Nizak Mining Company, a fully-owned unit of Saudi-listed sustainable cement producer City Cement, has entered into an agreement with UK-based industrial group Next Generation SCM to launch a new company that will produce a first-of-its-kind low carbon concrete solution in the kingdom.

 

The joint venture’s first factory will be built in Riyadh, with the aim to begin mass production by the third quarter of 2025. It has an annual production target of 350,000 tonnes in the first year, which it aims to double the very next year.

 

Through this, the London-headquartered group is aiming to introduce the low-to-no-carbon footprint supplementary cementitious material (SCM) using new, patented revolutionary technology.

 

Traditional alternatives to SCM include fly ash from coalfired energy production and slag from steel production, which are not produced locally in Saudi Arabia. 

 

This new joint venture between Next Generation SCM and City Cement will be the first producer of premium calcined clay SCM in the kinghdom.

 

It will replace slag and fly ash in low carbon concrete with superior quality SCM that performs with high compressive strengths at high substitution rates. 

 

For every tonne of Portland cement replaced by its SCM, a 95-100% reduction in CO2 emissions is achieved, said the company in a statement.

 

The pioneering process to produce the premium SCM is highly energy efficient, needing only a sixth of the fuel required for traditional cement production and operating at much lower temperatures. This lowers operating costs and generates significantly fewer emissions, it stated. 

 

CemGreen, a pioneering Danish company, has developed and patented the CemTower technology which has shown impressive results, and the joint venture will introduce and expand the use of the CemTower Technology in the GCC region.

 

Christian Husum, CEO and Founder of Next Generation SCM said: "There are over 4 billion people who live in urban areas right now, and that is going to increase by 2 billion over the next 30 years. This is a massive, global building project, which is equivalent to building an additional New York City every month."

 

"Those cities will also need the infrastructure to cope with an influx of people and there is no way to do that without concrete. There is also no way for our planet to cope with concrete production at that scale unless we find a way of producing it without generating enormous amounts of carbon emissions," stated the company chief.

 

"Now, there is a way. This joint venture will put the process into practice to bring about a revolution in how we build everything from stadiums to skyscrapers in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and then the world," observed Husum.

 

In its existing factory in Denmark, the technology is able to produce calcined clay while generating only 8 kilos of CO2 per tonne, which is a 99% reduction compared to the IEA average of 600 kg per tonne for cement. 

 

A cubic metre of concrete traditionally carries 210 kilograms of CO2. The use of premium calcined clay SCM made by the Next Generation SCM and City Cement joint venture can reduce the carbon emissions from standardised concrete by up to 58%, he explained.

 

Next Generation SCM said the product will be available in mass production by 2025, beginning with operations in the Middle East from its regional base in Dubai. 

 

Neil Crompton, British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said: "I am delighted to see City Cement KSA partner with the UK group. This joint venture will be a first for the kingdom, producing SCM that will contribute to a significant reduction in environmental emissions, and facilitate a Vision 2030 goal of sustainable infrastructure development for Saudi Arabia." 

 

Majed Alosailan, the CEO and Board Member of City Cement, said: "This joint venture is a significant step in our commitment to the continued growth of Saudi Arabia as a global materials and infrastructure hub. Not only will it support domestic job creation, it will also dramatically improve accessibility to a critical low carbon material that we will soon be able to export around the region."

 

"As the materials transition continues to accelerate, finding solutions that support the Kingdom’s infrastructure ambitions hand in hand with sustainability targets is essential to realise the opportunity ahead," he added.-TradeArabia News Service