Permian Basin Set to Receive $2.5 Billion for Roads

The Texas Transportation Commissioners voted Thursday to unanimously approve $2.5 billion in funding for transportation projects in the Texas Department of Transportation’s Odessa district over the next decade.

State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, was in Austin to advocate for the plan.

"I'm thankful to the Chairman Bugg and the rest of the commissioners for continuing to prioritize transportation infrastructure in the Permian Basin," Landgraf stated in the press release. "The 2021 UTP funding distribution of $2.5 billion represents a new high-water mark for the Odessa TxDOT District and we continue to build on our momentum to have safer roads in West Texas."

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MCT Designs the Most Efficient Automated Precast Plant in North America

For Tom Kelley, the chance to meet colleagues and peers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East during his overseas visits as chairman of the PCI, was an opportunity to open his eyes on new technologies worldwide and evaluate the state of the precast industry in North America, where he has worked for over 30 years. The rebounding of the market after the harsh economic recession, gave the whole Gage Brothers team the opportunity to seriously consider the option of a new plant, paving the way for an important technological innovation focusing on a fundamental growing concept in the precast industry: the automation of the production process.

Gage Brothers, established in 1915 by William Gage Sr. and Harold Gabel, started his operations pouring sidewalks and small concrete elements in Sioux Falls (SD) and expanded its activity with the sequence of the following generations of Gage family. Throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the company expanded the business in the pre-stressed concrete industry, focusing on concrete beams or girders and into the bridge girder business: the growth of the company business proceeded simultaneously with the evolution of construction systems in the USA in those years, showing in a clear way the connection between the company expansion and the historical period.

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U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory Announces Investment to Further Develop LH CO2MENT Colorado Project, Carbon Capture Technology

On September 1, the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) awarded $1.5 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development to support the initial engineering analysis and advancement of the LH CO2MENT Colorado Project, which was the subject of a scoping study launched earlier this year. The commercial-scale carbon-capture project, based in Florence, Colorado, is a partnership of Svante Inc., LafargeHolcim, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC (OLCV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental, and Total.

With the successful completion of the initial scoping study in June 2020 and confirmation of DOE funding, the partnership has committed to the next project phase to evaluate the feasibility of the facility designed to capture up to 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year directly from the Holcim cement plant and the natural gas-fired steam generator, which would be sequestered underground permanently by Occidental.

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Chryso and Solidia Partner to Deploy Ultra-Low CO2 Concrete

The partnership is part of a long-term commitment from both companies to making sustainable solutions accessible to cement and concrete producers worldwide.

Jean Mascaro, concrete BU director at Chryso, says: “The development of innovative admixture solutions adapted to Solidia’s new binder, boosting the final properties of concrete, is one of our R&D works in progress. This will enable higher strengths, an improved finish of the fresh concrete, and the optimisation of the curing process. Together with Solidia, we will scale the use of low CO2 concrete, helping manufacturers produce high-quality precast elements.”

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PCA’s Sullivan Projects 2020-21 Cement Consumption

In his first widely available briefing since early March, Portland Cement Association (PCA) Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Ed Sullivan offered two U.S. cement consumption outlooks based on U- or W-shaped economic recovery curves. A U-shaped recovery will see 2020 and 2021 figures of -3.4% or +1.7%, while a W-shaped model will see declines of -4.8% and -2.7%. 

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Carbon Neutral Cement by 2050?

In a significant step forward, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) member companies have announced on September 1, 2020, that they are developing a roadmap for 2050, setting out actions and intermediate milestones, where 40 global cement companies commit to delivering a carbon-neutral cement by 2050, aligning with the aspirations of the Paris climate accord, with companies included in this ambition including Cemex, Dalmia Cement and Heidelberg and the the roadmap is scheduled to be published in the second half of 2021.

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IHS Markit U.S. Manufacturing PMI™ - Fastest Manufacturing Expansion Since January 2019

August PMITM data from IHS Markit signalled a solid improvement in operating conditions across the U.S. manufacturing sector, with overall growth accelerating to the strongest since early2019. The upturn reflected faster increases in output and new orders, with firms also indicating a renewed rise in employment. Moreover, companies registered the highest degree of confidence in the outlook for output over the coming year since April 2019 amid hopes of further growth of client demand.

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Sand Depletion: The Global Crisis Not Being Talked About

Sand is the world’s most consumed natural resource after air and water but, crucially, it is finite and this looming crisis remains little discussed. Recovering and recycling sand and aggregates from construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E) waste represents a potential solution to the world’s rapidly depleting sand resources. Article by Eunan Kelly, head of business development for C&D waste recycling at CDE.

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Investors set $4 billion Construction Supply Group, White Cap merger

Two private equity fund managers have outlined a transaction creating a powerhouse in concrete and masonry construction accessories and supplies. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) will acquire HD Supply's Construction & Industrial segment, better known as White Cap and including the Home Improvement Solutions and Brafasco businesses, then pursue a merger of that entity with Construction Supply Group (CSG). Based in Denver, the latter is a portfolio company of Sterling Group, a Houston investor that has acquired concrete and masonry contractor centers since chartering the business in 2016 with Minnesota's Brock White. 

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SRMG to reclaim Fly Ash at Colorado Generating Station

SRMG, a supplier of portland and masonry cements, will invest additional capital dollars in beneficiation equipment to process the previously landfilled ash, resulting in a long term supply of ASTM C618 Class F fly ash. The harvesting project will permanently and significantly reduce the size of the current landfill, SRMG says.

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Changing the ASR Game with Nanotech

Premature concrete deterioration is a common and exasperating problem to the tune of (US)$8.3 billion in 2009 to repair federal concrete infrastructure damaged by chemical degradation (Kuennen, 2004). It is primarily caused by both chemical and mechanical changes resulting in structural defects which compromise serviceability. Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) is one of the major causes.

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April Cement Shipments Drop 7.5%

Total shipments of portland and blended cement, including imports, in the United States and Puerto Rico in April 2020 were 8.1 million metric tons (Mt), a decrease of 7.5% from shipments in April 2019, according to the most recent USGS Mineral Industry Survey. Shipments for the year through April totaled 29.1 Mt, an increase of 3.3% from those for the same period in 2019. 

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Summit Materials CEO Succession Plan Mints Industry's Top Female Executive

Nearly 11 years after founding Summit Materials, Thomas W. Hill has announced his retirement as president, chief executive officer and director, effective September 1, after which he will assume a senior advisor role for the remainder of the year and serve in a consulting capacity through July 2023. His successor in the C-suite and on the Summit board is Anne Noonan, who will arrive with 30-plus years' of senior leadership experience at publicly traded companies and become the highest ranking female among major North American cement, aggregate and concrete producers.

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Artificial Aggregates and Carbon Dioxide

A number of companies have now commercialized technologies that use mineral carbonation to remove CO2 from the flue gases of industrial plants to manufacture artificial calcium carbonate that can replace virgin limestone aggregate in construction. Dr. Brent Constantz, founder and CEO of one such company, San Francisco-based Blue Planet Ltd.

“The whole concept is that you can make your rock locally and do it with material that you’re trying to mitigate – CO2,” 

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Patio Drummond anchors CarbiCrete Test Demonstration

Montreal-based CarbiCrete continues to ramp up commercialization efforts of its carbon-negative process for manufactured concrete production through an industrial-scale pilot project in partnership with Quebec hardscape manufacturer Patio Drummond. The cleantech company plans to produce up to 25,000 concrete masonry units daily at the Drummondville, Quebec plant when production begins in August 2020.

CarbiCrete’s patented technology replaces cement in the concrete mix with steel slag—a by-product of the steel-making process that is often placed into landfills—and cures it with carbon dioxide, avoiding the GHG emissions associated with cement production, while permanently sequestering CO2 within the resulting concrete products.  Read More.

Lehigh issues first EPD based on Cement Product Category Rule 2.0

Lehigh Cement has published the industry's first Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) utilizing the new North American Product Category Rule (PCR) for Portland, Blended, Masonry, Mortar, and Stucco Cements. The latter document enables Lehigh and fellow Portland Cement Association and Cement Association of Canada members to tailor EPD to sustainability and green building practitioners' increasingly robust transparency standards.

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Housing Shows Strength as Sales and Permits Rise

Consistent with the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) forecast, home building data are showing signs of leading an emerging economic rebound. While risks to the outlook remain, particularly in the form of local, rising virus spread and ongoing layoffs, the recession appears to have taken a short and sharp downturn, according to Chief Economist Robert Dietz.

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CR Minerals to Expand Fly Ash Operations in Colorado

CR‘s president Jeffrey Whidden, says: “The continued growth of our business in CO and declining availability of high-quality fly ash for our customers are the driving forces behind our decision.

“Expanding the plant at this time, even in these uncertain economic conditions, will enable us to serve our customers uninterrupted for years to come.”

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CalPortland Advances into New, Sustainable, and Renewable Cement Products

According to CalPortland: “This new line of portland-limestone blended cements represents CalPortland’s commitment to providing environmentally friendly products, through the use of sustainable materials and renewable technologies.

“With up to 15% blended limestone by mass, the production of Advancement generates approximately 10% less CO2.

“This reduces the embodied energy per ton of cement compared to ordinary portland cement.”

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RMIT Researchers Make 17% Stronger Concrete with ‘sewage-enhanced’ Steel Slag

The experts have proved that concrete made with post-treatment steel slag was about 17% stronger than concrete made with conventional aggregates, and 8% stronger than raw steel slag.

According to a statement released this week by RMIT: “Researchers have shown how a by-product of steel making can be used to both treat wastewater and make stronger concrete, in a zero-waste approach to help advance the circular economy.

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