As a leader, the company is committed and gives a new dynamic to sustainable construction and to an entire sector.
Massive industrial investments
The most modern production line in France in Martres-Tolosane (dep.31) and an open innovation platform for CO2 treatment in 2024
The new kiln at the Martres-Tolosane cement plant went into production in February. The result of an investment of 120 million euros by the Holcim group, the largest in France for 40 years, the brand new oven increases the plant's productivity while reducing its environmental impact. The ton of cement now displays a CO2 weight reduced by 20%.
Moreover, equipped with the latest technologies for recycling waste in the cement plant (as a source of energy and as a raw material recycled in clinker), the plant cuts its use of fossil fuels by 3. The share of substitute fuels, sourced locally, thus increases from 30 to 80% and contributes to the development of the circular economy in the greater South-West.
To achieve these results, the largest industrial project in Occitania, which lasted nearly 3 years, made it possible to:
- The replacement of the two existing furnaces (built in 1956 and 1966) by a single furnace 60 meters long and 4 meters in diameter, making it possible to reduce energy consumption;
- The construction of a preheating tower 110 meters high, allowing the mixture of limestone and clay to be heated to 500°C before being introduced into the kiln, thanks to the recovery of hot gases from the kiln;
- Renovation and creation of new storage and processing workshops for waste used as alternative fuel.
In 2024, the Martres-Tolosane site will also host an open innovation R&D platform to test new, more efficient, more economical and more environmentally friendly CO2 capture technologies. About fifteen European partners are grouped around this initiative which is a candidate for community funding and will be referenced in the European research network on CO2 capture.
A new investment of 40 million euros at the Saint-Pierre-La-Cour cement plant (department 53) and 6 million euros at La Malle (department 13) to produce a new carbon-free component
As of this year, 40 million euros will be invested in the construction of a new production line at the cement plant in Saint-Pierre-La-Cour (53) and in the adaptation of the industrial process in La Malle (13) to produce low and very low carbon cements (ECOPlanet), based on calcined clay.
Lafarge has developed a proprietary technology, proximA Tech, allowing the industrialization of the transformation of clay into highly carbon-free addition. The use of clay has a triple advantage: it requires a lower temperature for firing (800°C instead of 1°C for clinker) and therefore less fuel. It also has a low decarbonation during this heating unlike limestone which is 400% decarbonated. Finally, it is widely available and local.
The future installation of the Saint-Pierre-La-Cour cement plant is designed to emit almost no carbon thanks to the exclusive use of alternative fuels and to produce cements whose carbon emission rate will be reduced by 50% .
These investments contribute to the achievement of the 2023 objective: to have a production capacity of 1 million tonnes of these ECOPlanet low-carbon cements.
A strategy and innovations to build low carbon
Lafarge launches two new ternary cements offering 30% to 50% carbon reduction
The revision of the European cement standard NF EN 197-5, published last October, has made it possible to formulate new cements with a reduced share of clinker in favor of a larger share of additions, thus reducing CO2 emissions. per tonne produced.
Lafarge France will therefore be marketing two new low-carbon ternary cements this year, a CEM II/C produced in Sète (department 34) and the first CEM VI available in France. This CEM VI ECOPlanet, manufactured in Teil (department 07) will be available as soon as the new concrete standard is released, expected for next May or June. These new cements offer a carbon reduction of -30% to -50% and enrich the low-carbon offers ECOPlanet (cement) and ECOPact (concrete).
Lafarge supports its customers towards the gradual replacement of the most emissive cements, a proactive approach to accelerate the ecological transition of construction
As part of a proactive approach to accelerate the ecological transition of construction, Lafarge France supports its customers in the gradual replacement of the most emissive cements. For the prefabrication sector, it is initially a question of increasing the use of CEM II, then of ECOPlanet cements, instead of CEM I while guaranteeing the same level of performance and the absence of impact on manufacturing processes.
Lafarge has mobilized the skills of its laboratory in L'Isle D'Abeau in order to guarantee compliance with the required technical performance (rheology, admixture, resistance at young age, at 28 days, colour, etc.). Access to products has also been made easier for customers to enable them to carry out their own tests, with their industrial tool, with or without the support of our technical support. The aim is to confirm them on the real performance of the replacement cement and its compliance with their specifications, all of this allowing them a first step towards reducing the carbon of their volumes of current products.
A breakthrough Lafarge innovation: the new generation low-carbon, low-clinker and slag-free binder
Lafarge France has developed and successfully tested a new generation low carbon binder with a reduced clinker content and which makes it possible to dispense with slag.
A patented process makes it possible to reduce the quantity of clinker required in the binder and to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by up to 50%, without using slag, a response to its scarcity announced for the coming years.
Concretes made with these binders can cover traditional strength and exposure classes (C20 to C35/XC to XF, etc.). They are intended for all types of structures and all applications (floors, foundations, walls, etc.).
This technology does not impact construction times and adapts to temperatures. It allows local production and therefore massive and rapid marketing.
The standards corresponding to this new product do not exist for the moment, even if several experimental site tests have already been carried out. Lafarge has therefore initiated an ATEX certification procedure for concrete and a Technical Assessment of Products and Materials (ETPM).