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drymix.info Newsletter 294/2023; ISSN Number 1613-0111; 15. December 2023

Best wishes for the Holiday Season and Happy New Year - See you all again in 2024!

Thank you to all our members, partners, friends and subscribers for a wonderful year 2023. We were so happy to finally catch up with so many of you during our events around the globe in Dubai, Manila, Nürnberg, Richmond, São Paulo, Sharjah, Mumbai and Bogor. We heard lots of exciting news from the industry and had so many interesting discussions and get-togethers. Wishing you and your families a very happy and relaxed festive season and all of us a hopefully more peaceful Year 2024!

FYI: our drymix.info office in Munich is closed from 22. December 2023 to 7. January 2024, but of course you can still reach us by e-mail to info@drymix.info.

Your global drymix.info team -Regine Bartholemy, Meliza Benitez, Carlos Carvajal, Jim Fenn, Gabriele Hartenberger, Sylvia & Mario Kristeller, Lee Ming Ying, Ferdinand Leopolder and Nurlijan Noerjanto1. TUE, 20FEB2024: The 6th Australian Drymix Mortar Meeting: Already over 60 Registrations, Delegate Welcome
2. WED, 24. and THU 25APR2024, Manchester: The 1st UK & Ireland Drymix Mortar Meeting: Topics and Delegate Welcome
3. Announcements: 15APR24 Dubai; 04 and 05JUN24 Monterrey
3.1. MEDMA Members Convention on 15. April 2024 in Dubai
3.2. Fifth Central American Drymix Mortar Meeting, 04 and 05 July 2024, Monterrey, Mexico
4. Sharjah Cement Joins MEDMA as Member
5. Cemex Completes Takeover of Kiesel Bauchemie
6. Wienerberger Plans Closing of Clay Brick Plant in Germany
7. Actemium Sofraden Builds New Drymix Mortar Plant for Ardex Australia
8. Vink Chemicals Starts Construction of New Plant in Schwerin, Germany

1. TUE, 20FEB2024: The 6th Australian Drymix Mortar Meeting: Already over 60 Registrations

Our first event next year is coming up in February: The Drymix Mortar Community from Australia, New Zealand and beyond meets on Tuesday, 20. February 2024 at the National Maritime Museum (MuSEAum) in Sydney. Registration is running strong already, so do not miss to be part of it and meet the Drymix Mortar Experts Down Under! Not a secret any more: we will have a casual Delegate Welcome on Monday, 19. February 2024 in the Darling Harbor area - sponsored by RLA Polymers and Wacker Chemie - thanks a lot! (exact location remains tbd., sorry).

Admission to The 6th Australia Drymix Mortar Meeting is 550 €, reduced to 450 € for drymix.info members or partners. Drymix mortar manufacturers pay only 190 €. An additional travel rebate of 90 € for drymix mortar manufacturers from outside NSW is available, please contact info@drymix.info.

2. WED, 24. and THU 25APR2024, Manchester: The 1st UK & Ireland Drymix Mortar Meeting: Topics and Delegate Welcome

Or first conference in the UK at Worsley Park Marriott Hotel and Country Club in Manchester is taking shape. On Wednesday, 24 April 2024, we will start with a golf competition (sponsored by Blackburn Chemicals) and re-join in the evening hours for our Delegate Welcome. The full-day technical program will follow on Thursday, 25. April 2024. Take a look at our preliminary list of topics below – thanks a lot to all supporters for their contribution!

Atlas | Dr. Bartosz Michałowski ⁄ Evaluating the Sustainability of External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS): A Comprehensive Assessment
Bischof + Klein | Patrick Börger | (wt) Sustainable Plastic Packaging for Powdered Products (prod. pres.)
Blackburn | Jack Lamb | rDevelopment of Foam Control and Shrinkage Reducing Agents for Drymix Building Products (prod. pres.)
Cemkem | Alistair Sharp | Cemkem - your Sustainable Procurement Partner (prod. pres.)
Concetti | Manno Duym | Bagging it Green (prod. pres.)
Haver & Boecker | (tbd.) | Mission Planet Blue – More Efficient + Sustainable Solutions for your Packing Process (prod. pres.)
Imerys | Pascal Taquet | Ultra-Reactive Calcium Aluminates, an Advanced Technology for Designing Sustainable Solutions
Kilwaughter Minerals | Dr. Andrew McIntosh | (wt) Challenges for the Drymix Mortar Industry to Achieve Lower Embodied Carbon Ratios
Mapei |  Dr. Stefano Carrà & Morgana Monti | Clinker Replacement in Drymix Mortar Formulations, the Case of Tile Adhesives: Opportunities and Challenges
Omya | Pascal Gonnon | Reducing Dry Mortar Carbon Footprint with Betocarb UF, a Pure Ultrafine Mineral Accelerator (prod. pres.)
Omyaspheres | David González Amago | Benefits of Using Lightweight Fillers in Tile Adhesives and Insulating Renders
Organik Kimya | Dr. Jean-Yves Petit | Re-formulating Cementitious Ceramic Tile Adhesive Formulations for Decreased CO2eq
Poraver | (tbd.) | poraSpheres® – The First Hollow Glass Spheres (HGS) from Post-consumer Recycled Glass
Sofraden | Nicolas Genevrier | Design, Build and Start an Automated Production Line: Make the Most of Both Your Expertise and your Supplier’s Know-How (prod. pres.)

Registration is open (already over 30 registrations!). Admission to the 1st UK & Ireland Drymix Mortar Meeting including the Golf competition is £ 480 | 550 €,  reduced to £ 395 | 450 € for drymix.info members or partners. Drymix mortar manufacturers pay only £ 170 | 190 €. NEW: there is a special £ 78 | 90 € travel rebate for drymix mortar manufacturers coming from Ireland and outside UK, please enquire with us.

3. Announcements: 15APR24 Dubai; 04 and 05JUN24 Monterrey

3.1. MEDMA Members Convention on 15. April 2024 in Dubai

The Middle East Drymix Mortar Association MEDMA invites all its members (including the many new ones) to its 2024 Members Convention on 15APR24 (just before MECS). In this meeting the strategies and goals of MEDMA, as well as targets and actions will be determined in accordance with the member's expectations.Up to two delegates from MEDMA members are free of charge, guests are welcome at a fee. Location tbd, very likely near our office at DWTC.

3.2. Fifth Central American Drymix Mortar Meeting, 04 and 05 July 2024, Monterrey, Mexico

The Call for Papers has been issued for the Fifth Central American Drymix Mortar
Meeting. By mutual request it will take place in Monterrey, Mexico on  04 and 05 July 2024 (new date!). The program will also feature practical demonstrations, this is why we have scheduled a 1,5 day period for the meeting. And: there will be en evening event, of course! Please submit your lecturing proposals by 31. January 2024 - and also tell us if you want to sponsor this important event for the Central American drymix mortar community. Get your copy of the Call for Papers from info@drymix.info.

4. Sharjah Cement Factory Joins MEDMA as a Member

Sharjah Cement Factory, a division of Sharjah Cement & Industrial Development Co. of Sharjah, UAE, has decided to join The Middle East Drymix Mortar Association MEDMA as a member. The factory near Sharjah International Airport with a grinding capacity of over 1 mio t/year was  commissioned in 1977 in cooperation with Blue Circle Industries PLC, U.K. In 2022, Sharjah Cement Factory started up its first fully automated tower mixing plant for drymix mortars and entered the market for masonry mortars, renders and specialty mortars such as tile adhesives in the UAE.

MEDMA warmly welcomes Sharjah Cement Factory to our community!

5. Cemex Completes Takeover of Kiesel Bauchemie

Cemex of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico, by way of its subsidiary Cemex Deutschland AG, Rüdersdorf, Germany, has recently completed the takeover of Kiesel Bauchemie GmbH & Co. KG of Esslingen, Germany. The portfolio of Kiesel consists of specialty mortars such as cementitious tile adhesives and grouts, self-levelling compounds and adhesives for natural stones as well as an assortment liquid construction adhesives and primers. With this forward integration, Cemex gains a hold in the construction chemical industry, Kiesel's main markets are Germany, France, Poland and the Czech Republic. The brand name will be maintained as well as the existing management team and workforce. A transaction value was not given by either party.

6. Wienerberger Plans Closing of Clay Brick Plant in Germany

Wienerberger AG of Vienna, Austria, is planning the closing of their plant in Mühlhausen-Bollstedt (Thuringia, Germany) with its 30 employees. As reported by local media, further plants with more than 200 jobs are also affected by these closure plans. An official statement has not yet been published.

Commentary: It can be assumed that reason for the closing (or temporary mothballing?) of these gas-fired clay brick plants has two economic reasons: the high energy prices in Germany in combination with the current recession in (new) construction is indeed a poisonous cocktail.

7. Actemium Sofraden Builds New Drymix Mortar Plant for Ardex Australia

Ardex Australia of Seven Hills, Australia and Actemium Sofraden of Saint-Etienne, France, have announced the construction of a new mixing plant in Kemps Creek near Sydney. The new location and plant will consolidate several storage and production sites on one central production location. The project consists of a fully automated tower plant with 3 independent mixing lines, including downstream packaging as well as storage facilities The plant features automatic dosage units for more than 35 ingredients. Construction will start in January 2024.

8. Vink Chemicals Starts Construction of New Plant in Schwerin, Germany

Vink Chemicals GmbH & Co. KG of Kakenstorf, Germany, has recently started the construction of a production unit at its new location in Schwerin, Germany. The production of a  major proportion of the raw materials needed for their technical biocides will take place in the new plant in order to optimize transport logistics and improve independence from third-party suppliers. Production in Schwerin is expected to start in 2026, according to Vink Chemicals, the investment amounts to 30 Mio Euro.


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Editor-in-Chief: Ferdinand Leopolder. 


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Sincerely Yours, Ferdinand Leopolder