Zug/Saint-Pierre-la-Cour – Building materials manufacturer Holcim is commissioning Europe’s first production plant for calcined clay cement at its French plant in Saint-Pierre-la-Cour. This cement has a 50 percent lower carbon footprint compared to Holcim’s standard cement.
Zug-based building materials manufacturer Holcim has opened what it claims is Europe’s first production line for calcined clay cement. In the French commune of Saint-Pierre-la-Cour, between Rennes and Laval, the company produces its ECOPlanet green cement. It produces 50 percent less climate-damaging carbon dioxide than conventional CEM I cement, according to a media release.
Accordingly, the new line will produce up to 500,000 tons of the eco-cement per year. The process is a world first and is based on the company’s proprietary proximA Tech technology. It is powered 100 percent by alternative fuels based on biomass as well as waste heat recovery systems. As a result, the production of calcined clay is virtually carbon-free.
The plant received financial support from the French government under the France Relance program. France is thus investing in large-scale initiatives to decarbonize and increase energy efficiency.
Holcim aims to make construction more climate-friendly with a wide range of low-emission materials. The opening of the production line for calcined clay cement in Saint-Pierre-la-Cour is regarded as a milestone in this respect. “We aim to expand our calcined clay cements in all regions by 2025 to drive our ECOPlanet range of low-carbon cements and enable low-carbon construction on a large scale,” Miljan Gutovic, head of Holcim’s Europe region, is quoted as saying in the media release. ko
