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MoU with Coolbrook to explore electrification of cement kiln heating process

UltraTech Cement Limited, India’s leading cement and ready-mix-concrete company, has announced signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Coolbrook, a transformational technology and engineering company, to explore possibilities on reduction of CO₂ emissions from its cement manufacturing operations.

UltraTech and Coolbrook shall jointly explore the use of Coolbrook’s Roto Dynamic Heater (RDH), an innovative application based on its revolutionary roto dynamic technology, to electrify cement kiln heating process. Both the companies will collaborate to develop optimal electric process heating solutions for cement manufacturing process replacing fossil fuels.

Coolbrook’s RDH technology can achieve process temperatures of up to around 1700 ºC with high energy efficiency and can thereby be used in processes that have been considered impossible to electrify. When powered by electricity from renewable sources, the technology can eliminate CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel burning across all major industries. It is the only electric process heating technology in the world with the capability to cut more than 25% of industrial CO₂ emissions and over 7% of global CO₂ emissions annually.

Due to its compact size, the RDH can also be retro-fitted to existing facilities and thereby significantly accelerate reduction in much needed  emissions. The companies expect this groundbreaking technology to be ready for commercial use at an industrial scale in 2024.

“UltraTech, as a founding member of Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), has committed to GCCA’s ‘2050 Climate Ambition’ to deliver carbon neutral concrete by 2050. As part of our RE100 commitment, we aim to meet 100 per cent of our electricity requirement through renewables sources by 2050. Our MoU with Coolbrook, is a step to further accelerate our efforts to decarbonise our operations and deliver our sustainability targets,” said Mr Kailash Jhanwar, Managing Director, UltraTech Cement.

Ilpo Kuokkanen, Executive Chairman of Coolbrook, said, “India is one of the most important potential markets for Coolbrook as we want to make a global impact on CO₂ emission reductions. Cooperation with India’s leading cement producer UltraTech is a significant step in our strategy to decarbonize heavy industry processes globally. UltraTech is also an excellent addition to our comprehensive and responsive partnership ecosystem spanning across leading industrial actors, academic institutions, and the public sector.”

Championing Climate Action

UltraTech has taken a holistic approach and has integrated low carbon strategy into its business conduct. It is scaling up investments in the development of innovative products and services, improving energy efficiency, increasing the share of renewable energy and scaling up the use of alternative fuels and alternate raw material (AFR) in its manufacturing operations.

UltraTech has taken ambitious targets for reducing GHG emissions. The Company has committed to reduce Scope 1 GHG intensity by 27 per cent by 2032 from the base year of 2017. UltraTech has also committed to reduce Scope 2 GHG intensity by 69 per cent by 2032 from the base year of 2017. These GHG emission targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). As part of EP100 commitment, UltraTech also targets to double energy productivity by FY35, from the base year of FY10.

UltraTech is leveraging Green Energy as a key enabler for decarbonisation. The Company aims to scale up its green energy mix to 34 per cent of its total power requirement by 2024. It is doing this by continuously improving energy productivity, scaling up use of renewable energy and reusing heat from its own operations through Waste Heat Recovery Systems (WHRS). UltraTech currently has 436 MW of Green Energy capacity, which includes 167 MW of WHRS installed capacity and 269 MW of contracted renewable energy.

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