Cementa may decommission cement production at Swedish plant

1591 Cementa says it is planning to decommission cement and clinker production at its Degerhamn plant to meet increased environmental requirements.

The Swedish manufacturer says that authorities and the market are both raising climate and energy requirements for cement production, and to meet these demands production may be concentrated to more efficient plants.

It has started the process for the possible decomissioning of Degerhamn, which is on the island of Öland and produces 300,000 tonnes of cement (10% of Cementa's annual production).

If the decommissioning goes ahead by the proposed 2020 closure date, volumes would be transferred to the factories in Slite on Gotland and in Brevik, Norway. Cementa says cement can already be manufactured at both sites which are environmentally-adapted, with excellent conditions for developing and scaling up technologies in climate-optimised production.

Cementa, a subsidiary of German-based 674 HeidelbergCement, says it has made several investments to reduce Degerhamn’s environmental impact, but it is difficult to handle the future requirements for carbon dioxide reduction, which is a critical issue for the cement industry as a whole. Concentrating production to the other factories would mean a reduction in CO2 emissions of 260,000 tonnes per year.

Cementa intends to keep the warehouse and port operations to continue delivering cement from Degerhamn, which will mean that a few services will remain in place at the site where 75 people are currently employed.