Mumbai/Copenhagen, May 2022: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd, a leading Indian cement major and a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat Limited, one of India’s leading cement manufacturers and FLSmidth & Co. A/S, a major supplier of engineering, equipment and service solutions to the global mining and cement industries, have signed an MoU to collaborate in the research and development of disruptive solutions for next generation cement manufacturing.

Signed under the “Green Strategic Partnership” initiatives of Denmark and India that cover all aspects of energy and climate changes, the MoU forms a cornerstone exchange of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three nation European visit, focussed to boost ties in the areas of trade, energy and green technology. With the acquiescence of both the Prime Ministers and the concurrence of the Denmark Government, it would now be possible to set up industrial demonstration projects under Green Strategic Partnership for new and emerging decarbonisation technologies.

As per the MoU, both companies will cooperate on a wide spectrum of focus areas such as  creating new ideas and breakthrough solutions to substitute conventional energy with renewable resources through chemical composition analysis and innovations in the combustion methods. They will also work to identify solutions to eliminate greenhouse gases and other emissions to reach the long term goal of zero emissions by integrating primary mitigation and filtration methods.

Both sides commit to contribute ideas and R&D for an industrial scale cement production facility where breakthrough sustainability innovations for cement and construction industry would be developed. Joint research projects can be conducted, respecting each other’s research ideas, copyrights, patents, and contributing resources. Successful research results might be patented by both parties, complying with the distribution of benefits according to international standards and in accordance with Indian and international laws.

Commenting on the historic tie-up, Mr Mahendra Singhi, Managing Director and CEO of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd, said, “In alignment with the ambitious Net Zero vision of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji and given the strength and stature of our respective organisations, this association will provide futuristic solutions to the cement and concrete industry to emerge clean and green.”

“The extensive scope of the MoU will leave a significant impact on key areas like fossil fuel substitution with industrial wastes, possibilities of implementing carbon capture and usage in cement plants and low carbon GHG cements. For India and Dalmia Cement in particular, we are keen to develop a roadmap for the implementation of Industry 4.0 with totally decarbonised cement plants and a Lighthouse cement factory in the country, strictly adhering to the business philosophy: Clean and Green is Profitable and Sustainable.”

Mr. Carsten Riisberg Lund, Cement Industry President, FLSmidth, said, “A green transition of the cement industry is at the core of what we do, and we are pleased to work alongside Dalmia Cement in reaching our joint ambitions. Through our MissionZero initiative, we are supporting customers in both the mining and cement industries move towards zero emissions by 2030. Today’s signing marks the start of a collaboration to accelerate the development and implementation of the solutions needed to decarbonise the cement and concrete industry, exploiting our respective advantages as industry leaders.”

Regarding the current status of the cement industry, both Dalmia Cement and the FLSmidth observe that while there were several impressive improvements in areas such as grinding, transportation, emissions control, quality control, automation, etc over the past century or so, the most significant innovation was the change of the pyro process, from wet to dry process. In the recent 50 years, most of technical improvements were focused to reach optimal performance and production.

Though available technologies allow to be compliant to applicable environmental standards, Dalmia and FLSmidth are convinced that substantial gains can be achieved following a Clean, Green, Profitable and Sustainable solutions development as well as adoption in the industry.