Italy: The Italian cement association Federbeton has launched its comprehensive plan for cement industry decarbonisation in line with the EU’s European Green Deal target of a 55% reduction in CO₂ emissions between 1990 and 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The strategyidentifies increased alternative fuel (AF) substitutionas an immediately achievable strategy to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint by 12%. It contrasted the change with others such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) whichrequire further development. The sector’s primary fuel is petcoke, mainly imported from the Gulf of Mexico.

In total, the association’s strategy entails Euro4.2bn of new investments andEuro1.4m/yr of extra operating costs across the industry.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement subsidiary Hachinohe Cement has announced that it will be receiving heavy oil and woodchips from cargo washed ashore from the wreck of a ship at Hachinohe port on 11 August 2021. The company plans to use the waste as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for cement production at its cement Hachinohe cement plant. The company said that the oil spill from the incident has had a great impact on the region. It added “In the future, we would like to actively promote the acceptance of wreckage with heavy oil attached and cooperate in the early resolution of the situation.”

Germany: BHS-Sonthofen has upgraded its Sonthofen, Bavaria, testing centre. The supplier has installed new recycling systems for customers to test on different waste streams.

Director process development Steffen Hinderer “As a leading process consultant and mechanical process technology provider, it is our responsibility to develop all-in-one solutions with our customers that are perfectly adapted to their needs.” He added “Our test centre, which opened in Summer 2019, has already raised the bar in the areas of mixing, shredding, recycling, and filtering. Thanks to the expansion of the recycling and environment test division, our customers are able to test all their processes in this area even more comprehensibly in our facilities.”

UK: Andusia has exported 1.6Mt of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF) since its foundation in early 2012. The company said that the waste has not only been diverted from UK landfill but has generated power for people in northern mainland Europe. Exports rose following the lift of Covid-19 trade restrictions. Andusia added that it has since then secured several new contracts.