Between lower-than-normal gas reserves and the war in Ukraine, energy prices skyrocketed in 2022 and are expected to continue to fluctuate in 2023. This is hitting refractories hard, where temperatures upwards of 1800 °C are required and shutdowns can cost millions. Now, the entire industry is rethinking how things have always been done to offset the rising costs.
The global refractories market grew according to research and markets from USD 26,55 billion in 2022 to USD 27,91 billion in 2023 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5,1 %.
RHI Magnesita/AT has completed a multimillion-dollar investment in the awardwinning cleantech and is expected to significantly advance MCi’s Carbon Utilisation Technology (CCU). RHI Magnesita is investing several millions into research and development for innovative technologies abating carbon emissions to achieve its goal of becoming a CO2 neutral business.
CREMER ERZKONTOR, the international raw material management company from Germany, recently opened a new subsidiary in Asia, in Chennai/IN. This move gives the company a new point of contact, from which it can serve its Indian customers and suppliers even better going forward. In addition to expanding the trading business locally, the office will help with accessing new raw materials and sources.
TRIMET’s recycling plant in Gelsenkirchen is expected to start drawing hydrogen-rich energy gas from Uniper Energy Sales from the ArcelorMittal coking plant in Bottrop as early as September 2023 to generate process heat for its smelting furnaces. The coke oven gas produced during coke production contains more than 60 % hydrogen and therefore releases significantly less CO2 emissions than fossil natural gas.
2MOF Technologies, a Northern Ireland-based company whose technology efficiently captures CO2 directly from industrial sources, is rebranding to Nuada. The new name is an ode to the company’s Celtic origins and is inspired by the ancient mythical king, Nuada, whose name means “to capture”.
Germany-based Heidelberg Materials /DE has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire SEFA Group Inc., the largest fly ash recycling company in USA. Based in Lexington, South Carolina, the operations of the SEFA Group include five business units, five utility partners, 20 locations and more than 500 employees. The group currently supplies quality fly ash to more than 800 concrete plants in 13 states.
From 12–16 June 2023, Dusseldorf/DE will become the centre for the international casting and metallurgical industries: the world’s leading trade fairs GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST, which are held every four years and together cover the complete spectrum of foundry technology, castings, metallurgy and thermoprocess technology, are particularly in demand in the energy-intensive sectors this year as current challenges fuel digitalisation in the metal technology sector and its search for sustainable and forward-looking solutions. More than 2000 exhibitors from over 50 countries will pick up global trends and showcase the complete spectrum of current technologies and products in twelve exhibition halls. The Hot Topics of the Bright World of Metals read: decarbonisation of the metallurgical industry, ecoMetals, circular economy, digitalisation, Additive Manufacturing processes as well as e-mobility and lightweight automotive construction.
RHI Magnesita/AT announced in April 2023 the acquisition of the Europe, India and US operations of Seven Refractories; acquisition will complement RHI Magnesita’s existing non-basic refractories portfolio and open new opportunities in the development of low CO2 emitting manufacturing technologies.
Seven Refractories is a specialist supplier of non-basic monolithic refractory mixes with broad applications across all the company’s customer segments including iron and steel, cement, aluminium and non-ferrous metals. Non-basic refractory mixes are expected to become increasingly important with the development of new low CO2 emitting manufacturing technologies within RHI Magnesita’s key customer industries.
CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association welcomes the objectives of the Green Deal Industrial Plan issued in February by the European Commission. The EU needs a strong response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), that allows to maintain the EU’s industrial leadership and deploy green technologies as soon as possible.
