installed a chlorine bypass at its integrated Vidal Ramos plant in Santa Catarina. The US$10m upgrade is intended to allow the unit to process more alternative fuels such as plastics, fabrics and personal protective equipment. The company says it is the first such installation in the country. It will allow the plant to increase its co-processing volumes by 62% to 73,000t/yr from 45,000t/yr. In 2021 the plant used 65,000t of petcoke. This is expected to fall to 53,000t/yr with the addition of the chlorine bypass, reducing CO2 emissions by 5% or 12,200t.
India: Adani Cement has announced the launch of a dedicated waste processing subsidiary called Geoclean. Geoclean will process waste for recycling and use as alternative fuel (AF) in its cement production and alternative raw materials in its production of other building materials. Geoclean inherits the projects and all 14 waste management plants of its predecessor company Geocycle India. The Orissa Diary newspaper has reported that Geoclean aims to help Adani Cement to co-process 3.7Mt of AF over the five-year period up to the end of 2027. This would raise its subsidiaries ACC and Ambuja Cements’ AF substitution rate to 30%, from 6% in 2021.
Adani Cement CEO Ajay Kapur said "We are committed to building a sustainable future by adopting clean and green technologies in our overall business. We have always believed in environmental conservation, and are committed to making the optimum contribution towards co-processing waste responsibly for a sustainable future. Adani Cement will continue its endeavours to promote sustainability and build a cleaner and greener planet."
Mexico: Cemex Mexico plans to install hydrogen injection systems at four cement plants across Mexico. The producer will use the technology to increase alternative fuel (AF) substitution at the plants by 8 - 10%. A 40% reduction in Scope 3 purchased fuel emissions forms part of Cemex's 2020 -2030 CO2 emissions reduction strategy. Through the decarbonisation and circular economy pillars of its Future in Action plan, the group aims to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said "Hydrogen is a key technology to accelerate the implementation of our climate action roadmap."
The El Financiero newspaper has reported that Cemex set a new group record AF substitution rate of 34% in September 2022. It uses hydrogen at all of its European cement plants and at one plant in the Dominican Republic.
