Alpacem: Our construction material expertise
From the gentle mining of the stone from the depths of the earth to its processing into cement to its further processing into concrete, we impress with our technical expertise and continuous innovation. Our construction material expertise is the foundation for high-quality and sustainable construction.
The centre of our actions
Concrete is produced with high-quality aggregate, water and cement. At our deposits, the concrete story begins with the production of raw materials, from which we produced cement and, from the cement, concrete.
Concrete is 100% recyclable. Depending on the quality, treated concrete residues are used as filling material, for concrete production or in the cement plant. This protects the valuable natural deposits.
This closes the cycle.
The story of cement and concrete begins with raw material production
At Alpacem, we produce the raw materials in two ways. On the one hand, the raw stone is mined from natural deposits, from which samples are taken before the mining, so that the right composition for the cement production and the production of high-quality aggregates for the concrete is always processed. On the other hand, in addition to the raw materials from the company’s own natural deposits, other raw materials are also used at Alpacem in our processes, such as tunnel excavation material, fine limestone, quartz sands, and ash. This protects the natural deposits.
We use concrete excavation material either as an aggregate in the production of new concretes or as a raw material for cement production. This closes the cycle.
Cement production: the most complex step from raw stone to concrete
Cement production consists of two steps. The first step is the production of Portland cement clinker; the second step is the grinding into cement. For the production of Portland cement clinker, the raw material is first finely ground, homogenised and burned in a multi-stage burning process. At Alpacem, this process is managed around the clock using over 200,000 analyses per year. The findings from the construction material testing and the processing of our cements into concrete contribute to the process control.
At Alpacem, the cement grinding takes place with the cement clinker produced in the Group as well as further grinding additives. Here, too, there is ongoing sampling of all the primary materials and of the finished cement. At Alpacem, quality is controlled in a targeted fashion and fluctuations are reacted to immediately.
Concrete is produced from aggregate, cement, water and additives
Concrete is the most multi-purpose construction material of our time. However, concrete is also a mixture of at least four primary materials and, in an installed state, must permanently maintain its properties. In the production of concrete, there are reciprocal effects between natural primary materials, cement and additives. Here, it is necessary to control the concrete production at the mixing plants and to ensure the quality of the concrete before use.
At Alpacem, we have specialists who stipulate the composition of the concrete and control the production. We make the expertise available to our customers and we allow the findings to contribute to the prior production steps, from raw materials production to the production of cement and aggregates.