Ireland’s Ecocem Materials Ltd is expanding, with plans for a new facility in California. Ecocem’s subsidiary, Orcem Americas, Inc. has signed a 65-year lease for 4.8 acres on the Vallejo Marine Terminal, formerly home to the General Mills flour processing facility. The company is investing US$50 million in a ‘green cement’ manufacturing plant, which will produce 2200 tpd of ground granulated blastfurnace slag mixed with small amounts of gypsum and other additives to replace 35 – 80% of traditional Portland cement in concrete. The product is called ecocem.
The plant will utilise granulated blastfurnace slag from an iron processing plant in Japan, transported on vessels making the return trip to the US having shipped out American grain to Japan.
According to the Orcem website, ecocem takes 90% less energy to produce and has near zero CO2 and mercury emissions compared to traditional Portland cements. As an additive in concrete that can replace a proportion of traditional cement, it can be used in many types of concrete applications – and has already been used in some major projects in California, including the new 49ers Stadium and the new Apple headquarters.
Edited from various sources by Katherine Guenioui