Displaying items by tag: Upgrade
Portugal: Semapa subsidiary Secil is spending Euro86m on modernising its Outão cement plant in Setúbal. The Dinheiro Vivo has reported that the work will turn the facility into ‘the most sustainable cement plant in Europe,’ according to the company. It will reduce CO2 emissions by 20%, end fossil fuel use and establish waste heat recovery to supply 30% of the plant’s electrical power needs. The government has granted the ‘Project of National Interest’ Euro14.5m in funding. The project will also expand the cement plant’s capacity by 30% to 1.3Mt from 1.0Mt.
Chief executive officer Carlos Abreu said "We have the ambition of reaching carbon neutrality in 2050 and this project is a step in that direction. Others will follow." He added "The Asian and American blocs are not always facing that direction, but the path is made by walking... and we will get there." Regarding the timing of the project, Abreu said "Secil was a very brave company here. The project was decided in 2019 before the pandemic broke out... We kept it, despite the fact that knowing that the pandemic was going to be, and is being, very difficult, but we believe that we had no other alternative."
Egypt: Redecam says it has successfully started up a project one line two at Lafarge Egypt’s Ain Al-Sokhna cement plant. The upgrade consisted of: converting the main kiln’s electrostatic precipitator (ESP) into a bag filter; enhanced the cooling system for the clinker cooler, including a partial ESP retrofit; and revamping the bypass the gas conditioning tower and dust transport system. The Italy-based engineering company previously carried out a similar project on line three at the plant in 2020.
Philippines: China-based Sinoma Construction will renovate Holcim Philippines’ La Union cement plant in Bacnotan, North Luzon. Seetao News has reported that the company signed a contract with the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim in July 2021. The work involves a capacity expansion, renovation and de-bottlenecking. The aims of the projects are to promote the modular grinding station market and expand Holcim’s Philippines business and deepen its localisation.
Spain: Tudela Veguín says that an upgrade to a conveyor belt connecting its Aboño cement plant in Asturias to a terminal at the Port of El Musel will allow it to dispatch 5% more cement. The increase represents more than 100,000t/yr-worth of additional cement shipments, according to the La Nueva España newspaper. Ship loading time has also been reduced by nearly half. The Euro532,000 conveyor was completed in 2020. The El Musel terminal has shipped cement for export to several new countries, including most recently the US.
India: Wonder Cement has ordered its eighth vertical roller mill from Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer. A MPS 3070 BK type mill has been selected for grinding petroleum coke and coal. The throughput rate for pure petcoke grinding will be 40t/hr with a product fineness of 2% R 90µm. The mill will be equipped with an SLS 2900 BK type classifier. Due to the high abrasiveness of Indian coal, the mill and classifier will be designed with a correspondingly robust wear protection. The new mill will support the fourth 8000t/day production line at the producer’s plant at Tehsil Nimbahera, Chittorgarh in Rajasthan.
Most of the components of the coal mill will be manufactured by Gebr. Pfeiffer India including the housing and foundation parts, the grinding bowl and a large part of the force-transmitting parts. Delivery of the mill is scheduled for the end of 2021. Commissioning of the entire kiln line with the new grinding plant is scheduled for spring 2022.
Update on Cemex, June 2021
30 June 2021Fernando A González and Cemex took to the virtual airways this week with Cemex Day 2021. The investors’ update comprised the usual greatest hits package explaining how well everything is going: earnings growth and leverage levels about to hit desired targets, selective investments and divestments on the way, new production capacity round the corner and punchy sustainability goals turning up earlier than expected. Or at least that’s the way that chief executive officer González and the team told it.
To be fair to Cemex, it seems to be in a good place right now. It weathered 2020 well and now its first quarter results in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019, before coronavirus hit, are looking rosy with cement sales volumes growth of 9%. How much of that is attributable to pent up demand from 2020 remains to be seen though. Its strategy of focusing on markets in North America and Europe appears to have paid off in recent years with its competitors copying it as they have retreated from riskier climes and concentrated on core territories. Its obsession with righting the ratio between its debts and earnings is closer than ever to being realised, with a 4.07x net leverage ratio in 2020 and a target of 3x or lower planned for 2023. That last target is crucial both materially and psychologically for the company as it starts to put it back in the same financial field as its Western multinational competitors and opens up new investment opportunities.
From a production angle, the big news from the event was a 10Mt/yr cement production expansion project between now and 2023. This wasn’t quite as promising as it sounded, as just under half of this was attributed to legacy projects in Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines and some of the new projects had already been announced, but it does bookmark a move from divesting plants to upgrading and building new ones.
The new projects comprise an additional 5.7Mt/yr capacity from on-going debottlenecking, new integrated plants, new grinding plants and reopening idle or mothballed plants. During the event José Antonio González, the Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development broke it down into 3.5Mt in Mexico, consisting of 1.5Mt additional grinding capacity at the integrated Tepeaca plant, a 0.5Mt/yr expansion at the integrated Huichapan plant and 1.5Mt/yr from bringing both idled lines back into production at the CPN Hermosilla plant in Senora to support the US market. That last one notably was partly announced in February 2021. In Europe and the US the group plans to add 1.2Mt/yr including expanding grinding capacity at two plants in Europe with details to be announced later. Finally, the company plans to add 1Mt/yr of additional capacity in South American including restarting an idled 0.5Mt/yr kiln at a plant in the Dominican Republic and building a new 0.5Mt/yr grinding mill in Guatemala.
Cemex has also stepped up its target reduction in CO2 emissions to below 475kg CO2/t of cementitious material, an approximately 40% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels, by 2030. The previous target for 2030 of 520 kg CO2 has been brought forward to 2025. This compares to LafargeHolcim’s similar target of 475kg CO2/t by 2030, HeidelbergCement’s target of 500kg CO2/t by 2030 and CRH’s target of 530kg CO2/t by 2030. The group is planning to spend US$60m/yr on its decarbonisation projects. This compares to a spend of around US$140m/yr on its 10Mt/yr cement production capacity expansion drive over the next three years. Or to put it another way, the group is spending more on growing than sustainability.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good public relations for Cemex this week with the news in the Colombian press that one of its former executives is set to be investigated by the authorities over his alleged involvement in the ongoing Maceo cement plant corruption case. The background to this one is that in 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members, and the local subsidiary’s chief executive resigned, in relation to the building of a new integrated plant at Maceo. This followed an internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights and benefits of the tax free zone for the project. Legal proceedings followed in Colombia and the US. Many large companies have legacy problems to deal with. Just take LafargeHolcim’s continued connection to Lafarge Syria’s conduct in the early 2010s. At the time of writing the Maceo plant is still yet to start operation and is likely to be one of the ongoing projects mentioned above.
Cemex’s second quarter results are due to arrive towards the end of July 2021 but the group is presenting an upbeat image. Sales are up, debts are down, divestments are out and expansions are in. Confidence is important for a multinational trying to convince the rating agencies to give it back its investment grade, so whether this is strictly true or not it certainly knows how to talk the talk. One question going forward at least is how strictly Cemex will want to stick to its core markets if the good times really have returned?
Pakistan: Bestway Cement and Reon Energy have commissioned a 14.3MW captive solar power unit at the former’s integrated cement plant at Farooqia, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The unit is part of a 50MW project deal that is planned to install solar units at the cement producer’s plant at Farooqia, Chakwal, Kallar Kahar and Hattar, according to the Pakistan Observer newspaper. Energy generated at the new solar plant at Farooqia is expected to reduce energy costs and reduce reliance on the national electricity grid.
India: Ambuja Cements and ACC are planning to participate in parent company LafargeHolcim’s ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ programme. The initiative, which aims to make cement manufacturing more efficient through better plant optimisation, higher plant availability and a safer working environment, is part of LafargeHolcim’s ‘Building for Growth’ strategy, which was launched globally in mid-2019.
The four-year programme implemented by LafargeHolcim aims to create a global network of over 270 integrated cement plants and grinding stations in more than 50 countries by applying automation technologies and robotics, machine learning, predictive maintenance and digital twin technologies to the entire production processes. The ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ initiative is also being implemented in other key markets in Switzerland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, US, Canada and Russia.
“As an industry leader we are looking at 'Plants of Tomorrow’ as a big opportunity and responsibility to place India on the map of global cement manufacturing. This path-breaking project will lead to transformative outcomes not just in terms of operational and financial gains but also make cement manufacturing in the country environmentally sustainable and create a safe work environment for our colleagues across all our plants,” said Neeraj Akhoury, the chief executive officer (CEO) of India Holcim and managing director and CEO of Ambuja Cements.
India: B K Birla Group subsidiary Mangalam Cement has launched cement and clinker production at its Morak cement plant in Rajasthan following an upgrade. The upgrade has increased the plant’s cement capacity by 400,000t/yr and its clinker capacity by 300,000t/yr. The expansions bring Mangalam Cement’s total cement and clinker capacity to 4.4Mt/yr.
France: Denmark-based FLSmidth has won a contract to supply a 400t/day calcined clay production line to Vicat’s Xeuilley integrated cement plant. The order includes flash calciner technology, an environmental control system and alternative fuel (AF) firing, handling and storage equipment. The line will have a design capacity of up to 525t/day and is scheduled for commissioning in 2023. It will enable clinker substitution in cement of up to 40%, according to the supplier. It says that cement produced using calcined clay will have a 16% smaller carbon footprint than its clinker-based equivalent. The value of the contract is Euro26.8m.
Vicat deputy chief executive officer Eric Bourdon said, “EU regulations and increasing demand for more sustainable cement has accelerated the decision to introduce clay as an environmental alternative to clinker in our production. With clay readily available in the area and positive results from pilots at FLSmidth’s test facilities in Denmark, we feel confident about the technology and hope to be able to expand further in the future.”