SEDICIM: SEDIMENTS IN CEMENT PRODUCTION

Client: Eqiom

Scientific partner: Neo-Eco

Location: Dannes, Lumbres, Wambrechies, North of France

Delivered in: December 2022

 

Led by global materials group Eqiom, SEDICIM is a bold project* combining value addition, resources and energy efficiency, limiting sand consumption by 30% and cutting energy needs by 75%.

 

Inputting waterway sediments to cement production line enables ‘flash calcination’, a spillover innovation industrialised in France for the second time: sediments are heated at 750°C for 1 second, instead of 1,500°C for 2.5 hours for sand. The ‘sediment-sand’ has been produced by the national waterways agency since the ALLUVIO project, which Inecko also supported.

 

Inecko established the venture production costs, revenue and profitability, built momentum around the project, evidenced economic outcomes which secured critical local support.

 

Specifically, we have:

 

• Established and modelled production costs, revenue and profitability for 2 production lines (with or without flash calcination) – 30,000 t annual capacity, 16% EBITDA margin

• Provided operational and strategic recommendations after interviewing and involving local/regional businesses (cement producer, quarries, sediment dredging and management, waterway transportation/logistics), stakeholders (university, economic development agency, innovation agency, clusters, consultancy), including risk analysis

• Quantified and interpreted socio-economic outcomes (direct, indirect – jobs, wages, revenue, value added, tax), derived local perspectives e.g. contribution to industrial employment or revenue

• Assessed long-term regional development impacts (innovation capacities, skills, ecosystems) and advised on their enhancement

• Collected quantitative and qualitative primary data** via 8.5 hours of interviews with 10 respondents and follow-up outreach

 

* Supported by the Regional Council and the European Regional Development Fund, the project’s site was visited by the ministers of housing and environment in 2023.

** Collected for the first time. 

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And now? (as of Sept. 2026)

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SEDICIM demonstrated the feasibility of sediment-based cements, with a first 6.5-tonne industrial trial and mechanical performance comparable to conventional cement: flash-calcined sediment-sand substitutes up to 10% without degrading the products. It is supplied in particular by the state waterways agency's Wambrechies platform, which stemmed from the ALLUVIO project that Inecko supported.