Thailand: Siam Cement has engaged the US-based Dow to conduct a study of types of waste plastic suitable for sorting. Dow’s chief executive officer (CEO) Jim Fitterling has estimated that locally sourced pre-used plastics can supply a commercial renewable feedstock operation at a rate of 0.2 – 0.3Mt/yr. The Bangkok Post has reported that the scale on which the two companies would seek to expand any operations depend on volumes of available waste. Nikkei has reported that Thailand generates 1.03Mt/yr of plastic, over 3% of which passes into the World’s oceans.

Sweden: Geminor has been granted permission to operate freight by rail to and from its unit at Landskrona following a three-year application period. The plant processes more than 40,000t/yr of solid-recovered fuel (SRF), refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and waste wood

“We still have a long way to go in relation to transporting waste on rails in Europe,” said Country Manager Sweden at Geminor, Per Mernelius. He added that rail transport is still a ‘novelty’ in the waste processing industry with potential in the future.

Canada: Reports from Lafarge Canada’s Brookfield cement plant in Nova Scotia have indicated the effectiveness of burning tyres as fuel there. CBC has reported that, as part of a 12-month investigation, scrap tyres were burned ‘off and on’ for a month at the 0.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant. Following further staff training, tyres will replace coal in the kilns on a full-time basis. Environment and Public Affairs Director Robert Cummings has said that there has been no notable change in emissions. Lafarge Canada will release the results of an emissions check including testing for low-concentration materials not covered by emissions monitoring in early January 2020.

China: Researchers at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have produced clinker by burning fuel containing 20% post-consumer wood-derived fuel (WDF), reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 16% compared to the same fuel blend without WDF, at no cost to product quality. VerticalNews has reported that the combustion also emitted mercury, cadmium, thallium and other heavy metals respectively at a rate of 2%, 21%, 6% and 7% of China’s specified limits.

The findings follow research from Tsinghua University aimed at ascertaining the total process-related, direct fossil fuel-related and indirect electricity-related emissions of China’s cement sector. Since the government committed to a reduction compared to its 2005 per capita CO2 emissions of 40 - 45% by 2020 and 60 - 65% by 2030, China’s cement-related emissions peaked in 2014. The research, funded by various Chinese public bodies as well as the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Natural Environment Research Council, indicated that historical emissions growth was driven by economic growth, offset in recent years by improved intensity and efficiency. The outsourcing of cement capacities to less developed regions with less accurate recording methods may have precipitated the trend.

Bio-derived fuels from the growing consumer sector may help China to establish itself as an innovator of green cement solutions.