Displaying items by tag: US

Canada: Carbicrete has secured US$1.5m in funding from US-based SQN Venture Partners (SQNVP). The funds will finance research and development activities at its new Lachine laboratory, as well as operations at its Drummondville pilot plant in Quebec. It said that this brings its total funding received from major investors in 2020 to US$8m with investment already agreed from Harsco Environmental, the Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). The technology company is developing concrete products made with steel slag for the construction industry.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Chris Stern said, “This venture debt cash injection following our equity financing further underlines the thesis that the financial markets are believing in value-added, carbon-negative technologies such as CarbiCrete that mitigate CO₂ in our atmosphere. We are proud to have SQNVP as an investor in our company.”

US: CRH subsidiary Ash Grove Cement says that it is undertaking an upgrade of its Port Manatee, Florida deep water cement terminal to install a high capacity FLSmidth Kovako unloader and modernise existing material transfer and electrical systems, as well as establishing self-loading capabilities. The aim of the upgrade is “to improve Ash Grove’s capacity to import cement clinker, slag and fly ash to meet the existing and future needs of customers in the Florida and South Georgia markets.

Regional president Monica Manolas said, “The underlying fundamentals in the Florida market are positive with good population and employment growth. The upgrade of the Port Manatee import terminal will expand our capabilities and strengthen our ability to meet growing demand in the region.”

The company says that construction will begin in early 2021 and the upgraded terminal will open in late 2021.

Belgium: The World Steel Association says that global steel production in the first half of 2020 was 873Mt, down by 6% year-on-year from 929Mt. Global June 2020 steel production also fell, by 7% year-on-year to 148Mt from 159Mt in June 2019 and by 0.7% month-on-month from 149Mt in May 2020. China produced 91.6Mt in June 2020, up by 4.5% from 87.7Mt, corresponding to 62% of global steel production for the month. The sharpest falls occurred in the US, by 35% to 4.7Mt from 7.2Mt, and in France, by 35% to 800,000t from 1.23Mt.

Belgium: The World Steel Association (WSA) forecasts that total global steel consumption in 2020 will be 1.65Bnt, down by 6.4% year-on-year from 1.77Bnt in 2019, due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on steel-intensive industries. The WSA estimated that demand will decline by 17% in developed countries, with the steepest falls in Japan, South Korea and the US, and by 18% in India. China’s steel consumption is expected to rise by 1% due to increased infrastructure spending and a swift post-coronavirus recovery. Construction, a mostly seasonal sector, had already reached full productivity in April 2020.

The WSA expects steel demand to increase by 3.8% year-on-year in 2021 to 1.72Bnt globally. The sharpest recovery is expected to be in developing countries, where the WSA says that total demand will increase by 9.2%, following a fall of 11.6% in 2020.

US: The Slag Cement Association (SCA) has announced the recipients of its 2019 Slag Cement Project of the Year Awards. A total of 12 construction projects from across North America were chosen to showcase the broad applications of slag cement. Two research projects on slag cement use have also been recognised in the program. The winning project teams include four state Departments of Transportation (DOT), two Canadian procurement authorities, one bridge authority and the Florida Army National Guard.

“The rise in DOT and infrastructure projects we are seeing reflects the increase in demand for materials that enhance concrete’s durability, resiliency, and ultimately the value of concrete,” said SCA board president, Ed Griffith.

The event was originally scheduled to be held at the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Spring Convention in early April 2020 but was postponed due to coronavirus-related state lockdowns.

The winners included:

Project: Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport Aircraft Mooring Apron Replacement
Slag Cement: Argos
Award: Sustainability

Project: Chase Center
Slag Cement: Cemex
Award: Architectural

Project: Court and Walnut Parking Garage
Slag Cement: Skyway Cement
Award: Architectural

Project: Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Slag Cement: Lehigh Hanson
Award: Durability

Project: Dublin Ohio Pedestrian Bridge
Slag Cement: Skyway Cement
Award: Green Design

Project: Estates at Acqualina
Slag Cement: Cemex
Award: Durability

Project: Giant Mine Underground Stabilization
Slag Cement: LafargeHolcim
Award: Innovative Applications

Project: HWY 50 Paving Florida Hernando County
Slag Cement: Argos
Award: Sustainability

Project: I-41 Interchanges and Bridge
Slag Cement: St Marys Cement
Award: High Performance

Project: Peace Bridge
Slag Cement: St Marys Cement
Award: High Performance

Project: Sarah Mildred Long Bridge
Slag Cement: LafargeHolcim
Award: Innovative Applications

Project: Summa Hospital West Towers
Slag Cement: Lehigh Hanson
Award: Green Design

Project: Bio-friendly Slag Cement Benefit to the Drainage Systems
Researcher: Arash Rahmatian, University of Houston

Project: Blast Furnace Slags - Rapid Reactivity Testing and Effects of Varying Replacement Levels on Cement Paste Properties
Researcher: Sivakumar Ramanathan, University of Miami

US: The Slag Cement Association (SCA) data shows that slag cement shipments rose by 10.8% year-on-year to 3.8Mt in 2019 from 3.5Mt in 2018. This is the fourth consecutive year that slag cement shipments have increased at a rate of 10% or greater. The SCA collects shipment data from its members.

“We have seen a substantial increase in slag cement use as concrete professionals become more and more familiar with the product” said Ed Griffith, president of the SCA.

US: Researchers from the University of Southern Florida (USF) testing the resistance to deterioration of cements containing between 30% and 70% of slags of various aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) and magnesium oxide (MgO) contents when exposed to sulphates have discovered a general decrease in resistance with increased Al₂O₃ content. Real Estate Weekly News has reported that increased MgO was found to increase resistance, especially at 30% slag replacement.

Australia: Harsco Environmental, the environmental division of US-based Harsco Corporation, has announced its partnership with numerous producers and consumers in a pan-industrial steel standards and certification initiative called Responsible Steel. The initiative ‘promotes responsible practice,’ with the aim of improving sustainability in emissions, water usage and community and employee relations. This will include developing circular economic practices, including slag deals with cement plants. Harsco Environmental vice president Cope Willis said, “This collaboration is another step in Harsco’s continuous efforts to lead the steel industry to a more sustainable future.”

Canada/US: Harsco’s Environmental division has invested US$2.3m in Carbicrete, a Canadian technology company developing concrete products made with steel slag for the construction industry. The investment will give Harsco Environmental a Board seat in Carbicrete and has been made in conjunction with a US$1.6m grant from the Government of Canada’s Sustainability Development Technology Canada Foundation and applications to further government grant programs. Harsco’s investment will aid the development of the technology through a demonstration program with support from a commercial concrete block manufacturer as part of a development consortium.

“This investment in innovation is aligned with Harsco’s on-going expansion into environmentally-focused products and services, and we are proud to support the development of this exciting technology,” said Harsco Environmental chief operating officer Russ Mitchell.

Carbicrete is developing a technology that allows the production of concrete without using cement by using steel slag instead. The concrete mix is poured into molds, like conventional concrete, and is then cured using CO₂. During curing, the gas becomes a solid, binding together the slag granules, and giving the concrete its strength. Carbicrete says the process can be implemented in any precast concrete manufacturing plant. It also says that the technology is ‘carbon negative’ because more CO₂ is consumed than emitted during the process.

Canada/US: TMS International’s sites in the US and Canada have received a total of 48 safety awards from the National Slag Association (NSA) for 2018. The NSA Safety Awards recognise superior performance as measured against occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) recordable injury rates. The awards were presented to the company during the NSA’s annual meeting in mid-September 2019.