Boral unveils new tech to cut emissions in cement used for wind turbine foundations

A small town’s cement works is about to make a big contribution to reducing the sector’s carbon footprint with new technology to fire the kiln.

Australia’s largest construction materials company Boral on Wednesday opened its upgraded carbon-reducing technology at its New Berrima plant in NSW’s Southern Highlands.

“There’s more cement in a wind farm than there is steel and I want to see that cement being Australian-made,” Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said, officially opening the plant.

“Boral will reduce their carbon emissions by up to 150,000 tonnes a year. That’s a lot of carbon that won’t be going into our atmosphere,” he said.

Cement manufacturing is responsible for about eight per cent of the world’s total carbon emissions, because most producers rely on burning fossil fuels at very high temperatures.

But the carbon-reducing technology known as the chlorine bypass is being used by Boral to reduce its use of emissions-intensive fuels during the cement-making process.

It significantly reduces the build-up of materials including chlorides, alkalis and sulphates, which is a by-product of alternative fuel use when producing clinker –  the backbone of cement.

Boral chief executive Vik Bansal said it marked an important milestone in the push for net-zero emissions, having already achieved 30 per cent coal substitution.

“From our Federal Highways to the Sydney Opera House and Parliament House in Canberra, for almost a century, the Berrima Cement Works have helped to build and shape Australia,” Mr Bansal said.

Although cement was vital to construction it was carbon-intensive, and the technology would take operations into a new era – one with less impact on the planet, he said.

The upgrade will enable alternative fuel usage to reach 60 per cent over the next three years at the site.

Acquired by Seven Group in 2024, Boral operates nationwide in quarry products, cement, concrete, asphalt and recycled materials.