Jointly address the CO2 issue in the concrete sector

Concrete is the most widely used building material worldwide and the second most consumed product on earth, after water. However, cement, the most important component of concrete, is highly polluting; its production accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions, more than shipping, aviation, transportation and industry combined. As a supplier to the cement industry, Ecocem has a clear vision as well as concrete solutions to jointly address this CO2 issue. Ambitions that Paul Roos, the brand new director of Ecocem Benelux, is eager to pursue.

Ecocem has been around for 20 years and is a pioneer in high-performance technologies that can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of traditional cement. It is an Irish company with several subsidiaries in Europe and four production sites, including one in Moerdijk. Indeed, Moerdijk was the very first production site within the group. "Here, granulated blast furnace slag, a byproduct from the steel industry, is upgraded into a high-quality cement-like binder as an alternative to Portland cement. It results in substantial CO2 savings," Roos explains. But there is more.

Innovate

"It is wonderful to see that a relatively small company can make such a substantial contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in the cement industry worldwide," notes Roos. "CO2 reduction is therefore absolutely the driving force in all our developments." This is also why Ecocem opened a major innovation center in Paris in 2020. Together with a number of universities, large-scale research into new solutions is being conducted here. And that is bearing fruit. For Roos, the concrete and cement industry is a whole new field. He was employed for many years at an American chemical concern, holding various positions there, from commercial to general management. "I never knew the concrete and cement industry was so fascinating," he says. "My primary task, of course, is to ensure that the Benelux operation runs smoothly and that our customers are supplied properly and safely. Another important role is to bring new technologies to market and establish cooperation with other companies and players in the Benelux. Nobody can tackle these issues alone, a combination of solutions will always be needed to meet the challenging targets of CO2 reduction."

Experiment 

Currently, the Moerdijk production site relies largely on the steel industry. "With the granulated blast furnace slag we already reduce CO2 emissions considerably. In the Netherlands we are therefore quite progressive in that area. Of course, this is partly due to the fact that there are few raw materials to mine locally. An important motive from history to be innovative and use other products. But the byproduct from the steel industry is only going to partially solve the problem. Moreover, the steel industry is also changing, which makes blast furnace slag look different in the coming years. So we are experimenting a lot with new and other raw materials besides blast furnace slag."

Bringing new products to market in the cement industry, by the way, is no easy task. "Adapting laws and regulations, which are often based on traditional products, takes an enormous amount of time. In order to achieve the 2030-2050 goals at all, some urgency is required. This does not mean cutting corners, because safety is paramount, but things must be done faster. Otherwise we will never achieve the goals. In this, too, I have an important job to do."

As a relatively small company, Ecocem has huge ambitions to reduce CO2 emissions in the cement industry. And that is not going unnoticed. "In 2021, Breakthrough Energy Ventures came forward as a new investor and took a 10 percent stake in Ecocem. The investment club was once founded by Bill Gates and focuses on investing particularly in start-ups that are working to accelerate innovation to reduce carbon emissions. A nice recognition for us as a company that we are on the right track. But of course we already knew that ourselves," laughs Roos.