Circular raw materials, fuels trend catches on in Korea

[Photo by Kim Dong-eun]

European cement manufacturers are actively trying to reduce carbon by using circular raw materials and fuels. Holcim Ltd., the largest cement company in the continent, is one of them and Maeil Business Newspaper visited the company’s manufacturing facility in Mannersdorf, located on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria, on Thursday.

Holcim is a leading eco-friendly cement company that significantly reduces carbon emissions globally, and its rapid carbon reduction achievements are largely thanks to the active use of circular raw materials and fuels.

Circular raw materials are substances that can replace clinker, an intermediate material made by baking limestone and iron together, which emits the most carbon during cement production. Typical examples include pulverized construction waste, slag (a residue from iron smelting), and finely ground limestone powder, which the Mannersdorf uses.

Circular fuels refer to alternatives to coal used in cement production, such as waste tires and waste plastics. The Mannersdorf plant uses circular fuels for about 90 percent of its fuel needs, and this effort has led to remarkable carbon reduction results. The plant, which produces 1.3 million tons of cement annually, reduced its carbon emissions from 670,000 tons in 2020 to 600,000 tons in 2023.

Berthold Kren, chief executive officer of Holcim, said that the carbon reduction from all Holcim plants in operation is equivalent to removing 120,000 cars from the roads every year.

Maeil Business Newspaper also visited the cement facility of Efkarpia of Greece’s Titan Group during the previous week. The plant has applied artificial intelligence (AI) technology to production control to use circular raw materials and fuels more efficiently. AI collects real-time data on internal temperatures, material input amounts and speeds, fuel types and proportions from over 7,000 sensors attached to production equipment, helping to optimize eco-friendly cement production.

Over the past five years, Efkarpia has used 185,000 tons of waste as circular fuel, recycling waste and saving 120,000 tons of fossil fuels simultaneously.

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon and Lee Eun-joo]

The rate of carbon reduction by advanced EU cement companies is much faster than in Korea. Poland and Austria topped the 70 percent mark in 2020 and the European Union is over the 50 percent mark, while Korea’s circular fuel usage stood at about 35 percent in 2021.

Holcim uses 35 percent circular raw materials while Japan averages 19 percent despite the lag in decarbonizing its cement industry. Korea’s usage of circular raw materials, however, is a mere 9 percent.

“About 50 million tons of waste suitable for cement production is generated annually in Korea, which is more than enough in terms of quantity,” an official from the Korea Cement Association said. “The regulation should be shifted from regulating raw material components to testing cement quality and allowing free use of raw materials if certain standards are met.”

The Korean cement industry is gradually increasing the use of circular raw materials and fuels through continuous research and development. It aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent compared to 2018 by 2030 and achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“It is unfortunate that circular raw materials and fuels, which are already established as global standards, are not being rapidly adopted in Korea due to opposition from civic groups,” Kongju National University professor Kim Jin-man said.