Industrial trial for Aether® successful

Lafarge has successfully completed an industrial trial for ­Aether®, its new generation clinker formulated for lower carbon cements. The trial mobilized a team of around 100 people over a 10-day period at the group‘s French plant in Le Teil (Ardèche). It allowed the production of 10 000 tons of Aether® clinker, confirming the feasibility of industrial-scale production using traditional raw materials. The launch of the first Aether® products is planned for 2014.

The result of several years of research by Lafarge R&D teams, Aether® cements offer similar properties to ordinary Portland cement and can be produced in traditional cement plants ­after minor process adjustments, for a lower overall environmental footprint. Aether® is a new chemical composition for clinker which should allow a 25–30 % reduction in CO2 emissions, thanks to:

reduced limestone content in the raw mix

a lower temperature (~1300 °C) during the burning process

easier grinding, using less energy

This development project has received the support of the European Union as part of its LIFE+ Programme, a financial instrument to support environmental projects.
x

Related articles:

Issue 11/2010

Lafarge accelerates its innovation strategy

Aether, an innovative project developed by Lafarge to reduce the CO2 footprint of cement, is receiving support from the European Union. This support is provided under the European “LIFE+” program, a...

more

Lafarge accelerates its innovation strategy

Aether, an innovative project developed by Lafarge to reduce the CO2 footprint of cement, is receiving support from the European Union. This support is provided under the European “LIFE+” program, a...

more
Issue 11/2013

Hydraulic additive as a new “clinker substitute”

1 Introduction There are three ways to reduce the total CO2 emission: Because of the energy-intensive decomposition of CaCO3, a reduction of the lime standard when burning clinker, to reduce the...

more
Issue 3/2023 HOLCIM | LAFARGE FRANCE

Commissioning of one of the first production lines in Europe dedicated to calcined clay

At Saint-Pierre-La-Cour in Mayenne/France, the Lafarge plant’s new firing line came into service at the beginning of February. The result of a € 40 million investment financed by the Holcim Group...

more
Issue 8/2023 WO 2023/189340 A1

Method for producing cement clinker

(22) 09.03.2023 (43) 05.10.2023 (57) A method for producing cement clinker which includes a burning step in which a powdery feed material for cement clinker introduced into a kiln is burned with a...

more