The LC³ Technology Resource Centre (TRC) in Sta Clara has been established to act as interface between industry and academy for a swift introduction of the new developments in LC³ technology. With a professional team of geologists, chemists, engineers and economists, and more than 40 years of field and lab experience, the LC³ TRC LATAM becomes a very reliable provider of green solutions for the construction sector. Until this date the TRC has established contact and forged business relationships for LC³ introduction with more than 25 cement companies and investors in Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

At present TRC offers a complete advice on the scheme of Engineering, Procurement and Construction in partnership with equipment providers. The services of TRC include identification of suitable clay candidates, technical accompaniment in sample taking, mineralogical and chemical characterization of the material, assessment of clay reactivity, realization of industrial trials, evaluation of potential applications, environmental and economic feasibility studies and advisory in equipment selection. 

Since 2019 the TRC counts on a fully operative LC³ pilot plant able to provide experimental and training services. This pilot plant has incorporated a step to step following system to automatically control calcination and grinding parameters. It also counts with a material science laboratory specialized for characterization and evaluation of the tested materials.

As a first physical result of the consultancies from the TRC and its partners, two commercial productions of Limestone Calcined Clay Cement started in Colombia and Ivory Coast. Production of the new “green” cement amounts to some 3 Mt, with a CO₂ saving of more than 750 Ktat the end of 2021.

Although the pandemic has seriously slowed down investment decisions during the last 18 months. In several more countries in Latin America, Africa, India and Europe there are advanced plans to invest in setting up LC³ production.

LC³ has entered commercial production since 2020, with the start of the production of Cemento Verde at ARGOS in Columbia. Soon afterwards CIMPOR started production at a plant in Ivory Coast of their product DeOHclay. Other LC³ plants have been announced in Cameroon (https://www.thyssenkrupp.com) and France (https://vicat.fr), and several companies are preparing investment for the launch of LC³ production in the next five years. Application of the new LC³ cement in real demo projects prove similar, or even improved properties compared to OPC.